'Gave me goosebumps': Ex-ISRO employee-turned-entrepreneur shares experience working with Indian space agency

Former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) employee who went on to co-found aerospace manufacturer, Skyroot, Pawan Chandana, revealed how his first day in the space agency and venturing into its large assembly floor was goosebump-inducing.

In an interview with Myntra and Cult.fit founder Mukesh Bansal in his podcast, SparX by Mukesh Bansal, Chandana said that just the sight of ISRO gave him goosebumps. “I joined ISRO in 2012. I remember the first day at ISRO…I was fortunate to work at a department that does all integrations for the rockets. Lot of big structures are assembled there. Just the sight of it gave me goosebumps on day 1. I was anyway very excited to join ISRO. On the first day itself, looking at the large assembly floor…,” he said before Bansal asked him what it is about space that gives everyone goosebumps.

“Probably the explorative nature of the human mind,” answered Chandana, adding that anything mysterious and inaccessible is always fascinating. “Space is exciting for every kid. They feel like there is something unexplored and mysterious,” he said.

Chandana’s comments come days after ISRO’s successful Chandrayaan-3 mission that landed a lander and rover on the lunar surface. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in South Africa to attend the BRICS Summit 2023 on the day of the Moon landing, travelled to Bengaluru to meet the ISRO scientists after he returned to the country. "What you all have achieved is one of the most inspiring moments of this era. After this feat, the entire world has understood India's mettle in the field of science and technology,” he had said.

In the podcast, Chandana said that a lot of people wanted to get into the space agency but only a handful were chosen. “Lot of people wanted to get into ISRO so there was huge competition. In fact, four people got selected and the other three were toppers. I was just an average 7-pointer in college, while the others were 9-pointers. And yet somehow, I was told that my interview was the best. That is because whatever I learnt, I went in very deep. That was the principle I have been following,” the Skyroot co-founder said.

Pawan Chandana, who has a Masters in Thermal Engineering had worked in a NASA project as well to design a cryocooler for a mission. He said his MTech and BTech projects were done at a centre called Cryogenic Engineering Centre at IIT Kharagpur, who work closely with the space agency.

However, he left ISRO to start his own company. “The seed of wanting to start up was in the college days…in IITs you see most people what to start their own start-up. At my time also the entrepreneurial vibe was there. That bug bit me too. I was really attracted towards building a company but I had no idea what to build. So, I followed my passion and went into ISRO but at the back of my mind I always wanted to start a company that makes some big impact. Even at ISRO, I always wanted to start a company. But I was very immersed in my work in ISRO. I was enjoying it so much…and got a lot of appreciation. Even when I was in the integrations team, I used to spend a lot of time learning other systems. My passion led me to spend time reading a lot about rockets globally and the various kinds of rockets etc. I have seen the entire journey of a rocket from scratch to launch,” said Chandana, recalling his journey to starting Skyroot.

Also read: 'Science for outer self, temples for inner self': ISRO chief on Kerala temple visit after Chandrayaan-3 success

Also read: Chandrayaan-3 update: ISRO shares first observations from the Vikram lander’s ChaSTE payload

Also read: Chandrayaan-3: When S Somanath shared how he was recruited by ISRO