New Delhi: Rocket scientist V. Narayanan will be the next chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the appointments committee of the cabinet announced Tuesday. Narayanan, currently the head of ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), is set to succeed S. Somanath on 14 January and will be in office for the next two years as the 11th chairman of India’s premier space research organisation.
He will also serve as the secretary of the Department of Space, which comes directly under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Narayanan, 61, has been part of ISRO since 1984, working first at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram and then, after his M.Tech in 1989, moving on to the LPSC in Valiamala, where he worked his way up to director in January 2018.
Narayanan has been a rockets and propulsion man throughout, working first in solid propulsion using solid fuels when India was developing smaller satellite launch vehicles like the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV), to eventually moving on to cryogenic propulsion using extremely cold, liquid fuels for more advanced vehicles like the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).
In cryogenic propulsion, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen are used as propellants at extremely low temperatures.
The cryogenic systems that Narayanan worked on were what formed the basis of India’s major launches including Chandrayaan-2, Chandrayaan-3, and Aditya-L1. For the upcoming human spaceflight mission Gaganyaan, the LPSC, under Narayanan, is working on making the cryogenic stages and launch vehicles that will be used in the mission human-rated.
Narayanan’s profile on the LPSC website talks about how, when India was initially developing the cryogenic stage of the GSLV Mk-II vehicle in the late 1980s, the country needed some hardware to be imported from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Narayanan was, thus, in charge of not only doing research and development for the project, but also coordinating with USSR counterparts, managing contracts and missions.
With Narayanan’s appointment, this is the third time in a row that a director of LPSC has been appointed the next ISRO chairman, as Somanath and his predecessor K. Sivan, too, served as heads of LPSC before their ISRO chief tenures.
“Narayanan will have a lot of challenges ahead of him—the human spaceflight mission Gaganyaan will be one and, of course, the work ISRO is doing on Chandrayaan-4 and Bharatiya Antariksha Station,” former ISRO Chief K. Sivan told ThePrint. “But I am certain if there is anyone who can handle this role, it is him.”
Scientist, manager, academic
The propulsion scientist began his academic journey with a diploma in mechanical engineering (DME) and went on to take the AMIE (Associate Member of the Institution of Engineers) examination, which is recognised as equivalent to an engineering degree by the Government of India. Before joining ISRO in 1984, Narayanan worked in various organisations including TI Diamond Chain, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) Trichy and Madras Rubber Factory for a year and half after his DME.
Narayanan went on to complete his M.Tech in cryogenic engineering at IIT Kharagpur while he was working at ISRO, and received a silver medal as well as first rank from the institute. As he moved up the ladder at LPSC and became one of the pioneers of novel cryogenic propulsion technology in India, he worked on his PhD thesis in aerospace engineering simultaneously and received his doctorate from IIT Kharagpur in 2001. He has over 1200 internal ISRO reports and 50 journal papers to his name.
“He is obviously an expert at propulsion systems and rockets, and this experience will help him in his new role. But beyond that, he is a great manager, too,” said Sivan. “He will be able to handle ISRO’s multiple responsibilities in the coming years.”
Narayanan’s role in India joining the rank of countries with independent cryogenic propulsion systems went beyond his scientific contributions.
Later, in 1993, when the US blocked a deal made by India to procure cryogenic engine technology from Russia, Narayanan was one of the key people who set out to develop indigenous cryogenic engines in order to not rely on external sources.
His thesis, titled ‘Thrust & Mixture Ratio Regulation System of Cryogenic Rocket Engines’, formed a pivotal part of India’s development of indigenous cryogenic propulsion systems, making it only the sixth country in the world to achieve this feat.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)