Former ISRO chief S Somanath joins Skyroot Aerospace as honorary chief technical advisor
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Former Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO ) chairman S Somanath , who spearheaded the Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing mission, was appointed honorary chief technical advisor at Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace on Thursday.Somanath, a launch vehicle expert , will advise Skyroot as it prepares for the launch of its Vikram-1 launch vehicle. The 23-meter-tall rocket is India's first carbon-composite space launch vehicle and features a liquid-engine-powered Orbital Adjustment Module that will precisely manoeuvre in the vacuum for last-mile delivery of satellites. The upcoming launch builds on Skyroot's successful technology demonstration launch in 2022 with Vikram-S, India's first private rocket to reach space under the guidance of ISRO.The startup on Thursday also announced a key partnership with Axiom Space , which launched its fourth private mission to the ISS on June 25 that onboarded Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla.The Houston-based company will explore utilising Skyroot's capabilities for research payloads, orbital data centre nodes, and other missions to Axiom Station and independently in LEO."Launching satellites to orbit—a feat accomplished by only a handful of companies globally—requires the coming together of the very best minds, especially as we attempt it for the very first time as a private space startup from India," said Pawan Kumar Chandana, cofounder of Skyroot Aerospace.The former ISRO chief's new role is advisory and honorary, and the company clarified that it is non-exclusive. "With decades of experience in building multiple launch vehicles and leading some of India's most challenging space missions, his guidance will be invaluable as we gear up for the orbital launch of Vikram-1," Chandana added.During his tenure as ISRO chairman (2022–2025), Somanath oversaw key missions such as Chandrayaan-3, Aditya-L1 (India's first solar observatory), the SSLV development, and the Reusable Launch Vehicle landing experiments.
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