The rocket, named after Vikram Sarabhai, considered the father of India’s space programme, is small and has the capacity to carry payloads of up to 350kg, Skyroot co-founder and CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana told the BBC.

Chandana says today that access to space remains “a major bottleneck, as satellite operators often wait months or even years for a launch opportunity” and that his company hopes to change that.

He says Skyroot aims to reduce long waits for satellite launches by offering dedicated missions for small payloads.

Instead of sharing space on large rockets flying on fixed schedules, customers can book a launch tailored to their satellite and required orbit, much like taking a taxi instead of waiting for a train.

“If you just want to go to a friend’s house, you don’t need a train, book a taxi, an Uber. What we offer is a taxi service to space, which can be used to travel to a unique place in orbit to place a satellite or visit a station.”

If successful, Skyroot’s model would appear similar to that of Rocket Lab in the United States, which provides low-lift launch vehicles.

If all goes as planned, the Indian test launch mission called Aagman (Sanskrit for arrival) will launch six payloads into orbit.

They include scientific instruments such as a robotic arm for removing space debris, an Earth observation camera and satellites, including one from a German company.

But they also include two symbolic payloads that have created a stir in India. One is a lotus made from lab-grown diamonds and a small gold rocket with microsculptures of three of India’s best-known scientists.

Each smaller than a grain of rice, the sculptures pay tribute to Nobel Prize-winning physicist CV Raman and aerospace engineer and former Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam, as well as Sarabhai.

“We exist because of the Indian space programme, we stand on the shoulders of our early visionaries and this is our way of paying tribute to three great scientists who shaped India’s space programme,” Chandana explained.

He said the diamond lotus, called Cosmic Bloom and developed by Cosmos Diamonds, is an artist’s tribute to space and celebrates India’s creativity. It is expected to remind us all of the phrase “like a diamond in the sky” from the popular children’s song Twinkle, Twinkle.