HYDERABAD: SpaceTech is expected to become a USD 1.4 trillion market by 2030 and Hyderabad is expected to grab a chunk of it, perhaps a big one. Predicting the acceleration of SpaceTech in 2023, Skyroot Aerospace co-founder Pawan Kumar Chandana says: “2023 is just the beginning of an era of SpaceTech, which would be the next trillion-dollar industry.”
Pawan says that SpaceTech startups are sprouting up in large numbers, particularly in Hyderabad. Telangana first laid the foundation for SpaceTech with Dhruva Space in 2012. By the time Skyroot Aerospace was conceived, SpaceTech was 50 per cent more affordable and compact.
“This State has laid the foundation for India’s first integrated rocket design, manufacturing and testing facility. We hope to create more rockets and generate high-tech employment,” says Pawan.
He says that Telangana is poised to make an indelible mark with SpaceTech. “We will be carrying satellites up to Low Earth orbit. We can launch satellites for multiple uses, like earth observation and communication. Besides, there are other startups in Telangana that are starting to make a mark. Our infrastructure is facilitating and accelerating the process.”
Pawan said that Skyroot Aerospace, which raised USD 51 million in a new funding round led by Singapore’s capital market company GIC, has plans for at least one, and possibly two launches in 2023. The company wants to become the best small satellite launch provider in the world in the next five years. “It will help us fund the initial launches in 2024 and scale our infrastructure to enable mass production and testing,” Pawan says.
“The majority of our market now would be launching foreign satellites, to start with,” he says. After the successful launch of Vikram-S, Skyroot Aerospace has plans to launch Vikram-1 in early 2023. “These will later be upgraded to Vikram-2 and Vikram-3 with much higher payload capacity. Our focus is specifically on launching smaller satellites which are going to be more than 80% of satellites to be launched in the next 10 years,” Pawan says.
The innovator adds: “We are more like a cab to space, where we can offer dedicated rides to required orbits to satellite customers while companies like SpaceX are focused on building very large vehicles.”
Pawan says that he aims to tap the human spaceflight and space exploration market someday.