ISRO achieved a major milestone?
On Friday, the space agency said, ISRO has successfully conducted a long test of its PS4 engine, re-designed for production using cutting-edge additive manufacturing (AM) techniques, known in common 3D printing and crafted in Indian industry.
The new engine, now a single piece, saves 97 percent of raw materials and reduces production time by 60 percent, ISRO said.
A release from the space agency said ISRO achieved a major milestone with the successful hot testing of a liquid rocket engine manufactured through AM technology for 665 seconds on May 9.
The engine used is the PS4 engine of PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) upper stage.
The PS4 engine manufactured in the conventional machine and welding route has been used for the fourth stage of PSLV.
It has a thrust of 7.33 kN in vacuum conditions. The same engine is also used in the Reaction Control System (RCS) of the first stage (PS1) of PSLV, the release said.
The engine uses the earth-storable bipropellant combinations of Nitrogen Tetroxide as oxidizer and Mono Methyl Hydrazine as fuel in pressure-fed mode. It was developed by ISRO's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC).
LPSC redesigned the engine making it prepared for the Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) concept thereby gaining considerable advantages.
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