Padmakumar E. S. has taken charge as Director, ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU) at Vattiyoorkavu, Thiruvananthapuram. He succeeds Sam Dayala Dev.
Mr. Padmakumar joined the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in 1986 and has held several important positions including Group Director, Deputy Director, and Associate Director. He played important roles in the design of the Reusable Launch Vehicle-Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV-LEX) and the development of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle. He led the team for the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) missions and is heading the team designing ISRO’s new launch vehicle, the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV).
A native of Moorkanikara, Thrissur, Mr. Padmakumar has a BTech degree in Electronics and Communication from the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, and an MS degree from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. His wife Radha R. K. is a senior scientist at Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute, Palode. They have a daughter, Medha Padmakumar.
