TIFR Balloon Facility Management Board

The TIFR Balloon Facility operates under the overall executive control of a Chairperson appointed by the Director, TIFR. Pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), an advisory board named as Balloon Facility Management Board is constituted by TIFR, with member-secretary from ISRO, to plan and advise on various activities of the Balloon Facility including R&D work necessary to continuously and productively utilize the facility and make necessary recommendations to the Director, TIFR, for required upgrade of the overall capabilities of the TIFR Balloon Facility. At present, the following 10 member board consists of several eminent technologists, heads of scientific laboratories, ex-officio heads of supporting agencies, Indian Meteorological Department and the Operations Division of the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

      Prof. K. Maiti, Dean -NSF, TIFR, Mumbai      -       Chairperson
      Prof. D.K.Ojha, Chairperson, DAA, & TIFR Balloon Facility Committee
      Prof. S.K. Ghosh, Senior Professor, TIFR, Mumbai
      Prof. D. Narayana Rao, Ex-director, NARL and
            Pro-Vice Chancellor, SRM University, Amaravathi, A.P.
      Prof. A. Jayaraman, Ex-Director, NARL, Gadanki, A.P      -       Member Secretary
      Dr. A. Bhardwaj, Director, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad
      Mr. P. Kunhikrishnan, Director, URSC, Bengaluru
      Director-in-Charge, Meteorological Centre, IMD, Hyderabad
      Executive Director, ATM, AAI, New Delhi or ATM AAI's nominee
      Scientist-in-Charge, TIFR Balloon Facility, Hyderabad (Invited Member)
      Convener, TIFR Balloon Facility Committee (Invited Member)
      Wg Cdr George Antony (Retd). Registrar, TIFR

Day to day operations at the facility campus are managed by a Scientist-in-charge along with the TIFR Balloon Facility staff. He also serves as the interface with scientific users and the various groups of TIFR Balloon Facility.

TIFR Balloon Facility staff is organized into various specialized groups for efficient and time bound operational preparedness. It is ably supported by a team of administration staff which provides administrative support and budget control as per the rules and regulations. However, the entire staff of the balloon facility operates as a single specialized team during the balloon launch, flight control and recovery operations.