The Kerala connection
Kollam Parippally native, J. Jayaprakash is the mission director for the GSLV Mk-III/Chandrayaan-2 mission.
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram is an integral part of every Indian space mission. and Chandrayaan-2 was no exception. Six Keralite scientists and engineers were part of the top team that made the historic project a success that the nation can cherish.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the successful launch of GSLV MkIII - M1/Chandrayaan -2, six Keralite scientists are also elated at the role they played in the most complex and prestigious mission ever undertaken by the ISRO since its inception.
They are Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre director S. Somanath, mission director J. Jayaprakash, vehicle director K. C. Raghunatha Pillai, associate vehicle director P. M. Abraham, associate project director G. Narayanan and P. Kunhikrishnan, director, U. R. Rao Satellite Centre.
Each time when the media is invited to see the preparations towards a major satellite launch, respective VSSC director never shies away from giving due credit to colleagues. For them, it is a team effort of scientists, engineers, mathematicians and technicians belonging to the various organisations under ISRO which makes the launch a success, braving several hurdles.
Mr Somanath, who belongs to Cherthala and an alumnus of TKM College of Enginering, Kollam, and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, is responsible for the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III (GSLV Mk-III) which will take 48 days to accomplish the task of landing on the moon through meticulously planned orbital phases. Right from day one, he was involved in the GSLV Mk-III project, and was also mission director of the December 18, 2014, LVM3-X/CARE experiment.
Kollam Parippally native, J. Jayaprakash is the mission director for the GSLV Mk-III/Chandrayaan-2 mission. He joined VSSC in 1985 after studying in the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and Fatima Mata National College, Kollam.
K.C. Raghunatha Pillai is the vehicle director for the Chandrayaan-2 mission. Hailing from Vayyatupuzha, Patha-namthitta, he started his career as a project engineer in INSAT-2A programme at the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad. He has an M.Tech in cryogenics from IIT Kharagpur.
Another Pathanam-thitta native, P.M. Abraham, who belongs to Mallapally, is the associate vehicle director for the Chandrayan – 2. He did his B.Tech from College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, and M.Tech from IIT Delhi. His wife Helen Basil is an engineer in VSSC.
The associate project director for the mission is another CET alumnus, G. Narayanan. He did his M. Tech at IIT, Chennai. He belongs to Sreenagar, in the capital city.
P. Kunhikrishnan, the director of the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, was responsible for the realisation of the Chandrayaan-2. He is a regular face in almost all the previous space missions where he was the former director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
He was also mission director for 13 missions of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). His wife, Girija, is also an engineer in VSSC.
On Tuesday afternoon, when Mr Somanath and his GSLV MKIII team touch down at the domestic terminal of Thiruvana-nthapuram airport, their colleagues at the VSSC have arranged a rousing reception for them.