Why I Left Wall Street To Build 3d Printed Rockets In India

TITLE: Why I Left Wall Street to Build 3D Printed Rockets in India 🚀 | Srinath Ravichandran | GDP@MyGov CHANNEL: MyGov India DATE: 2026-04-11 ---TRANSCRIPT--- All these ideas that you’re talking about, this is something that is unique to you as a company.

Yeah, very much. And I don’t think anyone else in the world is doing it. The rocket boy Sinatra Ravi Chandra. Sinatra Ravi Chandra the co-founder and CEO of Agni from Chennai. Shria is only 100 km north of so if you go to your terrace, you can see a rocket launch. Oh, really? So I remember seeing all those from my house and of course then rushing down coming and seeing the same thing on dud dash and Dr. Kalam also had some association with your university. It took a lot of effort to come out of a well-paying job and all my friends were talking about getting higher promotions you know buying bigger houses and stuff and here I’m thinking is finance even right for me I was so drawn to space and I was very clear after 2 three years in finance that unless I’m doing something with hardware I’m not going to be happy when the atmar initiatives were being announced that India is going to allow for private players to build their own missions the same country where we did not even have a policy now has allowed me to set up a launchpad within Shri Kota which is where we did our first launch from right prime minister himself came down to inaugurated to Dhammedabad and we were there with our rocket first question he asked was have I patented it people are really good at building big rockets 50 years of building big rockets can we offer something that those big rockets cannot offer so what can a big system not offer mobility and the reason for that is When it comes to big national projects which ISRO is driving, is there collaboration happening there? Yeah, a lot actually. Before I start this podcast, I want to ask you a question. If your life were a rocket, how is its trajectory? Now what I mean to say is is your rocket headed straight to your life goals like an unstoppable force or is your rocket taking detours still far away from your life goals? If you fall into category two, today’s podcast is just for you because the guest today on the GDP podcast runs one of the most exciting space tech companies in India. But his journey to that destination was full of detours. He started off as an electrical engineer. Then he pivoted into the world of finance. He dived deep into the wall street. He also became a pilot. And then finally he got an opportunity to make his passion his profession. But every detour that he took, every pit stop in his journey gave him learnings that are now helping him build his space tech company. It’s an absolute honor today on the GDP podcast to have the co-founder of Agnikul Cosmos Shrinat Ravi Chandran Shrinat. Welcome to the GDP podcast. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me here. Your life is so relatable because when I was researching on your life, I could sense that you’ve taken detours and some really crazy detours. Um, but then finally it all added up and it’s it’s, you know, taken you to a space to a place that you always wanted to be in. So in this podcast that’s what we’ll do. We’ll try and trace your life journey and we’ll pick up life lessons from each phase of your uh life. Right. So I want to start off from your early days. I think you come from a family of uh physics teachers. Is that true? Very true. Very true. So grew up in a household where science was a little normal. Right. Mom is a physics teacher, aunt is a physics teacher. So I think a lot of dinner table conversations inadvertently happened to be about physics and it also helped that you know from Chennai so Shriot is only 100 kilometers north roughly. So if you go to your terrace you can actually see without the help of any instrument you can see a rocket launched. Oh really? Wow. And it’s you can’t miss it because it doesn’t look like anything else that’s flying like you would have seen these jet planes which leave these streams of smoke you know far away. This one is like a like a spiders just crawling up very far. So I remember seeing all those from my house and of course then rushing down coming and seeing the same thing on Dud Dashin. Wow. So yeah that is that is what I remember the most about space and you know the time I was at home itself. And how were you as a student? I was actually okay a reasonably good student. I have too many teachers to not be academically oriented. There was no option. Yeah, there was no option. And also I liked I liked I like physics. I like mathematics and so there was also people were there to answer these questions. Right. So it never felt like a foreign thing for me. So that is how that is how it started. So I was very clear. So at the age of I think when I was around 16 I had a chance to go inside ISRO for the first time. Oh wow. So and that is when and that was actually for a contest. It was a international contest and India had to send one person a student uh you know as a finalist representing India and so as a part of the process of getting selected uh this was when I was in 10th standard. So I went to ISRO. We saw a satellite and it was the first time I was stepping into a clean room and for a student I still think getting into a clean room is the What is a clean room? Sorry. A clean room is basically a place where the dirt particles the dust particles in the ambient you know atmosphere have been brought down to a very low you know count so that they don’t deposit on something where you know sensitive devices. Got it. So this was a satellite a geostationary satellite was getting assembled and I went in there and you know I came like with within a foot of actually touching a satellite and that was unbelievable and then right after that I was called to a panel to address a you know panel of judges all of them were ISRO people uh I remember it was Dr. Kasuri Rangan who was chairing it and uh he asked me this question how far away are geostationary satellites and today that is all we do a lot so today the answer is very apparent to me 36,000 kilometers and I prepared this I knew this answer really well and I went inside and said 360 km which probably is why I never was a finalist but that left a mark in me so I remember that you know that is what it means to be in so because I’m always seeing rockets at from a 100 km distance or on TV that time I saw a satellite that close. So these these are the things that I think really left that mark in me that you know space is awesome. Wow. So that’s how it all started. And you started dreaming of being in the space space industry being going to space of course that too. uh but you know my family clearly was telling me if you’re doing the engineering degree do a degree which will get you a job right and don’t limit your options you can always go into space sector but don’t start off by saying you’ll only go into the space sector you know the usual diversification of risk sort of a story so I did electrical engineering which was also something that I really loved I got a lot of hobbies and where was this this was again in Chennai yeah yeah this was in uh college of engineering gindi Anna University Okay. So I went in there with because electronics was the next favorite thing for me. All right. And and I got all these hobby kits from my granddad who was in Dash. So I that was also you know a passion for me. So that’s where I went. So building was always you know in your blood and you know you were always excited about it. Very much. So how was those days in uh you know those college days? Yeah. So I was one of those people who was like I am going to go only into a hardware company. you know you have all these you know whims that you you suddenly decide that this is what you want to do for no real reason. So I was one of those people who said I’m going into going into a place which is only building electrical hardware. So I did a lot of stuff in college was a part of NCC and so on. But it was always about like can I do something in hardware and during my placements there I got into ABB which was uh you know like an electrical engineering company and I was so proud of the fact that I was able to get into an engineering program before that like

2005. So I I finished my school you know undergrad in 2006 2005 I don’t know if you know this but the very first satellite of India that was made outside of ISRO happens to be Anusat which is like a satellite built in Ana University.

Oh really? So it was built in a lab which was like you know two buildings away from where I used to you know sit for my own course work and I never got a chance to actually be a part of that and I know my friends who had scored better than me in some of the courses which are required you know to allow people in students inside we’re doing actual satellite building and that felt really bad at that time. So it broke your heart. I think uh life has been very nice to me after that but at that time it did feel very painful but I was still very clear hardware doing something in engineering that was always there so I got into ABB that is that was the next step out of college and Dr. Alam also had some association with your university. Yeah. Yeah. Actually around that exact time there was a overlap of so he was the vice chancellor of Ana University for some time and during the time you were a student. Oh interesting. So I remember actually taking classes from a student of his and I remember in those classes we used to talk about what Dr. Kalam was telling more than the actual coursework but those were fascinating times. Yeah. It just happened to align that way. But he’s such an influential figure and he has inspired so many Indians uh you know uh in their lives. I mean in your case you were you know you always aspired to be in in the industry that he came from. Yeah. In fact my first preference to take as a you know bachelor’s degree was the exact course that he did right aeronautical engineering at Madras Institute of Technology but anyway did it from electrical engineering in college of engineering Gindi. So that was there we all knew that that it is also possible and he made it look relatable right so yeah definitely beautiful and then um you take up a job yeah so I went to ABB and uh it was it was interesting because that was what I wanted to do I was building uh and commissioning motors which are used in industries huge motors motors through which you could walk wow right if you remove the rotor out you could actually walk through the motor fascinating stuff But it was a lot of commissioning and I wanted to be doing design and on the side I had all my friends switch over from engineering into something in the finance side and they were making a lot more money. Oh, so serious for FOMO was happening. Yeah. Yeah. Very much. And at that age, you know, that’s a very measurable metric. Oh, you make X, I make X divided by two. That’s not okay. Right. It’s it’s that age where that is the only thing that you really can measure very easily. That’s true. So I was very confused about what I wanted to do and then I came across this uh program called financial engineering which is financial engineering. Okay. So it was like okay so there is that word engineering somewhere which means I can go tell at home that I’m still doing engineering program but I think more importantly the course actually was about using mathematical tools that is used in physics to predict stock markets. Okay. Right. So this is a fascinating program. In fact, it was it it had out of all the course work I’ve done, that course that I eventually ended up doing in New York in Colombia University had the hardest mathematics. It was like, you know, you you’re building models to predict randomness. It was very deep into probability theory. Interestingly, the same stuff that’s used for quantum mechanics. I didn’t know that until I finished my program, but but that’s what I later learned. So I ended up doing a financial engineering program in uh you know financial in in Columbia University in 2008 and if you remember 2008 was the financial crisis. Yeah. Leman brothers. Yeah. Yeah. Leman brothers. I have a big story about that actually because I went there you know the I obviously had not seen us before that. I went there and the picture of New York for me was you know what you see in Colombia pictures you know the skyscrapers and Yeah. papers and there is you know statue of liberty the torch and I went there and nothing of that was there it was a darker you know few months and in se I went in June of 2008 and September lemon happened so lot of job losses it was a very difficult time to be in the financial sector and half of New York was blaming the exact program I was studying for all of that right so it’s like okay where have I landed up exactly so that is that was very strange time but interestingly the other half was trying to use the same branch of engineering to get better at risk management so that’s where I got a job at AXA the insurance company as a portfolio quant my my job was to come up with mathematical models to see how the portfolio would perform in case another crash happens oh so models to hedge the risk models to hedge the risk exactly Okay. And we built an entire you know hedging program where we were actually literally doing the stuff of a you know trading desk of a larger bank where you we used to be buying and selling fixed income instruments like treasuries, bonds and all these things and that was a completely different life from what I was exposed to until then. So that’s how I got in from from outside of electrical engineering deep into finance very deep into finance actually. So this was between 2009 and 2015 around right and um uh did you also try your hand into film making and and stuff like that? How did that happen? I was always interested in film. So I went to So the good thing about a wall street job is and particularly if you’re on the trading desk after the market closes you have a lot of free time right. So the evening times I was you know having a lot of time and I was following the space industry but was always intrigued by film making and I came across this film school New Jersey film school. I was in New Jersey and then New York film academy. So 4 years straight I went to you know film school in the evening right after work used to go to school again that was a lot of fun met very diverse set of people and you won’t believe this until today the way in which they plan a shoot with all the short division and the schedules I still feel some of that creeped into my plan for launch operations. Wow. So because there is a lot of planning that happens to get a shoot done in a particular period of time. Yeah. And so all of those I think somewhere it’s playing in my mind even today when I do these schedules for you know getting people together. So what is very interesting about your life is that the detours that we were taking they all were giving you learnings for a future possibility right like for example you speak about film making the world of finance must have definitely taught you things that you today are putting to practical use. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The the big thing I learned from finance was always have the simplest answer for even the most complex question. Not a wrong answer but the the simplest version of the right answer. Right. Because you have to take quick decisions. Exactly. And I used to get like you know 10 15 seconds with the CIO or chief investment officer and if he asked the question of what would happen if the market moved by 2%. I can’t be going to Excel and hitting a button and and refreshing it and getting an answer. So it forced all of us to come up with rules of thumb. Until date the questions are that in the rocket building world we ask what happens if your mass goes up by 100 kgs. Of course you can run a model and say I will lose payload or my satellite carrying capacity by you know 10 kgs. But to say that within you know that 10 seconds that helps. Yeah. So, so that helps especially when you’re pitching this to to clients uh you know then you you sound confident on on top of your game. That’s very interesting. See that is such an amazing thing that uh you know sometimes we feel that you know why are we doing what we doing? I’m stuck at a in a wrong job. This is not really what I’m meant to do. But actually it is with time these things reveal to us that why that slogging that you were doing which looked very meaningless actually adds up and that is something you know which is so powerful in your life journey. Okay great so so now um uh you’re doing this uh job at AXA and then um you know you decide to move out of it. Yeah. No, it was there in my mind for a really long time, but it took a lot of effort to come out of a well-paying job. And when other it was like a golden cage. Yeah, it was actually and all my friends were talking about getting higher promotions, you know, buying bigger houses and stuff. And here I’m thinking is finance right for me, right? So, it’s very unsettling time to be honest. But I was so drawn to space and I was very clear after 2 three years in finance that unless I’m doing something with hardware I’m not going to be happy and so I thought I have a few degrees across electrical finance and all this something should be there for me so let me give space an honest shot. So with a lot of you know conviction and actually a leap of faith I would say quit all that and did a master’s program in aerospace engineering. This was in univers of Illinois and it was in Urbana Champagne and Illinois I don’t know if you know this is corn fields that’s what Illinois is known for right it’s in the middle of nowhere New York was like Chennai to me I’ll be clear no one used cars it was all like you know public transit right and c people were honking and a lot of people all the time so it always felt like just a slightly different version of India right but he and I and even after that I had a chance to be in California for 2 years. Those were like more of the typical American life that you know people talk about. New York felt like India to me. At least to me it was like that. There’s so much Indian food also. It felt at home. Yeah, it felt at home. So I I realized that you know you can’t be in the middle of nowhere and try to build big products and stuff. You needed that network. That’s something Alan Finance taught me. Being amidst the right people, that’s what opens the right doors. So I decided I’ll have to move to a place which is close to where all the action in space techch is happening. So even before I finished that program I moved to California because SpaceX was there. Yes. And that is they were creating a lot of buzz about rockets, rockets that are coming back, rockets that are going up everything. So that took me to California and I was an outsider trying to fit in. M so I used to show up in every meetup uh with you know where which had the tag space somewhere in it I used to be there and that is when I realized that India has so much credibility in the US particularly for space tech because people I didn’t have a space background at that time except for my you know ongoing mast’s program the second masters I was doing people used to listen to me because I said I was from India really yeah so that so why why uh this interest in India because ISRO had already proven so much with so little. So there is a lot of respect for you know capital efficient building of huge space missions. 2014 I think the the Martian mission Mandalan happened. Yes. And I think a lot of people in US were you know completely surprised that a space agency could pull it off. Wow. Right. And so that remained so everyone in the community knew that India was on to something big. Right. Maybe we are not as splashy as probably some other countries and so on but we have real stuff going and the the the the proof of that was me with no background in space. Of course I can talk a lot about rockets but I was not I was not a rocket scientist right and still people used to actually have a conversation with me just for the fact that I was from India. Wow. And I I could talk about PSLV with whatever you know I read about PSLV and GSLV and that itself made a difference. So that was the first you know proof for me that we could build something out of India for space because it was not like oh some neglected sector in the country. No at a global stage India has already done something meaningful. So that was just happening around 2014 2015 and then when I was even more deeper into this and almost everyone in the community in you know the Los Angeles area knew me the big uh launch of ISRO with 104 satellites happened it was a world record at that time no one had done a single launch with 100 plus satellites and so that again was one more like you know every suddenly you’re in US and people are talking about Indian space tech which at least for me I didn’t think that was normal but they normalized it right which was so all these were like further validation for me that doing this in India would be great and I also knew that all said and done space is one step away from dual use so doing this in the home country is always going to be the easiest way to do it because I’ve had some experiences where I was not allowed into companies because they were working with government technology and you were not a green card holder I was not a green card holder right I was on an H1B visa so it was like oh okay so this is always going to be something for me to get over and I as it is rockets were hard. I didn’t want to also be solving for you know paper to work at that time. So this further you know pushed me and then of course I was only you know son to my parents. So I knew someday I had to come back to India. All of this just felt like perfect fit for coming back. Great. and um and then you decide to come to Chennai and also there’s this very uh famous anecdote of you writing close to 100 emails. So did that happen in America? You you had come to us. Yes. I So so when I was talking to all these people I realized the gap in the market, right? Rockets and satellites were going their own way. And just to give you the full context, satellite is simply a cargo that rides on a rocket, right? Rocket is simply a transportation system and satellites are just cargo. So how can the vehicle taking the cargo keep getting bigger and bigger while the cargo is getting smaller and smaller. So satellites are getting smaller and compact. Yes. Because they were following the semiconductor trend. They were basically sophisticated computers. So they were getting smaller, they were getting lighter, they were getting more energy efficient. Rockets on the other hand were getting bigger and bigger primarily driven by SpaceX and some of these large layers. So it it almost felt like an obvious disconnect in the industry, right? So I felt a new kind of rocket had to be made and there is a probably a business for it. That’s how it all started and I was socializing this idea with a lot of people and one of them who immediately latched on to it is now my co-founder at that time he was my friend. and we used to play weekend together moing. So, so we were hunting around for people and we wrote about I think 80 90 uh you know emails to anyone and everyone who had some access to a facility where rocket systems could be tested because the whatever you know those eight years in in Wall Street taught me how to make good Excel files right so I did the first business model of what Adiko’s business model is today and I realized money is going to go into testing Mhm. And uh it was just not easy to build testing facilities. You need a lot of money and time. So I figured an academia partner would help. And that’s where this whole you know me spamming a lot of professors came. And then one professor Satya Chhatraati out of Madras. He just had a you know it was a Skype call then it was not zoom or anything. It was a Skype call and then he said yeah let’s build rockets. That’s it. And so that’s how the whole thing started. How many of those males you know got you a positive response? Not too many. I I I so a lot of I think I was also reaching out to people who are very busy. So I’m not like it was not like people were not you know responsive but hardly five six and in that also a lot of people used to give me life advice. You’re already in your I was just 30 at that time and so uh like why are you doing this and this shouldn’t you be settling? How will you get married? I actually had that question asked to get asked to me. So, so it was a interesting time but and how is Prof Satya different? He didn’t bother about any of these things. He was just like he just went to rockets directly, right? He hardly asked me any question about why even switching. It’s like what did you find interesting? Oh, okay. This is the rocket you want to build. I have five other ideas and he told me five other ways in which we could build a small rocket. And I actually told him all that is fine but can we build this please? And he was nice enough to say okay. And the moment he said okay was like okay someone has given me the ticket back to Chennai. Wow. Beautiful. So that’s that’s how it happened because I was actually not looking only in Chennai from uh LA mailing all these people. It felt like anywhere in India if someone had said an yes I would have gone. It so happened that the person who said yes happened to be in Chennai which was a great coincidence because absolutely family is there and of course I know Chennai really well. Grew up there. So that’s how it started. Great. So now you come to Chennai, you found you found Agnikul. So what were the problems you were trying to solve and uh uh take us through this journey that you’ve you’ve you know gone through so far? Yeah. So uh the idea is always about building small rockets, right? And when you try to take a big system and shrink it, you’re always going to be fighting this concept of uh economies of scale, right? And it’s almost like a law, right? when you do things at scale, things are generally better and more profitable. So it was very clear that if I apply the same tools of rocketry that people had been building for the last 50 60 years to build a small rocket, it would not work. So we were forced to think of ways in which a small rocket could be economical. So that meant what is the right kind of technology that will allow for small things that are still cheaper, right? And so that’s where we came up with say for example 3D printing. Tell us a bit about that. What exactly is that? In a very simple Yeah. So 3D printing so generally when you think about manufacturing you take a block of metal and remove things. Yes. So it’s all about subtraction taking things out right? You chisel things away. 3D printing is the opposite of it. In fact, it’s called additive manufacturing because you take a bunch of metallic powder or some, you know, raw material and create what you want out of it. And that is a very efficient way for us because you’re not wasting and you’re giving a lot of the work to the machine. And in aerospace that helps because people are always talking about reliability, right? And you might have heard of all these big big failures that happen where unfortunately even people have lost human lives. Always were about extremely small human errors. someone didn’t qualify some small washer like a O-ring that you know is responsible for people actually losing their lives. So we were very relieved to know that you can dump a lot of this reliability metric to a machine which will print your engine. So I always think of our 3D printing technique as you know three-dimensional dosa hacking because what it really does and you know if you if you get a chance would love to invite you to see it as well. it it puts a layer of powder, metallic powder, and then it shoots layers of beams at wherever you want your engine to be and then puts one more layer. So, it’s sort of like you’re organically just growing apart. To me, every time that you know metal is put, I feel like, oh, that’s a layer of those batter being laid. I don’t think it’s that simple, but at least for me, the analogy works very well. So that’s that’s so that’s an example of a manufacturing and a design technique that was needed to keep the cost less otherwise I didn’t want to be building a hobby rocket right because it’ll just be like yeah two times someone will fly it and after that no one is going to be able to afford it and that doesn’t make sense with any other concept right the other thing that we have been doing well is the whole concept of keeping the launch pad mobile and that came from a very basic idea that there are big rockets and people are really good at building big rockets, 50 years of building big rockets. So I can’t be doing the same thing and saying I’m better than 50 years of someone building it. So instead, can we offer something that those big rockets cannot offer? So what can a big system not offer mobility? So let’s make the launch pad also mobile. So because they have big facilities where they get launched. Exactly. Right. Like a Space X would have an big facility. Huge facility. There’s no way they could move it. Move it around. Even the rocket, you can figure out ways to move it, but not the feed systems, the tanks, the the place where you clam the rocket down. These are humongous structures for a big rocket. For a small rocket, everything starts to shrink. So we figured, can we keep things mobile? And the reason for that is every mission any mission to space there is one sweet spot on the surface of earth from where it will be the most economical because you’re taking advantage of earth’s rotation right some it’s it’s sort of like in planes when we fly if there’s a tailwind you get to your destination faster right without burning all that fuel and in headwinds you’re actually fighting it more similarly earth’s rotation itself can push you a little faster into orbit sometimes and so every mission has that sweet spot. Of course, there are, you know, geographical boundaries or ocean. So, you can’t really go anywhere, but within within the the the, you know, the the area that you have, you can choose the best place. Choose. So, we wanted to offer that as a way to reduce the price for the customer because if we allow Earth do some of the job then it’s cheaper. So, so that that is what Agiesel was always about building tech that will enable small rockets and making sure we offer something that a bigger rocket will not be able to offer not because of technology but just because it’s big and that is what we wanted to really go you know very strong really strongly behind. Awesome. Then another thing that uh that is interesting about your proposition is uh you know uh you gave an option for ride sharing. Yeah. So what what is that proposition? So I was talking about big rockets in small satellites, right? So to make a ride viable just like a you know a cargo truck unless you load up your truck fully you’re not going to have a profitable ride. Similarly in in rocket rides as well unless you fill up your rocket you’re not going to have a profitable ride or you ask the small guys to pay for the whole cost. So we figured people are forcing the big rocket guys are forcing small satellites to do a ride share. No one is able to get a dedicated ride. It was always like taking a train and no cheap or no inexpensive alternatives for cabs. So we decided we should allow for dedicated missions even for small satellites. Okay. So the concept is great but how do you actually get it to work? You start uh you know building rockets that are scalable. You don’t say, “Hey, here is a fixed size rocket. Fly it or leave it.” Instead, allow for the rocket to shrink if that’s what the satellite wants. If it’s a small satellite, don’t build a powerful rocket. Build a smaller rocket. But it can’t be done in a way where you’re thinking about hundreds of rockets, different rockets, right? So, we had to build in a level of modularity. So, what we started to do is think of clustering of engines wherein you don’t fly with one engine. you split up the total thrust of the engine into multiple engines and add or remove engines as necessary. Okay. So that allows for the rocket you know total bill of materials itself to be lesser and that allows you to make it profitable even at a smaller scale. So all these ideas that you’re talking about this is something that that is unique to you as a company. Yeah very much. I don’t think anyone else is actually coming up with a set of business concepts because if you talk think about it everything here reliability repeatability mobility and hence lower cost it’s all about what makes business sense and technology that enables it and I don’t think anyone else in the world is doing it so very glad to be having the opportunity to do this from India right because I think the only way and I’ve always said this also before to my team I tell this regularly There is no such thing as a lowquality rocket, right? It either goes to space, it’s built that way, or it’s not built that way. So, you can’t cut cost by cutting quality. You have to cut cost by figuring out tech that works at the price. And I think the team has done an amazing job in, you know, going step by step and figuring that out. Great. So this entire initiative by uh PM Modi’s government of make in India Atman Bharat that’s something he speaks about he speaks about building it for the world build in India but build it for the world uh today when you look at your products um can you confidently say that this is the bestin-class when it comes to your category or your products? Yeah, I think we have always been striving for being world class, right? And I think it’s important to have a, you know, goal that big and that strong and that clear when you’re building something so difficult. And I think like for example the single piece rocket engines, it has been patented across the world in multiple nations, right? and the fact that I’m able to go to say countries like Russia or the US which are actually considered the pioneers of rocket engine technology and we say we have patented rocket engine that was designed and manufactured in India. So I think that I think the team has done a great job in doing and in fact because I’m talking about patents I was just reminded the I have had a I think three or four times I had a chance to speak to honorable prime minister okay one-on-one in person and I remember when I met him once he directly because I’d shown him the engine a couple of times this was when this was when this was 22 2022 uh where I think in space as an organization was formally inaugurated and so the prime minister himself came down to inaugurated to Dhamabbad and we were there with our rocket. Yeah. And so he looked at the engine and the and so I explained to him uh you know what this engine is in that you know few minutes I got the first question he asked was have I patented it. Wow. Right. So I think that that was the moot question and that was such a sharp thing to ask. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So and I I think it goes back to your question about like is this really unique? I think the engine part of it is really unique. The launchpad part of it is really unique and so on. So is this the picture Shrina? Yeah, that is the one. Yes. Yes, that is the one. So he’s so it’s me and my other co-founder Moen and we standing with the one is to one model of a rocket and so there were actually in the inauguration there were two two places where we could interact with the prime minister. One was in the stall indoors. Okay, which is where we showed him the engine. And so he he the first question he asked after we finished explaining was have I patented it? And then he was nice enough to actually spend time walking along. It’s a it’s a 20 m long structure that you’re seeing there. So he just walked along the entire thing and then you know the last part of the rocket is a rocket engine. Okay. So he connected that with what he saw inside and he was asking the question about okay is this what you showed me there? So yeah that was that moment. Great. So I want to understand um ever since uh you know the Modi government has taken over u as a lay man you know I can sense that a lot has happened in the space sector 2014 Mangalan 2017 the PSLVs that you mentioned you know uh the cabinet approving um opening up the space sector for private uh players uh Chandrean 3 right so many so many big uh initiatives that we uh you know we hear about we read about but I want to ask you as someone who’s into this space um how would you define these 10 odd years and um you know what impact has it had on players like you I think it’s probably been the best 10 years in terms of enabling these kind of initiative to come right ever since we got independence I like my own example I told you I had we knew that there was credibility for Indian space tech I I heard it firsthand there so ISRO has always been that inspiration for all of us right and then I came here when there was no clarity on policy this was 2017 right and the first one or two years there were a lot of investor so I I am the one in the company doing a lot of the investor pitches and so there were questions asked about will India ever allow this and something in You know I was feeling like this will be allowed because we’re building something good for the country and then you know when it became real in 2020 in the middle of co when we were all like completely lost in May when the atman initiatives were being announced I don’t know if you remember that particular the way in which it was actually being telecast on TV we had the finance minister and there was like a it was like almost like a powerpoint corporate presentation absolutely and then out of there was a slide on agriculture there was a slide on you know every other sector ctor fisheries and so on and suddenly there was something on space right I will not forget that day because I remember wondering how do you build rockets sitting at home that’s not how it’s done and then suddenly this opened up right and then you know the best thing was it was announced that India is going to allow for private players to build their own missions and I’m saying that as an example of a larger you know context of if you really are doing something right if you’re doing something along the lines of nation building and you’re building interesting stuff. I think the government is there to help you today. That is a feeling I’m getting across the sector. space is a great example because there are so many measurable data points but I think across the board that is what as a as a deep tech founder that’s the overarching feeling I’m having right I think because that happened and uh I think the day they announced that the announcement came I very faithfully went and wrote a very detailed email about you know wanting permission from ISRO to launch now that the government has approved it and I wrote it directly to because through IIT and through professor professor uh we have had the chance to talk to the then chairman so it was Dr. seven at that time and so he had given us meetings and you know we were talking about how to get this done. So you had his email ID. I had his ID and I wrote to him and then in two days I actually didn’t expect a reply because it was co but in two days a reply came suggesting an online meeting in the middle of co. So these were like you know that that just added so much credibility because it’s not just an announcement on TV right this is like something real translating to action. July of that same year 2020 we had the inspace committee being formed and we were one of the first proposals right and I remember signing an MOU online uh with I think the the there were I think a couple of ISRO people including chairman and on other side on our side it was me my other co-founder Moen and so on and we were signing an MOU beautiful across the across you know across the yeah so so I think the the best part is it’s translating to reality it’s one thing to say you announce of policy. The other thing is to actually see it happen and the same thing extends uh I was able to proudly go back and tell a lot of the investors who questioned me that the same country where we did not even have a policy now has allowed me to set up a launchpad within Shri Kota which is where we did our first launch from right so that’s like full circle yeah yeah so yeah I think that’s it’s it’s great time to be building good stuff in India absolutely now tell us a bit bit about this launchpad right uh it is a PPP model that’s what I I believe it is um what is it and how do you think it’s going to disrupt you know the space tech space also I think the way uh launch pads are being thought about today is closer and closer to how airports work right so if you have a rocket that can be launched from multiple locations then the government is willing to come out and say okay we can allow you to rent a piece of land set up your own stuff and then go back so it’s sort of like you know the professor always used to to this analogy. Launching should be like you know conducting a wedding or an event where there’s a shell given to you. You go in with all your equipment, your people and then you get the stuff done and then walk out and then it’s like available for someone else to use. Beautiful. So this new launchpad that’s being you know thought about in Kasacraam near Tuturin okay is of that model. It’s very close to that. It’s unbelievable that something as complex as a rocket is being thought of as that, you know, uh, nimble in terms of operation. You go there, you set up your stuff, you get the launch done and come back and let allow others others do their job, right? Which is, which is great. And I think there’s policy allowing that. I want to come back to that again again because you can’t even dream of a rocket launch without policy approval because it’s an active flying object. You’ll have to do hundreds of, you know, scenarios of flight safety. You’ll have to make sure that your your you know government is tracking your flight with radars and all of that is not going to happen unless there is a framework allowing for this to be done. So that’s that’s that’s that’s the India we are in today. Beautiful. This is really exciting and what is really exciting is the proactivity with which the government is responding to entrepreneurs like you. Very true. Uh you know uh uh uh playing an equal role in this u disruption. three things that the current government which you think has got it right when it comes to space tech. So I think the first one would be the so there is a new body just to give you context uh there is a new body called inspace that was announced along with these which is you know a promotion and authorization center and it actually is outside of ISRO but inside department of space that very architecture is amazing because ISRO is super busy with hundreds of its own missions and they are developing complex engineering and you if you had tasked them with also they would have been overloaded. Yeah. So that that whole architecture is amazing I think. Right. Then making it single point. You don’t need to talk to any other esro center or anyone else. So inspace is enough and they will be the you know nodal agency for getting all the other esro centers that you need to get it right. And then the other part just with the whole concept of that inspace it is a promotion and authorization center not just an authorization center which I think is a brilliant thing because that promotion part is what I think we all need to get to know about deep tech because a lot of people otherwise think it’s too complex to you know uh build a business out of right and I think so so you’re saying that uh storytelling it to the investors is a very critical aspect of of your business. Yeah, very true, very true. Because a lot of people in any deep tech, right, and space is a great example, but I’m talking about quantum, I’m talking about fusion, I’m talking about anything that is having complex engineering backing it. If you think about the uh an outsider’s perspective, they’re going to confuse the complexity of the engineering and technology with the complexity of the business, which need not be the same. And I always tell about the rocket business is cargo business. the business model that if you look at my Excel files after all the complexity it is like okay dollars per kg or rupees per kg right so but it comes with this extraordinarily complex rocket engine very complex autopilot algorithms and so on so there’s a lot of promotion required and the government has to come and do it and setting up an agency which is not just for authorizing but saying promotion and authorization I think that’s also something that the government got perfectly okay so and and putting the right kind of leaders leadership there right not a scientist per se but an engineering person Dr. Goena who has an engineering background but also has a finance background. So all of those things are like you know set of choices made to enable this whole privatization. You’ve had an opportunity to interact with the honorable prime minister many times. Uh when you look at him and when you look at his leadership style two or three things that you were impressed about or you thought were standouts. uh somehow he gets to ask the right questions always I don’t know how he’s always prepared at this level the number of areas that he’ll have to cover how is he able to ask the right questions and I I I also have a feeling that he’s he has it here to listen right I’ve pitched I pitched you know for someone as busy as a prime minister I pitched a rocket engine the single piece engine for a full 60 seconds and he didn’t stop me and so I think it went on for more than that also and just to have that here to understand what’s happening because he could have he could have just switched off. Yeah. Switched off or been like okay just a rocket engine or it is a rocket engine complex but let me move on to the other things. So I think that that ability to listen to something that is looking complex but is relevant. I think somehow he’s able he has a knack for that and I think a lot of bold policy decisions right I can imagine how much internal debate would have happened in privatizing the space sector because it’s always as I told you one step away from dual use. How are we going to regulate this? There are there would have been hundreds of questions and from whatever network I have, I know that there were lot of people also worried about what will this mean? Absolutely. And 6 years now since privatization was officially announced, you’re seeing hundreds of startups. You’re seeing money come to the private sector for space which otherwise the government would have had to fund. So I think these bold the ability to make these bold decisions are I I really admire that about it. Fantastic. So Shinat we do realize now that the private players are full on into the space tech uh sector as far as India goes. Um what I want to understand is that what is the role these MSMES and these private players are playing uh when it comes to big national projects which ISRO is driving. Is there a is there collaboration happening there? Yeah, a lot actually right. Um so when it comes to actually manufacturing stuff for ISRO ISRO has done a great job in enabling MSMES to contribute and that was like a knowledge transfer or a tech transfer that happened in the past. So today when you look at a big mission say the Chandrean mission that happened or the future missions that we’re looking at you won’t believe the number of tier 2 and tier three suppliers from India and all all nooks and corners of India there are people building space techch hardware and software that actually flies to space. Wow. So and I’ve seen that with our in in fact as a startup we leverage that quite a bit because if you’re looking at a larger company for example they have their own projects they’re working on so they may not have the bandwidth but these smaller ones are always hungry for business they want to grow and you see that entrepreneural mindset very directly right so we work with a lot of them and I was amazed to know that just in Chennai you have at least 100 suppliers who supply to ISRO missions regularly and these may be not like the biggest things is going to be screws and nuts and bolts and actuators and all these things. But that is the stuff that trips you up finally, right? So, so it’s it’s it’s it’s the real the the biggest of the biggest missions. This is where the real work is actually happening. I want to ask you an honest question. You know, if I were in a room, a room full of deep tech entrepreneurs like you, they are into space tech, big, small, medium, all kinds of people, right? What is going to be the sentiment of that room? Will they be positive and bullish about India as a market? What will they talk about the government? How will they talk about the government’s initiative? What is going to be the the vibe of that room? I think super super positive. At least that’s how I’ve experienced it. uh I think that the the the the big uh positive that we’ve all seen is when there was a lot of uh you know like when for example at least 50% of the investors I first pitched to ask the question why did you not do this in US itself why are you coming and trying to raise money for this in India and all of them got their answer after the policy opened up right so I think that every founder has seen in every sector in anything deep tech at least Right? There’s a very clear path where you had a bunch of people saying no this won’t happen in India and then it happened in India. So I think beyond a certain point people are not going to be able to question that. Of course as we all are humans as our needs get met our needs also go keep going up. So that is there. So the the asks have also gotten more complex now right from there was a point when we were wondering if we can get one rocket launch permission. Now my ask could be can I get 100 rocket launchers right so that is always going to be that’s being greedy for good yes so that greed is a part of human nature I think but that that is the overall sentiment that and I see this across and that’s the reason why you’re seeing all these startups in deep tech today in India where generally the notion is you won’t get capital for it is because of this so I think that’s a very clear change okay I want to take you back maybe 30 40 years back or maybe slightly uh you know uh earlier than that there was a time when the the big countries were playing the space game there was no India and now India enters the space um how have we as a country disrupted the space how has the narrative for space tech changed and what has been India’s contribution there so I I think India is the first nation which actually made democratizing of space become a real thing right we all talk about it today like it’s not a big deal but so if you if even in the private sector and in the government when it was only a government play for a very long time that is how all of space tech was right it was as you said a story for the bigger nations or the more developed nations or something but India always had that track about I think the we had the visionaries like you know Dr. Satish Dawan and you know Vikram Sarabai and they made it clear that even for a country that still had a lot of other things to be you know figuring out space was important and the seeds this you know that were planted then we’re seeing the fruits of it today I don’t think an ANI would exist if those decisions were not made back then and and going back to again my own story here so I’m not from the billionaire club right and it is possible for me to come and say I’m building a rocket company in India and sometimes I myself don’t believe it to be honest right and every part of that statement sometimes I feel like I’m very lucky to be saying that I am building a rocket company in India that’s that’s a big deal right I think because in the US the story started with SpaceX and and you know that in Elon Mus story he made his first chunk of money with some of his other exits from other companies that’s right I didn’t have my PayPal exit right so I know that even without and it’s not only my story by the way that’s an example if you look at any other space tech startup and I’m seeing a whole bunch of them today all of them are from super humble backgrounds a very relatable oh he’s a next door boy and suddenly he’s building a space company right I don’t think that is the scale at which it’s happening even in the US and the reason I’m picking us is because that’s where a lot of the privatization of space started yes and today you see all these I told you about the 100 plus companies I don’t think anyone is in the billionaires club there wow so I think truly Indian policy and the whole growth here is about opening up space to be not just accessed by everyone but to be built by everyone. I think that’s a big difference. So you talk about the time when you were in US and you know you became like the post poster boy of Indian space uh you know movement when you spoke about uh you know India cut to today if you go to US and you have you know all uh you have the relevant ecosystem there and people out there uh how has India’s perception changed from then and now? Um so I think uh I’ll start with the hardest part for me which was like raising money right and I’ve told Aniku’s story way too many times uh and I think the first fight and grows of money is now much easier to come by which is actually signaling that you have you know even investor interest and economic interest in the sector. It’s one thing to say it’s a dream and it’s it’s a great thing to do you know nation building and all that but money to flow actual cash to flow and the other interesting part is where does his money go the money goes back into the ecosystem right so I always feel like companies like Agnikul are like you know these pipelines we get money from everywhere and funnel it into the ecosystem because we’re building hardware in India so I think that has changed quite a bit so people have warmed up to the fact that Indian space tech as a private ecosystem is also something that they’ll have to watch out for and I have still my networks from you know the people I met there and in the time when I was trying to fit into the space ecosystem and they’re all very surprised that the private space system is actually growing in this big a way interesting Shrina there is this usage that it’s not rocket science you know we use it so often in our uh normal lingo um But increasingly now we we get a sense that actually rocket science is way more closer home than we thought and and it start it has started to now impact us in ways that we are able to relate in our daily lives. Um Google maps is one thing that we can think of and we can immediately kind of relate but can you let us know about more such innovations which are already happening or are on the anvil and will completely change the way we see life. Um so space has always been that sector right we always develop something for space and then people figure out oh you can also use it for day-to-day stuff. GPS as an example. Hundreds of materials that we use today, they all started as something that was needed in some part of space hardware and then found their way into you know regular regular usage. And now I think with the whole communication revolution happening suddenly everyone is talking it’s normalizing space in a big way right we’re talking about I think uh Starlink or any of these other communication constellation of satellites where you can directly start talking about satellite telephones again in the past if you remember there was a phase before the current mobile network became big we’re talking about satellite phones and then it went away because that was not affordable then but with more rocket companies is coming up like us of course I think that is also coming back into the vote but I think the other thing which I always think of space as a vantage point that is how actually a lot of humanity thought about it if you go high enough you can take good pictures or broader pictures or you can send signals everywhere this was the space story usually but somewhere along the line people started to think about what else does space offer why can’t space be an environment for example if you’re in space you’re in vacuum if you’re in space and you’re not facing the sun, then you’re almost at absolute zero, 3 Kelvin, 4 Kelvin, as cold as it gets. And if you’re in orbit, you’re in microgravity. And these are extremely complex conditions to create on Earth, right? Imagine creating a 4 Kelvin or almost close to absolute zero in a room here and keeping it that way for years together. It’s simply going to be the most energy intensive process you can think of. So space has suddenly become a platform. It’s this lab where you can cost effective science lab. Lab. Yeah. And more than a lab, it’s a manufacturing platform. Wow. Right. And so one of the things that was in our 2019 pitch decks, right, was about putting data centers in space. And now suddenly we are seeing in the last 3 four months that everyone is talking about data centers in space. And as you know unconventional as it sounds, I think it’s actually a meaningful idea because what what what what consumes uh you know the most money in a data center it’s energy create you need the energy to run your servers and you need energy to cool your servers and all the heat coming out. Now if you if you can think of keeping this entire thing in space it’s more efficient to generate energy directly from solar. you’re getting that light directly and you can tweak your solar cell orientation to always be facing the sun and the other part of the satellite is exposed to almost absolute zero. So you’re radiating away a lot of heat very easily. So this was environmentally it is also pretty good. Yes. Yes. Very much. And people have al also figured out how to connect right between earth and satellites now. And that is also getting better and better. So I think this whole concept of data centers in space is getting very real. Now the add-on part for Agnicle here is we had independently patented a technology where we said the upper part of a rocket right the the part of the rocket that goes to space will remain in space after releasing the satellite. This is something that usually people discard. But as I told you our job was to make sure whatever a big rocket would do we should do differently from that to make better you know profits to work. So we have patented tech to say our upper stage the last part of the rocket that has the satellite that usually releases the satellite and then after that it becomes debris. We said no no we are not making it debris we’ll actually make it do something there and that something is now becoming a platform for a data center. Beautiful. So now we are working on a concept with a couple of other partners where we’re looking at saying okay can the upper stage of a rocket and by the way our rocket is called Agni Ban. So can the upper stage of Agni ban be a platform to host the data center and we’ll be testing it in our upcoming mission by extending the upper stage a little bit. So that’ll be a fun mission to watch out for but that is getting real now. That’s very interesting. Now that that brings me to a question that has always uh been on my mind that all this initiatives we are doing and all this u you know leadership moves we are making in space tech um is it cascading down to the young uh minds of India? I see the government doing a lot of initiatives like uh like we now celebrate the national space day. It’s it’s on the day that we landed on the moon. Uh the Chandrean 3 landed on the moon. Uh so there’s a space a national space quiz that happened and the winners get to visit ISRO. So these initiatives I see the government taking. Uh but what is the real impact when you go to schools and colleges and you visit uh when you meet young Indians do you see there isn’t change there? Yeah. So as a kid I think everyone or everyone is fascinated by space right. I think if you talk to five kids at least four of them would say they would like to become an astronaut. And I was also in that in fact this reminds me of that moment in when I was in 10th grade where I qualified for that other competition and I was allowed to step inside ISRO. Oh and stepping inside this ro made a lot of things very real right because you’re always seeing things on TV on YouTube but actually seeing it in real is great. It sort of connects you with that thing that you know this is also doable. It’s not something that just needs to be a dream and there are enough distractions in life where it’s easy to say okay I won’t pick space thing for you know building my career but going and visiting is big I think two three things right like for example the whole fact that there was a gallery built up to watch a launch of ISRO in Sri Kota which is open to public you just need to go log in and get a pass that’s it and it’s free okay and that’s amazing I think any kid who is able to go and see a GSLV launch or they call it LVM3 rocket. Now you can feel the vibration on your chest. It’s such a powerful rocket. You’ll you’ll you a rocket launch always feels like you know someone is gently you know uh doing this to your chest. That’s how the vibrations feel and you can feel it there and that is enough to ignite so many people to want to be in space. Beautiful. So I think that’s happening today. The gallery is a big example. This quiz that you spoke about is a big example. the winners actually going there and visiting and seeing something or probably touching hardware that will irreversibly change their interest in space. So I think it’s a great initiative and that’s it’s almost like one of those things that you do to make sure that people don’t get distracted away because a lot of other distractions. Yeah. And it’s it’s it’s very critical. Um that brings me to to this entire thing of manufacturing in India, right? um you know that’s something that uh the honorable prime minister speaks about and um uh you know I think uh uh a lot of initiatives have been done across sectors on this um when you look at your industry in specific and in general um India as an manufacturing hub um where do you think we are and are we headed in the right direction there so I think already India has gotten to the point where we are accepted internationally as a manufacturing hub can see it across the sectors including space techch by the way right I think a lot of people are realizing that industries are capable of building world-class hardware here was re recently reading about how much of the percentage of iPhones now get made in India for example right so and that’s in a completely different sector but I think the bigger point in which India is going towards is not only make in India but also design and make in India and I call it conceive in India, right? Wherein you’re not only stopping with or starting at manufacturing. You’re starting at design. You’re starting at like creating these unconventional or you know not heard of before ideas. They they they come from India. You see the design happen in India. You then obviously have a manufacturing sector that’s already capable now. Yeah. You see the manufacturing in India and you’re seeing a product now out of India. So I think we’re going from manufacturing in India and leading make in India to design and make in India. That’s that’s a great feeling again because it’s about not only that 1 to 10 game but 0ero to one game as well. Beautiful. So if I read you right what you’re saying is that it is not just about the cost advantage or just the logistical advantage but it is also disrupting through new ideas, new technologies and new products. Yes. Yes. Very much. I think the whole fact of there is an India arbitrage just the the finance jargon and I’m I’m used to the word arbitrage because that’s what I did in Wall Street for a while. I think the India arbitrage is still there in some sectors. But I think people are not coming here only for that. People are coming here because they genuinely feel there are new ideas. It’s still there. So that’s not an arbitrage. You’re not playing some gap. Yes. You’re actually creating stuff. So I think that is now changing in India. Beautiful. Okay. Now it’s time for a young audience question segment. Are you ready to take off? Ready. Okay. Awesome. So here is the first question. Hello sir. My question is was there ever a moment when you thought we crazy to be trying this and it actually worked out. Yeah. Entire concept of a cool is like that right. Uh it was a calculated bet but it was still a bet. So it was definitely one of those moments where we thought it is you know crazy to be trying this and beyond just a concept as a company I think 3D printed engines for example right I don’t think anyone thought it was possible at this scale so yeah we have to uh break down the craziness into a set of engineering questions and suddenly it looks less crazy. Hello sir, my question is if a student today wants to work in space but is not great at physics or math yet, what should they focus on first? That’s a great question. Um so space particularly given where we are as a you know world today and India definitely today it’s not only an engineers game. So you don’t Yeah, it’s great if you know math and physics and if you’re good at it and you like it but if not the other aspect of it right I think no one has figured out how to build a big private company in India and space tech yet because yeah we do have some examples in the west but those economics will not apply here those business models will not directly apply here so there is scope for you know accountants there’s scope for economists there’s scope for operations people supply chain people in fact it almost feels like an entire B school can just be built around space. Oh wow. So I think that’s there. Then the other aspect, the legal aspects of it. What’s the liability aspect of a launch? Who owns an orbit? How long can you own an orbit for? Hundreds of questions out there. No one has still figured out anything more than just an inch of all those answers. So yes, if you’re a math or a physics person, great. If not, space is still a lot of questions are there for you to be answering. Interesting. Hello sir, my question is if space startups become common in India, what kind of jobs do you think will exist that student today don’t even know about yet? Don’t even know about it. Um, so I think the bigger questions are be are going to be in the in the it’s still going to be in like there was a there was a job that I remember reading about in I think in the US which was called rover driver, right? So if you have a rover on the moon, so imagine a Chandrean five or six mission. I think next Chandrean also is going to have a bigger rover. So I think once it gets little more privatized and little more normal like the question was about you know when more and more of these happen you will probably have a Chandrean rover driver. So interesting. That brings me to a question that today say an engineering graduate who probably or an engineering student um if he’s thinking of getting into this space what are the skill sets he should proactively you know kind of be working on and not be dependent on the curriculum but something he can proactively start working on which will prepare him for this emerging industry of space tech. Um, so I I know your question was about engineering, but can I answer it from a soft skills? Yeah, please do that. Yeah, why not? Because I think the curriculum and usually a lot of these people who are students who are interested in space are generally good at math or physics at least to the basics they are okay. But I think the harder part is the resilience. This ability to not have instant gratification and still keep going at a problem. I think that attitude is what actually makes it harder in space because the basic math and physics if you’re there you will have you can learn the rest on the job but to be a successful space person and not only just be an entrepreneur it can be anything in space tech it brings you to the last 1% of what is needed in engineering to get it to work so you need resilience you need patience you need to be able to live with a problem for a long enough time and I think anything to build that right for example example, and this may look very trivial, but I always tell this to my team as well. If you have a craving for something, just wait for 1 hour and then go do it. That builds that ability to not instantly gratify yourself, right? And I think that matters because nothing clicks in one day. And so, you’re going to have to be living with a problem for a long time. And if there is a failure, you should just be able to Yeah, this is this is how we build stuff. That is, I think, more important for a student. basic math, basic physics, if he or she wants to do engineering uh aspect of space. Yes. And even if not, I think there are enough problems to be solved in the business aspect and operations aspect. But all of that is going to come with resilience, I think. Very interesting. Hello sir. So my question is what is something about building rockets that sounded cool but turned out to be tough in real life? Thank you sir. Great question. So the whole plumbing aspect of it right uh I so so rocket engineering rocket engine engineering is a lot of plumbing you’re playing with uh you know the way in which you take kerosene into your engine in a very specific way so a lot of times you’re talking like a plumber right and I remember my mom asking me this question why are you talking about all this I thought you’re building rockets so that part of it was completely I mean I I I’d done this course. So I knew that it was a little bit of plumbing but we are talking like real plumbers here. So in fact there’s a there was a period of time when we figuring this out for the first time I think four five years back when we call the propulsion team as rocket plumbing team right. So and I still think that that was a surprise for me. Hello sir my question is what’s the most surprising thing you have learned about rockets and space while building the agni cool? The most surprising thing is actually we think we are building the rocket but the rocket is building us. I think that’s really what’s happening. It’s teaching you to do all these things that in a very specific way. So a lot of times and I remember I just want to use this as a you know example to talk about how the team felt when we did our launch and this like 18 or 17 people were huddled up in a container and our mission control rooms are containers by the way. Cargo containers converted to mission control rooms because we can transfer it wherever we want. And so there were like 17 18 people huddled up in there and literally everyone broke down right when the rocket launched. It was such a powerful moment for all of us. And that is when I realized that the rocket we we thought we were pushing the rocket up. The rocket was actually pushing us up in a way where we all growing right. I think that is the big big surprise for me. Great. Okay. So now it’s time for the cosmic quickfire. Are you ready for it? Sure. Okay. Early morning launch day or late night coding session? What would you prefer? Early morning launch day. Very clear. If startup life had a warning alarm like spacecrafts do, what would trigger what would trigger it the most? Uh, impatience. What drains faster, a rocket’s fuel or a founders’s energy during fundraising? Hard question. Rock its view. As a founder, you can’t allow it to drain. One habit that keeps you grounded while working on something as ambitious as space technology. Habit. Um I think generally you’re always at the mercy of nature. So I feel anything building anything in rocketry or space tech connects you with nature. You know that you’re you’re flying the day you’re given. Mhm. Right. So it’s not like you fly the rocket your way. So that is very humbling. That’s very interesting. First thing that you do after a successful launch. We all broke down as I told you. If you could spend one day at a space agency in the world, which one would it be? H one day being inside ISRO enough to say I’m very privileged to say that. So probably uh one of these the mission control centers of a deep space mission where we going and mining asteroids and stuff. Very curious to know what happens in those space control missions. Interesting. One miscon misconception people usually have about the space industry. Uh the business is as hard as the engineering. It’s not the business is not that hard. engineerings one book a film or a quote that made you feel space that made space feel magical to you while growing up so I’m a big fan of Arthur Slark and his uh you know books and uh there was this one paragraph about uh so there is a a section about this ape that becomes a human actually right that’s how the the the the story goes uh in space odyssey So he talks about just watching the moon and how the moon inspired humans to think about space. And so there’s one quote where they ask what would have space exploration been for humanity if earth did not have a moon. I think that was very powerful for me.