Aluru Seelin Kiran Kumar is an Indian space scientist and the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation having assumed office on 12 January 2015. He is credited with the development of key scientific instruments aboard the Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan space crafts. In 2014, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, for his contributions to the fields of science and technology.  Kiran Kumar previously served as Director of Ahmedabad Space Applications Centre. He was born in 1952 in Hassan, Karnataka State, India. He completed his Physics (Honours) from Bangalore university in 1971. He did his Post graduation course M.Sc( Electronics) from Bangalore university in 1973. Sri A.S.Kiran Kumar Joined Space Applications Centre in the year 1975 after completing with distinction the post graduate degree M.Tech in Physical Engineering from Indian Institute Of Science Bangalore. 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 latest Mars Colour Camera, Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer and Methane Sensor for Mars instruments of India’s Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, which has successfully completed one hundred days in Mars Orbit recently.

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.