Ingenious leader, inspiring mentor

When I joined ISRO in 1984, Dr Kasturirangan – then Deputy Director, ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) – was already a tall figure in India’s space circles. I used to hear a lot about Dr Rangan, as he was popularly called, for his thorough technical knowledge and the depth to which he would go in the internal technical reviews.

I faced him during many reviews; he was meticulous and would always look for greater detail in all aspects of space technology. As ISAC Director, he guided the INSAT and the remote sensing programme in their initial days. I could watch him work on India’s first operational remote sensing satellite – the IRS-1A – which was launched from Baikonur, Russia.

The success of the mission was in line with his stated objective: “effective use of satellite capacity for national development.” Dr Rangan was tough in his reviews and would not accept arguments unless he was absolutely convinced. His involvement in the processes was deep.

It was during his tenure as ISRO Chairman that we launched the PSLV and successfully flight-tested the GSLV – both milestones in our history of launch vehicles. He used to thoroughly review every component of the subsystems to ensure the best results. The IRS-1C, the best civilian satellite at that point in time, comes with special memories. I was asked to process the first set of data and I remember him appreciating my work for its detailing. Besides steering work on the ocean-observing satellites, he was actively engaged with Astrosat which was always his baby, being an astrophysicist himself.

I’ve cherished my engagement with him, on multiple occasions, in different capacities. As I was engaged in more data processing assignments, Dr K Radhakrishnan – my boss those days who later went on to become Chairman, ISRO – would take me to him. A unique project he put me into was the Sujala Watershed Development Project for the Government of Karnataka. We worked with farmers to ensure better produce in dry-land areas. The project won national and international accolades. He also got me involved with Auroville, Puducherry, to help them use geospatial technology in projects.

Dr Rangan was versatile, with his expertise enriching diverse domains of India’s space programme. After his stint as ISRO Chairman, while he was a member of the Planning Commission, I had the opportunity to work with him on earth observation applications as part of the NNRMS (National Natural Resource Management System) – as member-secretary of the committee, I could work under his guidance on multiple areas of natural resources development and disaster management.

He was a great speaker and the way he prepared for his talks was unique. He would take in material from multiple sources and by bringing in his points, would give shape to the talk. Preparing technical material for him was always a challenge – he would pose a series of supplementary questions before the inputs were accepted for use. Each time I prepared material for him, I learned something new.

Dr Rangan was a leader who inspired; he was someone we could always look up to. He was a mentor who was available with the right advice. His passing is an irreparable loss for us, the ISRO community, and the country.

(The writer is ISRO Chair Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru)