S. Somanath
Indian aerospace engineer / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Sreedhara Panicker Somanath (born July 1963) is an Indian aerospace engineer serving as the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).[2] Under his chairmanship, ISRO carried out the third Indian lunar exploration mission named Chandrayaan-3. The lander named Vikram and the rover named Pragyan landed near the lunar south pole region on 23 August 2023 at 18:04 IST, making India the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the lunar south pole and the fourth country to demonstrate soft landing on the Moon.[3][4][5][6]
S. Somanath | |
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10th Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation | |
Assumed office 15 January 2022 (2022-01-15) | |
Preceded by | K. Sivan |
Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre | |
In office 24 January 2018 ā 14 January 2022 | |
Preceded by | K. Sivan |
Succeeded by | S. Unnikrishnan Nair[1] |
Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre | |
In office 1 January 2015 ā 23 January 2018 | |
Preceded by | K. Sivan |
Succeeded by | V. Narayanan |
Personal details | |
Born | July 1963 (age 60) Thuravoor, Cherthala, Kerala, India |
Spouse | Valsalakumari |
Children | 2 |
Alma mater | Thangal Kunju Musaliar College of Engineering (B.Tech., Mechanical Engineering). Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru (M.Tech., Aerospace Engineering). |
Somanath served as the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram and director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.[7][8] Somanath is known for his contributions to launch vehicle design, particularly in the areas of launch vehicle systems engineering, structural design, structural dynamics, and pyrotechnics.[9][10]