U.R. Rao
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Brief biography
Madhumathi, U.R. Rao, genial genius of ISRO, July 26, 2017: The Hindu
U.R. Rao played a crucial role in the Chandrayaan and Mars missions.
He gave the country its first spacecraft
Udupi Ramachandra Rao, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, acclaimed space scientist acknowledged as the father of Indian satellite technology, is no more.
The celebrated cosmic ray scientist with an MIT scholarship and experience with early NASA projects in the 1960s is best remembered as the man who gave the country its first spacecraft Aryabhata from out of modest un-space-like industrial sheds of Peenya in Bengaluru.
His demise at age 85 somewhat brings the curtain on the starry era of pioneering space troika of Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan and U.R. Rao.
Regulars at Antariksh Bhavan, the headquarters of ISRO and the Department of Space, will miss the gentle genius.
A workaholic, Dr. Rao was active until about two weeks back in his office at Antariksh Bhavan, recalled ISRO Publications and Public Relations Director Deviprasad Karnik.
Guided by Sarabhai
Dr. Rao’s space journey blossomed under the tutelage of Vikram Sarabhai, his doctoral guide and later boss at ISRO: in 1972, Sarabhai tasked the young Rao — fresh from MIT and the only Indian then who had worked on NASA’s Pioneer and Explorer satellite projects — with building an Indian satellite.
Then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had come down to see the assembled satellite — Aryabhata — which was launched on a Russian rocket in 1975. Indian satellites had started sprouting.
As the first director of what is now called ISRO Satellite Centre, Dr. Rao was responsible for 18 early satellites including the landmark Bhaskara, APPLE, the Indian Remote sensing Satellites or IRSs.
In 1984, Dr. Rao succeeded Satish Dhawan as ISRO Chairman and Secretary, Department of Space..
Shaped many a project
At ISRO, there has not been a planetary mission that has not been touched or tweaked by Dr. Rao.
As the chairman of overseeing body ADCOS or the Advisory Committee on Space Sciences, he finalised, shaped, refined or designed the Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission of 2008; the Mars Orbiter Mission of 2013; and the upcoming Chandrayaan-2 set for 2018. One of the current unfinished projects of the cosmic ray scientist is Aditya L1 mission — India’s upcoming solar observatory, so to say.
U.R. Rao was born on March 10, 1932, to Lakshminarayana Acharya and Krishnaveni Amma in Adamaru near Udupi. He studied in Udupi’s Christian High School.
He completed his M.Sc in Physics from Banaras Hindu University in 1953 and briefly taught in Ahmednagar and Mysore. But space science was beckoning and he enrolled for a PhD under none other than Vikram Sarabhai at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, and got the doctoral degree in 1960 from Gujarat University.
Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bengaluru
A guide of the planetarium, July 25, 2017: The Hindu
Former ISRO chief U.R. Rao not only inspired the country to aim for the stars, but also spent considerable energy bringing the stars to Bengaluru citizens.
Since the late 70s, Dr. Rao was among the prominent scientists calling for setting up a world-class planetarium. It was in 1989 that Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium came into form. Theoretical physicist C.V. Vishveshwara, who passed away earlier this year, was chosen the founder-president by Dr. Rao and others.
After his stint at ISRO, Dr. Rao played an even more crucial role in the planetarium as chairman of the governing council of Bangalore Association for Science Education (BASE). His efforts saw upgrading of the planetarium with a Rs. 12-crore hybrid projector being installed. “He was approachable and encouraged amateur astronomers. Even at his stature, he would patiently talk to children and propagate science activities,” said Prakash Subbanna from Association of Bengaluru Amateur Astronomers.
Strong voice
However, he also presented a strong voice for the planetarium — one that the State government would listen to — including his reservations on the proposed steel flyover project affecting the planetarium.
In a recent conversation with The Hindu , he contemplated seeking expansion of the planetarium, considering its 30-year-old structure could no more comfortably seat the increasing number of visitors.
