Prof Rao was an extraordinary visionary: K Kasturirangan

Prof U R Rao played an anchor role in spearheading India's satellite building capability, and the strides that the country is making on Monday in the space field are thanks largely to his dynamic and visionary leadership, says former ISRO Chairman, K Kasturirangan.

He recalled that it was under Rao's leadership that Rohini and Aryabhata spacecraft were developed by Indian Space Research Organisation, whose then Chairman Vikram Sarabhai persuaded him to come back from the US and take responsibility of budding activities in space, particularly satellite.

"Prof Rao played an anchor role in developing India's satellite capability", Kasturirangan, who had succeeded him as ISRO Chairman, said.

For building Aryabhata in the 1970s, Rao had to develop human resources right from the scratch and technologies that ISRO was not familiar with during the times when industrial base was also poor.

"Against all these odds, he led a team, built the satellite (Aryabhata) in 36 months, a record", Kasturirangan said of Rao, who died at his Bengaluru residence today due to age-related ailments.