A Startup Chasing On-Demand Sunlight Buys Two Rides From India's Skyroot
California-based Reflect Orbital, the startup attempting to offer sunlight on demand with in-space mirrors, announced Wednesday the purchase of two launches from Indian launcher Skyroot Aerospace, Payload Space reports. One of the launches will use Skyroot's Vikram-1 rocket, which became the first privately developed Indian rocket to reach orbit in July. The other will fly on an upgraded rocket called the Vikram-1U.
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The pairing is the interesting part: a California company selling the idea of extra sunlight buying rides from an Indian launch provider. One of those rockets has already been to orbit — the Vikram-1 made Skyroot the first private Indian firm to manage it in July. Launch is looking less parochial than it used to.
Note the asymmetry in the order. One ride is on the Vikram-1 with that July orbital flight behind it; the other is on the upgraded Vikram-1U. If your product is reflected sunlight, the mirrors are the dream and the rocket manifest is the actual business.