Dr. S. Somanath, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Distinguished Professor and former Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

Dr. S. Somanath is currently the Vikram Sarabhai Distinguished Professor at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Prior to this, he served as a Distinguished Scientist (Apex Grade) and Secretary, Department of Space (DoS), Chairman, Space Commission and Chairman, ISRO from January 2022 to January 2025. Dr. S. Somanath, having a career spanning nearly 40 years, is an expert in the field of space technology and systems engineering of launch vehicles, and has made significant contributions in many areas.

As Secretary of DoS, he had piloted the National Space Policy, facilitated IN-SPACe activation, engagement of ISRO with NGPEs and start-ups in space sector and enabled NSIL to aggregate user demands, take up commercial activities including Launch vehicle production and spacecraft operations. Chandrayaan-3 landing near the south pole of the Moon was a great success under his leadership. The Aditya-L1, XpoSat, INSAT-3DS, NVS-01, Oceansat, GSAT-24 and commercial PSLV & LVM3-OneWeb missions are some of the recent successes. Under his leadership Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) and Test Vehicle (TV) were developed and landing experiments of the Re-usable Launch Vehicle (RLV-LEX) was accomplished. He played a crucial role in the architecture of Gaganyaan program for sending Indians to Space and achieved the first Test Vehicle flight for mission abort demonstration. He was instrumental in developing the Space Vision-2047, where Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan series and other exploration missions, Bharatiya Antariksha Station development and human mission to Moon were approved. He played a key role in the success of Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) Mission.

As Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) during 2018-21, he was responsible for Launch vehicle technology development where, LVM3-M1/Chandrayaan-2 mission was a major accomplishment. He spearheaded the development of critical systems for the Gaganyaan programme, development of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, Re-usable Launch Vehicle & Air-Breathing technology programs. He was the Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) during 2015-18 where, the development and qualification of C25 stage was completed and successfully flown in LVM3-D1 flight. He was the Project Director when the Experimental flight of the LVM3-X/CARE mission was successfully accomplished on 18th December 2014.

Dr. S. Somanath took his B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, Masters in Aerospace Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and PhD from IITM Chennai. He has been bestowed with many Honorary Doctorates from universities including, Centurion, Karunya, Satyabhama, SRM, Uttarakhand, Sarada Birla, Bangalore, JNTU, KUHS, Amity & DY Patil Vidyapeeth.

He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Science (INSA), Fellow of the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI), the Astronautical Society of India (ASI) and a member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). He is the President (Elect) of AeSI and President of Society of Aerospace Quality and Reliability (SAQR). National Aeronautics Prize from AeSI, Space Gold Medal from ASI, Gold medal from Aerospace Engineering Department, Platinum Jubilee award and Distinguished Alumni Award of IISc, Bangalore, IIT Madras, Distinguished Fellow Award from IIT Kanpur and Karnataka Rajyotsava award were presented to him.

He has published papers in journals and conferences in the area of structural dynamics and control, materials modelling, dynamic analysis of separation mechanisms, vibration and acoustic testing, launch vehicle design and launch services management. Dr. S. Somanath has been a delegate to UN-COPUOS, Vice President of International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and participated in International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held at different countries.