As the world’s eyes were glued to the launch of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) indigenous spacecraft to the moon, Chandrayaan-3, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, researchers at Sona College of Technology, Salem, followed the event with bated breath.
ISRO has picked up a stepper motor made by the college’s SonaSpeed team for use in the Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM 3) to launch Chandrayaan-3. For travel into space, the Chandrayaan-3 launch vehicle, the LVM 3, was successfully integrated with Chandrayaan-3 last week. The SonaSpeed’s simplex permanent magnet stepper motor is used in the actuator assembly of the LVM 3 for controlling the rocket engine’s liquid fuel and oxidizer mixture ratio.
The Head of SonaSpeed, N. Kannan, said “We are privileged to contribute to ISRO’s moon mission through research and development (R and D) work at the Sona College of Technology. The research team is committed to supporting ISRO’s future space missions too. SonaSpeed has been a reliable partner for developing indigenous technology products such as rocket motors for mission-critical applications at ISRO. The pioneering R&D efforts of researchers and faculty at SonaSpeed have led them to supply ISRO with special-purpose BLDC (brushless DC) motors for satellites and rockets, as well as lunar robots for previous space missions. Sona College of Technology students, along with students from five other colleges, launched a student PICO satellite from ISRO facilities in September 2017,” Mr. Kannan added.
Vice-Chairman of Sona Institutions and CEO of Vee Technologies, Chocko Valliappa, said the successful integration of SonaSpeed’s simplex stepper motor in the Chandrayaan-3 launch vehicle is a tribute to the supremacy of India’s engineering talent in indigenising ISRO’s pathbreaking missions. The SonaSpeed research team, which specialises in electrical machines, celebrates the 20th anniversary of its founding this year, Mr. Chocko added.
