Dr. S. Somanath
Launch-vehicle engineer who chaired ISRO from January 2022 to January 2025, when Chandrayaan-3 landed near the Moon's south pole and Aditya-L1 was launched.
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Sreedhara Panicker Somanath
Contribution
Somanath's term as ISRO Chairman included the Chandrayaan-3 landing near the Moon's south pole and the launches of Aditya-L1, XPoSat, INSAT-3DS, NVS-01 and SpaDeX. The SSLV small launcher and the Gaganyaan test vehicle were developed, and the reusable launch vehicle landing experiment (RLV-LEX) was carried out.
As Secretary of the Department of Space he steered the national space policy and ISRO's work with private companies and start-ups. He also helped shape the architecture of Gaganyaan and the long-term plan that includes the Bharatiya Antariksh Station.
Career
He studied mechanical engineering at TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, aerospace engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, and earned his PhD at IIT Madras.
Early in his career he worked on PSLV integration. He was lead systems engineer for LVM3 and Project Director of the LVM3-X/CARE experimental flight in December 2014. As Director of LPSC (2015–18) he completed the C25 cryogenic stage, and as Director of VSSC (2018–21) he led launch-vehicle development including the LVM3-M1 flight that carried Chandrayaan-2.
He took over as ISRO Chairman in January 2022. After his term he became Vikram Sarabhai Distinguished Professor at ISRO.
Linked missions
- Chandrayaan-3: Moon landing during his chairmanship.
- Aditya-L1: solar observatory, launched in his term.
- Gaganyaan: first test-vehicle abort demonstration.
- LVM3: lead systems engineer.