Nothing more satisfying than being at helm of a prestigious project: Project Director Aditya L-1 Nigar Shaji

In an exlusive conversation with ETV Bharat, Nigar said that there is a favourable environment for women at ISRO with equal opportunities as that for men.

Thenkasi: After the successful soft landing on the moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up for exploring the sun. A spacecraft is being sent into the intergalactic orbit to explore the solar surface. Nigar Shaji, who is spearheading the Aditya L-I project, spoke exclusively to ETV Bharat over the much anticipated project which is scheduled to be launched through the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C57 (PSLV) at 11:50 am on Saturday, Sept. 2 from the Sriharikota rocket center in Andhra Pradesh.

Hailing from a farming family, Nigar Shaji's hometown is Sengottai town in Thenkasi district of Tamil Nadu. Her father Sheikh Meeran, is a farmer and mother Saitoon Biwi is a housewife. Her husband works as a mechanical engineer in Dubai. They have two children. While the son has a doctorate in fluid mechanics and is working in the Netherlands, their daughter is pursuing medical profession.

Shaji studied till Inter in SRM Girls School, Sengottai. Later, she joined Madurai Kamaraj University and obtained an engineering degree in electronics and communications. She completed her ME in Electronics and Communications from BIT, Ranchi. Nigar started his career in 1987 at Satish Dhawan Space Center (SHAAR), a key center of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

• Here is the brochure: https://t.co/5tC1c7MR0u
  
  and a few quick facts:
  🔸Aditya-L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from Earth, directed towards the Sun, which is about 1% of the Earth-Sun distance.
  🔸The Sun is a giant sphere of gas and Aditya-L1 would study the… pic.twitter.com/N9qhBzZMMW

  — ISRO (@isro) September 1, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  Here is the brochure: https://t.co/5tC1c7MR0u
  
  and a few quick facts:
  🔸Aditya-L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from Earth, directed towards the Sun, which is about 1% of the Earth-Sun distance.
  🔸The Sun is a giant sphere of gas and Aditya-L1 would study the… pic.twitter.com/N9qhBzZMMW

  — ISRO (@isro) September 1, 2023

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  Here is the brochure: https://t.co/5tC1c7MR0u
  
  and a few quick facts:
  🔸Aditya-L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from Earth, directed towards the Sun, which is about 1% of the Earth-Sun distance.
  🔸The Sun is a giant sphere of gas and Aditya-L1 would study the… pic.twitter.com/N9qhBzZMMW

  — ISRO (@isro) September 1, 2023

After working here for some time, she went on transfer to UR Rao Satellite Center in Bangalore. Working in various positions there, Nigar took charge as the Aditya-L1 project director. Before joining the solar mission, Nigar was involved in the design of Indian remote sensing, communication, and interplanetary satellites in various capacities.

She worked as Associate Project Director for Indian remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-2A undertaken by ISRO for national resource monitoring and management. In these experiments, research papers related to key aspects such as image compression, system engineering, and space internet workings were presented.

Over her association with the Aditya L1 mission, Nigar said, ''What can be more satisfying than being the director of a project like Aditya-L1, which is prestigious for the country? There are challenges at every step. But they do not seem difficult”. Nigar said that there is a favorable environment for women to work in ISRO.

“Targets should be chosen but here comes the best encouragement. There is no discrimination or inequality towards women anywhere in the ISRO centers across the country. We are recognized for our work and abilities. We should work with faith in the future. That will make us sit in the front row,'' said Nigar.