Research Interests

• Planetary Science and Space Exploration
• Development of scientific instruments for the planetary & space missions
• Soft X-ray, Hard X-ray & Gamma-ray Spectrometer
• High energy charged particles (protons, alpha) spectrometer
• Neutral & Ion Mass Spectrometer

Professional Respnsibilities

• Project Manager: Supra Thermal & Energetic Particle Spectrometer (STEPS) of Aditya solar wind & Particle Experiment (ASPEX), onboard upcoming India’s Aditya-L1 mission. (Payload is in Aditya-L1 orbit)
• Principal Investigator: Neural & Ion Mass spectrometer for the future planetary missions. (Ongoing project)
• Principal Investigator: Development of position sensitive hard X-ray detector, under PRL’s Technology Development Program (TDP). (Project completed)
• Team-member: Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) instrument on board Chandrayaan-2 mission. (Payload is in Ch-2 orbit)
• Team-member: Alpha Particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) on board rover of Chandrayaan-2 & Chandrayaan-3 mission. (Instruments delivered)
• Member of one of the Baseline Design Review (BDR) committees, ISRO – 2021.
• Member of the ‘’Task team for identifying development challenges for Venus Ballooning Mission”.

Professional Experience

• January 2022-till date:         Scientist/Engineer-SF, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad
• January 2018-December 2021:     Scientist/Engineer-SE, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad
• January 2013-December 2017:     Scientist/Engineer-SD, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad
• July 2011-December 2012:        Scientist/Engineer-SC, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad
• December 2008 - June 2011:      Engineer-SC, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad

Academic Qualifications

• M.Tech in VLSI design (2019), Institute of Technology, Nirma University, Ahmedabad
• B.Tech in Electronics & Comm. (2008), JNIT, Jaipur

Memberships

• Life Fellow Member of The Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE)
• Life member of Astronomical Society of India (ASI)
• Life member of Indian Planetary Science Association (IPSA)
• Member of Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
• Member of Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS)

Supervision of Projects

• B. Tech program:              22 students
• M. Tech program:              4 students
• PRL's PhD program:            1 student
• PRL's UN course program:            2 students
• PRL's PDMC program:          2 students
• PRL's PLANEX workshop:          2 students
• PRL's summer internship program:  1 student

Awards

• Recipient of COSPAR financial grant, 2022.
• Recipient of COSPAR financial grant, 2020.
• Best paper award for the paper: “Supra Thermal & Energetic Particle Spectrometer (STEPS) subsystem of ASPEX payload (on board Aditya – L1 mission)”, National Space Science Symposium, India, 2016.
• Best poster award as a team member for the paper “Development of a Hard X-ray Focal Plane Compton Polarimeter”, Astronomical Society of India, 2015.
• Third prize in Hindi typing competition, Physical Research Laboratory, 2013.
• Best paper award as a team member of for the paper “Planex Newsletter – An outreach to nuances of planetary sciences” at VII National Space Science Symposium – 2010.

Journal Publications

1. S.K. Goyal, A.P. Naik, P. Sharma, A.J. Verma, N.A. Chotaliya and M.M. Soni. “Characterization of CeBr3 and NaI (Tl) based detector modules with readout using an array of Silicon Photomultiplier for the future space exploration programs”. Advances in Space Research. Vol. 73, February 2024.
2. S.K. Goyal, A.P. Naik, P. Sharma. “Characterization of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) for Space Exploration”. Advances in Space Research. Vol. 70, December 2022.
3. S.V. Vadawale, B. Mondal, N.P.S. Mithun, A.Sarkar, P. Janardhan, B. Joshi, A. Bhardwaj, M. Shanmugam, A.R. Patel, H.L. Adalja, S.K. Goyal, T. Ladiya, N.K. Tiwari, N. Singh and S. Kumar. “Observations of the Quiet Sun during the Deepest Solar Minimum of the Past Century with Chandrayaan-2 XSM: Elemental Abundances in the Quiescent Corona”. The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Vol. 912, May 2021.
4. S. Vadawale, N.P.S. Mithun, B. Mondal, A. Sarkar, P. Janardhan, B. Joshi, A. Bhardwaj, M. Shanmugam, A.R. Patel, H.L. Adalja, S.K. Goyal, T. Ladiya, N.K. Tiwari, N. Singh, S. Kumar. “Observations of the Quiet Sun during the Deepest Solar Minimum of the Past Century with Chandrayaan-2 XSM: Sub-A-class Microflares outside Active Regions”. The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Vol. 912, May 2021.
5. N.P.S. Mithun, S.V. Vadawale, M. Shanmugam, A.R. Patel, N.K. Tiwari, H.L. Adalja, S.K. Goyal, T. Ladiya, N. Singh, S. Kumar, M.K. Tiwari, M. H. Modi, B. Mondal, A. Sarkar, B. Joshi, P. Janardhan, A. Bhardwaj. “Ground calibration of Solar X-ray Monitor on board the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter”. Experimental Astronomy. Vol. 51, February 2021.
6. B. Mondal, S.V. Vadawale, N.P.S. Mithun, C.S. Vaishnava, N.K. Tiwari, S.K. Goyal, S.S. Panini, V. Navalkar, C. Karmakar, M.R. Patel, R.B. Upadhyay. “DarpanX: A phython package for modeling X-ray reflectivity of multilayer mirrors”. Astronomy and Computing. Vol. 34, January 2021.
7. N.P.S. Mithun, S.V. Vadawale, A. Sarkar, M. Shanmugam, A.R. Patel, B. Mondal, B. Joshi, P. Janardhan, H.L. Adalja, S.K. Goyal, T. Ladiya, N.K. Tiwari, N. Singh, S. Kumar, M.K. Tiwari, M. H. Modi & A. Bhardwaj. “Solar X-Ray Monitor on Board the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter: In-Flight Performance and Science Prospects”. Solar Physics. Vol. 295, October 2020.
8. N.P.S. Mithun, SV. Vadawale, M. Shanmugam, AR. Patel, N. Singh, S. Kumar, N.K. Tiwari, S.K. Goyal, A.B. Sarbadhikari, G. Arora, Y. Srivastava, H.L. Adalja, T. Ladiya, D.K. Painkra, S.B. Banerjee, V.R. Patel, & A. Bhardwaj. “Ground calibration of Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) on-board Chandrayaan-2 Pragyaan rover: An empirical approach”. Planetary & Space Science. Vol. 187, August 2020.
9. M. Shanmugam, S.V. Vadawale, A. Patel, S.K. Goyal, T. Ladiya, Y B. Acharya, S. Pal and V. Nanal. “Investigation of radiation damage due to particle irradiation on Silicon Drift Detector for Chandrayaan-2 mission”. Journal of Instrumentation. Vol. 15, January 2020.
10. M. Shanmugam, S. Vadawale, A.R. Patel, H. Adalja, N.P.S. Mithun, T. Ladiya, S.K. Goyal, N.K. Tiwari, N. Singh, S. Kumar, D.K. Painkra, Y.B. Acharya, A. Bhardwaj, A.K. Hait, A. Patinge, A. Kapoor, H.N.S. Kumar, N. Satya, G. Saxena, K. Arvind. “Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) On-board Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter”. Current Science. Vol. 118, January 2020.
11. M. Shanmugam, S. Vadawale, A.R. Patel, N.P.S. Mithun, H. Adalja, T. Ladiya, S.K. Goyal, N.K. Tiwari, N. Singh, S. Kumar, D.K. Painkra, A.K. Hait, A. Patinge, A. Kumar, S. Basha, V.R. Subramanian, R.G. Venkatesh, D.B. Prashant, S. Navle, Y.B. Acharya, S.V.S. Murty, A. Bhardwaj. “Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) on-board Chandrayaan-2 Rover – Pragyan”. Current Science. Vol. 118, January 2020.
12. S.K. Goyal, A.P. Naik, N.P S. Mithun, S.V. Vadawale, N. Nagrani, S. Madhvi, N.K. Tiwari, T. Ladiya, A.R. Patel, H.L. Adalja, T. Chattopadhyay, M. Shanmugam, A. Auknoor, P. Sharma, V.R. Patel. "Development of position sensitive detector module using scintillator and Si photomultiplier for hard x-ray imaging and spectroscopy". Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems. Vol. 5, December 2018.
13. S.K. Goyal, P. Kumar, P. Janardhan, S.V. Vadawale, A. Sarkar, M. Shanmugam, K.P. Subramanian, B. Bapat, D. Chakrabarty, P.R. Adhyaru, A.R. Patel, S.B. Banerjee, M.S. Shah, N.K. Tiwari, H.L. Adalja, T. Ladiya, M.B. Dadhania, A. Sarda, A.K. Hait, M. Chauhan and R.R. Bhavsar. “Aditya Solarwind Particle EXperiment (ASPEX) onboard the Aditya-L1 mission”. Planetary and Space Science. Vol. 163, November 2018.
14. D.K. Panda, D.Banerjee, S.K. Goyal, A.R. Patel, A.D. Shukla. “Development of a Cerium bromide gamma ray spectrometer for space applications”. Advances in Space Research. Vol. 60, September 2017.
15. T. Chattopadhyay, S. Vadawale, S.K. Goyal, Mithun N.P.S., A.R. Patel, R. Shukla, T. Ladiya, M. Shanmugam, V.R. Patel, G.P. Ubale. “Development of a Hard X – ray focal plane Compton Polarimeter: A compact polarimetric configuration with Scintillators and Si Photomultipliers”. Experimental Astronomy. Vol. 41, October 2015.
16. T. Chattopadhyay, S. Vadawale, M. Shanmugam, S.K. Goyal. “Measurement of Low Energy Detection Efficiency of a Plastic Scintillator: Implications on the Lower Energy Limit and Sensitivity of a Hard X – ray Focal Plane Compton Polarimeter”. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement series. Vol. 212, April 2014.
17. S.V. Vadawale, M. Shanmugam, Y.B. Acharya, A.R. Patel, S.K. Goyal, B. Shah, A.K. Hait, A. Patinge, D. Subramanian. “Solar X – ray Monitor (XSM) on – board Chandrayaan – 2 orbiter”. Advances in Space Research. Vol. 54, November 2014.
18. M. Shanmugam, S.V.S. Murty, Y B. Acharya, S.K. Goyal, A.R. Patel, B. Shah, A K. Hait, A. Patinge, D. Subramanian. “Alpha Particle X – ray Spectrometer (APXS) on-board Chandrayaan – 2 Rover”. Advances in Space Research. Vol. 54, November 2014.
19. M. Shanmugam, S. Vadawale, Y.B. Acharya, V. Mishra, P.N. Patel, S.K. Goyal. “Design and performance evaluation of SDD based X-ray spectrometer for future planetary exploration”. Radiation measurements. Vol. 47, May 2012.
20. M. Shanmugam, Y.B. Acharya, V. Mishra, P.N. Patel, S.K. Goyal. “A Compact X-ray Spectrometer Using Silicon Drift Detector”. Sensors & Transducers Journal. Vol. 138, March 2012.

Conference Proceedings / Extended Abstracts / Popular articles

1. S.K. Goyal and A.P. Naik. “Design of Low Noise, High Sensitive Front End Electronics for the Charge Readout from Silicon Photomultiplier Detector for Future Space Exploration Programs”. IEEE International Symposium on Smart Electronic Systems (iSES). pp. 381-384. December 2023.
2. S.K. Goyal, A.P. Naik, Mithun N.P.S. S.V. Vadawale, N.K. Tiwari, T. Chattopadhyay, N. Nagrani, S. Madhavi, T. Ladiya, A.R. Patel, M. Shanmugam, H.L. Adalja, V.R. Patel, G.P. Ubale. “Design and development of position sensitive detector for hard x-ray using SiPM and new generation scintillators”. Proc. SPIE 10392, Hard X-ray, Gamma-ray, and neutron detector physics XIX. 1039205. August 2017.
3. S.K. Goyal, A.P. Naik, Mithun N.P.S. S.V. Vadawale, Y.B. Acharya, A.R. Patel, T. Ladiya, N.M. Devashrayee. “Design and development of hard x-ray imaging detector using scintillator and Si photomultiplier”. Proc. SPIE 9915, High Energy, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy VII. 99152J. August 2016.
4. S.K. Goyal, D. Banerjee, S.V. Vadawale, D.K. Panda, A.R. Patel, A. Patinge, T. Ladiya, A.B. Sarbadhikari. “Gamma ray spectrometer for future Mars mission: design concept and simulation study”. Proc. SPIE 9905, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray. 99056G. July 2016.
5. S.K. Goyal, M. Shanmugam, A.R. Patel, T. Ladiya, N.K. Tiwari, S.B. Banerjee, S.V. Vadawale, P. Janardhan, D. Chakrabarty, A.R. Srinivas, P. Shukla, P. Kumar, K.P. Subramanian, B. Bapat, P.R. Adhyaru. “Multi-directional measurements of high energy particles from the Sun-Earth L1 point with STEPS”. Proc. SPIE 9905, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray. 99054N. July 2016.
6. J. Pabari, D. Banerjee, A. Kanada, S.K. Goyal, A. Bhattacharya, P. Varma, A. Kumar, R.B. Upadhyay. “Moon Electrostatic and Dust Analyzer (MESDA) for future Lunar mission”. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. March 2015.
7. S.K. Goyal. “Low Temperature Electronics for Space Exploration”. PLANEX Newsletter. Vol. 4, July 2014.
8. S.K. Goyal, M. Shanmugam, S. Vadawale, D. Banerjee, Y.B. Acharya, S.V.S. Murty. “Laboratory XRF measurements using Alpha Particle X – ray Spectrometer of Chandrayaan – 2 Rover: Comparison with GEANT4 simulation results”. IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS/MIC). December 2013.
9. M. Shanmugam, A. Patel, S. Vadawale, Y.B. Acharya, S.K. Goyal. “Characterization of High Count Rate Capability of Solar X-Ray Monitor on-Board Chandrayaan- 2: The Second Indian Mission to the Moon”. IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS/MIC). December 2013.
10. M. Shanmugam, S. Vadawale, Y.B. Acharya, S.K. Goyal, A.R. Patel, B. Shah and S.V.S. Murty. “Solar X-ray monitor onboard Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter”. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. March 2012.
11. M. Shanmugam, Y.B. Acharya, S.K. Goyal, S.V.S. Murty. “Alpha Particle X-ray spectrometer onboard Chandrayaan-2 Rover”. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. March 2011.