Bengaluru, April 6 (IANS): Senior scientist M. Annadurai has taken over as the new director of the Indian space agency's satellite centre here, an official statement said on Monday.

"Annadurai took over as director of Indian Satellite Application Centre on April 1 from S.K. Shivakumar, who superannuated on March 31," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement here.

Prior to the present appointment, the 57-year-old Annadurai was programme director of Indian Remote Sensing Satellites and small satellite systems at the centre.

"As project director, Annadurai spearheaded India's maiden lunar mission (Chandrayaan-1) in 2008, which won him many awards, including the prestigious space pioneer award," the statement said.

The Coimbatore-educated electronics engineer, who joined the space agency in 1982, was the lead-member of the satellite mission team and steered eight Indian satellite missions as director.

"Annadurai also made significant contribution in the successful launch of the country's maiden Mars Orbiter Mission in 2013-14 in record time," the statement said.

Annadurai is a fellow of the society for shock wave research and a member of the international lunar network enabling technologies group. He is also the chairman of Indian Remote Sensing Society (ISRS), Bengaluru chapter and has 75 research papers to his credit.