Steel supplied by SAIL used in ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

KOLKATA: Steel Authority of India Limited ( SAIL) has said stainless steel from its Salem Steel Plant in Tamil Nadu has been utilized in the Indian Space Research organization's historic Mars Orbiter Mission (MoM).

The steel was used for fabricating the fuel and oxidizers tanks of the PSLV-XL which carried the Mangalyan to the red planet, 65 crore km from earth. The quality of the AISI 304 L grade l stainless steel manufactured at SAIL’s Salem Steel Plant had to be manufactured to a high specification that could withstand the action of highly reactive fuel and oxidizers over a long period of time without developing any leakages.

This is the second such instance where Salem steel was used to developed in a high profile space mission. SAIL had earlier provided stainless steel for the PSLV that launched the Chandrayan in 2008 and other PSLVs.

Chairman, SAIL C S Verma: "We at SAIL feel extremely privileged to have contributed towards ISRO’s success in putting Mangalyan in the Martian orbit in its maiden attempt. steel for projects of national importance."