A. S.

Kiran Kumar
Alur Seelin Kiran Kumar is an Indian space scientist
and the current chairman of the Indian Space Research
Organisation having assumed oce on 12 January 2015.
He is credited with the development of key scientic
instruments aboard the Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan
space crafts.[1][2][3][4] In 2014, he was awarded the Padma
Shri, Indias fourth highest civilian award, for his contributions to the elds of science and technology.[5] Kiran Kumar previously served as Director of Ahmedabad
Space Applications Centre.

Biography
Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft - Artists concept

Space Applications Centre lists Kiran Kumars achievements as:[3]

Development of III tier imaging for satellites such as
IRS-1C and Resourcesat-1
Development of Ocean Colour instruments for PFZ
forecast
Development of stereo imaging system for Cartosat1
Development of sub-meter resolution optical imaging for Cartosat-2
Development of 2-channel and 3-channel VHRR
meteorological payloads

Mars Orbiter Mission - India - Artists concept

Development of third generation Imagers and 2012.[4][6][8] He has represented Indian Space Research
sounders
Organization at many international forums such as the
World Meteorological Organisation and holds the Chair
Development of Terrain Mapping Camera and Hy- of the ISRO Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
per Spectral Imager for Chandrayaan-2
(CEO).[3][10]
Kiran Kumar Alur Seelin was born in Hassan District,Karnataka (Born 1952),[6] in the Indian state of Karnataka and graduated in Physics (Honours), in 1971, from
the National College of Bangalore University.[2][7] This
was followed by a degree of MSc in Electronics from the
same university, in 1973.[6] His further studies were at
the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore from where he
passed MTech in Physical Engineering, in 1975.[3][8][9]

2 Legacy
Kiran Kumars legacy spans across his contributions to
the scientic world, specically Indian space endeavors,
and his eorts towards the dissemination of knowledge
by way of articles and lectures.

Kiran Kumar started his career, joining Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, in 1975,[7] working on Space 2.1 Scientic contributions
borne Electro -optical imaging instruments.[6] He has remained at the institution ever since and is the Direc- Kiran Kumar is known to have made contributions to the
tor of the Electro-optical Systems Group since April Indian space programmes, from the early projects like
1

REFERENCES

Bhaskara TV payload till the later programmes such as

Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan.[1][3][4] Kumar is credited with the design and development of the electrooptical image sensors[4] used in Indias rst remote sensing satellite, Bhaskara, launched in 1979[7] and the subsequent one in 1981,[1] as well as the ocean colour instruments used in weather forecasting, sea zone/landscape
mapping and telecommunications.[1][3][4][6]

Kiran Kumar has received many awards and honors, starting with the Indian Society of Remote Sensing Award
in 1994.[3][6][7][10] Four years later, in 1998, he received
the Vasvik award,[3][6][7][10] followed by the Astronautical Society of India Award in 2001.[3][6][7][10] The Indian
Space Research Organization honoured Kumar with the
Individual Service award in 2006[3][10] and the Bhaskara
Award of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing came
his way in 2007.[3][7][10][16] The next year, 2008, saw
He is also reported to have contributed to the design and development of the imaging instruments for Kumar getting the Team Achievement[10]Award 2008 of
International Academy of Astronautics and the ISRO
projects such as INSAT3D, Resourcesat, Micro Satellite
Award from the Indian Space Research Or[7] [10]
and Cartosat.
The Terrain Mapping Camera and Performance
ganization.[3][7]
Hyperspectral Imager payloads of Chandrayaan-1 project
is also credited to the eorts of Kiran Kumar.[3][4][7] It Kiran Kumar has been conferred with the fellowship by
was the group led by Kumar which developed three of the National Academy of Engineers and is a correspondthe ve scientic instruments, tted on the Mars Orbiter ing member of the International Academy of AstronauMission satellite.[1]
tics.[3][7] The Government of India honored Kiran Kumar Alur Seelin with the Padma Shri by including him
in the 2014 Republic Day Honours.[5] Kiran Kumar was
awarded the Honorary Doctorate Degree from SRM Uni2.2 Academic contributions
versity on March 24, 2015.
Kumar has attended many seminars and conferences
where he has delivered lectures and keynote addresses.[8]
He has also published several articles[11][12][13] in peer re- 4 See also
viewed international journals, ResearchGate has listed 41
of his articles.[14]
Space Applications Centre
Prakash Chauhan, Prabhjot Kaur , Satadru Bhattacharya, Aditya K. Dagar, A. S. Kiran Kumar (2014). DETECTION OF OH/H2O ON
THE CENTRAL PEAK OF JACKSON CRATER
FROM MOON MINERALOGICAL MAPPER
(M3) DATA ONBOARD CHANDRAYAAN-1.
Research Gate. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
Suchandra Bhowmick, Raj Kumar, A. S. Kiran Kumar (2014). Cross Calibration of the OceanSAT
2 Scatterometer With QuikSCAT Scatterometer
Using Natural Terrestrial Targets. Research Gate.
Retrieved October 31, 2014.
A. S. Arya, R. P. Rajsekhar, Amitabh, B.
Gopalakrishna, Ajai, A. S. Kiran Kumar (2014).
Morphometric, rheological and compositional
analysis of an eusive lunar dome using high resolution remote sensing data sets: A case study from
Marius hills region. Research Gate. Retrieved
October 31, 2014.

Mars Orbiter Mission

Indian Space Research Organization
Chandrayaan-1

5 References
[1] Canara News. Canara News. September 25, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
[2] INCN (PDF). INCN. 2014. Retrieved October 31,
2014.
[3] Space Application Centre. Space Application Centre.
2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
[4] SAC Appointment. Daily Bhaskar. April 3, 2012. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
[5] Padma 2014. Press Information Bureau, Government
of India. 25 January 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
[6] ASI India. ASI India. 2014. Retrieved October 31,
2014.

Awards and recognitions

The level of precision that is required for such a mission

demanded extremely sensitive accelerometers far superior in quality over the ones weve used in earlier space
missions, says Dr. Kiran Kumar about Indias Mars Mission[15]

[7] National Academy of Engineering. National Academy

of Engineering. 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
[8] lectures. News Hunt. 10 October 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
[9] Dharmesh. Dharmesh. 2014. Retrieved October 31,
2014.

[10] News Hunt 2. News Hunt. 10 October 2014. Retrieved

October 31, 2014.
[11] Prakash Chauhan, Prabhjot Kaur , Satadru Bhattacharya, Aditya K. Dagar, A. S. Kiran Kumar (2014).
DETECTION OF OH/H2O ON THE CENTRAL
PEAK OF JACKSON CRATER FROM MOON MINERALOGICAL MAPPER (M3) DATA ONBOARD
CHANDRAYAAN-1. Research Gate. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
[12] Suchandra Bhowmick, Raj Kumar, A. S. Kiran Kumar
(2014). Cross Calibration of the OceanSAT 2 Scatterometer With QuikSCAT Scatterometer Using Natural
Terrestrial Targets. Research Gate. Retrieved October
31, 2014.
[13] A. S. Arya, R. P. Rajsekhar, Amitabh, B. Gopalakrishna,
Ajai, A. S. Kiran Kumar (2014). Morphometric, rheological and compositional analysis of an eusive lunar
dome using high resolution remote sensing data sets: A
case study from Marius hills region. Research Gate. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
[14] Research Gate. Research Gate. 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
[15] Mars Mission. Telegraph India. September 25, 2014.
Retrieved October 31, 2014.
[16] Indian Society of Remote Sensing. Indian Society of
Remote Sensing. 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.

External links
List of Articles on Research Gate. Research Gate.
2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.

Further reading
Prakash Chauhan, Prabhjot Kaur , Satadru Bhattacharya, Aditya K. Dagar, A. S. Kiran Kumar (2014). DETECTION OF OH/H2O ON
THE CENTRAL PEAK OF JACKSON CRATER
FROM MOON MINERALOGICAL MAPPER
(M3) DATA ONBOARD CHANDRAYAAN-1.
Research Gate. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
Suchandra Bhowmick, Raj Kumar, A. S. Kiran Kumar (2014). Cross Calibration of the OceanSAT
2 Scatterometer With QuikSCAT Scatterometer
Using Natural Terrestrial Targets. Research Gate.
Retrieved October 31, 2014.
A. S. Arya, R. P. Rajsekhar, Amitabh, B.
Gopalakrishna, Ajai, A. S. Kiran Kumar (2014).
Morphometric, rheological and compositional
analysis of an eusive lunar dome using high resolution remote sensing data sets: A case study from
Marius hills region. Research Gate. Retrieved
October 31, 2014.

8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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