Ramakrishnan takes over as Director of VSSC

He succeeded P S Veeraraghavan, a VSSC release said here.

Prior to the present posting, he had headed the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), one of the lead units of ISRO.

An expert in the areas of aerospace propulsion, launch vehicle systems and project management, he had also served as Director (Projects) at VSSC and was Chairman, Flight Readiness Review before heading LPSC.

He has played a key role in accomplishing the PSLV C-11/Chandrayaan Missions.

Following the footprints of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Ramakrishnan played an important role in realising India's first Satellite Launch Vehicle SLV-3.

He was Project Director for PSLV continuation programme during 1996-2002 and it was under his leadership that PSLV was operationalised, enhancing its payload capability from 900 kg to 1500 kg. He was Mission Director for PSLV C1, C2, C3 and C4 flights.

Ramakrishnan is a recipient of many national awards, including Padma Shri in 2003.

John P Zachariah took over as Director (R&D), VSSC. A distinguished scientist and recipient of many prestigious awards, Zachariah has 40 years of association with the Indian Space programme in various capacities.

His previous posting was as Associate Director of VSSC.

He is also an expert in the launch vehicle area, especially in the launch vehicle integration and automatic launch processing systems. He has made significant contributions in development of advanced systems like Onboard Computers, Advanced Telemetry Systems and Inertial Navigation Systems.

He has played an important role in realisation of all the PSLV and GSLV missions.