The Indian government on Wednesday appointed senior rocket scientist S Somnath as the next chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and also Secretary in the Department of Space, succeeding K. Sivan.

He has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman of the Space Commission for a three-year term, India Today reported yesterday.

Till his new assignment, Somnath had been heading the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre since January 22, 2018 as its Director.

Somnath has been part of the development activities of the high thrust semi-cryogenic engine and conceived a fast track hardware realization and test programme, along with active participation in Chanradrayaan-2 (moon probe vehicle) and the first-time successful flight of an electric propulsion system in GSAT-9.

Meanwhile, earlier on December 9 in Rajya Sabha (Upper House of parliament), the Space Minister Jitendra Singh had said that the Indian Government has announced space reforms for “unlocking the space potential of India”.

As part of the space sector reforms, the government has created a national level autonomous nodal agency namely Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) under Department of Space (DoS) for promoting, handholding, authorising and licensing private players to carry out space activities.

To facilitate private sector participation in space activities, the existing policies in the space domain have been revised and new policies are being drafted and processed. The Department of Space is in the process of implementing the announced reforms, the minister had added.

He had clarified that creation of IN-SPACEe in no way undermines Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) position.

“The responsibilities of ISRO are intact with focus on R&D activities, technology demonstration missions, mission of national importance, human space programme, science & exploration missions & strategic missions realization,” the Minister had added.