The Centre on Wednesday appointed and rocket scientist S Somanath as the new chief of the Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO) and Secretary, Department of Space (DoS).
S Somnath, who has been serving as the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) since January 2018, will replace current ISRO chief and director K Sivan, who will complete his term, which included a one-year extension, on January 14.
Graduated in mechanical engineering from TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, and a Master’s degree holder in aerospace engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and a Gold medalist, Somnath is a Malayali scientist who joined VSSC in 1985. He was project manager of GSLV Mk-III from June 2010 to 2014.
He has worked extensively on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLG) programmes.
Somnath is also the recipient of the Space Gold Medal from Astronautical Society of India (ASI), Performance Excellence Award-2014 and Team Excellence Award-2014 for GSLV Mk-III realization, from ISRO.
