BENGALURU: Former chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation, Dr Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, passed away at his residence in the city at around 10.43am after a prolonged illness.
His body will be kept at the Raman Research Institute (RRI) in the city on Sunday April 27 between 10am and 12 pm for people to pay their last respects.
Paying homage to his mentor, former chairman ISRO, S Somanath said he was "mesmerized" by Dr Kasturirangan, who had succeeded Dr UR Rao as chairman, ISRO in 1994.
"He played a pivotal role in the development of the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) and Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and mentored us throughout," said Somanath.
He recalled Kasturirangan congratulating him and team ISRO on the successful launch of Chandrayaan 3 on August 23, 2023 with which India became the first country in the world to land on moon's hitherto unexplored south pole.
"He was there all along and knew the complexities of the Chandrayaan programme," Somnath remembered.
"During his time, the project report for Chandrayaan 1 was made in 2003. It was sent to the government of India and was approved in 2004," said former director, ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Dr M Annandurai, popularly called the 'Moon Man of India'.
"It is during his time that ISRO graduated from development status to operational status in Earth observation, communication and launch services," added Annadurai, while paying tribute to Kasturirangan.
"In his passing away, India has lost one of the greatest space scientists," Annadurai added.
Kasturirangan had steered India's Space programme for over nine years as chairman, ISRO, Space Commission and secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Space (DoS), before laying down his office on August 27, 2003. He spearheaded the ASLV programme, which provided valuable inputs for the PSLV development.
Many achievements
Under his leadership, ISRO successfully launched the PSLV, and the first successful flight testing of the all-important Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).
He was earlier director, ISRO Satellite Centre, where he oversaw the activities related to the development of new generation spacecraft, Indian National Satellite (INSAT-2) and Indian Remote Sensing Satellites (IRS-1A & 1B) as well as scientific satellites. He was also the project director for the first two experimental earth observation satellites, BHASKARA-I & II and subsequently was responsible for overall direction of the first operational Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, IRS-1A.
Kasturirangan had also overseen the design, development and launching of the world's best civilian satellites, IRS-1C and 1D, realisation of the second generation and initiation of third generation INSAT satellites, besides launching ocean observation satellites IRS-P3/P4, which had put India as a pre-eminent space-faring nation among the handful of six countries that have major space programmes.
As an astrophysicist, Kasturirangan's interest included research in high energy X-ray and gamma ray astronomy as well as optical astronomy. He has made extensive and significant contributions to studies of Cosmic x-ray sources, celestial gamma-ray and effect of cosmic x-rays in the lower atmosphere.
Kasturirangan won several awards including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Engineering, Dr Vikram Sarabhai Prerit Award in Aerospace, MP Birla Memorial Award in Astronomy, MM Chugani Memorial Award in Applied Science and HK Firodia Award in Science among others for outstanding contributions in the field of Space. He was conferred Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.
He had published more than 200 papers, both in international and national journals in the areas of astronomy, space science, space applications. Besides his contribution as a space scientist, his reports on conservation of ecology in the Western Ghats (2013) and National Education Policy (2020) are of significance.
The Kasturirangan report on Western Ghats submitted in 2013 proposed to identify 37 per cent of the Western Ghats as environmentally sensitive. The Kasturirangan Committee, which drafted the NEP 2020 had proposed several key changes to the education system, with focus on access, equity, quality, affordability, and accountability.