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Reflect Orbital announces the purchase of two Skyroot Aerospace launches to deploy future spacecraft. These dedicated launches provide assured schedule and capacity, and complement Reflect Orbital’s other planned launches from sites in the United States.
Reflect Orbital builds and operates orbital mirrors that enable controlled lighting without ground infrastructure. This lighting will support a variety of customers, from remote search-and-rescue operations to solar farms generating clean power. To provide these services, the satellites must first get to space.
“There’s a real launch capacity shortage right now. We’re excited to work with a new launch provider, Skyroot, to help ensure access to space,” said Reflect Orbital Co-Founder and CEO, Ben Nowack. “For decades, the promise of space has been a better life here on Earth; expanding solar energy generation to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and helping save lives in emergency situations follow in that tradition. We were recently licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to operate our first spacecraft, and we will continue to work with astronomers, local communities and regulators to earn the right to scale.”
Skyroot’s Vikram-1 launch vehicle recently achieved orbit successfully on its first flight, marking a major milestone for India’s private space sector. The agreement with Reflect Orbital extends Skyroot’s commercial launch manifest across the Vikram family and supports Reflect Orbital’s phased development and deployment plans.
“Reflect Orbital represents the kind of ambitious global space mission the Vikram family is being built to serve. We are pleased to partner with Ben and the Reflect Orbital team across two dedicated launches, providing schedule certainty and mission flexibility,”said Pawan Kumar Chandana, Co-founder and CEO, Skyroot Aerospace.
The first launch on this contract will use the Vikram-1 rocket; the second will use Skyroot’s in-development Vikram-1U rocket. The Vikram-1U has additional first-stage boosters and improved performance.
