The Centre has appointed V Narayanan as the new chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation and Secretary, Department of Space. Mr Narayanan will take over from S Somanath, the current head of the organisation, on January 14.
In a notification on Tuesday, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet said Mr Narayanan, who is the head of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Valiamala, will have a tenure of two years. Mr Narayanan, who will also be the Chairman of the Space Commission, played a key role in India’s development of the cryogenic engine, a technology that was denied to the country.
Speaking to NDTV from Thiruvananthapuram, the newly appointed ISRO chief said, “We have a clear roadmap for India and I hope to take ISRO to greater heights as we have great talent.”
Mr Narayanan is a distinguished scientist (APEX Scale) and seniormost director in ISRO. The Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, which he heads, is engaged in the development of liquid, semi-cryogenic and cryogenic propulsion stages for launch vehicles, chemical and electric propulsion systems for satellites, control systems for launch vehicles, and transducers development for space systems health monitoring.