HYDERABAD, India — When Space.com visited Skyroot Aerospace's Max-Q campus here in February, the company's first orbital rocket, Vikram-1, was still coming together.
Inside the company's 55,000-square-foot (5,110 square meters) rocket factory, engineers sat before computer screens, running critical simulations and systems checks on Vikram-1's Orbit Adjustment Module, the liquid-fueled upper stage that stands at the center of the room and will guide the rocket's final maneuvers in space. Unlike the rocket's three solid-fueled lower stages, the upper stage can restart its engine, allowing Vikram-1 to deploy multiple customer satellites into different orbits during a single mission.
