Skyroot Aerospace: building the Uber for space, one launch at a time
Skyroot is preparing for Vikram 1, a mission that will make it the first private Indian company to launch a commercial satellite. Co-founded by former Isro scientists Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, the startup aims to capture a significant portion of the global launch market.
Mumbai: The countdown to Mission Aagaman has begun. The rocket mission Aagaman, meaning arrival, is set to take off any time after the 12th of July. Skyroot Aerospace will become the first private Indian company to launch a commercial satellite, with the test flight of Vikram 1. Days before the launch, Pawan Kumar Chandana, 35, the unicorn’s co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), visited Mint’s Mumbai office, dressed in what has come to be the preferred attire of startup founders around the world—a plain polo shirt with his company’s emblem on the heart. Chandana and his co-founder Naga Bharath Daka quit their jobs with India’s national space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), to start Skyroot in 2018. Eight years later, as the company prepares for the all-important test launch, Chandana is excited but also reserved. Failure is an opportunity to learn, he said, adding that in the space industry, success in the first attempt was a statistical anomaly, not the norm. Edited excerpts:
What convinced you to leave Isro to start this?
My time at Isro was deeply satisfying for me. I’d actually decided to retire there. But I have had entrepreneurial ambitions since childhood. I just didn’t want to start anything ordinary. Then one fine day, like a lightning strike, the thought hit me: why can’t we start a private rocket company? At that time, there was no policy, no funding environment in India, nothing. But the risk-taking appetite was there. The moment we decided, we started immediately—I’m quite obsessive that way; so, there was no waiting around.
What’s your unique selling point (USP)?
The gap, I discovered, is that scale-up and industrialization are painfully slow in this industry. So, before our first commercial orbital launch, we had already invested in infrastructure capable of building one rocket a month, with a clear pathway to more. Normally, companies succeed first, then build infrastructure, then build a production line—each a very long journey done sequentially, which doesn’t help. We compressed those schedules by doing them earlier and taking bolder risks up front. Capital efficiency helped: with the same money raised, we could do more. So, we’re building the rocket and the scaling infrastructure simultaneously. That’s the core of our USP.
How is what you do different from Isro?
Isro’s priority is meeting government requirements, not commercial launches. Their missions are matched precisely—this satellite for the government, this vehicle to launch it. Doing more launches for the global commercial market isn’t their purpose at all. They only do occasional commercial launches when there’s excess capacity or geopolitical benefit. We’re purely commercial and at scale. India’s share of the global launch market is under 1%, so the potential is far higher, because all the foundations—supply chain, launch pads, talent—are already strong, built by Isro and DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation). The government opened the sector so that private players can go after that market.
Does India have the necessary supply chain?
Yes, genuinely. For the next rocket we’re launching, we have more than 400 suppliers, all from India. We literally thrive on the Indian supply chain—our import quotient is less than a single-digit percentage of value. We import some sensors and electronic components because they’re not yet made in India, plus certain raw materials. That’s it. And we deliberately use industrial-grade components that we rigorously test for space, the same commercial-off-the-shelf approach SpaceX uses to scale. That also makes us immune to scenarios where we can’t get access to specific parts.
Do you find the necessary talent in India?
I’d say the talent pool is available—it just needs to be tuned in this direction. Every year, around 1.5 million engineers graduate in India, and, for lack of core tech opportunities, many join IT (information technology) services or other fields. Now, there’s a chance to build real core technology here. But this work is very rigorous, not like a regular tech company. Isro built talent at scale over decades, even in a government setting, and that’s how they reached the Moon, Mars and the Sun.
Do you look to hire expatriate talent?
Yes; a real brain gain is happening. I’d estimate we’ve hired somewhere between 10 and 20 people from abroad, mostly from the US and Europe. Typically, they studied in India, spent a few years in the US, and now want to come back and contribute—they’re space buffs, aerospace people at heart. We can also hire from Isro, though that’s a small share, maybe 2–4%. There’s no non-compete barrier; the government actually encourages this movement. We’re even discussing deputation arrangements so that experienced scientists could temporarily move to the private sector and return.
Does using Isro facilities limit you?
Government policy allows companies to build their own launch sites. So, we’ll see in the future, depending on the scale. But right now, Isro’s infrastructure works well for us. And it doesn’t really limit us at this stage—I think we can easily do 30-plus launches a year with the existing infrastructure, possibly ev…
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