Sheena Rani

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sheena Rani

• Her father passed away when she was in Class 10. Thereafter, she was solely raised by her mother.

• Sheena’s hailed from Villukuri near Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu.

• Sheena Rani grew up near Magic Academy on Poojappura Kattu Road in Thiruvananthapuram.

• After completing her formal education, she worked at ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre for eight years.

• Her mother died in 1997.

• Later, she moved to Hyderabad, Telangana with her husband.

• She joined the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) as a lateral entry in 1999.

• Since then, she has been working on India’s Agni missile programme.

• Rani was inspired by India’s Missile Man and former DRDO chief and President of India APJ Abdul Kalam.

• Missile technologist Dr Avinash Chander helped shape Rani’s career at DRDO.

• She won the Scientist of the Year Award in 2016.

  

• Sheena Rani made headlines for serving as the programme director for India’s Agni-5 missile, which is a part of ‘Mission Divyastra’. She led the missile project at Hyderabad-based Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL) of DRDO.

• On 11 March 2024, the DRDO conducted the first flight test of the Agni-5 missile from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha.

• The Agni-5 missile is equipped with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology, which means it can carry multiple warheads. The test flight showed that the missile can travel more than 5,000 km i.e., it covers almost all of India’s neighbouring countries with its range

• With the successful launch, India became one of the few countries to have such technology.

  

• Rani is the second woman scientist after Tessy Thomas, who has played a major role in the development of the Agni series of missiles.

• She is also the associate director of DRDO’s ace lab ASL, which has developed Agni variants.

• Rani works with several DRDO units which are engaged in developing different subsystems of the Agni missile, but mainly her work involves checking and ensuring the overall health of missiles before their launch.

• Her husband, PSRS Sastry, is also a scientist who has contributed to various missile projects at DRDO. Sastry was also the part of 2019 ISRO-launched Kautilya Satellite.