Bhilai Steel Plant builds plates for space vehicles

KOLKATA: Bhilai Steel plant has executed a fresh order for special steel plates for space vehicles. The plant's Plate Mill rolled out a fresh order of 54 tonnes of ultra high strength special steel plates of 9.2 mm thickness that will be used for the main body of the country’s indigenous space vehicles such as PSLV and GSLV.

These vehicles are manufactured by India Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The plates were rolled in Bhilai’s Plate Mill from slabs supplied by Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd (MIDHANI). The rolling took place on February 9 and was witnessed by officials from MIDHANI and ISRO.

Steel is widely used in construction of space shuttles along with metals like aluminium, titanium and other high grade materials. These special grades of steel are made out of special alloys and are capable of withstanding metal fatigue which occurs due to tremendous changes in heat and atmospheric pressure on the spacecraft when it returns to orbit.

Bhilai had earlier rolled this special grade of plates for space application in 2009.