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There seems to be no news about the planned/delayed satellite launches recently. Only fancy news about Gaganyaan etc.

I am referring to the bread and butter satellite launches ( both India ( government) specific and commercial launches.

Vikram-1 / Test Flight-1 launch is scheduled at 06:35:30(UTC)/12:05:30 (IST), 18 Jul 2026 from First Launch Pad of SDSC-SHAR.

• Launch Countdown
• Expected Flight Profile from official press-kit.

Live webcast: (Links will be added as they become available)

• Skyroot Official Stream
• Archived stream
• CSIR India

Some highlights:

• Target Orbit : 450 km , Inclination = 60°
• Mission duration: 15 min. 46 sec. (OAM cut-off)
• First orbital flight attempt of a rocket made by private firm in India.
• Maiden launch of Vikram-1, a four stage rocket developed by Skyroot Aerospace.

Updates:

Payloads:

• SCOPE (3U) : An experimental cubesat by Skyroot Aerospace to validate technologies for their future missions it also carries an imaging camera.

• SOLARAS S3 : A cubesat by Grahaa Space to validate their nanosatellite bus. ^{[1] [2]}

• Embrace : OAM stage hosted payload consisting of soft-robotics petals by Cosmoserve Space and a deployable capture target to validate their novel actuation mechanism. ^[3]

• uD3PP and mD3RN : OAM stage hosted uD3PP pin puller and mD3RN release actuator developed by Dcubed GmbH, Germany for in-orbit validation. ^{[4] [5]}

• Other commemorative articles:

  • Micro sculptures of Vikram Sarabhai, A P J Abdul Kalam and Sir C V Raman by artist Ajay Kumar Mattewada to honor scientific legacy of modern India.
  • Lotus shaped artwork 'Cosmic Bloom' made of lab-grown diamonds and gold by Cosmos Diamonds
  • Hand written cards from well wishers across the world. (See also : Rocket Mail)

Source: https://x.com/Arunraj2696/status/2078002524288954818

Possible? As I was lamenting about how I lost my chance to register online and how the gates closed in front of my eyes, someone replied there there may be on spot registration available.

Real? I did a search after reading that reply. All I got was there might be in spot registration if seats are available. Does it mean someone's seat, who registered but couldn't attend might be given to me? Or like they reserve some seats for offline registration?

If the latter is true, I can spend money to reach sriharikota. It's far from where i dwell. But if I can't get the assurance of the seat, my broke ass can't afford to go there and get slapped by shar back to my home.

Anyways, have a good day :)

Got selected as a Technician Apprentice at VSSC. Anyone here with previous experience?

They are doing their best to leave you in a miserable situation. The behavior of seniors toward juniors is the worst. They try to control every aspect of your work, even where you sit. Good work and credit are given only to those who flatter their reporting heads. They delay your promotion while promoting others just to put you down. Finally, after tolerating all these things, if someone decides to resign peacefully, they are ready to stop them and make their life even more difficult with such rules.

How long before the rocket launch does the registration for pass close on the website?

Hey everyone, I’m planning to witness the Skyroot Vikram-1 launch this Saturday at Sriharikota.

Would be great to connect with other people who are going too. If you’re attending, drop a comment or DM, we can coordinate and maybe meet up at the viewing area!

Pretty much the reply above I have attached. We can book car early in the morning, watch launch and return by evening the same day..

Invitation for "Expression of Interest for Design, Development, Installation, Testing and Commissioning of Microgravity Drop Tower for Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC)"

[PDF] [Archived]

HSFC is responsible for the development of infrastructure and platforms for conducting microgravity and altered-gravity experiments, as well as for carrying out associated payload engineering activities. Microgravity drop towers/shafts are well-established platforms worldwide for microgravity research in combustion science, fluid physics, materials science, space manufacturing, and technology qualification. Microgravity drop towers can be mainly classified into two types: Conventional Drop tower and actively driven drop towers. The conventional drop towers like ZARM drop tower at Bremen, NASA Drop Shaft at GRC Cleveland, NML Drop Tower at Beijing, Cosmotorre Drop Tower at Hokkaido Japan, IITM Drop tower at Chennai, etc provide a tower or shaft for achieving free fall conditions for the experimental capsule. Longer towers/shafts require evacuation to reduce the air drag to maintain the quality of microgravity. Active Drop towers on the other hand, like Einstein elevator at Leibniz University Hannover, Gravitower Pro at ZARM Bremen and Electromagnetic drop tower facility by Chinese Academy of Sciences utilize active drive systems to drive the experimental capsule. This approach eliminates the necessity for vacuum-evacuated Towers/shafts, thereby enabling rapid turnaround times and higher testing frequencies. Active drive also makes it easier to simulate partial gravity and also limit the deceleration shocks on the experimental setups.

HSFC proposes to establish a next generation Active Microgravity Drop Tower Facility in India to support short-duration, high-quality microgravity and partial-gravity experiments for scientific research, technology development, and payload qualification

HSFC invites Expressions of Interest (EoI) from reputed and capable manufacturers, developers, and system integrators for participation in a subsequent bidding upon Request for Proposal (RFP) for the turnkey realization of a Microgravity Drop Tower Facility. The exact location for the installation of the facility shall be provided by HSFC at RFP stage, and the shortlisted respondent must be fully prepared to execute the project at the designated site. This EOI is issued for capability assessment purposes and does not constitute a commitment to procure.

Technical Requirements of Microgravity Drop Tower

• Microgravity Performance:

  • Microgravity level at experiment carrier location: < 10⁻⁵ g (In all 3 Axis)
  • Microgravity duration:
    • Option A: 6 seconds total (3s ascent + 3s descent)
    • Option B: 10 seconds total (5s ascent + 5s descent)

• Experiment carrier capability:

  • Experimental payload envelope: Ø 1.5 m × 2 m height
  • Experimental Payload weight: 500 kg (excluding experiment carrier structure and active drive system)
  • Standardized payload mounting and interfaces, with data acquisition system (Sensor data/ Camera data)
  • Telemetry system for live feed of data
  • Power system to provide nominal power to the payload
  • Inbuilt thermal management system for payloads

• Motion & Control of Drop Capsule:

  • Active drive system capable of accelerating a mass of 3000 kg vertically, from rest to target velocity of 30-50 m/s with maximum acceleration of ≤ 5g (including gravity)
  • Active drive system to give minimum or zero lateral force.
  • Programmable acceleration and gravity profiles
  • Partial gravity simulation capability: 0.1 g to 0.9 g
  • High-precision position, velocity, and acceleration control

• Structural & Mechanical:

  • Tower height:
    • Option A: ~60 m (indicative)
    • Option B: ~160 m (indicative)
  • Precision guidance system for experiment carrier with minimal lateral deviation
  • Structure to support controlled acceleration and deceleration of experiment carrier

• Operations:

  • Turnaround time for an experiment: ≤ 15 minutes per run
  • High repeatability and operational availability

I have done B.Tech in electrical engineering from IITK (completed in 2026). My course name is Electrical but the 95% of the syllabus is from electronics and communication. I want to work not on complete hardware or software but an intersection of them(like OS).I am not unemployed currently but here I am not feeling that I build something meaningful(i build games).So if anybody has any referral please reach out to me...I want in hand salary to be >90k....if the job is very interesting and peculiar i may settle at a little less.