Son Of Farmer to ISRO Chairman

Hours after ISRO lost its communication link with Chandrayaan 2’s Moon lander ‘Vikram’, support poured in for India’s space agency as the nation stood together to appreciate its accomplishments despite a probably failed landing. The failure happened 13 minutes after Vikram began its descent. ISRO chief Sivan confirmed that communication with the lander had been lost and said that data has been analysed. The Vikram lander failed to make a smooth soft-landing, unable to bring down its speed to the required level.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had joined the scientists 15 minutes before the descent began, was briefed by Sivan on the development. “When ISRO has its encyclopedia of success, some hurdles cannot put its flight out of trajectory. Learnings from today will make us stronger and better; there will be a new dawn,” PM Modi told the ISRO team. While there is uncertainty over the fate of the lander, the orbiter will continue to go around the moon for a year. “The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is healthy and safe in the Lunar orbit,” an ISRO official said.

On a day when India stands united with ISRO, we bring you the awe-inspiring journey of K Sivan. From paddy farms to the top of ISRO, his career is pure example of grit and determination. K. Sivan was born in Mela Sarakkalvilai, near Nagercoil in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu state of India.

Sivan is son of a farmer and studied in a Tamil medium Government school, He is the first graduate from his family. Later Sivan graduated with a bachelor's degree in engineering from Madras Institute of Technology in 1980. He then got a master's degree in aerospace engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1982, and started working in ISRO. He earned a doctoral degree in aerospace engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 2006. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the Aeronautical Society of India and the Systems Society of India.

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 Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre on 2 July 2014. On 1 June 2015, he became the Director of VSSC. Sivan was appointed the chief of ISRO in January 2018 and he assumed office on 15 January. Under his chairmanship, ISRO launched Chandrayaan 2, the second mission to the moon on July 22, 2019.

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