A huge task, says new ISRO chief

Radhakrishnan assumes office

The 60-year-old scientist, who joined the ISRO as an avionics engineer in 1971, was a key person behind the Chandrayan I mission.

“I am taking over this responsibility with high hopes and great expectations. It is a huge task that has been entrusted on me. I am confident that we will be able to achieve our goals with the dedicated work and support of the entire team at ISRO,’’ he said after assuming charge.

Before his elevation as ISRO chief, Dr Radhakrishnan was the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) here. He was in charge of the assembly and integration of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle which launched the Chandrayan satellite.

Soon after taking charge, he along with Madhavan Nair attended the stone-laying ceremony of the new campus of Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology at Valiamala near here. The stone was laid by T K A Nair, principal secretary to the prime minister. Dr Radhakrishnan took his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, in 1976 and later doctorate from IIT-Kharagpur. During his 38 years of service in ISRO, Dr Radhakrishnan has worked as Director of Indian National Centre for Ocean Information and also director of Regional Remote Sensing Service Centre under the National Natural Resource Management at the ISRO.

He has served as vice-chairman of Unesco’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and as founder chairman Indian Ocean Observing System. Meanwhile, Parivakkam Subramaniam Veeraraghavan, a rocket technologist, has taken over as Director, VSSC, in place of Radhakrishnan. Veeraraghavan began his career in ISRO in 1971 after completing his BE in Electrical Engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai. 

 A gold medallist, he secured the first rank from Madras University. He obtained his MTech in electronics from IIT Madras. He was an engineer in-charge of the computerised check-out systems of SLV-3 whose first flight took place from Sriharikota in 1979. Veeraraghavan was till now Director, ISRO Inertial Systems Unit.