Overview
- Chitnis died at his Pune residence on October 22 after a heart attack following days of ill health, his family said.
- As member-secretary of INCOSPAR, he helped lay the groundwork that evolved into ISRO and identified Thumba for India’s first rocket launches.
- He directed the 1975–76 Satellite Instructional Television Experiment using NASA’s ATS-6 to beam educational programmes to about 2,400 villages across six states.
- He led ISRO’s Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad from 1981 to 1985, advancing early INSAT and remote sensing initiatives.
- He mentored A.P.J. Abdul Kalam by recommending him for NASA training, served for decades on PTI’s board, and later helped establish EMRC at Savitribai Phule Pune University.