K. Radhakrishnan

Koppillil Radhakrishnan (born 29 August 1949) is an Indian space scientist who headed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) between November 2009 and December 2014 as Chairman of Space Commission, Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman of ISRO.

He studied Electrical Engineering at the Government Engineering College, Thrissur and acquired BSc (Engg.) degree in First Class with Honours from Kerala University in 1970.

Radhakrishnan joined ISRO in May 1971 at the Space Science & Technology Centre at Thiruvananthapuram (the present Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre) as a design and development engineer of electro-mechanical devices.

Later he worked on system planning and technology management for avionics systems of SLV-3, ASLV and PSLV.

He did post-graduate studies in management at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore in 1974-76.

Padmini worked with State Bank of Travancore from 1980 to 2010.

During 1981-97, at the ISRO Headquarters, he oversaw the preparation and review of annual budgets of ISRO, formulation of decade profile and Five Year Plans for Indian Space programme and the related techno-economic analysis.

As Project Director, he set up a chain of regional remote sensing service centres (RRSSC) at Bangalore, Nagpur, Kharagpur, Jodhpur and Dehradun for capacity building in central and state government agencies.

While he was the Director, RRSSCs came to prominence in the national remote sensing application missions including the Integrated Mission for Sustainable Development (IMSD) aimed at generation of spatial database of natural resources and action plans for sustainable development of land and water resources.

Later, Radhakrishnan succeeded as the Mission Director of IMSD and moved to National Remote Sensing Agency in Hyderabad.

IMSD was considered as largest remote sensing application experiment ever done in the world using a meticulous participatory approach.

As the Director of National Remote Sensing Agency, he scripted India's modern multi-mission ground station for Earth Observation Satellites.

Radhakrishnan married Padmini Kizhakke Valappil from Irinjalakuda in 1983.

He had a brief stint of five years (2000-2005) in the Ministry of Earth Sciences as Director of Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS).

Under his leadership of ISRO, India became the first country to reach Mars in its first attempt.

Presently, he is the Chairperson of the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the IIT Council; Chairman of the overarching Committee set up my Ministry of Education for strengthening the Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions; Chairperson of the Oversight Committee of Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB-DST), Chairman of the Expert Committees of DST on 'Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institutes (SATHI) & 'Sophisticated Analytical Instruments Facilities (SAIF)'; and Chairman, High-powered Committee of Indian Knowledge Systems, Ministry of Education-Government of India besides being a Member of National Security Advisory Board, and Space Commission and Honorary Distinguished Advisor in the Department of Space/ISRO.

He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering; Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India; Honorary Life Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, India; Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, India; Member of the International Academy of Astronautics; Distinguished Fellow of Astronautical Society of India; Fellow of the Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences; Honorary Fellow of the Kerala Academy of Sciences; Fellow of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing; and Fellow of the Indian Geophysical Union.

He is an accomplished vocalist (Carnatic music) and Kathakali artist.

Penguin Random House India published his autobiography My Odyssey: Memoirs of the Man Behind the Mangalyaan Mission (ISBN 978-0-670-08906-2), co-authored by Radhakrishnan and Nilanjan Routh, in November 2016.

Koppillil Radhakrishnan hails from Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district, Kerala.

After his schooling at the National High School, Irinjalakuda, he did two-year Pre-degree studies (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry) at Christ College, Irinjalakuda.

He obtained doctorate from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, in 2000, for the thesis : 'Some Strategies for the Management of Indian Earth Observation System'.

GSLV had a checkered history in its initial flights of 2001-2007 and they were powered by cryogenic upper stage of Russia.

In the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami disaster of December 2004, he emerged as the Project Director to set up the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning Centre.

Radhakrishnan is a Carnatic music and Kathakali enthusiast and performer.

Radhakrishnan was drawn into the world of performing arts from childhood.

After formal training in Kerala Natanam, under Professor Thrippunithura Vijayabhanu, he had training in Kathakali dance under Guru Pallippuram Gopalan Nair, Kalanilayam Raghavan and Shri T.V.A Varier.

Prior to this, he was the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (2007-2009) and Director of National Remote Sensing Agency (2005-2008) of the Department of Space.

While at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre as its Director, he oversaw five successful launches of PSLV including development of its high-end version PSLV –XL that lofted Chandrayaan-1 in October 2008 as well as formulation of Indian Human Spaceflight programme.

As India's space chief from November 2009 to December 2014, Radhakrishnan led ISRO to achieve 37 space missions including several historic feats including Mars Orbiter Mission; flying Indian Cryogenic Engine on GSLV; the first experimental flight of the GSLV Mk III; a re-entry experiment of an uncrewed crew module; and new space capabilities through IRNSS (1A, 1B, 1C) for navigation; GSAT-7 for strategic communication; and RISAT-1 for microwave radar imaging.

ISRO completed two joint satellite missions (Megha Tropiques and SARAL) with the French National Space Agency and inked another agreement with NASA to jointly build an advanced Radar Imaging Satellite.

India's standing in the global space market was enhanced as PSLV launched 18 commercial satellites for 11 countries.

Through an inclusive organisational process, Radhakrishnan charted out clear programmatic directions and nurtured younger generation of leaders for carrying forward the legacy of ISRO.

Re-defining the Chandrayaan-2 mission with Indigenous lander and rover and extending the application of space technologies and tools to all central ministries are highlights of his leadership regime at ISRO.

He worked to enhance the partnership with the Indian space industry for the production of operational launchers and satellites.

Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM; aka Mangalyaan) was conceived, planned and executed, within four years (2010-2014), establishing India as the first country to have successful mission to Mars in its maiden attempt, and at significantly low cost (INR 4.5 Billion).

After failure of the Indian Cryogenic upper stage on GSLV in April 2010 (GSLV-D3) and recurrence one more failure of GSLV with Russian Cryogeinc upper stage (GSLV-F06) in December 2010, Radhakrishnan steered ISRO towards the landmark success in January 2014 GSLV-D5.

This marked the beginning of the successful series of GSLV with Indian Cryogenic Upper Stage.

Radhakrishnan had a stint of five years the Ministry of Earth Sciences to set up, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS).

During his leadership, ISRO received the 2014 Gandhi Peace Prize; the 2014 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development; the 2014 Knowledge Economy Network KEN Award; the 2014 CNN-IBN Indian of the Year-Lifetime Achievement Award; the 2014 Global Game Changer Award by the Marico Innovation Foundation; and the 2013 CNBC-18 India Business Leader Award-BRAND INDIA.