Professor Maruthi Akella, an alumnus of NIT Calicut (Mechanical Engineering, 1992), has received the extraordinary honor of having an asteroid named after him. The Working Group on Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) made the official announcement through their latest bulletin (Volume 4, #14, October 14, 2024). The IAU maintains custody for cataloging and formal naming of all celestial objects.

Asteroid number 5376, a nearly five-plus mile diameter minor planet that orbits around the Sun every 3.75 years, is now officially known as Maruthiakella. A member of the asteroid main-belt between Mars and Jupiter, this minor planet body was discovered by astronomers S. Ueda and H. Kaneda in 1990 from an observatory based in Kushiro, Japan. The orbit properties and physical characteristics for all main-belt asteroids including (5376) Maruthiakella can be accessed from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Small-Body Database.

An Indian-American aerospace engineer, Prof. Akella holds the Cockrell Family Endowed Chair with the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin. Following his undergraduate studies at NIT Calicut, he received Masters and Doctoral degrees in Aerospace Engineering respectively from the Indian Institute of Science and Texas A&M University. Prof. Akella’s research contributions led to many high-impact applications in space systems control and vision-guided robotics, including his team’s support for the Intuitive Machines IM-1 lunar landing mission guidance in February 2024. In their formal announcement, the IAU lauded Prof. Akella for being “instrumental in advancing the control of complex dynamical systems with large-scale nonlinearities and uncertainties, contributing to many successful applications in astrodynamics.”

Prof. Akella is an elected Fellow of multiple professional bodies, the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the Distinguished Alumni Award 2023 from NIT Calicut, and holds leadership positions on technical committees and journal editorial boards, reflecting his deep commitment to research excellence, scholarship, and engineering education.

Media Reports

• Asteroid named after NIT Calicut alumnus Maruti R Akella - Malayala Manorama

• Celestial body named after NIT-C alumnus - Times of India

• അകെല്ലയുടെ പേര് ഛിന്നഗ്രഹത്തിനു നൽകി ഐ.എ.യു - Mathrubhumi

• NITC alumnus Prof. Akella has minor planet named after him - Indian Express

• എൻ.ഐ.ടി പൂർവ വിദ്യാർഥി പ്രഫ. മാരുതി അകെല്ലയുടെ പേര് ചിന്നഗ്രഹത്തിന് -  Malayala Manorama