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We were thrown out of our workspace around this time, almost a couple years ago because we couldn’t make a payment. Today I was trying to fight back tears when the ISRO Chairman and Scientific Secretary inaugurated our first proper facility in Bengaluru.
(a long thread, sorry) https://twitter.com/isro/status/1351886204745048065
(a long thread, sorry) https://twitter.com/isro/status/1351886204745048065
Summer 2018. The first pic we ever took, at our temp. office under Halasuru metro station. I remember quickly white-boarding a diagram of the 3U satellite prototype that we were then working on because a journalist was going to come talk to us for the first time and wanted a pic.
The article had a ton of mistakes, but our team Pixxel has come a long way since and almost three years of working together have gone behind. Some days it feels like that was a moment ago, other days it feels like it was a lifetime ago.
It’s a long road we’re on and there’s so much longer that we need to go, but in more ways than one, we can say that we’ve climbed step one of a thousand step pyramid.
Working with @awaisahmedna on building Pixxel is the most challenging, difficult and exciting thing I’ve ever had to do. I love it. Unrelenting, v competitive and forever optimistic—working, chilling or just talking with him, everyday, is an unmatched learning experience.
Silently but diligently, he put in his savings to get our first few flight tickets, got us registered, kept reaching out to everyone, constantly pitching, finding meetings—when I didn’t have a penny to my name and was skipping meals to pay rent.
All I had then was a strong sense of belief in a great friend I loved playing FIFA with, a very strong fear of mediocrity and love for space, technology and space technology.
We were fortunate to have our batchies Manas and Tejaswi believe in us and what Pixxel wanted to do and join along for the ride. It feels wrong to say it here first, but these three are the greatest friends I’ve ever had.
We spent nights and nights studying satellites, missions, cameras, trying to make sense of the entire fucking earth observation industry, going through books, research papers, the internet, talking to scientists and investors alike, trying to do things we weren’t qualified to do.
Initially Awais and I liked to think of ourselves as the classic optimist-pessimist pair, but optimism is infectious and I can safely say that I shamelessly enjoy the freedom of thought that it brings with it. Have realised that a pessimist is just an optimist in the making.
Honestly, we still haven’t done shit. Our first mission goes up next month and while we’re doing everything we can and more—the space test will be the only real measure of our work so far, in my humble opinion.
Post fundraise, we’ve enjoyed a lot of media attention, but our stock photos don’t do justice to the efforts of our team at Pixxel who have shed just as much sweat as Awais & I. Everyone has made sacrifices and we are thankful. Our team is a constant source of motivation for us.
When the rest of our team was busy with inauguration today, Tejaswi was in Yelahanka getting the fixtures reworked for our upcoming HILS test and Manas was working on our software integration testing. Here’s an old pic of them, no banana for scale. (Missed you bois! ;-;)
This set of tweets is probably badly timed and shitly written, but I see no other way to say it than this, and no time better than now. We’re here because of the efforts of a great team that has given us the platform that we have today.
@PixxelSpace started as a team of two and is now a dream shared by many. The most beautiful thing about the space ecosystem is the support you get. It’s surreal working in an environment where the people around you—regardless of their skepticism—want you to succeed.
We’ve been overwhelmed by the support that our team begets from our investors, friends, mentors, vendors, suppliers, manufacturers and the government. And the many unnamed—but not unnoticed—who we know are cheering for us. Space is a playground of the hopeful.
The unflinching support of @isro and Dr Sivan means everything to us. One way or the other, we will find ways to meet the great expectations that have been put on us. Never fear.
Very special shoutout to @cosmosguru for being an amazing pillar of support in the space ecosystem. And to @ultasawaal for being a fantastic sounding board and part-time therapy man. MCMC.
