Naga Bharath Daka is an Indian scientist and Space Entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Skyroot Aerospace, which is a private aerospace manufacturing company, founded in 2018; he is also the COO (chief operating officer) of the company. In 2012, he started working as an Avionics Engineer at ISRO; however, he left ISRO in 2015.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Naga Bharath Daka was born on Friday, 8 September 1989 (age 33 years; as of 2022). His zodiac sign is Virgo. He did his schooling at Little Angels High School in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Later, he studied at Narayana Junior College in Hyderabad. He pursued an integrated B.Tech and M.Tech Dual Degree programme of 5 years from IIT Madras. He did B.Tech. in electrical engineering and completed his M.Tech. in microelectronics and VLSI design in 2012. After completing his studies, he worked as an intern at Tata Elxsi in Chennai for 3 months. [1]Linkedin- Naga Bharath Daka
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 6′ 0″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
He belongs to a Hindu family in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Parents & Siblings
His father’s name is Raghuramireddy Daka, and he has a brother.
Naga Bharath Daka with his wife, parents, and brother
Wife & Children
Naga Bharath Daka got married to Pavani Chavali on 10 December 2016. Pavani Chavali is a manager at Deloitte in Hyderabad. The couple has a son named Ram Tejus.
Naga Bharath Daka with his wife and son
Religious Views
According to his social media profile, he believes in Secular humanism. [2]Facebook- Bharath Daka Secular humanism is a philosophical ideology that says that human beings can be ethical and moral without following any religion.
Career
ISRO
In October 2012, he joined Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), a subsidiary space research centre of ISRO in Thiruvananthapuram, India. He worked there as an avionics engineer for more than two years. Later, he quit ISRO in April 2015.
Xilinx
In May 2015, he joined Xilinx, where he worked as a senior product applications engineer. He supported Xilinx video and PCI express IP solutions. Later, he quit Xilinx in August 2018, after working there for more than 3 years.
Skyroot Aerospace
In August 2018, he became the co-founder of Skyroot Aerospace with another ISRO scientist named Pawan Kumar Chandana in Hyderabad, India.
Founders of Skyroot Aerospace, Pawan Kuma Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka
Their company creates launch vehicles. Naga Bharath Daka handles operations, avionics, and GNC teams at Skyroot Aerospace. Indian rocket scientist Vasudevan Gnana Gandhi, founders of CureFit Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagor, and some other businessmen helped Pawan and Naga in forming Skyroot Aerospace. On 20 November 2020, they signed a memorandum with another aerospace manufacturer in India named Dhruva Space. Skyroot Aerospace is the first Indian startup to sign the first-ever agreement with the Department of Space under which facilities and expertise of ISRO are accessible by the company, and the company can test its systems and sub-systems of carrier rockets. On May 2021, Skyroot Aerospace raised funds costing $11 million in Series A funding round with the contribution of Greenko Group, Solar Industries, the chief business officer of Whatsapp Neeraj Arora, founder of Myntra and Cult.fit Mukesh Bansal, Sutton Capital, Vedanshu Investments, and more. On 27 January 2022, they raised $4.5 million in Series B funding with the participation of Sherpalo Ventures of Ram Shriram, who is Google’s founding board member, ex-Google executive Amit Singhal, Wami Capital, and others.
Logo of Skyroot Aerospace
Raman-1
On 30 July 2020, Skyroot Aerospace successfully test-fired a hypergolic-fuel upper-stage engine named Raman-1. This engine was named after C. V. Raman, an Indian physicist. Skyroot was the first private company to test this kind of engine.
Kalam-5
On 22 December 2020, Skyroot tested Kalam-5, which is a solid-fuel rocket engine. The test took place in a private testing area in Nagpur. 5 in the name Kalam-5 denotes the peak sea level thrust of 5.3 kN. This rocket engine was named after A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.
Kalam-100
On 19 May 2022, Skyroot declared that Vikram-1’s rocket stage, Kalam-100, has successfully completed a full-duration test-firing. The third stage of Vikram-1, Kalam-100, produces a peak vacuum thrust of 100 kN (or ~10 Tons) and has a burn time of 108 sec. High-strength carbon fibre structure, solid fuel, novel thermal protection system, and carbon ablative nozzle were used to build the Kalam-100 rocket stage. In November 2022, the media reported it to be the largest rocket to be designed, manufactured, and designed by a private firm and the best rocket stage of this size.
An image of Kalam-100 rocket stage
Dhawan-1
On 25 September 2020, an upper-stage cryogenic engine named Dhawan-1 was unveiled, which will be used to power heavier-lift systems including Vikram-II, a small-lift launch vehicle. It was named after Satish Dhawan, an Indian mathematician and aerospace engineer. It is the first cryogenic engine in India, which used liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel as this fuel is clean, reusable, and suits well for long-duration space missions. Dhawan-1 is completely made with 3D printing with regenerative cooling using superalloys. On 25 November 2021, Dhawan-1 was test-fired successfully, using liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid oxygen (LOX). It was tested on the test site provided by Solar Industries, which has also invested in Skyroot Aerospace.
We're thrilled to announce, in a major milestone, we successfully test fired India's first privately built fully Cryogenic Engine 'Dhawan-1'
100% 3D-Printed
100% Made in India
Fuel of the future- LNGCheckout the footage: https://t.co/zffy4ti2Lj#Methalox pic.twitter.com/ktKGAs9o7n
— Skyroot Aerospace (@SkyrootA) November 25, 2021
Vikram
Vikram is a series of small-lift launch vehicles. This series was named after Vikram Sarabhai, an Indian physicist and astronomer, who founded ISRO. In February 2021, Skyroot Aerospace collaborated with Bellatrix Aerospace to use Bellatrix’s Orbital Transfer Vehicle with carrier rockets of the Vikram series. Vikram-S was the first carrier rocket of this series, which was expected to be launched between 15 and 19 November 2022. In an interview, while talking about the mission of launching the Vikram-S rocket into space, he said,
The Vikram-S rocket is a single-stage sub-orbital launch vehicle which would carry three customer payloads and help test and validate the majority of the technologies in the Vikram series of space launch vehicles.” [3]The Hindu
While India's first private rocket, the Vikram-S, is bracing for launch from Sriharikota with a revised window between 15 and 19 November 2022, get to know its propulsion system – the Kalam 80, successfully test fired on 15 March 2022. Stay tuned.#Prarambh #OpeningSpaceForAll pic.twitter.com/N2auqfx18W
— Skyroot Aerospace (@SkyrootA) November 13, 2022
On 18 November 2022, Skyroot Aerospace launched Vikram-S, the first private rocket to be launched in India.
Team Skyroot dedicates today’s historic success of India’s first private rocket launch to the space reforms brought in by the vision of Hon’ Prime Minister @narendramodi ji.
We thank @isro and @INSPACeIND for their invaluable support towards this landmark milestone.#Prarambh pic.twitter.com/sbpbcI1s0T
— Skyroot Aerospace (@SkyrootA) November 18, 2022
Vikram I is the second rocket in the series with an SSPO (Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit) of 290 kg and LEO (Low Earth Orbit) of 480 kg. The third launch vehicle in the series is Vikram II with an SSPO of 400 kg and LEO of 595 kg. Vikram III is the fourth carrier to be launched with an SSPO of 560 kg and LEO of 815 kg.
An image of Vikram I, Vikram II, and Vikram III
Awards
- Skyroot Aerospace won National Startup Award from the Government of India in 2020
- Skyroot Aerospace won the Pride of Telangana- Startup Achiever Award in 2021
Skyroot Aerospace won Pride of Telangana- Startup Achiever Award in 2021
- Skyroot Aerospace team won Aegis Graham Bell Award for Jury choice award under the innovation category for the year 2020 in 2021
- Skyroot Aerospace won the Best Innovator Award at Telangana State Industry Awards in 2021
Naga Bharath Daka and Pawan Kumar Chandana receiving the Best Innovator Award at Telangana State Industry Awards in 2021
- Skyroot Aerospace won National Award for Technology Startups for Cryogenic, Liquid, and Solid Propulsion Technologies by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India in 2022
Skyroot Aerospace won National Award for Technology Startups in 2022
Facts/Trivia
- In September 2021, Skyroot Aerospace was placed in 7th position on LinkedIn’s 2021 Top Startups List in India, among the top 25 emerging companies.
Skyroot Aerospace team
- Skyroot Aerospace’s mission statement is –
Affordable, On-demand and reliable ride to space. At Skyroot, we are on a mission to open Space for all, by pushing the boundaries of today’s technology. We are working towards a future where Space becomes part of our lives, and such a transition will transform humankind like never before.” [4]Skyroot Aerospace
- He is a supporter of the Lok Satta political party. [5]Facebook- Bharath Daka
- He is skilled in multiple technologies and concepts including Verilog, Matlab, VHDL, C language, computational electronics, and more. [6]Linkedin- Naga Bharath Daka
- He has experience working in the semiconductor industry with proficiency in FPGAs which are used in all space and defence applications. [7]YourStory
- In 2007, he scored 165 AIR (All India Rank) in Joint Entrance Examination (JEE).
- In 2007, he was ranked 91 in the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE).
