Tapan Misra (born 20 January 1961) is an Indian scientist who has been the Director of

Space Applications Centre The Space Applications Centre (SAC) is an institution of research in Ahmedabad under the aegis of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is one of the major centres of ISRO that is engaged in the research, development and demonstrat ...

and

Physical Research Laboratory The Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) is a National Research Institute for space and allied sciences, supported mainly by Department of Space, Government of India. This research laboratory has ongoing research programmes in astronomy and astrop ...

ISRO The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

. He later became Senior Advisor to the

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

, ISRO. In 2021, Misra founded a space-tech startup called SISIR Radar, which manufactures Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR), a technology that he pioneered in ISRO, for drones and satellites.

Early life

Tapan Misra was born in 1961 in

Rayagada Rayagada is a municipality in Rayagada district in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the administrative headquarters of Rayagada district. History The city of Rayagada was founded by King Vishwanath Dev Gajapati (1527-1531 CE) of the Suryava ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

to father Sidheshwar Misra and mother Kamala Misra. He had qualified the IIT Joint Entrance examination with an all India rank of 85 in 1980 but opted to study at the Jadavpur University. He secured the First rank in West Bengal JEE in 1980. He was awarded J C Bose National Science Talent Search Scholarship (JBNSTS) in 1981. He graduated in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering in 1984 from

Jadavpur University Jadavpur University is a public state university located in Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established in 1905 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into Jadavpur University in 1955. In 2022, it was ranked fourth am ...

, Kolkata.

Career

He started his career as a digital hardware engineer and involved in Microwave Remote Sensing payloads in SAC. He managed system engineering of Multi-frequency Scanning Microwave Radiometer (MSMR) payload for IRS-P4 during 1995-1999. He is widely known for design and development of C-band

Synthetic Aperture Radar Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar that is used to create two-dimensional images or three-dimensional reconstructions of objects, such as landscapes. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a target region to provide fine ...

(SAR) of the

RISAT-1 Radar Imaging Satellite 1 or RISAT-1, was an Indian remote sensing satellite built by the Indian Space Research Organisation and operated by National Technical Research Organisation . The second RISAT satellite to be launched, it used a C-b ...

. He steered the development of RISAT-2 series of high resolution X-band SAR system. He wrote an algorithm for real-time processing of SAR data during his stint as a guest scientist in the German Aerospace Agency in 1990. He led the development of high resolution C-band airborne DMSAR, airborne L&S band SAR and highly miniaturised X-band SAR for Airborne and UAV Applications.He was also associated with development of the multi-frequency scanning microwave radiometer instrument of

Oceansat-1 Oceansat-1 or IRS-P4 was the first Indian satellite built primarily for ocean applications. It was a part of the Indian Remote Sensing Programme satellite series. The satellite carried an Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) and a Multi-frequency Scannin ...

and Scanning Scatterometer of

Oceansat-2 Oceansat-2 is the second Indian satellite built primarily for ocean applications. It was a part of the Indian Remote Sensing Programme satellite series. Oceansat-2 is an Indian satellite designed to provide service continuity for operational us ...

. He conceptualised and led development of highly miniaturised Dual Frequency (L and S band) SAR (DFSAR) for Chandrayaan 2 orbiter. He served as the deputy director of microwave remote sensing area of Space Applications Centre (SAC) before being appointed as the Director in February 2015. Tapan Misra demitted the office of the Director of SAC and was appointed a Senior Adviser to K. Sivan, Chairman of ISRO in July 2018. He also headed the Office of Innovations Management,

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. For a brief period he had additional charge of Director, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad from June 2016 to February 2017. He superannuated from ISRO in January 2021. In January 2021, Misra revealed through a Facebook post that he was poisoned with

arsenic trioxide Arsenic trioxide, sold under the brand name Trisenox among others, is an inorganic compound and medication. As an industrial chemical, whose major uses include in the manufacture of wood preservatives, pesticides, and glass. As a medication, i ...

on 23 May 2017, in a promotional interview at ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru. He was treated in AIIMS and Zydus Cadila hospital. The case is under investigation by Indian Security agencies. He also said that he had survived two poisoning attempts in three years. He leads a startup company SISIR Radar based in Kolkata, specializing in developing miniaturized SAR systems and other varieties of ground radars.

Recognition

He received

Vikram Sarabhai Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai (12 August 1919 – 30 December 1971) was an Indian physicist and astronomer who initiated space research and helped develop nuclear power in India. He was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 1966 and the Padma Vibhushan ...

Research Award in 2004 and ISRO Merit award in 2008 for his contribution of development of SAR technology. He was elected as Fellow of

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 ...

in 2007. He was elected Corresponding Member of

International Academy of Astronautics The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is an independent non-governmental organization established in Stockholm ( Sweden) on August 16, 1960, by Dr. Theodore von Kármán, and recognized by the United Nations in 1996. The IAA has electe ...

in 2008. He is also elected Fellow of IETE and ISRS. He was awarded DSc (Hon.) in 2016 and Distinguished Alumnus award in 2017 by his Alma Mater, Jadavpur University. He chaired CGMS 2018 (Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites) in Bangalore, represented India as Principal to CEOS (Committee on Earth Observation Satellites) in Paris in 2017 and participated as team member of Indo-US Strategic Dialogue on Space Cooperation in Washington DC in 2016 and 2018. He also taught at IIT Kharagpur and IIT Jodhpur as Adjunct Professor. He holds seven granted patents. He has five copyrights and more than fifty five papers to his credit.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Misra, Tapan 1961 births Living people Indian aerospace engineers Engineers from Odisha People from Rayagada district Indian Space Research Organisation people 20th-century Indian engineers Jadavpur University alumni