BROADCASTS.com

Dr Kiran Kumar. Credit ISRO\n\n\nMr Kiran Kumar studied physics, physical engineering and electronics in educational institutions in India including the Indian Institute of Science\xa0(IISc) in Bangalore. He specialised in electro-optical imaging systems and in 1975 was recruited by Dr Yash Pal (one of a few key individuals who played a pivotal role in the early days of India\u2019s space programme) to ISRO\u2019s Space Application Centre in\xa0Ahmedabad.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDuring the 1970\u2019s, state of the art imaging sensor consisted of photodiodes, vidicon tubes and photomultipliers. It was these analogue devices that he started working with before moving on to modern solid state\xa0devices such as\xa0 Charged Couple Devices (CCDs). He contributed to imaging systems in India\u2019s first remote sensing satellite (Bhaskara-1) and deep space missions to the Moon (Chandrayaan-1) and Mars (Mars Orbiter Mission).\n\n\n\nDuring the 1970\u2019s, state of the art imaging sensor consisted of photodiodes, vidicon tubes and photomultipliers. It was these analogue devices that he started working with before moving on to modern solid state\xa0devices such as\xa0 Charged Couple Devices (CCDs). He contributed to imaging systems in India\u2019s first remote sensing satellite (Bhaskara-1) and deep space missions to the Moon (Chandrayaan-1) and Mars (Mars Orbiter Mission).\n\n\n\nA few highlights from the\xa0interview recorded on 22 September 2018\n\n\n\nHad considered medicine as a career but a combination of not meeting the age criteria by 22 days and National College in Bangalore initiating a new Physics Honours course in 1968, he chose Physics.Strongly influenced by physicist and ardent rationalist \xa0Dr.H.Narasimhaiah who later became the vice-chancellor of Bangalore UniversityHas a clear memory of Gagarin\u2019s spaceflight in 1961 and Apollo 11 landing on the Moon in 1969.Graduated in 1971, the same year that Vikram Sarabhai died. He never saw or met him.In 1975,\xa0he was working on his Mtec at the IISc when India\u2019s first satellite, Aryabhata was launched. He worked on Bhaskara \u2013 initially known as Satellite for Earth ObservationIn the mid-1970s only four metropolitan areas in India had television reception. The SITE programme illustrated the benefits of satellite communication in delivering education\xa0to small rural communities across India.During 1995-1999 \u2013 ISRO had the highest spatial resolution imaging capability from space in the civilian domain.Using Commercial Off the Shelf products (or parts from COTS product) is not unusual for experimental space missions.Moving into the Chairman\u2019s role was not onerous. Previous experience as director of an ISRO centre provided the required experience.\n\n\n\nAlthough Kiran Kumar stood down from the\xa0chairman's role in January 2018, he remains active within ISRO.