Two scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, are quietly working on questions that may shape the future of flight. Associate Professor Duvvuri Subrahmanyam and Assistant Professor Pratikash Panda are studying high-speed flight, fluid dynamics, combustion and propulsion — work that often begins in the quiet of a laboratory but could one day find its way into the skies.
Their work recently caught the attention of industrialist Anand Mahindra, who praised the two scientists in a post on X.
“Professors Duvvuri Subrahmanyam & Pratikash Panda at IISc Bengaluru are doing some seriously cutting-edge work in high-speed flight,” Mahindra wrote, describing it as “exciting science” and part of a forward-looking vision for India’s aerospace capabilities.
The praise comes at a time when India’s ambitions in space and aviation are beginning to take a more definite shape.
Just two months ago, India’s private space sector witnessed a remarkable feat. Pawan Kumar Chandana’s Skyroot Aerospace put another milestone in the country’s space story with Vikram-I, its privately developed orbital rocket.
The July 18 launch from Sriharikota, involving a reusable rocket, showed how far India’s private space industry has travelled.
THE ROAD THAT BROUGHT THEM HOME
What makes the story of two particularly interesting is not just science. It is also the road that brought them back to India.
Subrahmanyam is an Associate Professor in IISc’s Department of Aerospace Engineering and leads the Turbulent Shear Flow Physics and Engineering Laboratory. His research covers aero- and fluid dynamics, particularly turbulent flows in subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic regimes.
He studied aerospace engineering at IIT Madras before completing his MS and PhD at Caltech, followed by a postdoctoral stint at Princeton University. He returned to IISc in 2018 and became an associate professor in 2024.
Panda, meanwhile, is an Assistant Professor in the same department. A mechanical engineering graduate of NIT Rourkela, he completed his MS and PhD at Purdue University before working as a postdoctoral associate at Sandia National Laboratories and later as a senior research scientist at FM Global. H
e joined IISc in 2018 and works on fluid mechanics, combustion, advanced laser diagnostics, rocket and air-breathing propulsion, cryogenic combustion and micro-thrusters using greener propellants.
Their work is not confined to equations, laboratories and research papers. During the Covid-19 pandemic, both were part of IISc’s Project PRAANA, which developed an indigenous, low-cost ICU-grade ventilator. The project moved from the drawing board to a working prototype in a matter of weeks, bringing together scientists, engineers and medical professionals.
That is perhaps what makes the present moment significant. The two scientists trained and worked at some of the world’s leading institutions, yet chose to build their careers in India.
Their story is not simply about researchers returning home. It is about what they are choosing to build once they get here – in high-speed flight, propulsion and aerospace research, fields that could become increasingly important as India’s private space and aviation ambitions expand.
Mahindra’s praise, therefore, lands at an interesting moment. India’s space sector is no longer confined to government laboratories or a handful of institutions. Start-ups are reaching orbit, while researchers inside institutions such as IISc are working on the science that could define the next generation of flight.
The future of Indian aerospace may not arrive with one dramatic launch.
Some of it is already taking shape quietly, inside laboratories in Bengaluru.
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