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He has served as Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation, during 2015-2018. Shri Kiran Kumar, born on October 22, 1952 in Hassan, Karnataka, holds M.Sc. Degree in Physics (Electronics) from Bangalore University and M.Tech. Degree in Physical Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

He has steered the implementation of the applications oriented Indian Space Programme, which has facilitated rapid development of the country in many important spheres of 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 led design and development of more than 50 Electro-Optical Imaging Sensors flown on various Space borne platforms starting from Bhaskara in 1979. Further, his role in the success of Chandrayaan-1 mission and Mars Orbiter Mission has been significant.

Shri Kiran Kumar has been the Chair of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) in 2012. He has made valuable contributions to 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.

Shri Kiran Kumar is Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences India, Indian Society of Remote Sensing, Institution of Electronics & Telecommunications Engineers, Indian Society of Systems for Science & Engineering, Indian Meteorological Society, Indian Society of Geomatics, Gujarat Science Academy, Andhra Pradesh Akademi of Sciences and an elected member of International Academy of Astronautics. He has been conferred with Honoris Causa and DSc by 18 Indian academic institutions. He has co-authored 85 publications in various national/international scientific journals/conferences/symposiums. He was conferred Padma Shri by the President of India in 2014. Other notable honours conferred on him include, Rajyostava Award by for 2015, `Sir M. Visvesvaraya Senior Scientist State Award’ for 2013 by Government of Karnataka, Lifetime Achievement Award from Karnataka Science and Technology Academy in 2016, IISc Distinguished Alumnus Award for 2015, Gujarat Ratna `Life for Innovation’ Award conferred by Gujarat Innovation Society in 2014, Lifetime Achievement Award by Andhra Pradesh Akademi of Sciences in 2016, Bharat Ratna Sir M. Visvesvaraya Centenary Award by University of Mysore in 2016, G.M. Modi Science Award in 2016, H K Firodia Vijnan Ratna Award in 2017, Santokbaa Award instituted by SRKKF Surat in 2018 and ISRO Lifetime Achievement Award 2018. He has been conferred with the prestigious 2018 International von Karman Wings Award instituted by the Aerospace Historical Society, together with the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories at the California Institute of Technology, in 2018 and the Chevalier de l'Ordre national de la Légion d'Honneur – the highest civilian honour by the Government of France in 2019.

He is currently the Vice Chair of Commission B4 (Terrestrial Planets) of COSPAR (Committee on Space Research). He served as the President of Planetary Science Section of the AOGS (Asia Oceania Geosciences Society) from 2016 to 2018. Prof. Sheel has convened sessions on Mars and Venus every year in AOGS meetings, since 2008. His primary area of scientific research is Planetary Atmospheres. His work has focused on the climate of Mars, to understand the physical and chemical processes in the atmosphere and how they affect its climate. He has made important contributions in modelling the effect of dust on the Martian ionosphere. Prof. Sheel is now also working on the climate and cloud layer of Venus. He is involved with some of the scientific instruments being developed for India’s future missions to Mars and Venus - in particular, he is the PI of the Radio Occultation Experiment. He is actively involved in teaching courses on Atmospheric Science and Numerical Methods at postgraduate level.

He is currently, by profession, a science administrator, although during his service in ISRO he has served in various technical and scientific capacities in multiple domains. He has served actively in the domains of launch vehicle technology, planetary science, development of scientific payloads for the Indian planetary science missions, to name a few. He has contributed actively to the Chandrayaan 1 and 2 missions and the Mars Orbiter Mission in various capacities, including project manager and principal investigator. By passion, Dr. Das is a science communicator.

His primary research interest has been in the domain of the tenuous atmosphere of the Moon, its sources, sinks, as well as its dynamics and variations. He has contributed to the domain of the noble gases in the lunar exosphere. These contributions have facilitated improving the understanding of the composition of the tenuous lunar atmosphere, the radiogenic activities in the lunar interior, the interaction between the lunar atmospheric gases with the lunar surface, to name a few.

The domains of his appreciation of aesthetics encompass hindustani classical music as a tabla practitioner, as well as a literary creator.

Prof Sahijpal's research work involves development of indigenous theoretical models and numerical simulations codes in Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences. This includes the origin & evolution of the Milkyway galaxy; the stellar nucleosynthesis & the isotopic abundance evolution of the galaxy since the big-bang around 13.7 billion years ago; the astrophysical aspects related with the origin of the solar system around 4.5 billion years ago; the thermodynamics of condensation of interstellar dust in various astrophysical environments. This also includes understanding the nature of the protosun; the irradiation environment and the physico-chemical processes in the early solar system; the planetary differentiation and aqueous alteration of planetesimals and asteroids; the early thermal evolution and differentiation of Mercury, Moon, Mars and the planetary embryos of Earth and Venus; the thermal evolution of Icy Satellites of the giant planets, Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and the minor planets, e.g., Pluto, Ceres, etc.

Dr. Srivastava received Ph.D. from IIT, Roorkee, India, in 2015. He initiated “Planetary Remote Sensing for Geological studies” in India in 2002 and contributed to the formulation of the Scientific Objectives of the Chandrayaan-1 mission. Dr. Srivastava has carried out research on various aspects of the geology of the Moon and Mars and is particularly known for his research works related to Recent Volcanism on the Moon. He has also established a state-of-the art laboratory for carrying out reflectance spectroscopy of planetary materials and analogues under simulated conditions. Dr. Srivastava is the recipient of the inaugural “COSPAR Outstanding Paper Award for Young Scientists – Scientific Commission B” in 2008 and LPI Career Development Award, USA in 2013.  

Mr. Satadru Bhattacharya received M. Tech. in Applied Geology from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in 2004. He is presently working as a Scientist in Planetary Sciences Division at Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Ahmedabad. His research interests include Reflectance Spectroscopy of Rocks & Minerals, Lunar Geology, Planetary Analogue Studies and Hyperspectral Remote Sensing for Mineral Mapping & Exploration. His significant contributions include detection of magmatic water on the Moon based on Chandrayaan-1 Moon Mineralogy Mapper observations and study of a suite of hydrous sulfates from the Deccan Volcanic Province of Kachchh, Gujarat and Puga Hot Spring deposits of Ladakh as mineralogical and astrobiological analogues to Mars.

Ms. K. Kalpana received her Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Madras University. She joined ISRO as a Radar Engineer at SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota. Presently she is working as Associate Project Director, Chandrayaan-3 (Moon Mission) at U R Rao Satellite Centre, Bangalore, ISRO and she is also the Study Director for Opto Quantum Communication Study Program. She has worked in various ISRO Satellites as a Project Manager/ Deputy Project Director (Electrical Systems) for Indian Mini Satellite (IMS-1), Youthsat and SARAL (ISRO-CNES collaboration mission) spacecrafts. She has also received the International Women’s Day award from Delhi Commission for her contribution towards Chandrayaan-2 mission as Associate Project Director (Electrical Systems).

Bhavesh Jaiswal is a planetary scientist at Space Astronomy Group (SAG) of U R Rao Satellite Centre, Bangalore. He graduated from the first batch of IIST in 2011 with a degree in Physical Sciences. He worked on Lunar Mineralogy during a brief stint at Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, USA. Since 2011, he has been involved in developing IR spectro polarimeter instrument for ISRO's planetary missions. He works on planetary atmospheres as well as instrument development at Space Astronomy Group and is also pursuing his PhD at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He has 6 journal publications to his credit in the field of planetary science and has a deep interest in understanding the planets in our solar system and beyond.