Ritu Karidhal, Deputy Operations Director, Mars Orbiter Mission:
“What is the actual size of the Moon?” “How does its size keep changing?” were the questions running through the mind of Lucknow’s little girl Ritu who was an enthusiastic sky watcher. In an exclusive interview, she said, “I wanted to know what lay behind the dark spaces.” Ritu loved physics and mathematics. After her post graduation, she applied for a job at ISRO and became a space scientist. Ritu worked on weekends and until 11 pm on the nights but she said, “At the time, my son was 11 and my daughter was five. We had to multi-task, manage time better, but I think that even when I was exhausted at work, I’d go home and see my children and spend time enjoying with them, and I’d feel better and they would also like it.”
Ritu worked on weekends and until 11 pm on the nights but she said, “At the time, my son was 11 and my daughter was five. We had to multi-task, manage time better, but I think that even when I was exhausted at work, I’d go home and see my children and spend time enjoying with them, and I’d feel better and they would also like it.”
Moumita Dutta, Project Manager, Mars Mission:
Once upon a time a postgraduate student who was very much interested in science, completed her M.Tech in Applied physics and is a successful project manager who handles the payload for the Mars Orbiter Mission. She is currently working as a team leader to make a visible progress in optical sciences under the ‘Make In India’ campaign. She, as a student, used to read about the Chandraayan mission and was absolutely fascinated since then.
Nandini Harinath, Deputy Operations Director, Mars Orbiter Mission:
Nandini fell in love with science when she watched Star Trek on TV. “My mother is a maths teacher and my father is an engineer with a great liking for physics and as a family, we were all so fond of Star Trek and science fiction and we would sit together and watch it on TV.”Of course, at the time, she never thought of becoming a space scientist and for her, ISRO “just happened”. “It was the first job I applied for and I got through. It’s been 20 years now and there’s been no looking back.”
She worked for 10 hours a day and as the mission neared 12-14 hours and there were times she never went back home. “I want to be grounded to earth. It’s important to remain so, to bring out the best in a person,” she said when asked if she was ‘the woman from Mars’.
Anuradha T K, Geosat Programme Director, ISRO Satellite center:
She started loving space when she was 9 and since then she was unstoppable. She got attached to space when she was hearing the live updates of Neil Armstong going to space. “I never liked subjects where I needed to remember a lot and science looked logical to me. I don’t believe that Indian girls think science is not meant for them and I think maths is their favorite subject,” she said.
In 1982, when Anuradha joined ISRO, there were only 5-6 women scientists working with her. “Today, more than 20-25% of Isro’s over 16,000 employees are women and we no longer feel special,” she laughed. “Sometimes I say that I forget that I’m a woman here. You don’t get any special treatment because you’re a woman, you’re also not discriminated against because you’re a woman. You’re treated as an equal here,” she concluded.
N. Valarmathi led the launch of India’s first indigenously developed the radar imaging satellite, the RISAT-1:
She was the second woman after T K Anuradha to head a satellite mission at ISRO. At 52, she has made her state of Tamil Nadu proud. She is the first woman to head a mission that involves a remote sensing satellite.
Minal Sampath, Systems engineer, Mars Orbiter Mission:
Minal leads around 500 in her team as a systems engineer at ISRO. She aims to become the first woman director to head a national space agency.For two years she never went spent a quality family time nor did she have weekends to enjoy. It was all about work for her.
Kriti Faujdar, Computer scientist, Master control facility, ISRO:
Kriti has a job of monitoring the satellites, notices and rectifies if something is wrong. Along with her other employees, her work shifts are equally erratic. She aims to pursue her M.Tech and become a better scientist.
They are the true role models who every aspiring woman needs to look up to because they have really struggled to achieve what they have.