Aero Talk Series by AeroSoc: Launch Vehicle Aerodynamics by Mr Mohan Prasath
By Kumari Kritika, Y Tarun Raghav
The Aerospace Society of Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, on 23rd August, 2020 at 11.00 A.M, under the guidance of Dr. Priyank Kumar, Professor in charge of the society, inaugurated the first event of the Aero Talk Series. The topic of the event was Launch Vehicle Aerodynamics. There were more than 50 attendees in the webinar consisting of students from under graduation, post graduation and PhDs from different departments, such as Space engineering and rocketry, Mechanical, Production, Chemical, etc. The speaker of the event was Shri Mohan Prasath, BIT Alumnus, M.E. Aerospace. He boasts of more than 13 years of experience in experimental Aerodynamics division in Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre as Scientist F and has extensive experience in the field of wind tunnel testing.
The session started with the discussion on Indian Launch Vehicle Evolution, he thoroughly explained the topic by giving the chronological order of evaluation- sounding rockets in early 1960–70s to SLV-3, ASLV in 1980s, PLSV in 1990s, and now to GSLV MK III. Then he moved on to explain satellites, its history and evaluation, its types and its efficiency. He further threw light on launch vehicle design, launch vehicle aerodynamics, aerodynamics- its characterization and database generation, Cornerstones of Aerodynamic Analysis, Wind Tunnel Testing- its testing procedures, Typical Wind Tunnel Tests and Configuration changes from Wind tunnel tests.
He also spoke about the Typical Launch Cost Breakup, major technologies required for Reusable Launch Vehicle, Aero Design and Characterization approach and Wind body Aerodynamic Characterization. He then explained to us about the famous launch missions such as RLV-TD HEX-01, Chandrayaan-1, Mangalyaan, Chandrayaan-2 and Space capsule recovery experiment. Lastly he expressed his take on the following questions
1. What is the origin of the solar system?
2. Are we alone in this universe or do other intelligence exist?
3. Do other stars have planetary systems?
4. How threat to Earth’s existence should be taken care of?
5. Is exploration necessary for survival of life on earth?
6. Can India alone afford to pursue its research or want the countries like US, Japan, China to take the lead?
The discussion was concluded by clearing the doubts of attendees, such as major differences between testing of real life models and scale models, Aerodynamic problems during lift off and landing of Reusable vehicles, Software used, etc. The meeting was brought to an end with a vote of thanks from the President of the club, Y Tarun Raghav, on behalf of the Aerospace Society and feedback of the webinar was taken from all the participants at the end of the session. After getting positive feedback from participants, we decided to continue the Aero Talk Series, by inviting more scientists and icons of the aerospace industry in this academic year.
