Skyroot Aerospace : Success Story of India's First Private Company
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Mr. Naga Bharath
Daka and Mr. Pawan Kumar Chandana, founders of Skyroot Aerospace. (From Left to
Right) Photo Credit: Skyroot Aerospace
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Successful launching of first private Indian rocket Vikram-S on 18 November, 2022 from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh (India). Photo Credit: Skyroot Aerospace |
The launch of
Vikram-S was named as Mission "Prarambh". The Hindi word
"Prarambh" literally means "to begin a task". The
successful and historic launch of Vikram-S marks the beginning of a new era
where ISRO and Indian private entities will work together for space
exploration. Sharing his happiness with Raumfahrt Concret, Pawan Kumar
Chandana, Co-Founder & CEO, Skyroot Aerospace, says “we are immensely happy
and proud that our Vikram-S project has become a watershed moment for the
Indian private space sector, and is being celebrated as a national milestone.
We have received tremendous support from our friends, family members as well as
the numerous people across the country and abroad who have been closely
following our progress over the years. It’s great to know that the joy and
pride of this milestone is not ours alone and is shared by all.”
The Vikram-series
launch vehicles of Skyroot Aerospace have been named after Late Mr. Vikram
Ambalal Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space programme. Vikram-S, the first
launch vehicle in the Vikram series, is a single stage sub-orbital launch
vehicle, a small and light vehicle weighing 545 kilograms, height of 6 meters
and diameter of 0.375 meter. The main feature of this launch vehicle is its
simplicity, as it can be built, assembled, and launched quickly. According to
the company, the construction cost of this rocket is very low compared to other
rockets of the same category available in the international market. Through the
launch of Vikram-S, the company tested up to 80% of its various technologies
including propulsion, structure, and avionics etc. The Vikram-S has been
developed with cutting-edge technologies like full carbon fibre structures and
3D Printing. This is the first time in India that a space launch vehicle with
carbon fibre structures has been built.In the year 2020, the construction of
Vikram-S was started and a team of two hundred enthusiastic engineers of the
country fully developed this rocket in a record time of about two years.
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The Indian Space Research Centre has developed the Indian space programme in a robust manner over the last five decades, making it one of the six premier international space agencies in the world. In the process, ISRO developed several micro, small and medium enterprises for supply of the materials in the manufacturing of launch vehicles and artificial satellites. In view of the growing activities of space sector business across the globe and with a view to harness the vast untapped human resources, technical skills and capabilities present in the space sector in the country and to enable non-government entities to conduct independent space activities, in June, 2020 the Union Cabinet chaired by the Honourable Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, has taken the historic decision to open up the space sector for Indian private sector participation. To facilitate private sector participation, the Government of India constituted the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) as a single-window, independent and nodal agency to function as an autonomous body in the Department of Space (DOS). The main responsibilities of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre are to promote, enable and supervise various space activities of non-government entities. Further, construction of launch vehicles and satellites, providing space-based services and sharing infrastructures and premises under the control of Department of Space and ISRO and establishment of new space infrastructures and facilities are the other responsibilities entrusted to it.
On September 11,
2021, a Framework MoU was signed between R. Umamaheswaran, Scientific Secretary,
ISRO and Chairman of the Interim IN-SPACe Committee, and Pawan Kumar Chandana,
Co-Founder and CEO of Skyroot Aerospace, under which the Department of Space
consents Skyroot Aerospace for undertaking multiple tests and access facilities
at various ISRO centres and also enable to avail technical expertise of ISRO
for testing and qualifying their space launch vehicle systems and subsystems.
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| Framework MoU signed by R. Umamaheswaran, Then Chairman
of the Interim IN-SPACe Committee and Pawan Kumar Chandana,CEO of Skyroot
Aerospace in the presence of Dr. K. Sivan, Then Chairman, ISRO and Naga Bharath
Daka, COO of Skyroot Aerospace. Photo Credit: ISRO |
In an interview with
Raumfahrt Concret, Pawan Kumar Chandana, co-founder and CEO of Skyroot
Aerospace, admits that “The decision by the government of India to allow
private participation in the space sector is a significant one, and can herald
in a new era. The system allows for entrepreneurship and private capital to
flow into the domain, and help distribute the quest for excellence in the
sector with various private players setting up technology and R&D centers
and together elevating the qualitative benchmarks to the global standards under
the guidance of department of space, who has a huge role to play as the mentor
and provider. We will definitely see the paradigm shift of the space sector in
the years to come, impacted by this landmark decision of the government.”
Pawan Kumar Chandana,
co-founder and C.E.O. of Skyroot Aerospace, studied mechanical engineering from
IIT Kharagpur. He worked as a scientist at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre,
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) from 2012 to 2018. During this time, he worked for
about five years on the launch vehicle GSLV Mark-III built in India. He then
worked as a systems engineer for the GSLV Mark-III booster rocket S-200. Naga
Bharath Daka, the second co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Skyroot
Aerospace, worked as anavionics engineer in Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre,
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) from2012 to 2015 after completing his education
from IIT Madras. Working at ISRO was a highly enriching experience for
both. Pawan started specializing in mechanical aspects of the rockets while
Naga specialized in aerospace electronics (avionics systems). Over time,
the duo garnered hands-on experience in rocket systems, giving them
the confidence to establish a private space rocket company from India for the
world and on June 12, 2018, they laid the foundation stone of Skyroot Aerospace
in Hyderabad city of Andhra Pradesh (India). They consider rockets to be among
the most fascinating pieces of machinery ever built by humans. Over the years
they saw that satellites getting smaller, with satellite operators increasingly
requiring greater control over launch schedules at affordable costs that small
launch vehicles can deliver.
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Team Skyroot Aerospace. Photo Credit: Skyroot Aerospace
At the time of the establishment of Skyroot Aerospace in 2018, there was no policy regarding the rocket launch services for private entities in the country. However, there was a draft of the Space Act 2017, which indicated the future intention of the government. Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka went ahead with their visionary thinking and taking high risks, and today they have inscribed the name of Skyroot Aerospace in the history of Indian space. Working with the motto of "Open Space for All", Skyroot Aerospace's main goal is to develop low-cost, lightweight, and reliable launch vehicles and send them into space, so that human life can be improved by technology.
According to Pawan
Kumar Chandana, he and Naga started Skyroot Aerospace in the year 2018 with an
investment of $1.5 million from their initial investor Mukesh Bansal. Between
2018 and 2022, it raised $68 million from its investors, the largest amount
raised by any private entity in the space sector, but it was extremely
difficult. Talking to various investors of India and persuading them to invest
was not an easy task, but eventually we got the support of the investors having
similar vision, confidence, and risk appetite.
Identifying the
prospects of future in the present time is the very quality of a successful
entrepreneur and that is why today Pawan Kumar Chandana is being addressed as
Indian Elon Musk. In the year 2020, Pawan Kumar Chandana has been included in
the list of "Forbes 30 Under 30Asia" by Forbes.
Pawan Kumar Chandana
and Naga Bharath Daka had their work experience at ISRO which proved to be very
helpful in the creation and development of Skyroot Aerospace. Pawan Kumar
Chandana believes that “ISRO as a premier space agency in the world, is one of
the best places to master the art of aerospace building, and to build a great
network of space experts. During our stint, we were fortunate to work with
leading exponents in the sector, in several coveted projects for the Indian
space industry. The experience has been awesome, and we believe it has
contributed a lot to the success of Skyroot Aerospace. Today, we have a great
team of people who come from premier institutions including ISRO. We feel our
technology team’s prior experience at ISRO has played a crucial role in our
growth story. Within just four years of starting up, we have successfully
reached space in the first attempt itself. We have successfully validated
various systems and sub-systems, including three propulsion technologies, including
our fully cryogenic propulsion system.”
Currently, Skyroot
Aerospace is developing the orbital vehicle Vikram-I, which will be launched in
the year 2023. This launch vehicle will carry the payloads of their customers
to space. The company plans to launch two rockets per month from the last phase
of year 2025. Along with this, a plan is also being prepared to develop
reusable launch vehicles. At present, only Elon Musk's company SpaceX is
building reusable launch vehicles in the world. The other rockets in the
Vikram-series are Vikram-II and Vikram-III, which will use advanced Cryogenic
Methalox Engines.
Skyroot Aerospace was
awarded the Technology Startup Award-2022 by the Government of India for
cryogenic, liquid and solid propulsion technology in the year 2022. Apart from
this, it has also been awarded awards such as Best Innovative Product Award,
Innovative Idea Award, National Start-Up Award 2020, Jury Choice Award of Aegis
Graham Bell Award etc. In September 2021, LinkedIn ranked Skyroot Aerospace as
seventh in its list of India's top 25 start-up companies of 2021.
Deepak Sharma
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