India and Brazil Join Hands to Develop a Satellite Launch Vehicle That Can Carry 100 kg Into Orbit

India and Brazil are taking their long-standing space partnership to a new level. Companies from the two countries have agreed to work together on a new satellite launch vehicle — a rocket able to carry payloads of at least 100 kilograms into low Earth orbit.

The agreement was formalised through a two-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in October between India’s Skyroot Aerospace and Brazil’s Concert Technologies, a member of Brazil’s Micro Launcher Program consortium. The deal was reported on 12 November 2026 and marks a new chapter in more than two decades of space cooperation between the two countries.

The plan is not to build a giant rocket. It is to build a small, affordable one — the kind of launcher the world’s fast-growing small-satellite industry needs most. And it brings together two countries that have each been building their own path into space, but from very different starting points.

What the deal actually says

Under the MoU, Skyroot Aerospace and Concert Technologies will spend two years assessing the technology needed, the commercial opportunities, and the chances for wider cooperation in satellite systems and low Earth orbit constellations.

The proposed launch vehicle is expected to carry payloads of at least 100 kilograms into low Earth orbit. That is the headline number, and it matters because it fills a gap. Brazil’s Microlauncher Program is designed for payloads of up to 40 kilograms. Skyroot’s larger Vikram rocket family, meanwhile, is built for bigger loads. The new rocket would sit in between — more capable than Brazil’s microlaunchers, and smaller and cheaper to fly than a full-size orbital rocket.

The two sides will also explore opportunities for equatorial launches — launches from near the equator, where the Earth’s spin gives a rocket a helpful push.

It is important to be clear about what this agreement is — and what it is not. An MoU is a promise to work together and study a project, not a contract to build a rocket. The companies have said separate agreements will still be needed for investments, equipment supplies, and commercialisation. In other words, the deal opens the door. The hard work of designing, funding, and building the rocket still lies ahead.

Who signed the deal — and where

The MoU was signed by Rafael Mordente, chief executive of Concert Space, during the International Astronautical Congress 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye — the world’s biggest annual gathering of the space industry, which brings together space agencies, companies, and researchers from around the world.

Two senior Brazilian figures were present at the signing ceremony: Senator Marcos Pontes, a former astronaut and the first Brazilian to travel to space, and Marco Antonio Chamon, president of the Brazilian Space Agency. Their presence signals that the deal has backing at the top of Brazil’s space establishment, not just inside the companies involved.

Who are the two partners?

Skyroot Aerospace: India’s private rocket pioneer

Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace was founded in 2018 and has become one of the biggest names in India’s fast-growing private space sector. In 2022, its Vikram-S rocket made Skyroot the first Indian private company to launch a rocket into space. Then, in July 2026, its Vikram-1 rocket achieved an orbital launch — a far harder feat that showed India’s private companies can now do what only government space agencies could do a few years ago.

Skyroot is part of a wider change in India. For decades, spaceflight in India was the work of one organisation: the Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO. In recent years, the government has opened the sector to private firms, and startups like Skyroot have moved quickly to build rockets, engines, and satellite systems of their own. The company now brings that hard-won launch experience to the partnership with Brazil.

Concert Technologies and Brazil’s Microlauncher Program

On the Brazilian side, Concert Technologies is a member of the consortium behind Brazil’s Micro Launcher Program. The consortium is working to develop Brazil’s first privately led small-satellite launch vehicle, bringing together companies that specialise in propulsion, navigation, and control technologies — the three hardest parts of building any rocket.

Brazil has long dreamed of becoming a launching nation. Its Alcântara Launch Center sits close to the equator on the country’s north-eastern coast, giving it one of the best-located launch sites in the world. But turning that geographic advantage into a working launch industry has been slow. This partnership is the latest attempt to change that — by combining Brazilian launch-site advantages with Indian rocket-building experience.

What is a 100 kg launch vehicle — and why does it matter?

To understand why a 100-kilogram rocket matters, it helps to understand what has changed in space over the past decade.

Most satellites used to be big, heavy, and expensive — school-bus-sized machines that cost hundreds of millions of dollars and took years to build. Today, a growing share of new satellites are small. A CubeSat, the most common type of small satellite, can be as small as a shoebox. Universities, startups, and even schools now build satellites. They are used for everything from tracking crops and forests to providing internet connections and watching the weather.

But small satellites still need a ride into space. Until recently, most of them travelled as “secondary passengers” on big rockets, squeezed into spare space alongside a larger main satellite. That works, but it means waiting for a big launch, accepting someone else’s schedule, and going to someone else’s orbit.

A small, dedicated launcher solves that problem. It carries one small satellite — or a handful of them — exactly where they need to go, on a schedule the customer chooses. A rocket that can lift 100 kilograms into low Earth orbit is big enough to carry several small satellites at once, or one medium-sized satellite, making it a practical workhorse for this market.

Low Earth orbit, or LEO, is the region of space up to about 2,000 kilometres above the Earth. It is where most Earth-observation satellites, internet constellations, and science missions fly, because being close to Earth makes it cheaper to reach and gives sharper views of the ground below.

This is also why so many countries and companies are now racing to build small rockets. The market for launching small satellites has grown quickly, and there are still not enough rockets to meet demand. A reliable, affordable small launcher is a valuable thing to own — and a good thing to sell.

Why equatorial launches are part of the plan

One detail in the announcement stands out: the partners will explore opportunities for equatorial launches. That is a clue to where this rocket might one day fly from.

The equator is the best place on Earth to launch a rocket, for a simple reason. The Earth spins, and it spins fastest at the equator — the surface there moves at roughly 1,670 kilometres per hour. A rocket launched eastward from near the equator gets that speed for free, like a runner starting on a moving walkway. That means it needs less fuel to reach orbit, so it can carry more cargo.

Brazil’s Alcântara Launch Center, on the coast of Maranhão state, sits just over two degrees south of the equator — closer than almost any other launch site in the world. That location is a natural advantage Brazil has never fully used. If the new rocket is ever launched from Alcântara, it would combine Indian rocket technology with one of the best launch locations on the planet.

India’s own launch sites, by contrast, sit further north. That is one reason the partnership makes sense for both sides: each brings something the other does not have.

A partnership built on more than 20 years of working together

The new MoU does not come out of nowhere. India and Brazil have cooperated in space for more than two decades, and the relationship has already produced real results.

The most important milestone so far was the launch of Brazil’s Amazônia-1 satellite using India’s space launch infrastructure. Amazônia-1 is an Earth-observation satellite that watches over the Amazon rainforest, tracking deforestation and helping Brazil manage the world’s largest tropical forest. India launched it — a concrete example of one country using another’s rockets to serve its own national needs.

That history matters because space partnerships are built on trust. Launching another country’s satellite means handling its most sensitive technology. Doing it successfully once makes the second time easier — and makes a deeper partnership, like jointly developing a rocket, much more likely.

The timing also reflects a wider shift. India’s space sector is opening up to the world, signing partnerships with companies and agencies across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Brazil, meanwhile, is looking for partners who can help it build a real launch industry rather than just hosting other countries’ rockets. This deal sits at the meeting point of those two ambitions.

What happens next

Under the two-year MoU, the two companies will now study the project in detail. That means working out the rocket’s design, figuring out what technology each side will contribute, testing whether the business case adds up, and exploring cooperation on satellite systems and low Earth orbit constellations — groups of satellites working together in orbit.

If those studies go well, the next step would be separate agreements covering investment, equipment, and commercialisation. Only then would metal start being cut. So nobody should expect a new rocket on a launch pad next year. The honest timeline is measured in years, not months — which is normal for rockets. Even small ones take time.

There are also questions the MoU does not answer yet. How will the work be divided between the Indian and Brazilian companies? Where will the rocket be built, tested, and launched? How much will it cost, and who will pay? Those answers will come only if the partnership moves from studying the idea to building it.

What is already clear is that both countries see value in trying. For India, it is a chance to export its private-sector rocket expertise and deepen a partnership with Latin America’s largest economy. For Brazil, it is a chance to move closer to having a launch vehicle of its own — and to make real use of its equatorial launch site.

Why it matters beyond India and Brazil

At first glance, a rocket deal between India and Brazil might seem far away from everyday life. But the satellites such a rocket would carry are not far away at all. They watch crops, track floods and forest fires, guide ships, and carry internet and phone signals. Cheaper, more flexible access to space means more of those services, in more places, at lower cost — including in the developing world.

The deal is also part of a bigger story: the rise of “South-South” cooperation in advanced technology. For most of the space age, the countries that built rockets were a small club — the United States, Russia, Europe, China, and Japan. Now India and Brazil, two large developing countries, are working together to join that club on their own terms, as partners rather than as customers. If they succeed, other countries may follow the same path.

Finally, the partnership shows how quickly the commercial space industry is changing. Rockets are no longer built only by governments. Private companies like Skyroot now design, build, and fly them — and they are striking deals across borders, just as companies in any other industry do. That is a sign of a maturing industry, and of a space economy that is becoming truly global.

Frequently asked questions

What is the India-Brazil satellite launch vehicle deal?

India’s Skyroot Aerospace and Brazil’s Concert Technologies have signed a two-year MoU to jointly explore developing a satellite launch vehicle that can carry payloads of at least 100 kilograms into low Earth orbit. The agreement was signed in October 2026 during the International Astronautical Congress in Antalya, Türkiye.

Who are Skyroot Aerospace and Concert Technologies?

Skyroot Aerospace is a private Indian space company based in Hyderabad, founded in 2018. It became the first Indian private company to launch a rocket into space with Vikram-S in 2022, and achieved an orbital launch with Vikram-1 in July 2026. Concert Technologies is a Brazilian company and a member of the consortium behind Brazil’s Micro Launcher Program, which is developing the country’s first privately led small-satellite launch vehicle.

What is low Earth orbit?

Low Earth orbit, or LEO, is the region of space up to about 2,000 kilometres above the Earth. Most Earth-observation satellites, internet constellations, and science missions fly there because it is cheaper to reach than higher orbits and gives clearer views of the ground.

Why does a 100 kg capacity matter?

A rocket that can lift 100 kilograms into orbit can carry several small satellites at once, or one medium-sized satellite. Small satellites are the fastest-growing part of the space industry, used for farming, weather, mapping, communications, and climate monitoring — but they often have to wait for spare room on big rockets. A dedicated small launcher gives them a faster, more flexible ride.

What is an equatorial launch — and why does Brazil want one?

An equatorial launch is a rocket launch from near the equator, where the Earth’s rotation is fastest and gives the rocket a free speed boost. That means less fuel is needed to reach orbit. Brazil’s Alcântara Launch Center sits just over two degrees south of the equator, making it one of the best-placed launch sites in the world.

When will the new rocket fly?

There is no launch date yet. The two-year MoU covers studies of the technology and the business case. Separate agreements on investment, equipment, and commercialisation would be needed before building begins, so any first flight is years away.

Conclusion

India and Brazil have taken a real, if early, step toward building a rocket together. The two-year MoU between Skyroot Aerospace and Concert Technologies is not yet a rocket — it is a plan to study one. But the logic behind it is strong: India brings proven private-sector rocket experience, Brazil brings a near-equatorial launch site and a growing space industry, and both bring a 20-year history of working together in space.

If the studies go well and the funding follows, the result could be a small, affordable launcher serving the world’s booming small-satellite market — built by two developing countries, for a global customer base. That would be a first, and a sign of how far the space industry has travelled from its government-only beginnings. For now, the work begins on paper. The countdown, if it comes, is still years away.

Sources

• The Hindu BusinessLine: “Skyroot Aerospace and Brazil’s Concert Technologies to develop launch vehicle” — https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/science/indias-skyroot-aerospace-brazils-concert-technologies-to-jointly-develop-satellite-launch-vehicle/article71693509.ece
• The Tribune (ANI): “India, Brazil join hands to develop satellite launch vehicle” — https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/india-brazil-join-hands-to-develop-satellite-launch-vehicle/
• Lokmat Times (ANI): “India, Brazil Join Forces to Develop New Satellite Launch Vehicle” — https://www.lokmattimes.com/international/india-brazil-join-forces-to-develop-new-satellite-launch-vehicle-a001-w01/

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.