Diamond jewellery, 18K gold rocket among payloads to be launched by Vikram-1

A diamond jewellery creation mounted on an aluminium base plate and a miniaturised artwork cast in the shape of a rocket using 18K gold are among the payloads which will be launched by India’s first privately developed orbital-class rocket, Vikram-1.

Vikram-1 is expected to be launched some time between July 12 and August 4.

On July 6, Skyroot Aerospace announced that the orbital launch vehicle will be carrying six payloads onboard.

The rocket will carry technology demonstration payloads from Graaha Space, Dcubed, and Skyroot’s own SCOPE, along with Cosmos Diamonds’ artwork Cosmic Bloom. Also onboard will be the Embrace payload, developed by Cosmoserve Space.

During the mission, the robotic arm will remain attached to Vikram-1’s payload deck while carrying out its planned demonstration.

In addition to the technology demonstration payloads, Vikram-1 will carry two payloads celebrating creativity and India’s scientific heritage. These include Cosmic Bloom, developed by Cosmos Diamonds, featuring a diamond jewellery creation mounted on an aluminium base plate, and Microart by Ajay Kumar Mattewada, an 18K gold rocket holding micro-sculptures of Sir C.V. Raman, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, and Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam — each smaller than a grain of rice.

Payloads to be launched by Vikram-1

Cosmic Bloom, developed by Cosmos Diamonds, featuring a diamond jewellery creation mounted on an aluminium base plate, is among the payloads to be launched by Vikram-1.

Micro-sculptures of Sir C.V. Raman, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, and Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam — each smaller than a grain of rice — are among the payloads to be launched by Vikram-1.

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The artwork pays tribute to three visionaries whose pioneering contributions continue to inspire India’s scientific and space journey.

There will be one international payload — uD3PP and mD3RN — developed by Dcubed GmbH, Germany.

“India’s space sector is witnessing a remarkable phase of innovation and entrepreneurship. Missions like Vikram-1 are helping expand opportunities for emerging space companies to demonstrate and scale their technologies,” said Ramesh Kumar V., co-founder and CEO, Grahaa Space.

“Grahaa Space is pleased to be part of this mission through SOLARAS, which represents an important milestone for Grahaa Space as we continue to develop next-generation satellite platforms from India. We are grateful to Skyroot Aerospace for enabling this opportunity, and look forward to contributing to the growth of India’s space ecosystem,” he added.

“Mission Aagaman gave us a platform to rapidly send our systems to space and test them. Through this mission with Skyroot, we accelerated our soft-robotic capture technology from concept to flight-ready in just four months, advancing the space debris removal capabilities being developed at Cosmoserve Space. This mission marks an important milestone in advancing technologies that will enable future in-orbit servicing and orbital sustainability,” said Dr. Chiranjeevi Phanindra, founder and CEO of Cosmoserve Space.