Naga Bharath Daka is an Indian scientist and space entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Skyroot Aerospace, a privately held aerospace manufacturing company founded in 2018; he is also the company’s COO (Chief Operating Officer). In 2012, he started working with ISRO as an Avionics Engineer; however, he left ISRO in 2015.
Wiki/Biography
Naga Bharath Daka was born on Friday, September 8, 1989 (age 33; as of 2022). His zodiac sign is Virgo. He attended Little Angel High School in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Later, he studied at Narayana Junior College, Hyderabad. He pursued a 5-year dual degree program in Integrated Bachelor of Science and Technology and Master of Science and Technology at IIT Madras. He received a B.S.Tech. in Electrical Engineering and completed his M.S. He received his PhD in Microelectronics and VLSI Design in 2012. After completing his studies, he interned with Tata Elxsi in Chennai for 3 months.
appearance
Height (approximately): 6′0″
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
family
He was born into a Hindu family in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Parents and siblings
His father’s name was Raghuramireddy Daka and he had a brother.
Naga Bharath Daka with his wife, parents and brother
wife and children
Naga Bharath Daka married Pavani Chavali on December 10, 2016. Pavani Chavali is a manager at Hyderabad. The couple has a son named Ram Tejus.
Naga Bharath Daka with wife and son
religious views
According to his social media profiles, he believes in secular humanism. Secular humanism is a philosophical ideology that believes humans can be ethical and moral without following any religion.
Profession
Indian Space Research Organization
In October 2012, he joined the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC), an ISRO-affiliated space research center 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 as a senior product application engineer. He supports Xilinx video and PCI Express IP solutions. Later, he worked at Xilinx for more than 3 years and quit in August 2018.
Tiangen Aerospace
In August 2018, he co-founded Skyroot Aerospace in Hyderabad, India, with Pawan Kumar Chandana, another ISRO scientist.
Pawan Kuma Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, founders of Skyroot Aerospace
Their company makes launch vehicles. Naga Bharath Daka is responsible for Skyroot Aerospace’s operations, avionics and GNC teams. Indian rocket scientist Vasudevan Gnana Gandhi, founders of CureFit Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagor and a few other businessmen helped Pawan and Naga set up Skyroot Aerospace. On November 20, 2020, they signed a memorandum of understanding with another Indian aerospace manufacturer called Dhruva Space. Skyroot Aerospace is the first Indian startup to sign a maiden agreement with the Indian space ministry, under which the company has access to ISRO’s facilities and expertise and can test systems and subsystems of its launch vehicles. In May 2021, Skyroot Aerospace raised $11 million in Series A funding from Greenko Group, Solar Industries, Whatsapp chief business officer Neeraj Arora, Myntra and Cult.fit founder Mukesh Bansal, Sutton Capital, Vedanshu Investments, etc. On January 27, 2022, they raised US$4.5 million in Series B financing, with investors including Google founding board member Ram Shriram’s Sherpalo Ventures, former Google executive Amit Singhal, Wami Capital, and others.
Skyroot aerospace logo
Raman-1
On July 30, 2020, Skyroot Aerospace successfully test-fired a hypergolic fuel upper-stage engine named Raman-1. The engine is named after Indian physicist CV Raman. Skyroot is the first private company to test such an engine.
Kalam-5
On December 22, 2020, Skyroot tested the Kalam-5, a solid-fuel rocket engine. The test was conducted at a private testing area in Nagpur. The 5 in Kalam-5’s name indicates a peak sea-level thrust of 5.3 kN. The rocket engine is named after APJ Abdul Kalam.
Kalam-100
On May 19, 2022, Skyroot announced that Vikram-1’s rocket stage Kalam-100 has successfully completed a full test launch. Vikram-1’s third stage, Kalam-100, generates a peak vacuum thrust of 100 kN (or about 10 tons) and has a burn time of 108 seconds. The Kalam-100 rocket stage uses high-strength carbon fiber structure, solid fuel, new thermal protection system and carbon ablation nozzle. In November 2022, media reported that it was the largest rocket designed, built and engineered by a private company and the best rocket stage in its size.
Image of Kalam-100 rocket stage
Dhawan-1
On September 25, 2020, an upper-stage cryogenic engine called Dhawan-1 was unveiled, which will be used to power heavy lift systems including the small launch vehicle Vikram-II. It is named after Indian mathematician and aerospace engineer Satish Dhawan. It is India’s first cryogenic engine and uses liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel as it is clean, reusable and well suited for long-term space missions. Dhawan-1 is made entirely from 3D printing and uses superalloy for regenerative cooling. On November 25, 2021, Dhawan-1 was successfully test-fired using liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid oxygen (LOX). It was tested at a test site provided by Solar Industries, which also invested in Skyroot Aerospace.
We are happy to announce that in a major milestone, we have successfully test-fired India’s first privately built fully cryogenic engine ‘Dhawan-1’
100% 3D Printed 100% Made in India Future Fuel – Liquefied Natural Gas
Check out the clip: https://t.co/zffy4ti2Lj#metronidazole pic.twitter.com/ktKGAs9o7n
— Skyroot Aerospace (@SkyrootA) November 25, 2021
Vikram
Vikram is a family of small launch vehicles. The series is named after ISRO founder, Indian physicist and astronomer Vikram Sarabhai. In February 2021, Skyroot Aerospace partnered with Bellatrix Aerospace to use Bellatrix’s orbital transfer vehicles and Vikram series launch vehicles. Vikram-S is the first launch vehicle in the series and is expected to be launched between November 15 and 19, 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 suborbital launch vehicle that will carry three customer payloads and help test and validate most of the technologies of the Vikram family of space launch vehicles. ”
India’s first private rocket, Vikram-S, is preparing to be launched from Sriharikota between November 15 and 19, 2022, to learn about its propulsion system – Kalam 80, which was successfully test-fired on March 15, 2022. Stay tuned.#palambu #OpeningSpaceForAll pic.twitter.com/N2auqfx18W
— Skyroot Aerospace (@SkyrootA) November 13, 2022
On November 18, 2022, Skyroot Aerospace launched Vikram-S, the first private rocket launched by India.
Team Skyroot dedicates today’s historic success of India’s first private rocket launch to the space revolution brought about by the vision of His Excellency the Prime Minister @narendramodi lucky.
we appreciate @isro and @INSPeIND Thank you for their valuable support in this landmark milestone.#palambu pic.twitter.com/sbpbcI1s0T
— Skyroot Aerospace (@SkyrootA) November 18, 2022
Vikram I is the second rocket in the series, weighing 290 kg for SSPO (Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit) and 480 kg for LEO (Low Earth Orbit). The third launch vehicle in the series is Vikram II, weighing 400 kg for SSPO and 595 kg for LEO. Vikram III is the fourth aircraft carrier to be launched, with a weight of 560 kg for SSPO and 815 kg for LEO.
Images of Vikram I, Vikram II and Vikram III
Awards
- Skyroot Aerospace wins National Entrepreneurship Award 2020, Government of India
- Skyroot Aerospace wins Pride of Telangana – Startup Achievement Award 2021
Skyroot Aerospace wins Pride of Telangana – Startup Achievement Award 2021
- Skyroot Aerospace Team Wins 2021 Aegis Graham Bell Award Jury’s Choice Award 2020 Innovation Category
- Skyroot Aerospace wins Best Innovator Award at Telangana State Industry Awards 2021
Naga Bharath Daka and Pawan Kumar Chandana win the Best Innovator Award at Telangana State Industry Awards 2021
- Skyroot Aerospace wins National Technology Startup Award 2022 for cryogenic, liquid and solid propulsion technologies from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India
Tiangen Aerospace won the 2022 National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Award
Facts/Trivia
- In September 2021, Skyroot Aerospace was ranked 7th on LinkedIn’s Top Indian Startups 2021 ranking, making it among the top 25 emerging companies.
Tiangen Aerospace Team
- Skyroot Aerospace’s mission statement is –
Affordable, on-demand and reliable travel to space. At Skyroot, our mission is to open space for everyone by pushing the boundaries of today’s technology. We are working towards a future where space is a part of our lives, a transformation that will transform humanity in unprecedented ways. ”
- He is a supporter of Lok Satta Party.
- He is proficient in a variety of technologies and concepts, including Verilog, Matlab, VHDL, C language, computational electronics, etc.
- He has experience in the semiconductor industry and is proficient in FPGAs used in all space and defense applications.
- In 2007, he secured 165 AIR (All India Rank) in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE).
- In 2007, he ranked 91st in the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE).
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education