ISRO chairman S. Somanath inaugurates national conference on ‘New Developments In Polymeric Materials’ at Kovalam.
S. Somanath, chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has stressed the need for research in the area of advanced polymeric and composite materials. Mr. Somanath was inaugurating a national conference on ‘New Developments In Polymeric Materials’ organised by Society for Polymer Science (SPSI), Thiruvananthapuram Chapter, at Kovalam the other day. ISRO is now more than ever dependent on advanced polymeric and composite materials for its launch vehicles and satellites.
Such materials are needed given the harsh environments encountered during missions ranging from exposure to cryogenic fluids to plasma formed during re-entry missions. The country still has a long way to go in the indigenisation of high strength, high modulus, high temperature carbon fibres for composite applications, he said.
S. Unnikrishnan Nair, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC); Sanjay Behari, Director, Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute Of Medical Science And Technology (SCTIMST); Anil Kumar, Professor, Department Of Chemistry, IIT Bombay and national president, SPSI; Kuruvila Joseph, professor and dean, Indian Institute Of Space Science and Technology (IIST) and president, SPSI Thiruvananthapuram chapter, and Satheesh Chandran, scientist, VSSC, also spoke.
