Very saddened to hear about the sad demise of Dr. K. Kasturirangan. He championed the cause of space science leading to its growth within India. He was an excellent mediator between scientists in the Academic Institutions on one hand and the Indian Space Research Organisation. He laid the foundation for the AstroSat project, the first multi-wavelength Indian Astronomy Space Observatory, by identifying key executives for initiating the payload development of AstroSat at various institutions of India. He supported the mission at every stage.

Dr. Rangan as he was fondly called, would meet and interact with personnel for each of their activities and would support them whenever required. He would go through manuscripts and discuss with concerned scientists and offer insights before every publication. He encouraged ISRO colleagues to explore beyond their assigned roles and would invariably appreciate them for the findings  and the efforts.

Today we have lost a patron of  Space Science activities in India and the scientific community will forever be indebted to him for his indefatigable support.

-Dr. S. Seetha

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Kasturirangan’s role in transforming Space Science research has been tremendous with his initiative in proposing to the nation, dedicated missions like Astrosat and Chandrayaan-1. Immediately after driving the successful SROSS series of satellites, developed rapidly to address the newly emerging mystery of Gamma-ray Bursts and enabling the IXAE payloads on the IRS-P3 mission, he was personally involved in bringing the Indian astronomy community together (both as ISRO Chairman and as President of ASI) towards the realization of AstroSat. At a critical juncture when the development of the UVIT payload was of concern, he made a bold decision to request Prof. Shyam Tandon of IUCAA to accept the responsibility to design and develop the very successful UV telescope (UVIT). He left no stone unturned in getting maximum support from the national scientific leadership on Chandraayaan-1 through very deliberate, open reviews where leading scientists in the country were invited to present their views. As Chairman of the Governing Councils of ARIES (which he helped establish) and IIA, his impact on ground-based astronomy programs were also significant. The seamless manner in which he could connect with scientists and engineers was unique and it played an important role in expanding space science research in India.

-Dr. P. Sreekumar