Anuradha T.K. is a retired Indian scientist and the first woman scientist to serve as a satellite project director at ISRO. She is the senior-most female scientist of ISRO having served the space agency for 38 years.
Wiki/Biography
Anuradha was born on Saturday, 30 April 1960 (age 64 years; as of 2024) in Bangalore, Mysore State (now Bengaluru, Karnataka). Her zodiac sign is Taurus. She completed a bachelor’s degree in electronics at the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering, Bangalore in 1982.
Family
Parents & Siblings
Anuradha’s father was a professor of Sanskrit, while her mother was a homemaker. She has three sisters, out of which two are electrical engineers, and the third one is a doctor.
Childhood photo of Anuradha with her sisters
Husband & Children
Anuradha is married and has two daughters. Her husband works at Bharat Electronics as a general manager. Her eldest daughter works in the USA as a computer science engineer, while her younger daughter has studied electronic engineering. (( The Ministry of External Affairs))
Anuradha with her husband and two daughters
Career
Anuradha joined ISRO in 1982 at the Satellite Centre in Bangalore. She was tasked initially to test satellites under Prof U. R. Rao, who later served as the chairman of the ISRO from 1984 to 1994. She has served as the Project Director and has led GSAT-12, GSAT-10, GSAT-9, GSAT-17, and GSAT-18 satellite missions.
Anuradha TK (centre) with her colleagues during the GSAT-10 project
After the launch of GSAT-12 from Sriharikota, Anuradha described the situation and said,
The feeling is like delivering a baby”
GSAT-12 communication satellite launched on July 15, 2011. It was Anuradha’s competence that made GSAT-12 a success
She has developed electronic equipment for satellites with her team of nearly 20 engineers. She has also laboured in Indian Remote Sensing and Indian Navigation programs, working as a Project Manager, Deputy Project Director, and Associate Project Director. She has also served on the editorial board of technical seminars in English and Kannada at ISRO Satellite Centre and has delivered lectures at various educational institutions.
Presentations
- Anuradha delivered the “Kalpana Chawla Memorial Lecture” during the National Conference held by the Aeronautical Society of India in 2012.
- Anuradha presented a paper on “Astrosat Software Tool to Aid Celestial Source Viewing” on behalf of the authors at the 61st International Astronautical Congress in Prague, Czech Republic.
Publications & Editorials
- A paper titled “PC-based Measurement Stimuli and Processing System in Spacecraft Checkout” has been published in the “Journal of Spacecraft Technology,” Vol.8.No.2 July 1998.
- A paper on “Payload Testing” published in the proceedings of the workshop on Spacecraft Instrumentation and Payload Engineering conducted by the Astronautical Society of India in June 2003.
- An article in Kannada titled “Upagraha Bhoo Parikshane” was published in the book titled “Vyomagathe” in November 2002. (Published by Prism Books Pvt. Ltd.).
Awards
- Space Gold Medal award by the Astronautical Society of India for services in the field of Space sciences (2003 )
- Suman Sharma Award by National Design & Research Forum National Design and Research Forum (NDRF) of IEI (2011)
- ASI- ISRO Merit Award for Realization of Indigenous Communication Spacecraft (2012)
- ISRO Team Award 2012 for being a team leader for the realization of GSAT-12 (2012)
Facts/Trivia
- Anuradha wrote a poem about a man landing on the moon in her native language when she heard about the Apollo launch and Neil Armstrong’s landing.
- Anuradha has won several prizes as a student in debates, essays, and science talks.
- Anuradha likes to read in her free time.
- Anuradha declined the offer to study Master of Science at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to pursue her space ambitions.
- Anuradha is married into a family in which everyone is obsessed with electronics.
