Meet S Somanath, rocket scientist who will take over as ISRO chief from K Sivan

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointment of eminent rocket scientist S Somanath as the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Somanath will take over as the ISRO chief from Dr K Sivan, who completes his extended tenure on Friday. Sivan was appointed as the ISRO chief, Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman Space Commission in January 2018 and was given a one-year extension till January 14, 2022.
 
“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of S Somanath, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) to the post of Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, Space Commission for a combined tenure of three years from the date of joining of the post, inclusive of an extension in tenure beyond the age of superannuation in the public interest, or until further order whichever is earlier,” the statement read.  The post of the ISRO chairman, the Space Secretary and the Space Commission chief is usually held by one person only.
 
Who is S Somanath?
 
Somanath will take over as the tenth chairman of the space organisation on January 14. According to his biodata, his expertise lies in the area of system engineering of launch vehicles. Prior to this, he was at the helm of affairs at the VSSC from January 2018. Somanath also spent two-and-a-half years stint as the Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at Thiruvananthapuram’s Valiamala.

He has also served as the Associate Director (Projects) at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and as the Project Director of GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle. It was under his leadership that the first experimental flight of LVH3-X/CARE mission was successfully accomplished on December 18, 2014. He joined VSSC in 1985 and was a team leader for the integration of PSLV during early phases.
 
Somanath pursued his BTech in Mechanical Engineering from Kollam’s TKM college of engineering and Masters in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Bengaluru with specialisation in structures, dynamics and control. He was a gold medalist.

 
What will be Somanath’s areas of focus as ISRO boss?
 
According to Somanath, his areas of focus will be those where stakeholders need to be taken care of besides other segments. He also believes that India needs new approach methods to utilise the available resources in an optimum manner. Somanath says that ISRO needs to work with several capacity builders like technology companies.
 
“Areas of focus will be technology, policy, implementation and areas where stakeholders need to be taken care of. There are different segments that we need to concentrate on. Looking at the technology side, we are the powerhouse of technology [in] various disciplines. We need to bring new approach methods so that available can be best utilised. There are many new technologies too. We need to bring in newer approaches; have to work with capacity builders like tech companies,” he said.
 
He also added that we also have to be on the lookout for domains where space can be utilised further as we have a traditional commination and navigation domain despite vast and innovation domains. Somanath’s other focal point as the chairmain of India’s premier space organisation is to bring down the costs associated with space operations substantially.
 
The rocket scientist, who will take over from Dr Sivan on Friday also explained that it is the right time to discuss business and profit aspects of space operations. “Economy of operation big enough to make profitable. We never discussed profit or business so far in the country but this is time to discuss business in space and then find how we can create business enterprise around space technology which will be self-sustaining and profitable for people to enter and invest,” he underscored.

(With agency inputs)

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