100 Engineers Work Round the Clock for Vikram-1 Launch

Hyderabad:Space scientists at Skyroot have been working for around 20 hours ahead of the launch of Vikram-I, the start-up’s India’s first privately designed and developed orbital satellite. The launch was planned to take place between July 12 and August 4 from the spaceport in Sriharikota.

With the rocket fully integrated on the launch pad, the team carries out final health checks of all subsystems and verifies each connection sequentially as part of the final stage of preparations.

“Some days we start at 6 a.m., some days we start at 8 a.m. After our meetings, we head to the facility. That’s been our schedule for the last two weeks, and it usually runs until 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. the next day,” said Shreesha M., a flight dynamics engineer who has worked at Skyroot for five years after being hired as a rookie right out of college.

Shreesha and Pawan Kumar Chandana, co-founders of Skyroot, told Deccan Chronicle that around 100 engineers, excluding technicians, were working day and night in shifts at the launch pad in Sriharikota. About 30 of them were female engineers who said they were confident in the systems they tested and proud to be part of the mission.

“Hundreds more people from our Hyderabad office are supporting the mission. Many of us are working 16 hours or more,” said Pawan Chandana.

Chandana, co-founder and chief executive officer of Skyroot, told Deccan Chronicle, “Excitement is high as India’s first privately developed rocket has finally hit the launch pad and undergone final checks before take-off. This is a historic event for India, the space industry and also the global space industry as there are hardly any companies that provide regular access to space.”

“It’s a matter of pride that Skyroot can do this. But the next few days are important, as rockets are complex and every detail must be taken into account to ensure a successful launch and flight. We are making every effort possible. This is a learning test flight for us.”

Talking about India’s growing space start-up ecosystem, Chandana said that nearly 400 start-ups have emerged in the sector in the last three-four years.

“India’s goal is to become a $44 billion player in the global space market by 2032. We are among India’s leading start-ups and are building significant milestones. It is exciting to see how this shapes us and how we, as an ecosystem, can in turn shape the global market,” he said.

About Skyroot’s future plans, Chandana said that the company aims to increase the frequency of launches. “We have built a factory which Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated and it has the capacity to produce one rocket every year.”

Comparing Vikram-1 with Skyroot’s previous mission, he said, “This mission is ten times more complex than the first one. We have gone through the countdown process before, so we are prepared, focused, excited and also nervous because rockets are complex by nature.”

Chandana relied on Hyderabad’s ecosystem for Skyroot’s growth. “Skyroot’s success stems from being headquartered in Hyderabad. We have access to a great ecosystem of talent, manufacturers and testing facilities. We affectionately call it Rocket City. There are government testing labs where we can test our systems frequently.”