Senior scientist U P Rajeev has been appointed as the new Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), a key centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). He is a native of Pathanapuram in Kollam district.

Dr Rajeev is currently serving as the Associate Director (Research and Development) at VSSC. He will now head the centre responsible for developing India's launch vehicle technologies.

Dr Rajeev has decades of experience in rocket control and guidance systems. He has played a key role in the mission design and simulation of several major ISRO launch vehicle programmes.

Dr Rajeev completed his undergraduate degree in Applied Electronics and Instrumentation from the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram. He later obtained a postgraduate degree in Instrumentation and Control Systems from the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, and earned his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science before joining ISRO.