Skyroot Aerospace has secured two dedicated launches from U.S. -based Reflect Orbital, adding an international customer to the Indian company’s commercial pipeline soon after Vikram-1 completed its first orbital mission. The launches will deploy Reflect Orbital spacecraft designed to redirect sunlight from orbit toward selected locations on Earth.
Reflect Orbital is developing orbital reflectors intended to deliver sunlight after sunset and illuminate areas where conventional infrastructure is unavailable. The company has also identified possible uses involving solar-energy generation and nighttime search-and-rescue operations. Its chief executive, Ben Nowack, said the agreement would help address limited launch capacity and give the company access to a new launch provider.
The contract follows Vikram-1’s July 18 success at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The four-stage rocket reached low Earth orbit on its debut flight, deployed its payloads on a nominal trajectory and completed its planned sequence about 17 minutes after liftoff. The mission made Skyroot the first Indian private company to place an orbital rocket into space on its maiden flight and gave India a private orbital launch capability.
Skyroot was founded in 2018 by former Indian space-agency engineers Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka. Chandana said the Reflect Orbital partnership would provide schedule certainty and flexibility through two dedicated missions, extending the launch program for the Vikram rocket family.