The Central Government has appointed Dr V Narayanan as the new chairperson of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). He is currently serving as the director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Thiruvananthapuram. The government has also appointed him as the secretary of the Department of Space. According to an order from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Tuesday, Dr Narayanan will succeed Dr S Somanath, the current ISRO chief, on January 14. Dr Narayanan did his MTech in Cryogenic Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur in 1989 and later completed his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the same institution in 2001. He was ranked first in his MTech. IIT Kharagpur ranks fifth in the engineering category of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), published by the ‘Ministry of Education’ of the government of India. It has also been ranked the fourth-best higher educational institutes in India, according to the 2025 QS World University Rankings 2025, a surge of 49 places from 2024. Dr Narayanan started his career at the space agency in 1984 and has worked towards developing key technologies used in the launch vehicles, including the workhorse PSLV and the country’s heaviest LVM3. A modified LVM3 rocket will be used in the upcoming Gaganyaan mission to carry the astronauts to space. Dr Narayanan initially worked on solid propellant-based engines for the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) — a vehicle that was never operationalised after failed development flights. He then went on to do his MTech in cryogenic engineering from IIT-Kharagpur. He became one of the first few scientists to work on cryogenic engines at ISRO, carrying out fundamental research and experimental studies that finally contributed towards India developing the capacity to build cryogenic engines.
