New Delhi: Rocket specialist K Sivan has been appointed Chairman of India's space agency ISRO for a three-year term. He replaces incumbent ISRO Chairman AS Kiran Kumar, whose term ends January 14.
Mr Sivan, who mastered the development of cryogenic engines for India, is currently Director of Vikram Sarabhai Spacer Centre in Trivandrum. A cryogenic engine uses liquefied gases stored at low temperature as fuel.
It was Mr Sivan's expertise that gave ISRO the ability to send 104 satellites in a single mission, setting a world record in February last year. He was the key person who worked on the technicalities of how the satellites would scatter in orbit.
"I am humbled by this appointment as legendary ISRO chairmen in the past have done great wonders... I hope to humbly serve the country and take it into a new orbit," Mr Sivan told NDTV from India's space port of Sriharikota in the Bay of Bengal.
The new ISRO chairman has also played a key role in developing the indigenous Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MK II, and was part of the team that ideated on the Swadeshi space shuttle (a reusable launch vehicle).
The Indian Space Research Organisation will launch its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on Friday, after a failed launch on August 31 last year. In what was seen as a big embarrassment to the ISRO then, the 41st mission of the PSLV, which carried India's first satellite made by the private sector, failed as the satellite's protective heat shield did not drop off.
ISRO has fixed the problem in the heat shieldthat failed to open during the August launch, killing the satellite in space. The upcoming mission will see satellites from the US and Finland, among others, fly into space
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