The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) gave away awards to 96 individuals at a ceremony held at Antariksh Bhavan in Bengaluru.

ISRO awards are in recognition of the unique contributions made by individuals and teams towards the success of respective projects and programmes of ISRO. The ‘ISRO Awards’ were distributed by former ISRO Chairman Dr K Kasturirangan and Chairman Dr K Sivan. The scheme was first introduced in 2007 and this is the 12th edition of the award. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Kasturirangan said “ISRO Awards have over the years become a prestigious ones among the space fraternity”.

“These awards have been executed very well over the years,”Dr. Kasturirangan said. In his address, Dr Sivan asked team ISRO to take on the challenges with single-minded devotion.“Congratulations to all the award winners. I appreciate the self driven nature of employees which is taking ISRO to greater heights,” Dr Sivan said.

This year, the recognitions were given in four categories – Young Scientist Award (50), Merit Award (20), Performance Excellence Award(10) and Team Excellence Award(16).The recipients were selected taking into account their outstanding contributions in the year 2017.  The selection panel consisted of officials drawn from various centres of ISRO. In addition to the four categories chosen this year, Outstanding and Life Time Achievement Awards are also given away biennially.

Directors from ISRO Centres, Department of Space establishment and employees from ISRO Headquarters were present during the awards function.