6 ISRO Scientists Behind The Chandrayaan-3 Mission And Their Educational Qualifications

India has been growing at a fast pace in the aerospace sector. From Mars to the Moon, the amazing team of scientists at ISRO have made it all possible. On 5^th November 2013, India became the 4^th country to place a satellite into the orbit of the Red Planet, and ISRO became the first space organisation to accomplish the goal in its first attempt. Mangalyaan had a force of around 500 scientists working day and night to make the mission a success.

The current talk of the town is ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3, with the successful landing of the Lander Module of ISRO’s third Lunar Mission, India became the first country to land on the South Pole of the Moon at 6:04 pm IST. The rover Pragyan emerged from the lander’s belly and manoeuvred onto the lunar terrain. Pragyan left imprints of the ISRO logo and India’s national emblem, the Lion Capital of Ashoka to mark the presence of India.

Today, we will introduce you to the crew behind this successful endeavour and inform you of their educational backgrounds.

1. S Somanath

S Somanath, Secretary, Department of Space, and Chairperson, Space Commission, received his BTech in Mechanical Engineering from TKM College of Engineering in Kollam and his Masters in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. With a gold medal, he specialized in Structures, Dynamics, and Control.

2. M Sankaran

Director of UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) M Sankaran, earned a Master’s degree in Physics in 1986 from Bharathidasan University in Tiruchirappalli. Following that, he joined the ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), which is now known as URSC.

3. Dr V Narayanan

The Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) is Dr V Narayanan. He joined ISRO in 1984 as a rocket propulsion expert. Dr. V Narayanan graduated from IIT Kharagpur with a first-place MTech in Cryogenic Engineering in 1989. He also holds a PhD in Aerospace Engineering and a silver medal from IIT Kharagpur for first place in MTech, as well as a gold medal from the Astronautical Society of India. He has also received an Honorary Doctor of Science (Honoris Cause) degree from Sathyabama University in Chennai.

4. Dr S Unnikrishnan Nair

Dr S Unnikrishnan is the Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), both in Thiruvananthapuram.
Dr S Unnikrishnan Nair received his BTech in Mechanical Engineering from Kerala University, his ME in Aerospace Engineering from IISc Bangalore and his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras. NALSAR also awarded him an MA in Telecommunications and Space Law.

5. P Veeramuthuvel

Chandrayaan 3’s Project Director is P Veeramuthuvel. P Veeramuthuvel attended Villupuram Railway School and afterwards earned a diploma in Mechanical Engineering from a private polytechnic college. P Veeramuthuvel received his undergraduate degree from a private college in Chennai and his postgraduate degree from another engineering college. He received his PhD from IIT Madras.

6. Kalpana Kalahasti

Chandrayaan-3 mission’s deputy project director Kalpana Kalahasti, was born in Bengaluru, Karnataka, and graduated from IIT-Kharagpur with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. She studied Electronics and Communication at Madras University.

Also read: 7 Key Scientists Behind The Successful Launch Of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 Mission