Telangana Engineers Power Skyroot Aerospace Vikram-1 Rocket Mission

Engineers from Hyderabad and across Telangana played critical roles in the orbital flight of Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1 rocket, which lifted off from Sriharikota for a 16-minute mission. Working from inside the Launch Control Centre, the team managed telemetry feeds, separation parameters, navigation software, and ground communication links to ensure the private launch vehicle completed its trajectory.

Among the team members was 31-year-old Nikhil Koneri, a design and systems engineer at Skyroot and a resident of Hyderabad. Koneri developed pneumatic stage and payload separation mechanisms designed to operate within milliseconds to reduce shock during explosive separation. During the flight, a harness briefly remained tight during final-stage separation, causing the stage to tilt, but thrusters quickly restored orientation once the harness cleared.

Chandrasekhar Dhulipala, 30, who grew up in Habsiguda, served as the Team Lead for Telemetry, Tracking and Command Systems. Dhulipala maintained the vital communication link between the rocket and ground stations in Sriharikota, Australia, and Indonesia. Operating from the control room, he updated overseas stations during the countdown and relayed technical data throughout the mission.

Avionics hardware quality and testing were overseen by 34-year-old Mahesh Gadde, who hails from Manuguru in Bhadradri Kothagudem district. Gadde, who joined Skyroot in February 2023, spent two and a half years testing and clearing hardware packages prior to integration into the rocket, ultimately watching his tested systems perform during ascent.

Guidance, Navigation and Control engineer Nikhil Madduri, who has worked at Skyroot for six years, authored the mission computer's navigation software to calculate attitude, position, and velocity using sensor data. Meanwhile, Viswasahithi Murthy, selected from the Central Institute of Tool Design, built components for the Flight Termination System, a critical safety backup that remained standby as the rocket met all flight parameters.