Can India replace a satellite in days? Vikram-1 opens a bigger space question

Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1 has secured a place in India’s space history as the first orbital rocket developed by an Indian private company to successfully reach orbit.But can India take the significance of the mission beyond a successful commercial launch and link it to a wider strategic ambition?Can the country’s growing private space industry eventually help build a launch system capable of responding rapidly during a national emergency? Vikram-1 makes such a capability more conceivable, but India has not yet demonstrated an operational responsive space-launch system.Vikram-1 does not by itself give India a responsive launch capability. A planned commercial mission is very different from maintaining rockets, satellites and launch infrastructure in readiness to replace critical space assets at short notice during a conflict.Yet the rocket marks an important turning point.