New Delhi:

He was beaming when the Vikram Lander part of the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission touched down on the moon surface on August 23 last year. But his smile was brighter as he received today his PhD degree at the 61st Convocation of IIT-Madras.

S Somanath, an aerospace engineer and chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, is now ‘Dr’ Somanath. Somanath in Sanskrit means ‘Lord of the Moon’ and the ISRO chief, who led India’s big mission to the moon, is now over the moon after his doctorate.

Dr Somanath already had nearly a dozen honorary PhDs, thanks to his work as lead developer for India’s heavy launcher, the Launch Mark Vehicle Mark-3, and his role in successfully spearheading the feather-like touchdown of the Vikram lander nearer the South Pole of the moon. But earning a PhD through research is a different ball game and a bigger cause for celebration.

After receiving his doctorate, Dr Somanath said getting the degree from a prestigious institution like IIT-Madras is a “great honour”. “As a village boy, even though I was a topper, I did not have the courage to take the entrance exam of IIT. But I had a dream that one day I would graduate from here. I got my Master’s degree from the illustrious Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and now the PhD has been awarded by the IIT-Madras,” he said.

Speaking to NDTV, Dr Somanath said, “PhD is always difficult, especially from a reputed institution like IIT-Madras. It has been a long journey. I registered many years back, but the research subject was very close to my heart. It was related to vibration isolators, which I started as an engineer in an ISRO project decades ago. The topic remained alive in my mind, and I worked on it for so many years.”

“I must tell you that this PhD is a result of my last 35 years of work plus the effort taken in the last phase of work in converting that work into this PhD and publishing papers, attending seminars, and then defending it. You are seeing only the last phase, but it is a long journey,” he said.

The top scientist said that even during his stint as director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC), he did not pay attention to this goal. “But then I felt that I must pay attention to all such passions that I have in my life, and I must try to fulfill them.”

Dr Somanath did his schooling from St. Augustine’s High School at Aroor in Kerala’s Allapuzha district before moving to Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam. He received his graduate degree in mechanical engineering from Thangal Kunju Musaliar College of Engineering, in Kollam. He joined ISRO in 1985 and rose to become its chairman.

His bio-sketch at ISRO says that as Secretary of DoS, he piloted the National Space Policy, facilitated IN-SPACe activation, engagement of ISRO with NGPE and start-ups in space sector and enabled NSIL to aggregate user demands, take up commercial activities, including Launch vehicle production and spacecraft operations.

Chandrayaan-3 landing near the South Pole of Moon was a great success under his leadership. The Aditya-L1, XpoSat, INSAT-3DS, NVS-01, Oceansat, GSAT-24 and commercial PSLV & LVM3-OneWeb missions are some of the recent successes. Under his leadership Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) and Test Vehicle (TV) were developed and landing experiments of the Re-usable Launch Vehicle (RLV-LEX) was accomplished.

He is now playing a crucial role in the architecture of the Gaganyaan programme for sending Indians to space and achieved the first Test vehicle flight for mission abort demonstration. Currently, he is focused on the Space Vision-2047 missions that include Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-series and other exploration missions, Bharatiya Antariksha Station development and human mission to Moon.

According to IIT-Madras, about 2,636 scholars were awarded their degrees at the convocation this year and this includes graduate students who got BTech degrees. Nobel Laureate Prof Biran K Kobilka was the chief guest at the occasion.

S. Somanath, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
| Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar K

ISRO will conduct three more test vehicle missions under the ambitious Gaganyaan programme after the maiden TV-D1 test flight, which is scheduled on October 21, the space agency’s chairman S. Somanath said on October 14.

The Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of the human spaceflight capability by launching a human crew to an orbit of 400 km and bringing them safely back to earth by landing in Indian sea waters.

The test vehicle development flight (TV-D1) will be conducted at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh to test the crew module that is scheduled to house Indian astronauts during the human spaceflight late next year.

“The first test vehicle flight (of the Gaganyaan mission) will be conducted on October 21. After that we have planned for three more test missions, D2, D3, D4. We will hold thorough tests during the test flight sequence,” Mr. Somanath, who is also the secretary, Department of Space, told reporters in Madurai. He was here to participate in a couple of events in Rameswaram.

Also read | ISRO to conduct first test flight of Gaganyaan mission on October 21

TV-D1 involves launching the crew module to outer space, bringing it back to earth and recovering it after touchdown in the Bay of Bengal.

Recently, the Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency would carry out the first of several test flights ahead of the Gaganyaan maiden mission on October 21 at Sriharikota.

To a query about the Aditya-L1 programme, the maiden solar mission undertaken by ISRO, Mr. Somanath expressed hope that the spacecraft will reach the Lagrange point (L1) in the middle of January 2024.

“We will insert it in the L1 point and undertake various scientific experiments from that point,” he said.

Last week, ISRO scientists performed a trajectory correction manoeuvre on the Aditya L1 spacecraft. The spacecraft was launched by a PSLV-C57 rocket on September 2.

On the setting up of another launch pad in Kulasekarapattinam in Tuticorin district, he said ISRO would be able to avail several benefits from that launch pad as it would be useful for launching smaller rockets and to serve private players.

“…right now bigger rockets like PSLV need to take a turn towards the southward direction above Sri Lanka since the launch pad is in the east (in Sriharikota). Whereas in Kulasekarapattinam, we don’t need to make rockets to make that turn as they will be already facing southward,” he said.

“Smaller Satellite Launch Vehicles and private players will be able to use that launch pad (in Kulasekarapattinam). Right now, the land is in the acquisition stage. It will take two years for completion,” Mr. Somanath said.

Tirupati:

ISRO Chairman S Somanath on Friday visited the Sri Chengalamma Parameshwari temple in Sullurpeta in the run-up to the launch of Aditya-L1 mission and prayed for its success.

Somanath visited the temple at 7.30 am and offered prayers to the deity, said a temple official.

Talking to reporters, the ISRO chief said the Aditya mission will be launched at 11.50 am on Saturday.

He said the solar mission is for studying the Sun and it will take 125 days to reach the exact radius.

Following the Sun observatory mission, the space agency would launch various others including SSLV – D3 and PSLV in the coming days, he added.

About the Chandrayaan-3 mission, Somanath said everything is working well.

Srinivas Reddy, executive officer of Chengalamma Parameshwari temple, told PTI that ISRO officials visiting this temple before rocket launches had become a tradition, which goes back to 15 years.

Somanath had visited the temple on the eve of the Chandrayaan-3 mission also.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)