Chennai, Nov 11 (IANS): The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras on Monday announced a collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to establish a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for research in ‘Fluid and Thermal Sciences’.

This CoE in the area of fluid and thermal sciences will act as the nodal centre to study thermal problems regarding the design, analysis, and testing of various components of launch vehicle.

ISRO will provide seed funding of Rs 1.84 Crore towards establishing the centre.

“This Centre of Excellence will foster a unique industry-academia interface, allowing ISRO scientists and IIT Madras faculty and students to collaboratively advance research in critical areas of thermal science,” said Prof. Arvind Pattamatta, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras.

“By addressing complex thermal engineering challenges, we aim to contribute significantly to the nation’s space programme and strengthen India’s self-reliance in space technologies,” he added.

An MoU towards this collaboration was signed at IIT Madras on Monday by Prof. Manu Santhanam, Dean (Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research), IIT Madras and. Victor Joseph T, Director, Directorate of Technology Development & Innovation (DTDI), ISRO.

The partnership aims to create a thermal management research hub for ISRO. It will launch projects that will cover critical areas, including spacecraft thermal management, combustion instability in hybrid rockets, and cryo-tank thermodynamics.

Previously, ISRO and IIT Madras had set up the ‘ISRO-IIT M Space Technology Cell’ in 1985. The tech Cell recognised the need to generate basic knowledge through advanced academic research to enable a truly self-reliant and self-generating space programme for the country.

For the new CoE, ISRO found that it can support its research and development activities in studies related to spacecraft thermal management, combustion instability in hybrid rockets, and cryo-tank thermodynamics studies, among other fields.