Nigar Shaji: Leading India’s Aditya-L1 Sun Mission

Nigar Shaji, a woman scientist at ISRO, is making her mark in interplanetary missions with her role as the Project Director for India’s Aditya-L1 mission, which aims to study the Sun. Hailing from Shengottai in Tamil Nadu, Shaji excelled academically, achieving top rankings in her school and college.

After completing her engineering degree in Tirunelveli, she pursued an M.Tech from Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, before joining ISRO. Over the years, she has been involved in various projects, and eight years ago, she took on the challenging role of heading the Aditya-L1 mission.

Shaji expressed the complexity of the project, highlighting the challenge of placing the spacecraft in the halo orbit and the unique nature of the payloads involved. Despite the challenges, she has been dedicated to leading the mission.

Shaji’s family members have also pursued careers in engineering, with her husband working as a mechanical engineer in Dubai, her son pursuing a Ph.D. in the Netherlands, and her daughter studying post-graduation in the medical field.

Notably, women have been playing significant roles in other ISRO missions as well, such as the Chandrayaan-2 mission, where the Project Director was M. Vanitha, and the Mission Director was Ritu Karidhal Srivastava. In the case of Chandrayaan-3, Kalpana, the Deputy Director, played a key role, in showcasing the growing presence of women’s power in India’s space endeavors.

Re-reported from the article published in Lokmat Times English