The Cabinet Appointments Committee approved the extension of the mandate as ISRO prepares for key projects, including a manned mission to the moon.
On Wednesday, the Union government extended the services of the space secretary and chairman of the space commission, K Sivan, for a year. As the chief’s term was expected to end on January 14, Sivan received an extension on Wednesday. The Cabinet Appointments Committee has approved the extension of Sivan’s term for a period of one year beyond January 14, 2021, that is, until January 14, 2022 or until further orders, whichever comes first.
The Union government has provided an extension to Sivan as the space program’s flagship projects, Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan-3, are still pending and need to be implemented. In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his Independence Day speech, announced that ISRO will send an astronaut into space by 2022. The prime minister said that when India reaches 75 years of independence or even before that, a child will or daughter of the country will. go to space with an Indian flag for 2020.
If India’s manned test space mission is successful, then India will be only the fourth country to send an astronaut into space, after the United States, China and Russia. Currently, the extension of Sivan’s mandate is also seen as a boost for upcoming projects, including the manned space mission.
Dr. Sivan joined ISRO in 1982 and was assigned to work on a project related to the launch of the PSLV in the country. Sivan is known for his work in aerospace engineering, launch vehicle and mission design, space transportation systems engineering, control and guidance design and mission simulation software design, space transportation systems engineering, and mission synthesis.
While working on the PSLV launch, Sivan presented strategies that ensured PSLV’s clean performance. The project also served as the basis for the launch of space transportation systems engineering in the country.
Currently, Sivan is also the chief architect of the 6D SITARA trajectory simulation software, a backbone of real-time and non-real-time trajectory simulations of all ISRO launch vehicles.
(With input from IANS)
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