Our Director

Shri A. Rajarajan assumed charge as Director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota in July 2019. He is an expert in the area of Composites Materials and has extensively worked in the area of design & processing of Composites products and has played a pivotal role in developing many innovative technologies for the development of various Satellite and Launch Vehicle structures for ISRO's programs.

As an 'Outstanding Scientist' grade officer and Deputy Director of Composites Entity and Structures Entity of VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram, Shri A. Rajarajan was responsible for development & delivery of structural products for all programs of ISRO.

Under his leadership as Deputy Director of Composites Entity, a wide spectrum of Composite products were developed. It was in 1987, Shri A. Rajarajan after graduation in Mechanical Engineering joined VSSC as Scientist/Engineer in Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) Division of VSSC/ISRO. Prior to taking over as Deputy Director of Composites Entity on August 2015, he has functioned as Group Director, Composites Spacecraft and Advanced Structures Group, responsible for development and realization of Structural Composite products for Spacecrafts, Composite based optical structures and products for High Temperature applications.

He has extensively worked and developed many innovative processing techniques for development of various satellite products like High precision Antennas, Thermally stable structures, Dual Gridded Reflectors, Payload Support structures and Solar Array elements, which were successfully flown in various ISRO's programs. He has led the team for development of High Temperature Composites which were used in critical Reusable missions like SRE, RLV-TD, HSP and ABPP. He was spearheading the Composites team in developing various Launch Vehicle Composite Elements for GSLV-MkIII/GSLV/PSLV/RLV-TD/HSP missions. Under his guidance the team has undertaken newer challenging developments like, 5m dia. x 10.7m height Ogive Payload Fairing, Gridded Structures, Intertank Structures etc., for GSLV-MkIII and Multi-satellite adaptors, Dual Launch Adaptors for PSLV applications.

Shri A. Rajarajan was also actively involved in playing a key role to bring many industries as partners of ISRO for development of key technologies. At present, many Composite elements for all Indian satellites and launch vehicles are realized through Indian industries.

He was also functioning as the Deputy Director of Propulsion and Space Ordnance Entity (PRSO) from October 2017 to April 2018. He took charge of the PRSO Entity, immediately after the PSLV-C39 mission anomaly of non-separation of Payload Fairing. As Deputy Director of PRSO Entity, he steered his team by systematically addressing the issues, instituting review systems and streamlining procedures to improve upon the reliability of ordnance systems.

Before taking over as Director, SDSC SHAR, he has contributed in various Entities of VSSC as Deputy Director, Propulsion and Space Ordinance Entity (PRSO), Aero Space Ordnance Entity (ASOE), Composites Entity (CMSE) and Structures Entity (STR) of VSSC.

He is a recipient of Merit award of ISRO in 2015 and Team Excellence awards for 'Design and Development of Ku Band reflector for GAGAN Payload' in 2010, 'Design and Development of Dual Gridded Reflector' in 2011 and 'Development of Near-Net Shape Moulding Technology for Ablative Thermal Protection Systems' in 2015 etc.

He is a member of several professional bodies, namely ISAMPE, AeSI etc. Presently he is the Chairman of ISAMPE, Thiruvananthapuram Chapter. He has several national and international papers in the area of Composites.