President Droupadi Murmu will inaugurate HAL’s state-of-the-art Integrated Cryogenic Engine Manufacturing Facility (ICMF) in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
The facility will cater to the entire Rocket Engine Manufacturing under one roof for ISRO. The facility will boost self-reliance in the manufacturing of High-thrust Rocket engines.
The facility has been set up over an area of 4,500 sq mts housing over 70 hi-tech equipment and testing facilities for manufacturing Cryogenic (CE20) and Semi-cryogenic (SE2000) Engines of Indian Space Launch Vehicles.
In 2013, an MOU was signed with ISRO for establishing the facility for manufacturing Cryogenic Engine modules at HAL, Aerospace Division. The MOU for the Cryogenic Engine facility was subsequently amended in 2016 for the setting up of the Integrated Cryogenic Engine Manufacturing Facility (ICMF) with an investment of Rs 208 crore.
The commissioning of all the critical equipment for the manufacturing and assembly requirements has been completed. The pre-production activities, which involve the preparation of the process plans, drawings, quality plans, etc. have also commenced. HAL will start realizing the modules by March 2023.
HAL Aerospace Division manufactures liquid propellant tanks and launches vehicle structures of PSLV, GSLV MK-II, GSLV Mk-III, and also stage integration for GSLV Mk-II. The Aerospace Division entering into the manufacture of Cryogenic Engines is a major step in technology upgradation cum modernization, a HAL release stated.
Cryogenic Engines are the most widely used engines the world over in launch vehicles. Due to the complex nature of the cryogenic engine, to date, only a few countries the US, France, Japan, China, and Russia have mastered the cryogenic technology. On January 5, 2014, India successfully flew GSLV-D5 with a cryogenic engine (made by ISRO through private industries) and became the sixth country in developing cryogenic engines. Space exploration in the future is mostly dependent upon cryogenic technology.
