Eminent aerospace engineer and rocket scientist Dr S Somanath is new ISRO chairman

 S. Somanath is an Indian aerospace engineer and rocket technologist. In January 2022, he was chosen to succeed K. Sivan as the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation  as well as secretary of the Department of Space for a joint tenure of three years.

 Somanath is known for his contributions to launch vehicle design, particularly in the areas of launch vehicle systems engineering, structural design and structural dynamics.

Currently the director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center , the scientist’s 30-year career trajectory is full of notable achievements. He played an integral role in the first successful flight of the PSLV. 

Somanath pursued his BTech in Mechanical Engineering from TKM college of engineering and Masters in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Bengaluru with specialisation in structures, dynamics and control. He was a gold medalist.  The gold medalist was recruited by ISRO for the PSLV programme soon after the course.

He was associated with PSLV Project during its initial phase. He became the Associate Director of VSSC and also the Project Director of GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle in 2010. He was also the Deputy Director of Propulsion and Space Ordinance Entity till November 2014.

In June 2015 he took over as Director of LPS
C at Thiruvananthapuram and served there until January 2018.

In January 2022 he took over as the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO).