Kasturirangan took space to people, and beyond

Former ISRO chairman Dr. K Kasturirangan passed away in Bengaluru on April 25, 2025.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Dr. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, the former ISRO Chairman, is no more. Starting as an X-ray astronomer, he grew up in positions, and his scholastic services as well as accomplishments in the fields of science, technology and education have left an indelible mark.

India started her national space programme in a very humble way in the late 60s, when the U.S. and Russia made their presence on the moon. It was during Rangan’s period stretching nine long years as the Chairman of the ISRO (1994-2003) that the Indian space programme smoothly graduated from the experimental phase to operational phase in the areas of earth observation satellites, communication satellites and launch services. His visionary approach made ISRO boldly venture into commercial space also, leasing 10 transponders of INSAT-2E satellite to INTELSAT, an international consortium for communication satellites, for $10 million as early as 1999. It is through this service that Indian households started seeing cable TV programmes in regional languages, and Indian TV programmes reached 47 countries.

Also read | K. Kasturirangan, A meticulous person who helmed ISRO in challenging times

Dr. Kasturirangan has taken ISRO’s slogan of ‘Space for Society’ in a true spirit when he came out with the thematic space missions, namely EDUSAT – for tele education, INSATs/GSATs – telemedicine and communication, RESOURCESAT – earth resources, METSAT – meteorology, OCEANSAT – oceanography , CARTOSAT – cartography, Meghatropique – earth science, ASTROSAT – space science, and Chandrayaan-1 – lunar science.

Dr. Rangan’s initiative to translate the benefits of space to the real users at the last mile brought in a system called the National Natural Resource Management System (NNRMS) wherein various departments of the Government of India, namely, agriculture, forestry, town planning, water resource management, fisheries, health, education, etc. were enabled to harness the benefits. National and Regional Remote Sensing Agencies were also set up to serve the end users.

During Dr. Rangan’s tenure, ISRO’s launch vehicles, PSLV and GSLV, were made operational, making ISRO a complete national space agency on the lines of advanced countries.

Genesis of Chandrayaan

It was Dr. Rangan’s historic lecture on National Technology Day in 1999, ideating the technical possibility of India placing a satellite around the moon using PSLV, that germinated into a full-fledged project report in 2003. The project [Chandrayaan-1] was announced by then Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee on August 15, 2003, during his Independence day speech to the nation from the Red Fort. I was very fortunate to be hand-picked by Dr. Rangan as member secretary of the national task team that prepared the project report. It eventually made me the Project Director for Chandrayaan-1.

Dr. Kasturirangan’s contributions to the well-debated new National Education Policy 2020, his tenure as a Member of the Rajya Sabha (2003-09) and Chairman of the Karnataka Knowledge Commission are glimpses of his tireless contribution to the future of the nation.

(Dr. Mylswamy Annadurai is former Director, ISRO Satellite Centre, and worked with Dr. Kasturirangan from 1982 to 2003)