Prahlada Rama Rao is an Indian missile scientist and former director of Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), the largest of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) laboratories in India, known for his contributions to the Indian space programme.

[1][2][3] He pursued his research at the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad,[6] where he earned a doctoral degree (PhD).

[1][2] He started his career with the Government of India in 1971 and has served several space and defence organizations[5] such as Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram and Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) in Bengaluru before joining the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) in Hyderabad as its director in 1997, a post he held till 2005.

[1][2] He is a donor member of the Alumni Association of the Indian Institute of Science and a managing trustee of the Trust for Advancement of Aerodynamics of India.

[1][2] He is also a member of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), the National Committee on Higher Education, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Task Force on Institution Mechanism and Sector Innovation Council, and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) National Committee on Science and Technology[1][2].

[5] Integrated Guided Missile Development Program, during Prahlada's tenure as its chairman, is reported to have developed several key technologies for the Indian space programme related to rocket propulsion, onboard avionics, missile systems, radar systems, and hypersonic flight vehicles.