India and Brazil are extending their space partnership into launch-vehicle development, with private companies from both countries agreeing to examine a rocket capable of placing at least 100 kilograms into low Earth orbit (LEO). The proposed vehicle would target the small-satellite market and potentially give the partners a launch option between Brazil’s emerging micro-launcher programme and Skyroot Aerospace’s larger Vikram rocket family.
The agreement is a two-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Hyderabad-based Skyroot and Concert Technologies, a member of Brazil’s Micro Launcher Programme consortium. It was signed in October by Concert Space chief executive Rafael Mordente during the International Astronautical Congress in Antalya, Türkiye. Brazilian Senator and astronaut Marcos Pontes and Brazilian Space Agency President Marco Antonio Chamon attended the signing, according to reports.
The MoU sets out an exploratory partnership, rather than a final commitment to build or launch a rocket. The companies will assess technical requirements and commercial prospects, and consider collaboration in satellite systems and low Earth orbit constellations. The agreement does not disclose a vehicle design, development budget, division of work, launch date or launch site. Further agreements would be needed to settle investments; equipment supplies and commercialisation.
The proposed payload capacity of at least 100 kilograms would exceed the up-to-40-kilogram capacity reported for Brazil’s planned Micro-launcher Programme vehicle. That positioning could offer a route to serve satellite operators whose payloads are too large for a micro-launcher but do not require a larger rocket. The partnership will also explore possible launches from equatorial locations, though the MoU does not confirm a site or commit either company to launch from Brazil.
For Brazil, the collaboration offers access to Skyroot’s launch-vehicle experience as the country works to develop a privately led small-satellite launcher. Concert Technologies is part of a Brazilian consortium whose work includes propulsion, navigation and control expertise. The proposed joint effort could link those capabilities with Skyroot’s rocket development programme, while giving the Indian company a partner with knowledge of Brazil’s aerospace sector and potential launch ecosystem.
Skyroot was founded in 2018 and became the first Indian private company to send a rocket into space with the sub-orbital Vikram-S in 2022. The company is developing its Vikram family of launch vehicles for satellite missions. Its agreement with Concert would broaden its international cooperation, but the available announcement does not specify which technologies or components each partner might contribute to the proposed launcher.
