Introduction:
In the buzzing tech hub of Hyderabad, a small bunch of visionaries take turns re-writing the pages of India’s space narrative. Skyroot Aerospace was founded by ISRO scientists Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka. From being a solitary torchbearer in the private space business in the country, its travels from a humble 10-person setup to the company that is set to launch India’s first private rocket speaks volumes on the potential of indigenous technology.
A vision to open space for all
July 2018: Chandana and Daka take a leap of faith by quitting their secure jobs at ISRO for the pursuit of a dream. “Space access not merely an interest of government agencies, it belongs to all.” This zeal gave birth to Skyroot Aerospace. Incubated in T-Hub, supported by T-Works, it is based out of Hyderabad.
How the Vikram Series Takes Shape
This complementary expertise of its founders—that Chandana in mechanical hardware and Daka in electronics and software—proved key to this effect. In many ways, this was the project from which the rest of the projects were spawned: the Vikram series of small-lift launch vehicles, which would form the flagship of the enterprise. These rockets are named after Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the India Space Program, and are designed to be cheap, quickly assembled, and able to deliver to low Earth orbit small lifting spacecraft.
Funding the final frontier
While technical challenges were expected, Skyroot was faced with an even greater challenge: that of raising capital. Space technology is expensive, a steep bill for a startup in a nascent industry. The team’s passion and potential kept investors coming back for more. From an initial $4.3 million from Solar Industries, Skyroot went on to secure larger rounds, including a $51 million Series B round led by Singapore’s GIC in 2022.
Pushing the boundaries for private space tech
Skyroot’s journey has been marked with the first of many firsts. This August, they test-fired successfully the Raman-1 hypergolic- fuel upper stage engine, making them the first Indian private entity to achieve the same. Subsequent to that stage, the company conducted a test of solid- fuel rocket engines and India’s first privately developed cryogenic engine, Dhawan-1, which operates on eco-LNG.
The Prarambh Mission: A Historic Launch
It will forever be remembered that, on 18 November 2022, India’s private space sector came of age. The suborbital rocket of Skyroot Technologies, named Vikram-S, successfully lifted off from Sriharikota and touched the sky at an apogee of 89.5 km. The success of the mission further validated the technology of Skyroot Technologies, which put India in a new regime of space.
Future plans and aspirations
Not resting on its laurels after the first launch, Skyroot is currently working on launching its orbital vehicle, Vikram-1, by the end of 2023, and commercial operations are likely to start in 2024. The ambitious targets: within two years, a launch cadence of once-a-month, scaling up further to a weekly launch.
Transforming India’s space economy
This is a small aspect of the larger transformation underway in India’s space sector, which has put in place several institutional mechanisms since opening up the industry to private players—IN-SPACe for providing support. According to estimates, India’s space industry can grow from $7 billion in 2019 to $50 billion by 2024. And in this growth, one very important contribution would come from Skyroot.
Timeline:
- July 2018: Skyroot Aerospace founded
- August 2020: Raman-1 upper stage engine run on hypergolic propellants fired
- December 2020: Kalam-5 with solid propellants tested
- November 2021: Cryogenic engine Dhawan-1 test fired
- August 2022: Closes Series B round with $51 million
- November 18: The story of Skyroot Aerospace well encapsulates the potential that India’s private space sector embodies.
Conclusion:
Two founders experienced in ISRO, believing in innovation, and hustling through all odds have emerged as the leading frontier of a new space race. Their success story strongly suggests that the growth in Indian startups is well equilibrated with the right mix of technical expertise, entrepreneurial spirit, and supportive policies that may actually enable them to take their rightful place at the very forefront of global competition, be it for even a highly complex and capital-intensive industry like space technology.
