Indian Scientists Who Made Mars Orbiter Mission Possible

5. MYS Prasad (60):

Director, Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Chairman, Launch Authorisation Board.
Responsible for range safety and schedules, overall incharge at rocket port.
Challenge: Launch during northeast monsoon season, enhanced weather forecasting capability to 10 days, simultaneously carrying out preparatory work for Mars Mission while dismantling the GSLV rocket after the mission was aborted this year.

6. SK Shivakumar (60):
Director, Isro Satellite Centre.
Short bio: joined  Isro  in 1976 and since then has  made several  contributions to planning and operations of Indian satellite missions . He was the project director for India's first indigenous Deep Space Network antenna.

Responsible for developing satellite technology and implementing satellite systems for scientific, technological and application missions.

7. P Kunhikrishnan (52):

Project Director, PSLV programme; ninth time as mission director.

Responsible for seeing the rocket completes is mission successfully and that the satellite is correctly injected in the designated orbit. Challenge: The orbital characteristic is different from regular PSLV missions. The total duration of the launch is 44 minutes. This requires lot of thermal management as the temperature in space will be low. The systems and equipment have to be protected from low temperatures.

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