Isro and In-Space have signed an agreement with Vyom Space to manufacture private spacecraft

Vyom Space’s creator and CEO, Manish Kukreti, revealed to Mint that the business has thus far collaborated with European research and development (R&D) partners to build its product.

For its “person and cargo transportation capsule programme,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Gurugram, Haryana-based private space company Vyom Space Exploration and Services Private Limited have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU). The MoU was made possible by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center, India’s official space authorization organisation (In-Space).

The start-up is being nurtured under “JSIIC,” according to ISRO. The incubation program’s specifics and ISRO’s intended timelines were not made publicly by the body.

The module that any cargo is placed within for transportation into space is referred to as a “capsule” in a space mission. The astronauts are kept inside the capsule during manned missions. With the exception of Crew Dragon, a reusable people and cargo module from US-based commercial space company Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the capsules have mainly been single-use.

Vyom Space’s creator and CEO, Manish Kukreti, revealed to Mint that the business has thus far collaborated with European research and development (R&D) partners to build its product.

“India is not a market that is already developed in terms of the entire gamut of space infrastructure, which required us to tap global partners to develop our product. There will be a clear and obvious demand in the space industry for reusable capsules that can carry cargo and eventually humans, and so far, only the US and China have been able to develop such a product,” Kukreti said.

In the upcoming 16 months, the business will present the first prototype of its space capsule to ISRO, who will then test the spacecraft, according to Kukreti. According to him, “We are merely creating the basic technology of the capsule itself and wouldn’t want to go into every single facet of it given the large body of expertise that ISRO has in the other parts of a space mission.”

An MoU between ISRO and Vyom Space was announced amid a flurry of successes for India’s private space industry. The first domestic private space enterprise, Skyroot Aerospace of Hyderabad, launched a rocket into space on November 18. On November 26, a week later, Pixxel and Dhruva Space launched a second batch of satellites on board the most recent commercial mission of ISRO.

The company intends to launch its own rocket — and India’s first orbital private rocket — from Srihariokota, Andhra Pradesh, by the end of the year, according to Srinath Ravichandran, chief executive of Agnikul Cosmos, who spoke with Mint last week.

According to Vyom’s Kukreti, the company’s own module will be reusable and hence an improvement over the initial prototype module that will be used by ISRO’s manned mission, Gaganyaan. “Gaganyaan has single-use modules only, which means they don’t have a high economic viability. This is what we hope to provide for the missions of ISRO,” he said.

Although Kukreti refused to discuss the startup’s funding, he acknowledged that creating a space capsule is “a very money expensive task.” “. He did, however, assert that the startup has “commitments” already “from a global pool of private investors.

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