ISRO chief K Sivan gets one-year extension till January 2022

New Delhi, Dec 30: The appointments committee of the Union cabinet on Wednesday extended the tenure of K Sivan, chairman of Space Commission who was due superannuation on January 14, 2021, by a year to January 2022. This will ensure continuity of opening up the space sector to the private sector and startups.

The appointments committee of the cabinet approved the extension, according to a note.

ISRO is currently focussed on India's first human space flight mission Gaganyaan to space, for which astronauts are getting trained. However, it is likely to be delayed by one year due to the adverse impact from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sivan also said the work on the Chandrayaan-3 mission, comprising a lander and a rover, is in progress. ISRO was eyeing June, 2023 for the country's first mission to Venus.

Sivan joined ISRO in 1982 and was inducted into PSLV Project. He is specialised in Aerospace engineering, Space Transportation Systems Engineering, Launch vehicle and mission design, control & guidance design and mission simulation software design, Mission synthesis, simulation, analysis and validation of flight systems.

Sivan has significantly contributed towards end-to-end mission planning, design, integration and analysis.

His innovative contributions, particularly the strategies adopted in mission design enabled the consistent performance of PSLV. This has also proved to be a good foundation for other launch vehicles of ISRO, like, GSLV MkII & MkIII including RLV-TD.

He has received many awards including Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) from selected universities.

He has numerous publications in various reputed Journals including a book in Nov 2015 "Integrated Design for Space Transportation System" published by Springer.