Meet Dr V Narayanan: The cryogenic pioneer taking ISRO’s helm after Chandrayaan success

Dr Narayanan started his career at the space agency in 1984 and has worked towards developing key technologies used in the launch vehicles of today, 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.

LPSC, the centre that Dr Narayanan was heading, is working towards developing the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV) — a heavier launch vehicle that would be needed for India’s ambition of setting up its own space station and sending a man to the moon. The launch vehicle is envisioned to have the capacity to carry 30 tonnes to low earth orbit. To compare, LVM3 can carry 8 tonnes to low earth orbit.

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.

India was initially meant to acquire the technology from Russia, but when this could not happen because of geo-political problems, India decided to build its own.

As project director, Dr Narayanan and his team conceived, designed, and developed the cryogenic propulsion systems still used in LVM3. With this, India became the sixth country in the world to have the technology.

His team was responsible for not only developing the cryogenic engine, but also getting it quickly inducted in and operationalisation of the vehicle that we now know as LVM3.

In its first operational mission, the vehicle was responsible for perfectly launching the Chandrayaan-2 mission. He was also the Chairman of the National Expert Committee constituted to study the reasons for the hard landing of Chandrayaan-2. The committee pin-pointed the reasons and corrective actions required. These were incorporated and propulsion system for Chandrayaan-3 were realised, which soft landed in August 2023, making India the fourth country in the world to achieve the feat. When it comes to the much anticipated Gaganyaan mission, LPSC has been working on the propulsion systems of the crew and service modules as well.