Software glitch, signal loss: Thrilling moments behind Vikram-1's maiden flight
What's the story
Skyroot Aerospace co-founder and CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana has revealed the behind-the-scenes challenges of India's first successful private orbital mission. The launch, which looked almost flawless from the outside, was anything but at Skyroot's mission control. Speaking to Moneycontrol, Chandana described it as "a suspense movie," with engineers dealing with a software glitch before liftoff and a temporary telemetry loss during flight.
Technical glitch
Countdown was halted at 11 minutes
The first major hurdle came just 11 minutes before the launch when the automated launch sequence was halted after detecting a software mismatch.
Chandana, a former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist, clarified that it wasn't anything related to the vehicle but rather "a small software glitch in the automatic launch sequence."
The team aborted the countdown, fixed the issue and restarted it successfully.
Communication challenge
Engineers had no live confirmation after liftoff
The uncertainty didn't end with liftoff. After Vikram-1's ascent, Skyroot lost telemetry from one of its overseas ground stations during the orbit adjustment phase.
For several minutes, engineers had no live confirmation that the maneuver had gone as planned.
Chandana said they "lost contact with one of our ground stations" and didn't know exactly what had happened until the next station acquired the vehicle's signal in Australia.
Mission success
'It was like watching a suspense movie'
Despite the initial glitches and communication challenges, Vikram-1 successfully completed its orbital journey and deployed all customer satellites.
Chandana said, "It was like watching a suspense movie," with every phase keeping them on their toes for confirmation.
The mission accomplished what very few launch companies do on their first attempt, making Skyroot one of the select few companies globally to achieve an orbital launch.
Public reaction
Canadian YouTuber Friesen hailed Skyroot's achievement
The successful launch of Vikram-1 has been praised by many, including Canadian digital creator Caleb Friesen.
He called it a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" and said he still had "goosebumps" after witnessing the mission firsthand.
Friesen, who regularly creates content on Indian start-ups and technology from Bengaluru, attended the launch viewing from the gallery of the mission control center.