The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has appointed Dr. S Somanath as its new chairman, an aerospace engineer and rocket scientist. On Friday, Kailasavadivoo Sivan will complete his extended tenure.
Dr. S. Somnath was appointed as Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman of the Space Commission on Wednesday by the Centre. His appointment is for a combined tenure of three years from the date of joining the post, including an extension beyond the age of superannuation in the public interest, said an order from the Personnel Ministry.
A mechanical engineer with a Master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and a Gold medalist, Somnath joined VSSC in 1985 as a Malayali scientist. From June 2010 to 2014, he managed GSLV Mk-III projects.
He has contributed extensively to the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLG) programmes.
He was an integral part of three successful GSLV missions with indigenous cryogenic stages and eleven successful PSLV missions with liquid stages developed by LPSC.
Somnath has participated in the development activities of the high thrust semi-cryogenic engine and designed a fast track hardware realization and test program. Among the achievements were the first successful flight of an electric propulsion system in GSAT-9 and the development of throttleable engines for the lander craft of Chanradrayaan-2.
He is best known for his contributions to launch vehicle design, particularly in the areas of launch vehicle systems engineering, structural design, structural dynamics, and pyrotechnics.
CARE’s first experimental flight was successfully completed under his leadership on December 18, 2014. Somnath was named director of ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Thiruvananthapuram, in June 2015. Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) director S Somnath became its director in January 2018.
Moreover, he has been awarded the Space Gold Medal by the Astronautical Society of India (ASI), Performance Excellence Award-2014 and Team Excellence Award-2014 for the GSLV Mk-III realization by ISRO.
