A North Salt Lake-based aerospace company SkyRovr has captured national attention after NASA selected its wildfire intelligence platform as a winner of the 2025 Sustainable Business Model Challenge, marking a significant milestone for the emerging unmanned systems developer.
SkyRovr, founded by former Northrop Grumman Systems Engineer and US Army aviation mechanic Shan Khadka, is developing a suite of autonomous aerial and ground vehicles designed to address challenges ranging from disaster response to urban logistics. The company’s THERMIS project, a hybrid vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle specifically engineered for wildfire monitoring and climate resilience, earned NASA recognition.
“Programs like this don’t just encourage innovation — they accelerate it,” said Khadka. “Recognition from NASA provides us with a national platform to engage with federal agencies, utilities, and humanitarian partners. It’s a stepping stone toward contracts and collaborations that will allow us to scale our technology where it’s needed most.”
The NASA award represents more than financial support for the company. It positions SkyRovr among credible players in the rapidly evolving unmanned aerial vehicle sector while opening doors to potential partnerships across government, defense, and commercial industries.
Khadka brings nearly six years of U.S. Army aviation experience to the venture, having served as a helicopter mechanic on CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. This military background provided him with direct exposure to mission-critical reliability standards under high-stakes operational conditions. Following his military service, he pursued aerospace and mechanical engineering degrees from the City College of New York and the University of Texas at Arlington, later spending nearly five years in defense industry systems engineering roles, including a position as Principal Systems Engineer at Northrop Grumman.
Beyond the THERMIS wildfire detection system, the Utah aerospace company has developed a portfolio of unmanned platforms targeting diverse applications. The FALCON system incorporates artificial intelligence for defense operations with stealth and targeting capabilities. QuickDrop addresses e-commerce delivery challenges in urban environments, while SiteScan focuses on infrastructure inspection for construction sites, bridges, and critical facilities. The company is also developing an unmanned ground vehicle equipped with AI-driven navigation systems designed to complement aerial operations in defense, security, and field logistics applications.
Innovation extends to the company’s patented non-landing aerial delivery system, documented in patent filing US20250051044A1. This technology enables unmanned aerial vehicles to transfer supplies including medical equipment, blood products, and other critical materials directly to rooftop pods or secure nodes without requiring landing. The system addresses operational challenges in high-risk environments such as disaster zones, urban hospitals, and defense operations where traditional landing approaches prove impractical or unsafe.
Current development efforts focus on transitioning THERMIS from prototype to full-scale production platform. The company has initiated discussions for pilot deployments with wildfire agencies across Western states. Conversations are also underway with federal agencies including FEMA and the USDA Forest Service, as well as utility companies like PG&E and insurance providers, to integrate the technology into existing emergency response and infrastructure monitoring workflows.
The multi-domain approach positions SkyRovr at the intersection of climate resilience, logistics innovation, infrastructure safety, and defense modernization. By developing both aerial and ground-based autonomous systems, the company aims to create an integrated ecosystem of unmanned technologies capable of addressing complex operational challenges across civilian and defense sectors.
As wildfire seasons grow increasingly severe and infrastructure monitoring demands intensify, the timing of SkyRovr’s NASA recognition underscores growing interest in autonomous systems that can operate in dangerous or inaccessible environments. The company’s dual-use technology strategy, combining commercial applications with defense capabilities, reflects broader trends in the aerospace industry toward versatile platforms that serve multiple markets
With prototype testing complete and pilot programs on the horizon, SkyRovr stands poised to transition from development to deployment, leveraging its NASA recognition to accelerate partnerships and scale operations across its platform portfolio.
