The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will support eight joint research projects proposed by the Space Technology Cell (STC) of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi. ISRO will support the projects under its RESPOND programme with varying durations of one to three years.
According to a news report, the projects will be coordinated by ISRO scientists at the Space Applications Centre (SAC), the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), the Semi-conductor Laboratory (SCL), and the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). The eight collaborative research projects on which scientists from ISRO centres and IIT-Delhi will work jointly include:
Designing Speciality Glasses Employing Machine Learning and Meta-Heuristic Optimisation: Speciality glasses are ubiquitously used in space applications such as telescopic lenses and window shields in space vehicles. The project aims to develop new glasses with improved thermal and mechanical performance that can withstand the conditions of extreme cold or hot weather in outer space.
Indigenous Sensor-based Real-Time Flood Warning Smart System: This aims to provide real-time warning to the community, by assimilating information through sensor networks and corrected satellite products. This would provide a faster, more reliable warning system that will enable better protection of community infrastructure and lives.
Establishing a Coupled Indian Land Data Assimilation System (ILDAS) to identify hydrologic extremes: This system will have widespread water resource applications, including drought and flood forecasting and understanding land-atmosphere interactions.
Classical Trajectory Monte Carlo Simulations of the Plasma dynamics in electrode-less plasma thruster: The project aims to understand the plasma dynamics in electrode-less thrusters, which are used for electric propulsion and have a longer lifespan than their electrode-based counterparts. Electric propulsion schemes exhibit high-fuel efficiency and lower thrust than chemical propulsion schemes and are therefore preferred for deep space missions.
Analysis of Variable Stiffness Composite Honeycomb Sandwich Structures with Embedded Delamination: The project aims to develop an efficient finite element formulation to evaluate displacements and stresses in composite structures, widely used in aerospace and space applications.
Impact of Satellite Observations in a Coupled System to Predict Storm Tides and its Coastal Inundation: The project aims at the real-time prediction of the vulnerability of the Indian coasts to tropical cyclones through satellite observations well in advance to minimise cyclone-induced damages.
Development of a Numerical Simulator for Micro-fabricated Electrospray Thrusters: The project will develop advanced computational tools to simulate miniaturised electrospray thrusters to speed up the design of similar thrusters for small spacecrafts. This will address the need for a miniaturised propulsion system to manoeuvre and orbit control of micro and nanosatellites at a low cost.
Low-Pressure Systems: LPSs and their nonlinear interaction with other scales in the atmosphere through the lens of Scale Energetics.
While welcoming the joint research activities between ISRO and IIT-Delhi, Professor Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT-Delhi said that the institute is committed to taking its interactions with ISRO to the next level. It has some of the world’s experts in various technology domains such as land surface modelling, remote sensing, and molecular dynamics simulations who will extend their expertise to ISRO and play a key role in making its future endeavours successful.
Apart from IIT-Delhi, ISRO has also set up STCs at various other institutions like the IITs in Bombay, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Roorkee, and Guwahati. The STCs have been assigned the responsibility to carry out research activities in the areas of space technology and applications and are guided by the Joint Policy Committees (JPC).
