Avinash Chander, former Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Director General of the DRDO, has been conferred with the Aryabhata Award of the Astronautical Society of India.
The award was presented to Avinash Chander by R Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Adviser to Govt. of India and A S Kiran Kumar, Chairman ISRO during the ASI-ISRO Awards function held at Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad on Thursday.
The Aryabhata Award, named after the fifth century Indian Astronomer and Mathematician and also in commemoration of the first Indian Satellite, Aryabhata, launched on April 19, 1975, is presented annually to an individual for outstanding lifetime contribution to the promotion of astronautics in India. The award consists of a citation and Rs 1,00,000/- in cash.
Avinash Chander is the main architect of India's long range missile program Agni ranging from 300 km (A1) to the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile A5. His work on defence technologies & defence systems in general, and development of variety of missile capabilities in particular has made India self reliant in many vital areas of defence, the citation said.