New Delhi: S Somanath has been appointed as the tenth chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Wednesday approved the appointment of S Somanath to the post of Secretary of Department of Space and Chairman of Space Commission. According to an order issued by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), S Somnath has been appointed to the post for a or a combined tenure of three years from the date of joining of the post, inclusive of an extension in tenure beyond the age of superannuation in the public interest, or until further orders whichever is earlier.

S Somanath is an Indian aerospace engineer and rocket technologist. He also served as Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram and Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Thiruvananthapuram. He will assume the charge as the Secretary of the Department of Space and the Chairman, Space Commission, upon the superannuation of K Sivan later this week. Sivan has been on a year's extension since January last year.

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. He is focused on the up-gradation of launch vehicles and GSAT –MKII (F09) for communication satellites, GSAT-6A and PSLV-C41 for Remote sensing satellites.

In June 2015, he took over as Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at Valiamala, Thiruvananthapuram and served there until January 2018. Somanath took over as Director of VSSC from K Sivan who became Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation.

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