IIT Madras creates research group to manufacture in outer space
India Today
IIT Madras has created a research group to manufacture products in outer space.
According to officials, IIT Madras has established a research group to develop technology for manufacturing products in outer space or extraterrestrial places and address the country's current shortages in this field.
According to the team, India is a global leader in the development and application of technologies for launch vehicles and satellites.
However, they warned that in the near future, technologies will be needed to manufacture products and assemblies in space and at extraterrestrial places for use both in space and on Earth.
The researchers plan to overcome these issues by creating a wide range of manufacturing methods, such as 3D printing of metals and functional optical polymers, water-free concrete made from martial soils, diamond single crystals, solar cells, and metal foams, they said.
The Extra-Terrestrial Manufacturing (ExTem) research group will work on the first ever Microgravity Drop Tower Research Facility in India, which was constructed at the National Centre for Combustion Research and Development at IIT, Madras, and is one of six drop towers throughout the world.
The ExTeM research group has been established by the Institute of Eminence (IoE) project.
"The human endeavour to explore space like never before, including creating settlements in faraway locations, will require extensive time for humans to spend on-board a spacecraft just to reach there.
