THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: P S Veeraraghavan has been appointed director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thumba. He replaces Dr K.Radhakrishnan who has succeeded Dr G.Madhavan Nair as ISRO chairman.
Veeraraghavan was serving as director of the ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU), Vattiyurkkavu.
He took charge on Saturday, the VSSC said in a statement.
Veeraraghavan, who has made significant contributions to Launch Vehicle Technology, joined the ISRO in 1971. After post-graduation in Electrical and Electronics Instrumentation from IIT, Chennai, he joined ISRO in the SLV-3 Project as engineerin- charge for checkout system development.
As deputy director (mechanisms and vehicle integration and testing), he was responsible for assembly, integration and checkout of ISRO’s launch vehicles PSLV and GSLV. After becoming IISU director in July 2002, he was responsible for inertial guidance and related packages development for ISRO’s launch vehicles and spacecraft.
Veeraraghavan had undergone training at the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES - the French Space agency) and had visited the major space centres in Japan, the US and France.
He is the recipient of the VASVIK Award and is an active member of professional bodies, including the Aeronautical Society of India.