Dr. V. Narayanan is secretary of department of Space and by default chairman of Space Commission and Chairman of ISRO. He assumed charge on 13th January 2025 as 11th chairman of ISRO, and he will serve in this position until he reaches the age of 60 or unless he receives an extension. Under his chairmanship, ISRO is set to launch some of its most important missions, including the Gaganyaan mission, the NISAR satellite (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), and the Chandrayaan-4 mission.
Contribution of Dr. V. Narayanan to ISRO
His contribution to the development of the cryogenic propulsion system made India one of the six countries to possess this complex technology, following the failure of the agreement on the cryogenic engine with Russia.

He was part of the team that developed and delivered the Chandrayaan-2 mission/GSLV Mk III M1 mission’s L110 liquid core stage, C25 cryogenic stage, orbiter propulsion system, and Vikram lander’s throttle thruster for a soft landing.
He as the Chairman of National Expert Committee observed the reason of failure of Chandrayaan-2 soft landing and suggested corrective action for Chandrayaan-3 mission soft landing.
For the Aditya L1 mission, Dr. V. Narayanan led a team that successfully transferred the Aditya L1 spacecraft from Earth’s orbit to the L1 Lagrange Halo orbit of the Sun, and for the Gaganyaan mission, he worked on the development and realization of human rating for the C25 and L110 liquid stages of the LVM3 rocket.
“For the launch of the Indian Space Station ( Bharatiya Antariksha Station), he guided the scientific team in developing a LOX-kerosene semi-cryogenic propulsion system to increase the payload capacity in GTO for the LVM3 rocket.
Now as the chairman of ISRO he heads Project Management Council of Space Transportation System, under his leadership operational and new launch vehicles and other developing propulsion systems for upcoming missions are progressing.
Dr. V. Narayanan joined ISRO in 1984 as a expert of rocket and space craft propulsion system, during his initial journey of 4.5 years in ISRO he worked for solid propulsion and sounding rockets and PSLV ( Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) in Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).
Personal Life of Dr. V. Narayanan
Dr. V. Narayanan born in 1964 in the Melakattuvilai village located in Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu. He completed his M.Tech degree in 1989 from IIT Kharagpur in Cryogenic engineering and completed his Ph.D from IIT Kharagpur in Aerospace engineering in 2001.
He started his career with TI Diamond Chain Ltd, Madras Rubber Factory (MRF) and BHEL after completing Diploma in Mechanical Engineering in 1882, later he completed his degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Dr. V. Narayanan has published around 1,200 technical papers and has delivered keynote speeches at several IITs and NITs. He is a member of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), the Propulsion Committee of the International Astronautical Federation, and several other prestigious organizations.
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