INDIA'S NEW SPACE WARRIORS

THE A START-UP FORERUNNER SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH OF A ROCKET BUILT BY RUN BY TWO YOUNG EX-IITIANS IS THE 4 TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR BECOMING A MAJOR PLAYER IN THE COUNTRY'S SPACE AMBITIONS

- RAJ CHENGAPPA

Pawan Chandana looked tense as he sat glued to the computer monitor at the mission control room waiting for the countdown for the launch of the Vikram-S rocket to end on November 18. Next to him sat the reticent Bharat Daka, his partner in founding Skyroot, a start-up venture they set up in 2018 to build spacecraft. Behind them in the visitor's gallery was seated a galaxy of distinguished space scientists, including S. Somanath, chairperson of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). That Jitendra Singh, the Union minister of state for space and atomic energy, was present too was evidence of the importance of the mission called Prarambh, or the beginning. Indeed, Vikram-S was to be the first launch vehicle for spacecraft entirely designed and built by an Indian private company and whose success was expected to mark a giant leap for the country's private sector into space.

Outside, it was a balmy day at the ISRO launch centre in Sriharikota in coastal Andhra Pradesh. The six-metre-tall deep blue and white Vikram-S strapped to steel girders for the launch looked small compared to the giant launch vehicles that ISRO builds. But given the complexities of space technology, it was a huge challenge for a start-up. Chandana and Daka, both in their early 30s, were up for it. Both ex-IITians-Chandana from Kharagpur and Daka from Madras-they had chosen to join ISRO in 2012 rather than go abroad after graduation. Having worked in rocketry and other space activities sections at ISRO for six years, they decided to set up Skyroot as a private venture.