IITians conquer space! India’s first private rocket to launch soon!

Umme Kulsum

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IITians conquer space! India’s first private rocket to launch soon!

0 min read

Table of content:

Start of a dream— Skyroot
Roadblocks in the journey and overcoming them

Skyroot Aerospace, established in June 2018 by two IITians- Chandana and Daka, stated that it will launch its first mission, Prarambh, on November 18 a few days after making its space mission announcement. The Vikram-S, India's first privately constructed rocket, will launch into space which will serve as a technology demonstration mission.

The space mission Prarambh will launch at 11:30 a.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre of the Indian Space Research Centre in Sriharikota to show that the nation's private sector is capable of successfully completing space missions and bearing the future load of ISRO.

For the mission, three payloads will ride the Vikram-S rocket to a height of 120 kilometers above the Earth's surface before being released. The Vikram-I, Skyroot's primary vehicle, will enter Low Earth Orbit after the suborbital flight makes it possible for it to do so.

The mission was previously confirmed by Skyroot for Tuesday. The launch, however, was postponed. The reason for the postponement to November 18 was not made clear by the business.

Start of a dream— Skyroot

Chandana, 32, discovered his love for rocketry and space science while he was a mechanical engineering student at IIT-Kharagpur. He collaborated extensively with ISRO at the IIT's cryogenic engineering center while working on a project for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of his master's degree.

When ISRO visited their campuses for employment in 2012, Chandana and Daka, who attended IIT-Madras and graduated at the same time, were hired. At the ISRO Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, where Chandana served as a scientist and Daka as an avionics engineer, they first met.

While working together in 2018, they were intently following the growth of the space commercial business globally and were enamored with the concept of creating something similar in India. They explained how they came up with the idea for Skyroot and argued that India was among the top five spacefaring countries in the world. The nation's ecosystem, technology, and progress were all in place. Since India is the most economically efficient spacefaring nation in the world, there was substantial market demand, particularly for small satellites, and Skyroot sought to capitalize on it.

Chandana and Daka were aware of the possibilities, but they were also conscious of the absence of a national space policy at the moment. The ISRO dominated most space efforts, and there were very few entrepreneurs in the field of space technology. Therefore, they decided to take the risk in the hopes that the government would develop rules that may open up the sector after becoming aware of the expanding number of space tech firms.

Roadblocks in the journey and overcoming them

After they established Skyroot, finding funding and hiring talent was one of their biggest hurdles. When they eventually ran into Mukesh Bansal, the founder of Myntra, it was a pivotal moment because he decided to back their business. They only required this shove to smash the ceiling.

Midway through 2018, Bansal, who also serves as a board member for the startup, put $1.5 million into Skyroot through his incubator Meraki Labs. After a few years, Greenko Group founders Anil Chalamalasetty and Mahesh Kolli spearheaded a round of fundraising for Skyroot that saw the company raise an additional $11 million.

The largest fundraising round ever in the Indian space technology industry, they recently secured a "series B" capital of $51 million from GIC, which has its headquarters in Singapore. Director Mayank Raway of GIC India has joined the board of Skyroot.

Chandana and Daka are currently working against the clock to manage the increased attention while also making sure all systems are ready for launch. The team is working hard to help Skyroot reach milestones and raise a flag in the international market.