“I believe rockets are the most fascinating machinery ever built by humans, and are now in need of a new techno-economic makeover to open up a new frontier in space access and exploration,” writes Pawan Kumar Chandana on his LinkedIn profile.Chandana, a former scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation (IRSO) and now the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace, is among the key figures behind India’s first satellite launch by a private firm.The firm’s co-founder, Naga Bharath Daka, also a former ISRO scientist, states that he is currently on a mission to build India’s most innovative and globally competitive SpaceTech company.In 2018, the space scientists-turned-entrepreneurs asked a simple question: What if launching into space could be as accessible and routine as commercial air travel? Skyroot was born from this vision, not just to build rockets but to bring to Earth the limitless possibilities of space, the firm’s website states. It now has a team of about a thousand experts.With a team of over 1,000 experts, Skyroot blends India’s rich space heritage with startup agility and precision engineering to advance launch vehicles in Hyderabad, Telangana.Chandana calls himself a hands-on engineer who loves building high-performance rockets and teams, with a lifelong mission to ‘Open Space for All’ at Skyroot. He studied at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur from 2007 to 2012, earning a B.Tech degree in mechanical engineering and an M.Tech in thermal science and engineering.Hailing from a middle-class family in Hyderabad, Chandana began developing an interest in mathematics and science, subjects that had reportedly troubled him in his junior years. His father encouraged him during difficult phases and helped him stay on course.He had joined ISRO in 2012 and worked at its establishments in the Thiruvananthapuram region for almost six years before venturing into the private sector. He worked on the GSLV Mk III, India’s heaviest launch vehicle and also earned an internal innovation award.Who is Naga Bharath DakaDaka is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai, where he studied electrical engineering at the bachelor’s level and then did his master’s in micro-electronics and VLSI design, graduating in 2012.He worked as an avionics engineer at ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre from October 2012 to April 2015, designing multiple avionics modules for Indian launch vehicles, and then had a three-year stint with Xilinx, a semiconductor manufacturing company headquartered in California, before joining hands with Chandana in 2018 and becoming Skyroot’s chief operations officer.Two years down the line, Skyroot conducted India’s first static fire test of a privately built rocket engine, called the Raman-1, in 2020, followed the next year by test firing India’s first privately built cryogenic engine, Dhawan-1.The year 2022 marked a new benchmark in India’s space industry with Mission Prarambh, when the firm successfully launched India’s first private rocket, Vikram-S. It was a sub-orbital, single-stage, technology-demonstration vehicle and the precursor to the larger Vikram-1 orbital-class launch vehicle.Skyroot is first private firm to partner with ISROWhen the Indian government opened up the space sector to private participation in 2023, Skyroot was the first private company to sign a memorandum of understanding with ISRO for undertaking space-related programmes. It later raised USD 51 million, one of the largest investments in India’s deep-tech sector at the time.In 2024, India’s largest private rocket stage, Kalam-250, was tested and the next year, Skyroot Aerospace became India’s first space-tech unicorn, raising USD 60 million (about Rs 570 crore) from international investors including Sherpalo, GIC, BlackRock, Greenko Group, Arkam Ventures and Playbook Partners. Skyroot has set up India’s largest private rocket manufacturing facility, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 7 this year.