Meet The Ex-ISRO Scientists Whose Skyroot Sent Vikram-1 Into Orbit

As India celebrates Vikram-1's successful orbital mission, a new chapter has begun in the country's space journey. At the heart of this milestone are two former ISRO scientists who once worked inside India's national space programme and are now creating history from the other side of the launch pad.

Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, both IIT graduates and former scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), lead Skyroot Aerospace, India's first space unicorn. Their company has now successfully placed its Vikram-1 rocket into orbit from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka.
Photo Credit: Skyroot

But behind this achievement lies the story of two engineers who left secure careers at ISRO with a bold vision: opening access to space for everyone.

What began as an ambitious start-up in 2018 has grown into one of the most closely watched companies in India's rapidly expanding private space sector. Today, Skyroot has emerged as a symbol of India's space entrepreneurship revolution.

Valued at around $1.1 billion, the company has attracted major investors, including Temasek, Meraki Labs, the founders of Greenko Group, Solar Group, Sherpalo Ventures, Worldquant Ventures, AUM Ventures and Graph Ventures. The successful orbital mission is also expected to strengthen investor confidence in India's private space sector.

Pawan Kumar Chandana, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Skyroot Aerospace, is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and a former ISRO scientist. Since establishing Skyroot, he has overseen the company's transformation from a start-up into one of India's leading private space companies.

Under his leadership, Skyroot built India's first privately developed rocket, established advanced manufacturing facilities in Hyderabad, and assembled a team of hundreds of space professionals working on launch vehicles for the global satellite industry.

Skyroot built India's first privately developed rocket and established advanced manufacturing facilities in Hyderabad.
Photo Credit: Skyroot

According to Pawan, Skyroot's mission is clear.

"Opening Space for All," he told NDTV.

That simple philosophy has guided the company from its earliest days. The goal has been to make access to space more affordable and accessible through advanced technologies and efficient launch systems.

His achievements have earned national and international recognition. Pawan has featured in Forbes' 30 Under 30 Asia and was named among the Next 100 Young Achievers by India Today. Skyroot itself has won multiple national awards and raised more than $100 million in funding, making it one of India's best-funded space start-ups.

Working alongside him is Skyroot Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer Naga Bharath Daka. Like Pawan, Bharath is a former ISRO scientist who chose entrepreneurship over a conventional government career.

An alumnus of IIT Madras, Bharath graduated with a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and a master's degree in Microelectronics and VLSI Design. At Skyroot, he oversees operations, avionics, and the guidance, navigation and control systems that steer the company's rockets into orbit.

In 2018, Bharath and Pawan founded Skyroot with a shared vision. Incidentally, while at ISRO, they shared accommodation, became close friends and often dreamt of building a private space company.

As Bharath describes it, the mission was to create precision-engineered launch vehicles while pursuing the goal of "Opening Space for All."

The timing of their journey coincided with a major shift in India's space ecosystem. Government reforms encouraged greater private participation in the space sector, creating opportunities for start-ups to build launch vehicles, satellites and space technologies. Skyroot was among the first companies to seize that opportunity.

The breakthrough came on November 18, 2022.

On that day, Skyroot's Vikram-S rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The achievement entered the history books as Vikram-S became the first privately built rocket in India and South Asia to reach space successfully.

The mission, called Mission Prarambh, was far more than a symbolic launch. It demonstrated that an Indian private company could independently design, build and launch a rocket from Indian soil. Mission Aagman has now taken that journey a step further by successfully placing Vikram-1 into orbit.

The all-carbon composite rocket incorporated advanced technologies, including 3D-printed spin thrusters. It demonstrated Skyroot's capability to independently develop critical launch vehicle technologies.

The flight validated the company's solid propulsion systems, avionics, aerodynamic and trajectory analysis capabilities, structural designs and thermal systems.

The mission was authorised by IN-SPACe, the agency established under the Department of Space to promote and regulate private participation in India's space activities.

For Skyroot, Vikram-S was only the beginning. Vikram-1 is the company's gateway to the commercial launch market.

The technologies demonstrated during Mission Prarambh were scaled up for the much larger and more ambitious Vikram-1 launch vehicle, which has now completed its orbital mission.

Named after Dr Vikram Sarabhai, the father of India's space programme, Vikram-1 is an orbital-class launch vehicle designed to place small satellites into orbit.

The rocket represents the culmination of years of engineering and development.

Standing about seven storeys tall, Vikram-1 uses three stages powered by solid motors and a liquid-fuel upper stage that enables precise orbital insertion. The vehicle incorporates several advanced technologies, including an all-carbon composite structure, miniaturised avionics systems, high-thrust motors, a 3D-printed hypergolic engine and an orbital adjustment module with multiple restart capabilities.

These innovations are intended to deliver cost-efficient and reliable launch services for satellite operators seeking rapid and flexible access to space.

The market opportunity is significant. Around the world, demand is growing for launches of small satellites used for communications, Earth observation, navigation and scientific missions. Skyroot aims to serve customers seeking on-demand, high-cadence launch services.

To support these ambitions, the company has built state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Hyderabad. It has embraced modern production methods, including extensive use of carbon composite structures and 3D-printed rocket engines.

The start-up has also assembled one of the largest private space engineering teams in India. According to Skyroot, its workforce of more than 1,000 professionals brings together over 2,000 years of combined rocket engineering experience, with an average age of just 28 years.

Over the years, the company has compiled an impressive list of firsts. It became the first in South Asia to launch a privately built rocket into space. It developed and test-fired India's first privately built cryogenic engine, the country's first privately built Earth-storable engine and its first privately built solid-fuel stage.

These milestones have helped establish Skyroot as a leader among India's new generation of space companies.

Now, with Vikram-1 successfully reaching orbit, the journey of Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka reflects a broader transformation taking place in India.

For decades, space exploration in India was driven almost entirely by government institutions. Today, a new generation of entrepreneurs is entering the sector with bold ideas and global ambitions.

Among them, Skyroot has emerged as one of the defining faces of India's private space revolution.

Built by two IIT graduates and former ISRO scientists, powered by innovation and guided by a belief that space should be accessible to all, the company has achieved its biggest milestone yet.

Vikram-1's successful orbital mission marks a defining moment not just for Skyroot Aerospace, but for India's private space industry. It signals that the country's next giant leap may no longer come only from government laboratories, but also from ambitious start-ups built by engineers willing to dream beyond them.