Dr. S SOMANATH

Dr. Sreedhara Panicker Somanath served as a Distinguished Scientist (Apex) and Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, ISRO till 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. Presently he serves as the Prof. Vikram Sarabhai Professor at ISRO, Distinguished visiting professor at IISc, Bangalore, Chancellor of Chanakya University, Bangalore and an Advisor to State Government of Andhara Pradesh.

As Secretary of DoS, he had piloted the National Space Policy, engagement of ISRO with private space initiatives and start-ups in space sector. Under his leadership mission Chandrayaan-3 landing near the south pole of the Moon was accomplished. Notable missions during his tenure include Aditya-L1, XpoSat, INSAT-3DS, NVS-01, Oceansat, GSAT-24, SpaDeX & LVM3-OneWeb missions. Under his leadership Small Satellite Launch Vehicle and Test Vehicle were developed and landing experiments of the Re-usable Launch Vehicle (RLV-LEX) were conducted. He played a key role in the architecture of Gaganyaan and accomplished the first mission abort demonstration. He was instrumental in developing the 'Space Vision-2047', where Gaganyaan expansion program, Chandrayaan series and other exploration missions, Bharatiya Antariksha Station development and human mission to Moon, new launch pads were approved by government.

He was the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) during 2018-21 and the Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) during 2015-18. He was System Engineer and the Project Director of LVM3-X/CARE mission which was successfully accomplished in December, 2014.

Dr. S. Somanath took his B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from TKM College of Engineering, Kollam with a university rank, Masters in Aerospace Engineering from IISc, Bangalore with gold medal and PhD from IITM Chennai. He has been bestowed with Honorary Doctorates from 18 universities.

He is a Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Indian National Academy of Science (INSA), Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI), Astronautical Society of India (ASI), US National Academy of Engineers (US-NAE) and a member of International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). He is the President (Elect) of AeSI and President of Society of Aerospace Quality and Reliability (SAQR). He received 'Hall of Fame' award from International Astronautics Federation (IAF), Von-Karman award from International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), National Aeronautics Prize from AeSI, Space gold medal from ASI, Distinguished alumni award of IISc, Bangalore and IIT Madras, distinguished fellow award from IIT Kanpur, Karnataka Rajyotsava award, Kerala Prabha and Kerala Sasthra Puraskaram.

He has published papers in journals and conferences in 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 widely travelled and visited across most global space agencies and facilities, 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.