Shri Padmakumar ES, Distinguished Scientist, is the Director, SDSC SHAR from 01st August 2025. He holds an ME in System Science and Automation from IISc, Bangalore.

He is an expert in Mission design, Control & Guidance design and Analysis, Mission simulations including Hardware-in-loop simulations, Avionics systems, Flight Software, Ground systems including Launch Checkout systems, Signal processing and Ground resonance testing.

He joined ISRO in September 1986 and has contributed to Missions starting from ASLV-D3, contributed to every mission including Mars Orbiter, Chandrayaan and Aditya missions. Over the three decades, he has worked in diverse areas of Launch vehicle design and Simulation. He was Chairman, Flight Readiness Review for LVM3 Missions for Oneweb-1&2 and Chandrayaan-3 launches, and played a major role in ensuring vehicle readiness. He also led the Mission Readiness Reviews for SSLV, RLV and PSLV missions.

He also played a key role in RLV-LEX, SSLV and Abort Test Missions, in leading Mission, Control & Guidance design and Avionics design. His contributions also include the design of Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) system for Abort detection for Gaganyaan and PS4 orbital Experimental module (POEM). He was also the chair of the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV) Initial Configuration Design Review team.

He worked as Director, IISU from July 2023 till July 2025. Before that he held key positions in VSSC, Trivandrum.

He has authored several papers in the above areas, and was awarded ISRO team Excellence award two times and Merit Award once. He is a member of the prominent professional bodies in his area. He is also a corresponding member of International Academy of Aeronautics (IAA).