Kailasavadivoo Sivan (born 14 April 1957) is an Indian space scientist who served as the Secretary of the Department of Space and chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation and Space Commission. He has previously served as the Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center and the

Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre The Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) is a research and development centre functioning under Indian Space Research Organisation. It has two units located at Valiamala, in Thiruvananthapuram of Kerala, and Bengaluru of Karnataka. LPSC i ...

Early life

Sivan was born in Mela Sarakkalvilai, near

Nagercoil Nagercoil, also spelt as Nagarkovil ("Temple of the Nāgas", or Nagaraja-Temple), is a city and the administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu state, India. Situated close to the tip of the Indian peninsula, it lies on an ...

Kanyakumari district Kanniyakumari district is one of the 38 districts in Tamil Nadu state and the southernmost district in mainland India. It stands second in terms of population density among the districts of Tamil Nadu. It is also the richest district in Tamil Na ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

state of India. His parents are Kailasavadivoo and mother Chellam.

Education

Sivan is son of a mango farmer and studied in a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

medium Government school in Mela Sarakkalvilai Village and later in Vallankumaranvilai in

. He is the first graduate from his family. Later Sivan graduated with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from

Madras Institute of Technology Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) is an engineering institute located in Chromepet, Chennai, India. It is one of the four autonomous constituent colleges of Anna University. It was established in 1949 by Chinnaswami Rajam as the first self- ...

in 1980. He then got a master's degree in aerospace engineering from

Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, in the Indian state of Karnataka. The institute was ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

in 1982, and started working in ISRO. He earned a doctoral degree in aerospace engineering from

Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay or IITB) is a public research university and technical institute in Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is considered as one of the best engineering universities in India and is top rank ...

in 2006. He is a Fellow of the

Indian National Academy of Engineering The Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), founded in 1987, comprises India's engineers, engineer-scientists and technologists covering the entire spectrum of engineering disciplines. The Academy is registered under the Societies Reg ...

, the

Aeronautical Society of India Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI) is the principal Society in India serving the professions in areas of aeronautics, aerospace and aviation. Its stated primary purpose is to "advance the sciences, engineering, technology and management of ae ...

and the Systems Society of India.

Career

Sivan worked on the design and development of launch vehicles for Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Sivan joined ISRO in 1982 to participate on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) Project. He was appointed as the director of ISRO's

on 2 July 2014. He was conferred Doctor of Science (''Honoris Causa'') from

Sathyabama University Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology (SIST), formerly Sathyabama University, is a deemed to be university, situated at Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1987 as Sathyabama Engineering College by the late Jeppiaar and re ...

, Chennai in April 2014. On 1 June 2015, he became the Director of

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) is a major space research centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), focusing on rocket and space vehicles for India's satellite programme. It is located in Thiruvananthapuram, in the India ...

. Sivan was appointed the chief of ISRO in January 2018 and he assumed office on 15 January. Under his chairmanship, ISRO launched

Chandrayaan 2 Chandrayaan-2 (, ; ) is the second Exploration of the Moon, lunar exploration mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), after Chandrayaan-1. It consists of a lunar orbiter, and also included the ''Vikram'' Lander (spa ...

, the second mission to the moon on 22 July 2019, of which Vikram lander and

Pragyan (rover) ''Pragyan'' ( sa, प्रज्ञान, translit=prajñana, lit=wisdom ) was the Rover (space exploration), rover of Chandrayaan-2, a lunar mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), that launched in July 2019. ''Pr ...

crashed; the orbiter was not affected and is still orbiting the moon as of January 2022. On 30 December 2020, his chairmanship was extended by a year to January 2022. His earlier tenure was up to January 2021. On 25 January 2021, Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has registered a complaint against Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman and Secretary, Department of Space (DoS), Dr K Sivan, over allegations of irregularities in recruiting his son in ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) in Valiamala, Thiruvananthapuram, by bypassing norms.

Awards

* Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award, 2019. *

IEEE Simon Ramo Medal The IEEE Simon Ramo Medal is an award for exceptional achievement in systems engineering and systems science, and was established by the IEEE Board of Directors in 1982. The medal is named for Simon Ramo, one of the founders of the TRW corporat ...

, shared with Byrana N. Suresh, 2020.

References

External links

ISRO biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sivan, Kailasavadivoo Indian Space Research Organisation people Scientists from Tamil Nadu Indian aerospace engineers Indian Institute of Science alumni 20th-century Indian engineers Living people Indian space scientists Engineers from Tamil Nadu People from Kanyakumari district Madras Institute of Technology alumni IIT Bombay alumni 1958 births Recipients of the Rajyotsava Award 2022