It has cleared the appointment of V Narayanan as the new chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation and Secretary of the Department of Space, with effect from January 14. Narayanan replaces S Somanath, who has been heading the organisation since January 2022.
In a notification issued on Tuesday, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet said Narayanan, who is presently director of the LPSC, Valiamala, has been appointed for a period of two years. He will also be the secretary of the Space Commission and is credited with playing a crucial role in the development of cryogenic engine technology for which India was denied the technology.
Speaking from Thiruvananthapuram, Narayanan expressed commitment to advancing ISRO’s mission, stating, “We have a clear roadmap for India, and I hope to take ISRO to greater heights as we have great talent.”
Recognised as a scientist of repute at the APEX Scale, Narayanan is the seniormost director in ISRO. During his tenure, LPSC has played a stellar role in the development of propulsion systems for launch vehicles, including liquid, semi-cryogenic and cryogenic stages for launch vehicles and chemical and electric propulsion systems for satellites.
Besides this job at LPSC, Narayanan leads the Project Management Council for the Space Transportation System, PMC-STS-the key decision-making body for all launch vehicle projects-and the National Level Human Rated Certification Board, HRCB, for Gaganyaan, India’s next big ticket human spaceflight program.
Narayanan had a very strong engineering background, having done his M.Tech in Cryogenic Engineering and PhD in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Kharagpur, for which he received a Silver Medal for being the topper in his M.Tech program. He joined ISRO in 1984 and grew through the ranks steadily to become the director of LPSC in 2018.
Somanath was the previous chief of ISRO, under whose charge a number of major milestones occurred, including the historic achievement of landing a rover in the Moon’s south pole region and joining an elite league of nations that accomplished a soft landing on the Moon, an exclusive club comprising the US, the former Soviet Union, and China.
