THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: M Mohan, scientist and VSSC director (Projects), has assumed the charge of director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC). The position fell vacant after the Union government picked former LPSC director C Narayanan as the ISRO chairman.
An Alappuzha native, Mohan has earlier served as director of the Human Space Flight Centre from June 2023 to June 2024. Prior to that, he was the associate director of VSSC (R&D), deputy director of VSSC (MME) and the deputy director of VSSC (ASOE).
He was the project director of GSLV and the mission director for the successful missions of GSLV-F08/GSAT-6A and GSLV-F11/GSAT-7A, accomplished in 2018. He has also held the positions of project director of Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS), deputy director of Materials and Manufacturing Entity in LPSC and the project director of Space Capsule Recovery Project (SRE-2), VSSC.
He was also system leader of the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) project of the Chandrayaan-1 mission, which successfully placed the national flag on the surface of the moon. He was the recipient of the ISRO Performance Excellence Award in 2016 and the ISRO Merit Award in 2010.
He is a fellow of the Aeronautical Society of India, a life member and currently the president of the Society of Aerospace Manufacturing Engineers (SAME) in India, a life member of High Energy Materials Society of India (HEMSI) and a life member of India Society Aerospace and Related Mechanisms (INSARM).