Unknown Facts About Chief K. Sivan or India’s ‘Rocket Man’

The sky wasn’t the limit for K. Sivan, the man who now heads the ISRO – India’s Space Department and headed the project that managed to get India on the moon. There were some obstacles, but his teams’ efforts have taken the country one step closer to perfecting our lunar travels. But an even more notable journey worth highlighting out here is how far Sivan has come, from humble beginnings in the heart of Tamil Nadu. If you want to know some Facts About Chief K. Sivan, read this blog.

Here Are Some Facts About Chief K. Sivan:

Humble Beginnings

• Born back in 1957, in Nagercoil inside the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu to a farmer called KailasaVadivu. Even since then, he worked tirelessly throughout his schooling to finally get his B. Sc. degree when he graduated from the South Travancore College, Nagercoil. This is one of the best Facts About Chief K. Sivan.

• Next, he set his sights on the Madras Institute of Technology where he graduated in 1980 with full honours in Bachelor of Engineering, the first in his family to do so. His family had so much faith in him that his father even sold a part of the land that the family-owned just to put his son through school.

• And the rest, as they say, was history and after completing his studies at MIT, there was no stopping Sivan. But there was plenty more for him to do before he could join the big leagues at the ISRO. So, this is when he applied for his Masters in Aerospace Engineering, and for this, he had to move to the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1982

• After this, he joined ISRO and was part of a program known as the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), and to do a lot of mission design, planning, integration, and analysis – in other words, he had to develop, from scratch, the launch vehicles that would be used on other missions for the ISRO.

• At the same time, he began to invest even more in his career and managed to complete a Ph.D. in Aerospace engineering from IIT Bombay in 2006. It seemed to have paid off because he held several responsibilities inside the ISRO.

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Sivan’s Contributions to Indian Space Studies

1.  He helped develop many of the cryogenic engines that are being used in India’s space programs, even today.
2. He was the head of the Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) Project.
3. He was a part of, and then the director of the GSLV MKlll Project.
4. His engineering made it possible for the Mars Orbiter Mission Satellite to fly atop the PSLVC-40 rocket.
5. He published the“Integrated Design for Space Transportation System” book.

Awards and Merits

His contributions like got him recognized for his work and was awarded by the Sathyabama University, Chennai with Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) in 2014. But before that, he was also the recipient of the Shri Hari Om Ashram Prerit Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Research award that was given to him in 1999. Here are some of his other notable achievements and Facts About Chief K. Sivan.

1. The ISRO Merit Award in 2017
2. Dr. Biren Roy Space Science award in 2011
3. Distinguished Alumnus Award from the MIT Technology Alumni Association, Chennai in 2013
4. Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIS, Bangalore in 2018.
5. Tamil Nadu government’s Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award in 2019

Sivan is actively involved in his career, industry and even takes part in it too – he is a member of prestigious groups in the aeronautical and space studies circuit such as the Indian National Academy of Engineering, Systems Society of India and the Aeronautical Society of India as well.

The Story of Chandrayaan-2

As you know, sending out a spaceship to the moon isn’t an easy task and it takes the scientists, engineers years to get all the details right.

1.  Right after the award from the Sathyabama University, Sivan was assigned the post of Director, to oversee the Liquid Propulsion System Centre inside the ISRO.
2. The following year, he was asked to head the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in 2015.
3. It was his ideas and genius that launched or stacked up 104 satellites for ISRO in 2017.
4. Everyone was happy with Sivan, even A.S Kiran Kumar, the then Chief of the ISRO. So, it made sense that he was chosen to take up after Kumar’s retirement in 2018 and the Chandrayaan-2 was launched under his leadership in 2019.

Did You Know

• 30% of the workforce on the C2 comprised of women, and it followed up the C1 project that was behind the discovery of ice and water molecules. C2, on the other hand, was the first spaceship to land on the South Polar Region of the moon.
• The total cost of the entire C2 project was about INR 978 crore that was much less than the Hollywood movie Interstellar that cost INR 1062 crore (about $165 million).

So, these were some Facts About Chief K. Sivan. Also, if you want to know more about such ideal people, stay in touch.