Bengaluru: ISRO Chairman S. Somanath has inaugurated the new Propellant Tank Production and CNC Machining facilities at HAL’s Aerospace Division in Bengaluru. These facilities will improve ISRO’s production necessities, especially for the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3) – India’s heaviest and most powerful rocket.
Currently, ISRO has the resources to conduct only two LVM3 launches per year, but the target is six launches. The new facilities at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will help bridge this gap by producing enough components to support this feat.
HAL handed over the first Gaganyaan Service Module and LVM3 hardware to ISRO during the inauguration. The Propellant Tank Production Facility will manufacture crucial fuel and oxidiser tanks for the LVM3, with tanks measuring up to 4 meters in diameter and 15 meters in length. The CNC Machining Facility will handle high-precision fabrication of 4.5m class Rings and Propellant Tank Domes of LVM3.
“The ongoing collaboration with ISRO will accelerate human spaceflight missions and development of Next-Generation Launch Vehicles (NGLV). The day is not far off when Space becomes an important vertical of HAL,” said C B Ananthakrishnan, CMD (Additional Charge), HAL.
