S. Somanath

In this Indian name, the name Sreedhara Panicker is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Somanath.

Dr. S. Somanath
Honorable Chairman of ISRO
Somanath in 2019
10th Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation
Incumbent
Assumed office
15 January 2022 (2022-01-15)
Preceded byK. Sivan
Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
In office
24 January 2018 – 14 January 2022
Preceded byK. Sivan
Succeeded byS. Unnikrishnan Nair[1]
Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre
In office
1 January 2015 – 23 January 2018
Preceded byK. Sivan
Succeeded byV. Narayanan
Personal details
BornJuly 1963 (age 61)
Thuravoor, Cherthala, Kerala, India
SpouseValsalakumari
Children2
Alma materThangal Kunju Musaliar College of Engineering (B.Tech., Mechanical Engineering)
Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru (M.Tech. in Aerospace Engineering)
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (PhD)

Dr. Sreedhara Panicker Somanath (born July 1963) is an Indian aerospace engineer serving as the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).[2] Under his chairmanship, ISRO carried out the third Indian lunar exploration mission named Chandrayaan-3. The lander named Vikram and the rover named Pragyan landed near the lunar south pole region on 23 August 2023 at 18:04 IST, making India the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the lunar south pole and the fourth country to demonstrate soft landing on the Moon.[3][4][5][6] This landing gained India a proud history.

Somanath served as the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram and director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.[7][8] Somanath is known for his contributions to launch vehicle design, particularly in the areas of launch vehicle systems engineering, structural design, structural dynamics, and pyrotechnics.[9][10]

  1. ^ "Dr.S. Unnikrishnan Nair". Archived from the original on 7 February 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  2. ^ "Shri. S Somanath assumes charge as Secretary, Department of Space". ISRO. Archived from the original on 14 January 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Chandrayaan-3 launch on 14 July, lunar landing on 23 or 24 August". The Hindu. 6 July 2023. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 11 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  4. ^ "India lands spacecraft near south pole of moon in historic first". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 August 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  5. ^ "What foreign media said on Chandrayaan-3's historic lunar feat". India Today. Archived from the original on 24 August 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  6. ^ "चंद्रयान-3: भारत ने रचा इतिहास, चंद्रमा के दक्षिणी ध्रुव पर की सफल लैंडिंग". Post Inshort (in Hindi). Archived from the original on 24 August 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  7. ^ "Somanath takes charge as VSSC director". www.indiatoday.in. 22 January 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  8. ^ "Somanath takes charge as VSSC director". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 22 January 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  9. ^ "New Directors for Three Major ISRO Centres: Three major ISRO Centres have new Directors from today". www.isro.gov.in. 1 June 2015. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  10. ^ Prasanna, Laxmi (22 January 2018). "S Somnath takes charge as Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre's director". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2019.