Skyroot Aerospace has secured two dedicated launch contracts from US spacetech startup Reflect Orbital, adding another international customer for the Hyderabad-based private rocket company after the successful maiden orbital flight of its Vikram-1 rocket in July 2026.
The two missions will deploy future Reflect Orbital spacecraft, which are being developed with orbital mirrors designed to redirect sunlight to specific locations on Earth. The companies said the agreement would provide Reflect Orbital with assured launch capacity and scheduling as it develops a deployment programme that will also include launches from the United States.
Financial terms and launch dates for the two missions have not been disclosed. Reflect Orbital said its spacecraft could be used to support night-time search-and-rescue operations, improve safety for construction crews and extend electricity generation at solar farms without requiring new ground infrastructure.
“There’s a real launch capacity shortage right now,” Reflect Orbital co-founder and chief executive Ben Nowack said, adding that Skyroot would help the company secure access to space for its satellites. He said Reflect Orbital had recently received approval from the US Federal Communications Commission to operate its first spacecraft and would continue discussions with astronomers, communities and regulators.
Skyroot co-founder and chief executive Pawan Kumar Chandana said Reflect Orbital represented the type of global mission for which the Vikram family of rockets was being developed. He cited schedule certainty and mission flexibility as factors supporting the partnership.
The deal follows Skyroot’s first successful orbital mission, when its Vikram-1 rocket carried payloads named uD3PP and mD3RN for German customer DCubed on July 18. That flight marked the company’s first orbital mission and followed Skyroot’s launch of Vikram-S in 2022, when it became the first Indian private company to send a rocket into space.
Founded in 2018, Skyroot raised nearly $60 million in May at a reported valuation of $1.1 billion, becoming India’s first spacetech unicorn. The Reflect Orbital agreement gives the company another international commercial relationship, although the timing, configuration and operational details of the two planned Vikram missions remain undisclosed.
