Started in a small setup in Kondapur in 2018 with a team of 10, Skyroot is on a mission to open space for all, by pushing the boundaries of today's technology. Incubated in T-Hub[3] and supported by T-Works,[4] Skyroot Aerospace is India's first rocket launching private company.[5]
History
Skyroot initial logoPawan Kumar Chandana (CEO & CTO) and Naga Bharath Daka (COO) (standing on left and right respectively of Union minister Jitendra Singh in middle) on the eve of successful Vikram-S launch
Skyroot Aerospace was formed in July 2018 by former ISRO scientists Pawan Kumar Chandana, Naga Bharath Daka through the support of Vasudevan Gnanagandhi as well as a small group of entrepreneurs including CureFit founders Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagor.[7] Skyroot has initially raised US$4.3 million, including from space and defence contractor Solar Industries.[8] The company has been developing its first launch vehicle, the 'Vikram 1', which is on track for its initial launch around the end of 2022.[9][10]
On 6 October 2020, the National Startup Awards 2020 were declared by the Union minister of commerce and industry Piyush Goyal, where Skyroot Aerospace emerged as the winner. The National Startup Awards are given in recognition of startups across several categories that offer novel solutions for complex problems in the country, and creating businesses that are scalable and sustainable.[11]
On 20 November 2020, Skyroot Aerospace entered into a memorandum of understanding with Dhruva Space, an Indian private satellite manufacturer.[12]
On 2 February 2021, ISRO and Skyroot Aerospace signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). The NDA will allow Skyroot Aerospace to access the facilities and technical expertise in ISRO centers to develop their launch vehicles.[13]
On 8 February 2021, Skyroot Aerospace announced that they partnered with Bellatrix Aerospace to use the Orbital Transfer Vehicle of Bellatrix Aerospace with their Vikram series of Launch Vehicles.[14]
In March 2021, Skyroot Aerospace team won the Aegis Graham Bell Award for Jury choice award under innovation category for the year 2020.[15]
On 20 May 2021, Skyroot Aerospace had raised $11 million in Series A funding round led by promoters of renewable energy firm Greenko Group (Anil Chalamalasetty and Mahesh Kolli), with participation of investors including Solar Industries and former WhatsAppChief Business Office (CBO) Neeraj Arora, Mukesh Bansal founder of Myntra & Curefit, Worldquant Ventures, Graph Ventures, Sutton Capital, Vedanshu Investments and few other angels. Skyroot Aerospace will be deploying these funds to grow its team and complete the full development and testing of all subsystems of 'Vikram 1' launch vehicle.
Skyroot has already started bookings for launches starting end 2022 and are actively engaging global customers[16]
The Department of Space has signed an agreement with Skyroot Aerospace for providing it access to ISRO's facilities and expertise towards testing of sub-systems and systems of launch vehicles. Skyroot Aerospace has, therefore, become the first Indian startup to formally enter into an agreement with ISRO for using its assets since the announcement of the new policy decision of the Government of India in May 2020, when finance minister opened up the space sector and ISRO's facilities for private players. Finally on 11 September 2021, ISRO's scientific secretary and chairman of interim IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) committee R Umamaheswaran, who represented Department of Space, Skyroot Aerospace CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana and COO Naga Bharath Daka signed this framework MoU.[17]
On 22 September 2021, the list of "The 2021 LinkedIn Top Startups" was revealed with 25 young, emerging companies where India wants to work. Skyroot Aerospace was ranked 7th on this LinkedIn's 2021 Top Startups List in India.[18]
On 27 January 2022, Skyroot Aerospace raised of $4.5 million in a bridge round to Series B funding led by Google's founding board member Ram Shriram's Sherpalo Ventures. The bridge round also witnessed participation by Wami Capital, existing investors – former WhatsApp chief business officer Neeraj Arora and ex-Google executive Amit Singhal. Skyroot plans to use the fund to build the infrastructure required to launch space vehicles. This round aids Skyroot to build critical infrastructure early on and helps accelerate towards their launch of 'Vikram 1' in 2022. This fresh investment round brought up the total capital raised by the startup to around $17 million, which was the largest raised by an Indian space start-up as of January 2022.[19]
Rebranding
New Logo New Logo
Old Logo Old Logo
On 10 May 2022, Skyroot Aerospace announced their new identity reflecting their ambition to reach the stars with a goal of ‘Opening Space for all’. Their logo subtly crystallizes the acronym 'SR' of SKYROOT into a rocket-plane, while the sharp edges represent their "cutting-edge tech."[20]
On the 11th May 2022, Skyroot Aerospace was recognized with a National Award at the National Technology Day 2022. The Technology Startup Award was won by Skyroot Aerospace for Cryogenic, Liquid and Solid Propulsion Technologies catering to the needs of small satellite launch vehicle market. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State, Science and Technology Minister, has given this award.[21]
On 18 November 2022 Skyroot Aerospace performed the maiden launch of its 'Vikram S' suborbital rocket, becoming the first Indian private company to reach outer space (apogee was 89.5km).[22][23]
In October 2023, the company announced it had raised $27.5 million in a pre-Series C funding round led by Temasek Holdings, bringing the total amount raised since its inception to about $95 million. According to the company, the funding is intended to accelerate launches planned for the next two years.[24][25]
In August 2020, Skyroot first came into the limelight when it test-fired the Raman-I (named after C. V. Raman) hypergolic-fuel upper stage engine. This liquid-fuel upper stage is a component of Vikram-I and Skyroot was the first Indian private entity to test such an engine.[26][27][28][29]
On 22 December 2020, Skyroot tested the solid-fuel rocket engine Kalam-5 (named after A. P. J. Abdul Kalam), the first of five planned carbon-compositeKalam rocket motors which are expected to power its launch vehicles.[30][31][32] The test happened in Nagpur at a private test facility owned by Solar Industries, which is also an investor in Skyroot. In the name "Kalam-5", the 5 refers to the peak sea level thrust of 5.3kN.[33] The final engine in the series will be four times the size of Kalam-5.
Kalam-100
On 19 May 2022, Skyroot announced the successful completion of a full duration test-firing of its ‘Vikram-1’ rocket stage, representing a major milestone for the company. Named ‘Kalam-100’ after former president and the renowned Indian rocket scientist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the third stage of ‘Vikram-1’ produces a peak vacuum thrust of 100kN (or ~10 Tons) and has a burn time of 108 sec. The rocket stage has been built with high-strength carbon fiber structure, solid fuel, novel thermal protection system, and carbon ablative nozzle. This testing will help Skyroot in development of orbital vehicle Vikram-1 and gives great confidence for the other rocket stages planned to be tested soon. This is largest rocket stage ever designed, manufactured, and tested completely in the private sector. There was a good match of test results with the design predictions in the very first attempt, which is a testimony to the team's capabilities. The state-of-the-art technology like carbon composite case, high propellant volumetric loading up to 94%, lighter EPDM based thermal protection system, and submerged nozzle have been validated through the successful static test.[34][35] The video of the firing[36]
On 25 September 2020, Skyroot Aerospace unveiled the Dhawan-1 (named after Satish Dhawan) upper stage cryogenic engine that will power heavier-lift systems such as Vikram-II.[37][38] This is the first cryogenic engine in India that will use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel; this fuel has the advantages of being clean, renewable and suited for long duration space missions. Dhawan-1 is 3D printed and designed with a regenerative cooling configuration.[39]
Skyroot successfully test fired India's first privately developed small cryogenic engine called Dhawan-1 running on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid oxygen (LOX) with pressure-fed engine cycle on 25 November 2021. It was a technology demonstration experiment for the upper stage of Vikram-2 rocket that is under active development. Solar Industries provided the test site. The engine made by 3D printing process and using super alloys.[40]
Skyroot Aerospace launch vehicles featured at IAC 2022.Vikram rocket family
Skyroot Aerospace has been working on its Vikram series of expendable small-lift launchers. Rockets are designed for very quick assemblies.[41] They also have plans to develop a fully reusable vehicle.
On November 18, Skyroot Aerospace successfully completed the first launch of a private developed rocket from Indian soil.[42]
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) is a class of expendable launch systems operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). GSLV has been used in fifteen launches since 2001.
The Indian Space Research Organisation is the national space agency of India. It operates as the primary research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India while the Chairman of ISRO also acts as the executive of DoS. ISRO is primarily responsible for performing tasks related to space-based operations, space exploration, international space cooperation and the development of related technologies. ISRO is one of the six government space agencies in the world that possesses full launch capabilities, can deploy cryogenic engines, can launch extraterrestrial missions and operate a large fleet of artificial satellites. ISRO is one of the four government space agencies to have soft landing (unmanned) capabilities.
The Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC),Thiruvananthapuram is a research and development centre functioning under Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It has two units located at Valiamala, in Thiruvananthapuram of Kerala, and Bengaluru of Karnataka. LPSC is augmented by ISRO Propulsion Complex at Mahendragiri of Tamil Nadu.
The Launch Vehicle Mark-3 or LVM3 is a three-stage medium-lift launch vehicle developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Primarily designed to launch communication satellites into geostationary orbit, it is also due to launch crewed missions under the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. LVM3 has a higher payload capacity than its predecessor, GSLV.
Gaganyaan is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with rendezvous and docking capabilities. In its maiden crewed mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s largely autonomous 5.3-metric ton capsule will orbit the Earth at 400 km altitude for up to seven days with a two- or three-person crew on board. The first crewed mission was originally planned to be launched on ISRO's HLVM3 rocket in December 2021. As of October 2023, it is expected to be launched by 2025.
The Vikas is a family of hypergolic liquid fuelled rocket engines conceptualized and designed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre in the 1970s. The design was based on the licensed version of the Viking engine with the chemical pressurisation system. The early production Vikas engines used some imported French components which were later replaced by domestically produced equivalents. It is used in the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and LVM3 for space launch use.
Reusable Launch Vehicle–Technology Demonstration Programme is a series of technology demonstration missions that has been conceived by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as a first step towards realising a Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO) re-usable launch vehicle, in which the second stage is a spaceplane.
The ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC), located at Mahendragiri of Tamil Nadu, is an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) centre involved in testing, assembling, and integrating propulsion systems and stages that are developed at ISRO's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centres. Formerly, IPRC was known as LPSC, Mahendragiri, functioning under LPSC. It was elevated as an independent centre and renamed as IPRC with effect from 1 February 2014.
Vasudevan Gnana Gandhi is an Indian rocket scientist, known as the pioneer of cryogenic rocket science in India. A graduate in Mechanical Engineering from the Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, Gandhi started his career by joining the Indian Space Research Organization in 1968 and held many positions such as Project Director and Programme Director at ISRO. His contributions are reported behind the development of booster liquid stages of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle and the uprating of VIKAS engine. A recipient of the Aeronautical Society of India Award, Gandhi was honored by the Government of India, in 2005, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri. Currently, Vasudevan Gnana Gandhi is working as Senior Vice President-Propulsion at Skyroot Aerospace, Hyderabad and also as chief academic advisor to Givemefive.ai.
The SCE-200 is a 2 MN thrust class liquid rocket engine, being developed to power ISRO's existing LVM3 and upcoming heavy and super heavy-lift launch vehicles. It is being developed by Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) of ISRO and is expected to have first flight in 2020s.
Bellatrix Aerospace is an Indian private aerospace manufacturer and small satellite manufacturing company, headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. The company was established in 2015 and in June 2022, the company raised $8 million in a Series A funding round to pursue the development of in-space propulsion systems.
Satellize is the first private Indian company to have a satellite in space. In December 2018, their first satellite was launched into space via SpaceX. They launched their second satellite, AISAT for a customer, AMSAT India on board the fourth stage of the PSLV-C45.
AgniKul Cosmos Private Limited is an Indian aerospace manufacturer based in National Center for Combustion R&D (NCRD) of IIT Madras, Chennai. The start up aims to develop and launch its own small-lift launch vehicle such as the Agnibaan, capable of placing 100 kg (220 lb) payload into a 700 km (430 mi) orbit. The first commercial launch was expected in 2022. However, no launch happened in that year. The first suborbital mission will be conducted on 22 March 2024.
India's Space Industry is predominantly driven by the national Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The industry includes over 500 private suppliers and other various bodies of the Department of Space in all commercial, research and arbitrary regards. There are relatively few independent private agencies, though they have been gaining an increased role since the start of the 21st century. In 2023, the space industry of India accounted for $9 billion or 2%-3% of the global space industry and employed more than 45,000 people.
The Vikram is a family of small-lift launch vehicles being developed by Skyroot Aerospace, an Indian startup aerospace company.
Agnibaan, produced by Agnikul Cosmos in Chennai, India, is a mobile launch system currently under development. It is capable of placing a 100 kg (220 lb) satellite into a 700 km (430 mi) orbit. The rocket will be 18 meters long with a diameter of 1.3 meters and a lift-off mass of 14,000 kg (31,000 lb). The rocket is supposed to be manufactured by 3D printing as a whole. The Agnibaan rocket has three stages. The first stage is powered by seven Agnilet engines. The second stage is powered by the same Agnilet engine which will have a larger nozzle than the sea level nozzle to optimize it for vacuum.
Raman Engine is a Bipropellant Rocket engine manufactured by Skyroot Aerospace that will be used in its Vikram family of rockets. It is named after Indian Nobel laureate Sir C.V. Raman.
Vikram-S is India's first privately built rocket. Its maiden flight lifted on 18 November 2022 at 11 A.M. from Sounding Rocket Complex, Sriharikota. The rocket was designed and developed by Skyroot Aerospace.
The Kalam-series engines are a set of five solid-propulsion carbon composite rocket engines being developed by Skyroot Aerospace. The engines are named after India’s former President APJ Abdul Kalam.
Agnibaan SOrTeD is a planned suborbital test-flight of the Agnibaan launch vehicle, manufactured by Indian space startup Agnikul Cosmos.
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