New Delhi: Amid the gloom over the fate of Chandrayaan-2, it has come to light an engineering college in Tamil Nadu too had contributed to the lunar mission in its own way.
The Special Electrical and Electronics Drives Division (SPEED) of the Sona College of Technology in Salem supplied three components to India's lunar craft. These are the fuel mixer motor that mix liquid oxygen with fuel, the Doppler mechanism for Vikram landing module to guide the laser to ensure smooth landing on the Moon and a robotic arm for picking sand and rock samples from the Moon, the Salem-based institution said.
The robotic arm was built by the Sona Mechanical Research team.
This is not the first time that the institute has supplied components to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The pioneering research and development efforts of researchers at Sona College's SPEED Division have helped the institute to supply the Indian space agency with special-purpose BLDC (brushless DC) motors for satellites and rockets as well as lunar robot for many earlier space missions.
"These efforts will go a long way in India's quest to unravel what is on the Moon," said Chocko Valliappa, Vice Chairman, Sona College of Technology.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has recognised Sona as a Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (SIRO).
As reported earlier, the Vikram lander lost its communication with the orbiter as it was only 2.1 km away from its designated landing spot on the lunar surface.