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The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Wednesday the appointment of the eminent rocket scientist Dr S Somanath as its new chairman and Space Secretary. Dr Somanath will succeed Kailasavadivoo Sivan who completes his extended tenure on Friday.
Here is a 5 point guide to the new ISRO chairman
1) Dr S Somanath was appointed by the Centre on Wednesday as the Secretary of the Department of Space and the Chairman of the Space Commission. His appointment is for a combined tenure of three years from the date of joining of the post, inclusive of an extension in tenure beyond the age of superannuation in public interest, a Personnel Ministry order said. The post of the ISRO chairman, the Space Secretary and the Space Commission chief is usually held by one person only.
2) Dr Somanath is currently the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram. He was a team leader for the Integration of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) during the early phases of his career. Additionally, under his leadership, the first experimental flight of LVM3-X/CARE mission was successfully accomplished on December 18, 2014.
3) He will be the 10th chairman of the premier space organisation, took charge as the VSSC’s head on January 22, 2018, after a two and a half years stint as the Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Valiamala, Thiruvananathapuram. Earlier, he served as the Associate Director (Projects) of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and also as the Project Director of GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle.
4) Dr Somanath in the area of system engineering of launch vehicles and has specialised in launch vehicle systems engineering, structural design, structural dynamics, integration designs and procedures, mechanism design, and pyrotechnics.
5) Born in July 1963, Dr Somanath did his B Tech in Mechanical Engineering from TKM college of engineering, Kollam, and Masters in Aerospace Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, with specialisation in structures, dynamics and control. For his performance, he received a gold medal.
