Keeping spacecraft alive
Nandini Harinath is one of ISRO’s long-serving spacecraft-operations scientists. Over decades she has built experience in satellite mission operations, orbit determination, tracking and deep-space operations.
Her core domain is spacecraft operations, mission planning, tracking networks and being prepared to respond when something goes wrong. Operating a spacecraft for years after launch is as critical a task as the launch itself.
Mars and the signal delay
During the Mars Orbiter Mission she was part of the mission design and operations leadership team, working in the demanding environment of interplanetary navigation and operations.
Deep-space operations brought far longer communication delays than Earth orbit, and a greater need for the spacecraft to act on its own. That was a major learning step for the team.
Leading operations
In later years, in ISTRAC’s senior management, she led operations for multiple spacecraft missions and international collaborations. ISRO material from 2026 records her in a senior leadership role in spacecraft operations.
Her career moves public attention beyond the rocket launch to the invisible engineering of operations, and raises the visibility of women engineers. Mission success is years of operational discipline, not a single launch-day event.
Sources
- ISRO: NISAR, one successful year
- ISRO: awardee list
- ISRO: ISTRAC
- isro.gov.in/one_successful_year_of_NISAR.html
- isro.gov.in/media_isro/pdf/ASI_awardee_list_100925.pdf
- isro.gov.in/ISTRAC.html