IIT Madras Recognizes 12 Alumni Involved in ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 Mission; Check Details Here

New Delhi: Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), the prestigious institution has recently celebrated and honored 12 of its alumni who played a crucial role in the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 mission. 

IIT Madras conducted the event on Sunday i.e., October 8, 2023. The event is titled ‘Over the Moon with Team Chandrayaan-3’. The top scientists and engineers from ISRO interacted with students of IIT Madras and various government schools and colleges. 

1. Unnikrishnan Nair completed his Ph.D. from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Madras, in 2011 and he is also the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), ISRO.

Also Check: IIT Madras Courses and Fees 2023

Veeramuthuvel, the project director of Chandrayaan-3, earned his PhD in mechanical engineering from the institute in 2016. IIT-M noted that ISRO chairman S Somanath is presently pursuing a PhD in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Madras. 

IIT Madras: List of Alumni Honoured

Below is the list of alumni honoured:

According to S Unnikrishnan Nair, “This month, we will be having the first big mission of Gaganyaan from Sriharikota. We are going to demonstrate the in-flight system. In manned missions, it is not the mission's success but it is the safety of the crew that counts. We are testing and ensuring that the escape system has a very high reliability...The escape system will be activated in transonic conditions, which is Mach 1.2 and we will demonstrate how the crew will be rescued. We are all looking forward to that mission. There are many exciting missions in the future.”

S Unnikrishnan Nair added, “Another interesting mission that we did at Chitradurga Range was a winged aircraft that we call a ‘Reusable Launch Vehicle’. Unlike a conventional satellite, it is a winged body like the space shuttle... The last phase of this experiment, which is dropping from a high kilometer and landing, that too in a totally autonomous way using its intelligence, we could land very close to the central line of the runway. The difference was only 18 cm. That was the type of accuracy we could achieve. And this technology, maybe in another two years’ timeframe, will mark another era of reusable launch vehicles, thereby reducing cost.”

He discussed the utilization of inflatable systems by his team to decelerate an aircraft or rocket component from supersonic to subsonic speeds, aiming at stage recovery and cost reduction. The chief guest highlighted the success of this approach, which was experimented with a sounding rocket."

Also Check: IIT Madras Course Admissions 2024

Delivering the keynote address, P Veeramuthuvel said: “It is by virtue of excellent teamwork and sheer perseverance that we have achieved this safe and soft landing technology on the lunar surface. It is not only an achievement for the scientific community but it has become the country’s achievement. This time, failure was not an option for us. But success did not come easily also. We crafted the lander in such a way that any path it takes, it should land. That was our strategy this time.” 

Addressing the students on the occasion, IIT Madras director V Kamakoti said: “The days are gone when only computer science was deemed important. Please understand that every field of engineering has something great to contribute".

"This is a very clear message to all our BTechs and our aspiring school students who want to do engineering. Chandrayaan-3 stands as an outstanding example of our times. Take pride and love the subject that you are in. You can see here Mechanical Engineers, Aerospace, Chemical Engineers, and Civil Engineers, all of them put together in one project that has created success", he added.

Also Read:

• IIT Madras Placements 2023

• IIT Madras Cutoff 2023

Subscribe to Collegedunia to get the latest educational news and updates –