 An eminent personality in the area of rocketry, Shri. V. Gnana Gandhi took his graduation in Mechanical Engineering from Thiyagaraja College of Engineering, Madurai and joined ISRO in 1968 . He has contributed in the area of rocket propulsion widely covering Solid, Liquid and Cryogenic rocket systems for the last 36 years.
On joining ISRO, Shri. Gandhi took challenging assignments in Solid rocket technology development and contributed substantially to the development of ‘Rohini' series of rounding rockets (RH 75, RH 100, RH125, RH 560) , motor for IPSO Project for the Jet assisted take off , Mission Target Proto System ( MTPS ) and SLV rocket system from 1968 to 76 . When ISRO embarked on the development of Liquid rocket engines, Shri. Gandhi was drawn to the main stream of liquid rocket development. He was deputed to SEP, France from 1976 to 79 for the acquisition of VIKING engine technology. As Dy. Project Director , VIKAS from 1980 to 85 , he was instrumental in the realization of VIKAS engine by Indian industries. This engine has been successfully employed in PSLV missions. He was instrumental for the uprating of VIKAS engine and other propulsion systems. He also has contributed to the development of Booster liquid stages ( L40 ) for GSLV.
Shri. Gnana Gandhi pioneered the development of Cryogenic rocketry in India. As Group Director of Cryogenic Group from 1986 to 1992 , he organised subscale level experiments successfully with Liquid Hydrogen and Liquid Oxygen and embarked on development of 12 T indigenous Cryogenic engine . He was also responsible for the establishment of Mini Hydrogen Plant to produce Liquid Hydrogen for the first time in India.
In the 1990s , Shri. Gandhi led a small group of Scientists to Russia for acquiring the most complex Cryogenic upper stage technology. He effectively harnessed all the available resources to assimilate the technology. As Project Director , Cryogenic Upper Stage Project, he organised material procurement, technology development, hardware realization, facility erection, utilization of available human expertise within & outside ISRO and making use of Indian industries and academic institutions across the country to realize successfully the Cryogenic engine and stage subsystems.
Shri. Gandhi established world class ground testing facilities for the Cryogenic engines & stages that includes Engine & Stage test stands, turbo pump test facility, steering engine test facility, Assembly & Integration facility and sophisticated Instrumentation facility. He guided the development of technologies for the realization of engine & stage subsystems. He organised the systematic qualification of engine with extensive ground testing over 6000 seconds hot firing including operating the engine in off-nominal conditions to 9.5 T level uprating. Currently, he is preparing the stage systems for Stage level hot tests prior to delivery of stage to GSLV.
Shri. Gandhi is the Chairman of SRC for earth storable engines like VIKAS, L40 etc., and Satellite Propulsion modules like 11N, 22N, LAM etc.. He is also chairing important technical committees in the Centre and is an important member in FRR for PSLV & GSLV . He is an active member of Astronautical Society of India, Aeronautical Society of India, Academic Council of Anna University and Indian Cryogenic Council.
As Programme Director , Cryogenic Systems Projects, he is also responsible for the development of higher thrust C25 Cryogenic Stage for which he has taken adequate steps for materials, facility, technology, hardware realization contracts, establishing qualification procedures etc. He is additionally holding responsibility as Deputy Director, SRQA and during this time, he has successfully made LPSC an ISO-9001 organisation streamlining the procedures and ensuring quality space hardware. He has also taken pioneering efforts in the development of Semi-cryogenic technology and high thrust (50-100 T) cryogenic engines for future ISRO applications. |