Skyroot Aerospace's Dhawan-III engine sustained stable combustion for 145 seconds during a static fire test, validating India's cryogenic propulsion capabilities and positioning the country as a serious contender in the global small satellite launch market. The methalox-powered engine, manufactured entirely from Inconel superalloy using 3D printing, is destined for the upper stage of the Vikram-II rocket and marks a decisive step forward for India's private aerospace sector.
On March 9, 2026, Skyroot Aerospace published the results of a test that, in under three minutes, rewrote what the Indian private space industry is capable of. A 145-second burn. A flame of electric blue. And the unmistakable diamond-shaped shock patterns of Mach diamonds visible in the exhaust plume, a visual signature of supersonic propulsion operating at peak efficiency. The Dhawan-III engine had just proven itself.
This is not a government milestone. It belongs to a startup founded in 2018 by two former ISRO engineers, Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, who left the security of India's national space agency to build something faster, leaner, and commercially competitive.
The Dhawan-III engine represents a genuine technical leap
The name honors Satish Dhawan, the revered Indian scientist who shaped the country's space program across decades. But the technology behind this engine looks nothing like the institutional engineering of the past.
Cryogenic propulsion meets advanced manufacturing
The Dhawan-III runs on methalox, a mixture of liquid methane and liquid oxygen that has become the propellant of choice for a new generation of rocket engineers worldwide. Methane burns cleaner than kerosene, leaves far less carbon residue on engine components, and makes reusability significantly more practical. When an engine can be inspected and refired without extensive reconditioning, the economics of launch change fundamentally.
The engine delivers a thrust of approximately 2.3 kilonewtons at sea level and 2.8 kilonewtons in vacuum, figures that suit the upper stage role it is designed to fill on Vikram-II. But beyond the numbers, the manufacturing process itself is notable. The Dhawan-III is fabricated from Inconel, a nickel-based superalloy capable of withstanding extreme thermal and mechanical stress. And its components are produced as single-block units through additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing. Fewer parts mean fewer joints, fewer potential leak points, shorter production timelines, and lower unit costs. The entire manufacturing philosophy is oriented toward speed and scalability.
A family of engines built in stages
The Dhawan-III did not emerge from nothing. It is the third iteration of a deliberate development roadmap. Skyroot tested the Dhawan-I in 2021, establishing the foundational proof of concept. The Dhawan-II followed, achieving a combustion duration of 200 seconds in 2023, a benchmark that validated the thermal endurance of the methalox approach. The Dhawan-III now closes the loop on upper-stage readiness, with flight testing of Vikram-II set as the next concrete milestone.
stable combustion during the Dhawan-III static fire test
Skyroot Aerospace is building the infrastructure to match its ambitions
A working engine is one thing. The capacity to produce rockets at commercial scale is another. Skyroot has invested heavily in both.
The Infinity Campus, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the end of 2025, spans approximately 18,500 square meters and is designed to support a production cadence of one rocket per month. That figure matters in an industry where launch frequency directly determines revenue and market relevance. The facility operates alongside the Max-Q Campus, which handles design and development work, giving the company a clear separation between innovation and industrial execution.
Vikram-S, launched in November 2022, already established Skyroot as the operator of the first privately developed Indian rocket to reach space. Vikram-I, the next step in the family, is rated for approximately 550 kilograms to low Earth orbit. Vikram-II, which the Dhawan-III is built to power, extends that capability further into a market that is expanding faster than most analysts predicted.
India’s private space sector opened to commercial operators through IN-SPACe, the government coordination body established to facilitate private participation. Since then, more than a hundred space startups have registered in the country, with Skyroot consistently among the most advanced.
The small satellite market is the strategic target
The timing of Skyroot's progress is not accidental. The global market for small satellites, defined as spacecraft weighing less than 500 kilograms, was valued at approximately 6.4 billion euros in 2024. Projections place that figure at 28 billion euros by 2034. As of March 2025, more than 11,800 active satellites orbit Earth, and roughly 61.5% of them fall into the small satellite category. The demand for dedicated, affordable, and reliable launch services targeting this segment is structural, not cyclical.
Skyroot's cryogenic propulsion capabilities, validated by the Dhawan-III test, position the company to compete for a share of this market with a domestically developed, cost-efficient launcher. India's broader aerospace ambitions align with this opportunity: the country has explicitly positioned itself as an emerging launch services provider for international customers, not merely a domestic operator.
France is building a parallel ecosystem with comparable urgency
India's trajectory has a European counterpart. France has spent the years since 2020 assembling a NewSpace ecosystem with notable momentum. Cumulative investment in French space startups since that year has reached approximately 1.2 billion euros, generating around 5,000 jobs across the sector. By 2026, more than 300 space startups operate in France, backed by a combination of CNES support and Bpifrance financing.
Propulsion and launch startups leading the charge
Several French companies are pursuing launch and propulsion strategies that echo, in different technical registers, what Skyroot is doing in India. Latitude, headquartered in Reims, is developing the Zephyr rocket and is targeting its first orbital flight in 2026, having raised 10 million euros in 2023. HyPrSpace, based in Bordeaux, raised 35 million euros in 2025 and is advancing the Baguette One launcher, which uses a hybrid propulsion system. Both companies are chasing the same small satellite launch window.
Adjacent capabilities: in-orbit operations and reusable micro-launchers
Beyond launch vehicles, the French ecosystem extends into orbital infrastructure. The Exploration Company, with operations spanning Munich and France, raised 95 million euros in 2024 to develop methane-based propulsion systems for orbital transport. Orbital Factory, seated in Toulouse, secured 12 million euros in 2025 for its vision of robotized manufacturing facilities in orbit. And MaiaSpace, a subsidiary of ArianeGroup headquartered in Vernon, is building a reusable micro-launcher with a first flight expected before the end of the decade.
France has set a formal target of capturing 10% of the global small satellite launch market by 2030, when that market is projected to be worth approximately 10 billion euros. The ambition is calibrated, and the investment base is real. Just as innovations in materials science are reshaping hypersonic aerospace development in Asia, propulsion breakthroughs like the Dhawan-III are redefining what private actors can achieve outside traditional space powers.
- Cleaner combustion, less carbon residue on engine components
- Facilitates engine reuse and reduces maintenance costs
- Compatible with 3D-printed single-block manufacturing
- Lower production costs compared to traditional propellants
- Cryogenic propellants require complex handling and storage infrastructure
- Transition from static fire to orbital flight involves significant additional validation steps
- Commercial launch market is increasingly competitive with established players
What the Dhawan-III test ultimately demonstrates is that the geography of the global space industry is shifting. The legacy of Vikram Sarabhai, who built India's space program from institutional foundations in the mid-twentieth century, is now being extended by a generation of engineers who left those same institutions to move faster. And in the same period, French startups from Reims to Toulouse are pursuing their own orbital ambitions with the kind of capital and technical depth that makes the 2030 market projections look credible rather than aspirational. Skyroot's 145 seconds of blue flame were not just a test. They were a statement of intent, backed by hardware.
