Former ISRO chief AS Kiran Kumar visits Goenka Temple, expresses hope for successful Mars mission

Former ISRO chief A.S. Kiran Kumar visits Goenka Temple, expresses hope for a successful Mars mission 

Former ISRO chief A.S. Kiran Kumar visited the Goenka Temple in Fatehpur on Monday night. The temple management welcomed him after which he paid his respects to Goddess Beera Barji.  

Talking about ISRO’s space technology, Kiran Kumar stated that ISRO has positioned India among world’s top five countries in the field of space technology. He referred to the failure of Chandrayaan-2 as a lesson and said that rather than fearing failures, one should analyze them and move forward. He expressed confidence that India will soon have a successful mission to Mars as well.  

Who is AS Kiran Kumar? 

Kiran Kumar served as the ISRO chief from 2015 to 2018. Under his leadership, India successfully launched 144 satellites simultaneously. He is known for his significant contributions to the success of Chandrayaan-1 and the construction of the Mars Orbiter Spacecraft for the Mars mission.  

He has been honored with several prestigious awards, including the Padma Shri in 2014, recognition by the French government in 2019, and the International Von Karman Wing Award in 2018. Additionally, he has received the ISRO Individual Award (2006), Bhaskar Award (2007), and ISRO Performance Excellence Award (2008). 

Kiran Kumar’s achievements 

Before he was appointed to the top post, Kiran Kumar, 74, was director of the ISRO’s Space Applications Centre (SAC) in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad.  

He has been in service for four decades in the space agency’s satellite instruments and applications domains, Kumar played a key role in designing and developing electro-optical imaging sensors for various spacecraft, ranging from airborne and low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit missions. His contributions included work on the Bhaskara television payload, as well as the Mars Colour Camera, Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer, and Methane Sensor for the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM). 

What is MOM-2? 

Nine years after Mangalyaan's historic Mars orbit achievement, ISRO is developing Mangalyaan-2, which will carry four payloads to study Mars' atmosphere, environment, and interplanetary dust. The mission will include instruments such as MODEX, RO, EIS, and LPEX to gather data on the Martian environment.