The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved S Somanath as the Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for a combined tenure of three years.
Somanath is presently the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and will succeed K Sivan for the new Chief post. When asked about the areas to be focused on, he said, “Areas of focus will be technology, policy, implementation and areas where stakeholders need to be taken care of.”
At the ISRO, he has been associated with the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) Project during its initial phase. Later, he became the Associate Director (Projects) of the VSSC and also the Project Director of the GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle in 2010. He was also the Deputy Director of Propulsion and Space Ordinance Entity till November 2014.
He is taking over this post at a time when India is opening its space sector to private firms and startups to build rockets and satellites, besides offering services to both local and global markets. ISRO will focus on building more powerful rockets such as semi-cryogenic engines that will help put bigger satellites into space at lower costs and work on missions such as the human spaceflight.
“The most important responsibility is to create a space enterprise in India where all the stakeholders, including DoS, Isro, IN-SPACe, industry and start-ups are all part of the efforts to expand the space programme on a bigger scale. This is the primary responsibility,” Somnath said.
See What’s Next in Tech With the Fast Forward Newsletter
Tweets From @varindiamag
Nothing to see here - yet
When they Tweet, their Tweets will show up here.