Bio

Mr Alur Seelin Kiran Kumar, Distinguished Scientist (Apex) and Director, Space
Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, assumed the office of the Secretary, Department of
Space, Chairman, Space Commission and Chairman, Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) on January 14, 2015.

Mr Kiran Kumar is a highly accomplished space scientist and engineer with a

distinguished career spanning over four decades in ISRO in the satellite payload and
applications domains.

He has made immense contributions to the design and development of Electro-

Optical Imaging Sensors for Airborne, Low Earth Orbit and Geostationary Orbit
satellites starting from Bhaskara TV payload to the Mars Orbiter Mission payloads.

Mr Kiran Kumar was instrumental in evolving the successful strategy for steering the
Mars Orbiter Spacecraft towards planet Mars as well as its Mars Orbit Insertion. He
has also made significant contributions for evolving the observation strategy
encompassing land, ocean, atmospheric and planetary studies.

Mr Kiran Kumar is an alumnus of National College, the esteemed educational

institution of Bangalore. He obtained his Physics (Honours) Degree from Bangalore
University in 1971 and later obtained his Masters degree in Electronics from the
same university in 1973, and thereafter his M.Tech Degree in Physical Engineering
from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1975.

Mr Kiran Kumar began his career in ISRO by joining Space Applications Centre (SAC)
in 1975. Later, he became its Associate Director and in March 2012 took over as the
Director of SAC.

At SAC, Mr Kiran Kumar has been steering the design, development & realisation of
payloads and application activities of earth observation, communication, navigation,
space science and planetary exploration.

Mr Kiran Kumar is a recipient of many national and international laurels/awards

including the Padma Shri Award conferred by the President of India in 2014,
International Academy of Astronautics Laurels for Team Achievement Award for
Cartosat in 2008 and for Chandrayaan-1 in 2013, Indian Society of Remote Sensing
(ISRS) Award for the year 1994, VASVIK award (Electronic sciences and technology)
for the year 1998, Astronautical Society of India Award (Space Sciences and
Applications) for the year 2001, ISRO individual Service Award 2006, Bhaskara Award
of ISRS in 2007 and ISRO Performance Excellence Award 2008.

He is a Fellow of professional institutions like Indian National Academy of

Engineering, Indian Society of Remote Sensing, Institution of Electronics &
Telecommunication Engineer, and Indian Meteorological Society. Besides, he is a
member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

Mr Kiran Kumar has represented ISRO in international forums like World

Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
(CEOS) and Indo-US Joint Working Group on Civil Space Cooperation.

Major Accomplishments

Shri A. S. Kiran Kumar, Chairman, ISRO, is responsible for the implementation of the
applications oriented Indian Space Programme, which has facilitated rapid
development of the country in many important spheres. In this pursuit, he is steering
the development of satellites and related technologies for earth observation,
communication, navigation, meteorology and space science, as well as the
development of indigenous launch vehicles and related technologies for providing
assured access to space. He has implemented several path-breaking technologies in
the development of electro-optics systems and these seeds sown by him have now
blossomed into an enviable constellation of Remote sensing satellites by India. His
contributions to the success of planetary exploration missions
namely, Chandrayaan-1 and Mars Orbiter Mission (from conceptualisation stage
to critical orbital insertion) as well the space science mission - ASTROSAT have been
significant. Advanced communication payloads providing high through-
put/bandwidth, navigation payloads for Indian National Regional Navigation System
(IRNSS) and GAGAN have been developed under his supervision.

Shri Kiran Kumar has been actively involved in the working group on calibration and
validation activities at the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and
was also CEOS Chair during 2012. He has also significantly contributed to other
international fora like Coordination Group of Meteorological Satellites (CGMS), Expert
Team on Satellite Systems World Meteorological Organisation (ETSAT of WMO)
and Indo-US Joint Working Group on Civil Space Cooperation. He has been a key
member in the realisation of several satellites with international co-operation
including MEGHA-TROPIQUES and SARAL and also now actively leading the
development of NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR).

He is also leading the initiative of promoting space technology based tools for
governance and development in various Ministries/Departments, by conceptualising
innovative space applications, setting up of space technology cells in the Ministries
and strengthening of capacity building mechanisms for enhancing the role of space
applications in governance. His contributions have enabled India to deliver state-of-
the-art applications, using satellite remote sensing, communication and navigation
systems, with significant impacts at grass root level. In recognition of his
contributions in the field of science and engineering, the Government of India
conferred the prestigious `Padma Shri award in the year 2014. He is the
recipient of Laurels for Team achievement Award of International Academy
of Astronautics for Cartosat in 2008 and Chandrayaan-1 in 2013.

Governance and Developmental Initiatives

Under leadership of Shri Kiran Kumar, ISRO is spearheading the initiative of

promoting space technology based tools in governance and development in various
Ministries/Departments. He is the driving force towards conceptualising innovative
space applications, setting up of space technology cells in the Union Ministries and
strengthening of capacity building mechanism for enhancing the role of space
applications in G-governance initiatives. He is the man behind maximising the use of
GAGAN enabled location based services.

Honours and Awards

Padma Shri Award conferred by the Hon. President of India in 2014

Gandhi Peace Prize 2014 to ISRO

G.M.Modi Science Award by Gujar Mal Modi Science Foundation in 2016

Lifetime Achievement Award by Andhra Pradesh Akademi of Sciences in 2016

Rajyotsava Award conferred by Govt. of Karnataka in 2015

IISc Distinguished Alumnus Award for the year 2015

Sir M. Visvesvaraya Senior Scientist State Award for the year 2013

Gujarat Ratna Life for Innovation Award conferred by Gujarat Innovation

Society

Laurels for Team Achievement Award 2013 (Chandrayaan-1), International

Academy of Astronautics

ISRO Performance Excellence Award 2008

Laurels for Team Achievement Award 2008 (Cartosat) of International

Academy of Astronautics

Bhaskara Award conferred by Indian Society of Remote Sensing 2007

ISRO Individual Service Award 2006

 Astronautical Society of India Award (Space Sciences and Applications) 2001

VASVIK Award (Electronic Sciences and Technology) 1998

Indian Society of Remote Sensing Award 1994

Contributions to Indian Space Programme

Shri Kiran Kumar joined the Space Applications Centre (SAC) of ISRO at Ahmedabad
in 1975. During his career span of four decades at SAC, he has made immense
contributions to the development of over 50 Electro-Optical Imaging Sensors
operating from Airborne, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO)
platforms - starting from the Bhaskara TV payload that led to evolution of
observation strategy encompassing, land, ocean and atmosphere. Data received
from these missions have been the backbone of a good number of application
programmes of the country formulated towards ensuring food and water security,
sustaining environment and eco-system, understanding weather and climate,
monitoring and management of natural resources, planning and monitoring of
developmental activities, support to management and mitigation during disaster
events, and information for better governance.

As Director, Space Applications Centre, Shri Kiran Kumar steered the design,
development, realisation of communication, navigation, microwave and optical
remote sensing payloads, including varieties of space based applications while
ensuring excellent administrative and management skills at the centre.

He has made significant contributions to the development of a number of critical

spacecraft technologies through active participation as chairman/member in design
reviews and critical processes. These include the low earth orbit satellites,
geostationary satellites and planetary mission satellites, including the Mission
Readiness Reviews, Launch Authorisation Board of PSLV, GSLV missions and
integrated technical review of GSLV Mark III. He has also contributed to the critical
review processes covering ground segment activities involving, satellite data
acquisition, data processing, algorithm development in geophysical parameter
retrieval, product generation and product dissemination for both IRS and INSAT
series.

He has led design and development of Electro-Optical Imaging Sensors for a wide
range of Airborne, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO)
platform based imaging sensors starting from Bhaskara TV payload to MSM, TIS and
MCC payloads for MOM. He has also been responsible for the design and
development of Very High Resolution Radiometers for INSAT-2A/2B/2E, KALPANA and
INSAT-3A providing multi channel imageries from geostationary orbits for
meteorological applications since 1992 and next generation 6 Channel Imager and
19 Channel Sounder instruments for INSAT-3D, that has resulted in a quantum jump
with regard to weather monitoring and forecasting services in the country. Further,
he led team towards operationalisation of INSAT based Meteorological Data
Processing System (IMDPS) at India Meteorological Department, New Delhi, and
back-up system at Bopal Earth Station of SAC. The operational availability of this
valuable data, based on half-hourly images of KALPANA-1 VHRR and INSAT-3A CCD
payload have significantly improved the usage of MET data by various users in the
country.

Shri Kiran Kumar has extensively contributed to the operationalisation of Oceansat-2

Scatterometer data for generating Ocean Wind Vectors essential for use in Numerical
Weather Forecast Model and worked towards making it available for the global user
community.

He has been instrumental in bringing in the concept of `Apparent Velocity

Reduction (Step and Stare concept) to overcome the technology non-
availability issues to achieve very high resolution sub-meter imaging capability that
was successfully demonstrated as part of TES (2001), CARTOSAT-2, 2A and 2B
missions while at the same time the adoption of Push broom technology.

For topographical/land applications, realisation of 3-Tier Imaging concept of coarse

resolution large swath, medium resolution medium swath and high resolution small
swath adopted for IRS-1C to Resourcesat-2 and development of the highest spatial
resolution along track stereo payload for Cartosat-1 mission which resulted in
realisation of Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for the entire country have been carried
out under his guidance. He has also made notable contributions to the development
of space-borne synthetic aperture radar for India's first microwave imaging satellite
RISAT-1.

Advanced communication payloads providing high through-put/bandwidth,

navigation payloads for Indian National Regional Navigation System (IRNSS) and
GAGAN have been developed under his supervision. He has also led the indigenous
realisation of CCD technology flown on IMS-1 and development of IR sensitive
quantum dot area array detectors.

Chandrayaan-1 Mission

He has played many important roles towards making the Chandrayaan-1 mission
successful beginning from the conceptualisation of the mission (as Member of the
Study Team). He has overseen the payloads/mission operations and management, in-
orbit operations, operationalisation of data processing, creation of lunar atlas and as
Principal Investigator of Terrain Mapping Camera and Hyper Spectral Imager ensured
availability of DEM and hyperspectral sensor data to the science research community
(investigations resulted in publication of more than 20 co-authored papers).

Mars Orbiter Mission

He has made exemplary contributions to the successful execution of the Mars Orbiter
Mission. He has been actively involved in the planning at each phase of the mission
such as, mission planning, spacecraft configuration, payloads selection, design,
development and realisation of optical payloads (Mars Colour Camera, Methane
Sensor for Mars, and Thermal Infrared Imaging Sensor), post launch tracking
activities, earth burns, trans-mars injections, navigation, Martian orbit insertion, high
precision orbit maneuvers (pre/post insertion), payload operations and
operationalisation of data processing.

His other contributions include establishment of space infrastructure, ground

segments for the Indian Earth Observation programme and Planetary Sciences.
Thanks to his leadership, the nations remote sensing capabilities now are at par with
that of the advanced countries and have helped the society through information
ranging from potential fishing zones to hazards assessment. These indigenous
developments helped to create a technology base for the nation.

Fellowship of Science Academies and Organisations

Indian National Academy of Sciences (INAS)

Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE)

Indian Society of Remote Sensing (ISRS)

Institution of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineers (IETE)

Indian Meteorological Society (IMS)

Gujarat Science Academy (GSA)

Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences

Membership/Role in Professional Bodies

President :
Indian Society of Remote Sensing (ISRS) Indian Society of Geomatics (ISG)
Astronautical Society of India (ASI)

Member :
International Academy of Astronautics (IAA)
Shri Kiran Kumar has been conferred with more than 10 Honoris Causa from
prestigious Universities including Kaziranga University and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
Technical University.

Publications

76 Research publications both in National and International journals.

Six Publications including books, monographs & journals
Many Articles as a Chapter in Books

Association with International Bodies

Shri Kiran Kumar has been duly recognised internationally for contributions to
calibration and validation activities in forums like, Committee on Earth Observation
Satellites (CEOS), Coordination Group of Meteorological Satellites (CGMS), Expert
Team on Satellite Systems World Meteorological Organisation (ETSAT of WMO) and
Indo-US Joint Working Group on Civil Space Cooperation. Yet another success in the
international arena has been when he was the Chairman of the international
Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and spearheaded the CEOS in
2012. Shri Kiran Kumar has many bi-lateral cooperation successes behind him all of
which has made ISRO a global entity and also has furthered the developing country
perspectives of space. He has been instrumental in ISRO-NASA co-operation for joint
satellite development on L & S band SAR.