The Indian space programme is driven by a team of extraordinary scientists who occupy key posts in ISRO and its allied agencies. Meet the men for whom the sky is obviously not the limit.
K Radhakrishnan,Chairperson, ISRO
The Mars Orbiter Mission is the 65-year-old’s brainchild. Radhakrishnan, who started his career as an avionics engineer in 1971 at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, went on to become ISRO’s chairperson and
Department of Space secretary on October 31, 2009. He graduated in Electrical Engineering from Kerala University (1970), got his PG Diploma in Management from IIM-Bangalore (1976) and received PhD from IIT-Kharagpur (2000). Will ISRO send an Indian to space? “As far as human space flight is concerned, we are just at the beginning. The country will have to take this decision at a right moment,” he says.
Mylswamy Annadurai, Programme Director, MOM
The 56-year-old satellite systems expert was the project director for Chandrayaan 1 and also has the same role for Chandrayaan 2. “Next to Chandrayaan 2, our long-term mission will be to have a permanent research station on the moon,” he said. During holidays, Annadurai tours to meet students and spread awareness on science.
S Ramakrishnan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Satellite Centre
Ramakrishnan joined VSSC in August 1972 and worked as member in SLV-3 project team responsible for developing India’s first SLV led by former President A P J Abdul Kalam. Subsequently, he was project director for PSLV continuation programme. Under him, the PSLV was operationalised, enhancing its payload capacity from 900 kg to 1,500 kg.
S K Shivakumar, Director, ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC)
Shivakumar began his career by joining ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network in 1976 and later served ISAC for two decades, during which he contributed to several satellite missions. He served as mission director for IRS-1B and IRS-1C satellites. Shivakumar was also the project director for realising India’s first indigenous Deep Space Network antenna at Byalalu.
V Koteswara Rao, Scientific Secretary, ISRO
An outstanding scientist and formerly director of Laboratory for Electro Optic Systems, Rao was appointed scientific secretary in July 2011. He was the project director of Astrosat satellite, scheduled to be launched next year. He is noted for significant contributions in the design and development of satellite sensor systems of ISRO.
P Kunhikrishnan, Project Director, PSLV
The Project Director of the PSLV programme, he was appointed mission director for the ninth time with the Mars Orbiter launch. Having joined ISRO in 1986, he has overseen eight successful PSLV missions before the PSLV C25 which put the Mars orbiter into space. He had to ensure the orbiter was well shielded from temperature differences.
A S Kiran Kumar, Director, Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad
Three of the five scientific payloads on the Mars orbiter came from SAC. So Kumar was faced with the task for minimising the dimensions of the experiments and reducing their weight since the orbiter had a limit of 15 kg for payloads. He joined ISRO in 1975 and has worked on electro-optical imaging sensors.