Dr Sreedhara Panicker Somanath’s tenure as the chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) ends on January 15. V Narayanan has been appointed as the next Isro chief. As Somanath prepares to hand over India’s space agency to his successor, it is also time to remember his role in leading India to the moon’s south pole, making the Chandrayaan-3 mission a success.
Somanath became Isro chief in January 2022, after K Sivan retired.
Sreedhara Panicker Somanath was born in July 1963 to a Malayali family in Kerala’s Alappuzha district. He was born to V Sreedhara Panicker, a Hindi teacher, and Thankamma.
From a young age, he showed a keen interest in science and technology, which eventually led him to pursue a career in aerospace engineering.
Dr Somanath completed his academics at the country’s premier institutions, such as the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
However, he completed his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at Thangal Kunju Musaliar College of Engineering in Kollam. He later earned a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the IIS, Bangalore, and a PhD from the IIT, Madras.
Dr Somanath joined Isro in 1985. During the initial days, he played an important role in various key projects, including the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III). He was in charge of the system integration design, sub-assembly realization, and testing of the PSLV stages during its development.
A major achievement during his tenure was leading Isro to successfully complete the Chandrayaan-3 mission. This made India the first country to land a spacecraft near the lunar south pole.
He has also served as the Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC). It was during his tenure, VSSC achieved significant milestones. This includes the demonstration of the Crew Escape System through the Pad Abort Test (PAT), the launch of the 50th PSLV, and the GSLV Mk-III M1/Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft.
Somanath has received the Space Gold Medal from the Astronautical Society of India (ASI), as well as the Performance Excellence Award 2014 and Team Excellence Award 2014 from ISRO for his work on the GSLV Mk-III realization.
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