S Somanath Assumes Charge As ISRO Chief

Bengaluru: S Somanath assumed charge as Secretary of Department of Space and Chairman, Space Commission, on Friday.

He replaced Kailasavadivoo Sivan, whose tenure ended on January 14, 2022, as the new Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief. He has been appointed to the post for a combined tenure of three years.

Prior to this, Somanath had a four-year stint as the Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananathapuram. He also served as the Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Valiamala, for two and half years, a statement by ISRO said.

An expert in the area of system engineering of launch vehicles, he was instrumental in the development of PSLV and GSLV MkIII.

Somanath is a B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering and did his Masters in Aerospace Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, specialising in Structures, Dynamics, and Control with a Gold Medal.