Our Director
Dr. Ch. V. N. Rao , Distinguished Scientist
Director, Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad
Dr. Ch. V. N. Rao joined Space Applications Centre, (SAC), ISRO, in 1989 after completing his Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering. He earned his Ph.D. from DAIICT, Gandhinagar, Gujarat in 2019. His research contributions include over 150 peer-reviewed publications, more than 500 citations, and six patents. Over the past 37 years, he has played a pivotal role in the development of microwave remote sensing payloads for India’s Earth observation and planetary missions. He is one of the principal contributors to ISRO’s microwave remote sensing programme.
Dr. Rao has been the lead designer and key contributor in the realization of numerous state-of-the-art microwave payloads, including C-band Synthetic Aperture Radars for RISAT-1, EOS-04 and EOS-09; Ku-band Scatterometers for Oceansat-2, SCATSAT-1, EOS-06 (Oceansat-3) and Oceansat-3A; RISAT-2B series payloads; Ka-band Altimeters for Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3; and the landmark NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission. His contributions have been instrumental in establishing India’s indigenous capabilities in advanced microwave remote sensing technologies.
As a visionary technologist and team leader, Dr. Rao was instrumental in the successful production of Flight Model RF hardware, during 2000-2008, with the know-how transfer, hand-holding, training and qualification, for the first time in the country. He has been championing self-reliance and initiated and followed up for the development, space qualification and employing in the payload with major indigenization activities like: Monolithic Microwave IC (MMIC) from indigenous GaAs Foundry, GAETEC, Hyderabad., Application Specific IC (ASIC) development, from indigenous CMOS Foundry, SCL, Chandigarh, Flight Model Radio Frequency Hardware development in the Indian Industry.
Dr. Rao has been providing strategic leadership for advanced research and technology development in microwave remote sensing, satellite communications, navigation systems, quantum technologies, terahertz technologies etc. He is widely recognized for nurturing teams, promoting industry participation, and advancing novel technologies and commitment to excellence.
He is a Member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), a Senior Member of IEEE, and a Life Member of the Astronautical Society of India (ASI), Indian Society of Remote Sensing (ISRS), and Indian Society of Systems for Science and Engineering (ISSE).
He assumed the responsibility of Associate Director (R&D) at Space Applications Centre in December 2025 and has assumed the charge as Director SAC from 1st August 2026.
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