National Aerospace Laboratories
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File:CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories Logo.png | |
Established | 1 June 1959 |
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Field of research | Aerospace |
Director | Dr. Abhay Pashilkar |
Location | Bengalaru, India |
Operating agency | CSIR |
Website | nal.res.in |
The National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) is India's first and largest aerospace research firm established by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Delhi in 1959. The firm closely operates with HAL, DRDO, and ISRO and has the prime responsibility of developing civilian aircraft in India. It concentrates on research in advanced topics in aerospace and related disciplines.
Based in Bengaluru, the NAL employs a staff of about 2500 of which 350 are full-time R&D professionals.[citation needed] NAL is equipped with the Nilakantan Wind tunnel Centre and a computerized fatigue test facility. The NAL also has facilities for the investigation of failures and accidents in the domain of aerospace engineering.
History
On 1 June, 1959, the National Aeronautical Research Laboratory (NARL) was set up in Delhi, with Dr. P Nilakantan as its first Director. In March of 1960, it set up an office in the stables of the Palace of Maharaja of Mysore on Jayamahal Road, Bangalore, as the National Aeronautical Laboratory (NAL). The first Executive Council was chaired by JRD Tata. Its members included Prof Satish Dhawan and the designer Dr. V M Ghatage. Originally started as the National Aeronautical Laboratory, it was renamed National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) in April 1993. The renaming aimed to reflect its growing involvement in the Indian space program, its multidisciplinary activities, and global rebranding.
Flosolver
Flosolver was a series of Indian supercomputers designed and assembled by the NAL.[1][2][3] Work began on the initial computer in 1986 to help with computational fluid dynamics.[1]
Current Projects
RTA-70 (Indian Regional Jet)
CSIR has approved ₹300 crores ($75 million) to design an aircraft that can carry 70 passengers on short flights. The project will be called RTA-70. NAL would use the money to design a digital concept plane in about two years. Additional funding for the ₹2,000 crores RTA-70 project and partner projects will be secured. A prototype will be built and flown in four years. The prototype would be a 70-seat plane. It will be one of a family of aircraft with three variants. There will be a 70-seater, a 50-seater and an extended 90-seater version to be called RTA-90 with an option of either a Turboprop or a Turbofan as the power source[4]
Products
Aircraft
- NAL HANSA - Light-weight Trainer Aircraft
The maiden flight of CSIR-NAL's light trainer aircraft, now called Hansa, took place on 17 November 1993. The aircraft is an ab-initio two-seat, all-composite aircraft, certified by the DGCA in the year 2000 under JAR-VLA certification. DGCA has promoted the use of the Hansa-3 by various flying clubs; a total of fourteen aircraft are in operation. Thirteen aircraft are currently operational in India. Ten of these are with various flying clubs and one is with IIT-Kanpur.
- NAL/HAL SARAS - Multirole light transport aircraft
SARAS had its maiden flight on 29 May 2004. The aircraft took off at 08:15 and flew for about 25 minutes. SARAS is the first civilian aircraft designed and developed in India. Two prototypes have been built and flown (176 flights) by ASTE (IAF) flight crew. The third prototype aircraft (production standard) is under production at CSIR-NAL. Features include composite wing VERITy (Vacuum Enhanced Resin Infusion Technology), empennage, rear pressure bulkhead, front fuselage top skin, and control surfaces. The aircraft will be equipped with an all-glass cockpit including EICAS and 3-axis autopilot (limited authority). It will be powered by 2x1200 SHP turboprop PT6A-67A engines (Pratt & Whitney) driving 5-blade MT-Propellers. SARAS is capable of flying up to 30,000ft (cabin altitude 8,000ft) and is capable of operation from short runways. Certification is in progress by CEMILAC and is to be completed by 2013. SARAS has been designed for many roles including executive transport, light package carrier, remote sensing, air ambulance, etc.
- NAL NM5 - Five Seater - General Aviation Aircraft
C-NM5 is the country's first public-private partnership (PPP) for the development of civil transport aircraft in collaboration with M/s Mahindra Aerospace Pvt Ltd (MAPL). On 1 September 2011, a milestone event for India's first public-private partnership in aircraft development, and a bold dream became reality; C-NM5 designed & developed jointly by CSIR-NAL & Mahindra Aerospace successfully undertook its first flight in Australia. C-NM5 is powered by a 300 HP piston engine driving a 3-blade propeller cruising at a speed of 160 knots with a maximum AUW (All Up Weight) of 1525 kg; a glass cockpit is a customer option. It is an ideal aircraft for air taxis, air ambulances, training, tourism, and cargo.
Unmanned aerial vehicles
See also
References
- ^ a b Bhatkar, Vijay P. (1990). "Parallel computing : An Indian perspective". CONPAR 90 — VAPP IV. 457: 10–25. doi:10.1007/3-540-53065-7_84. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
- ^ Sinha, UN (1997). "A Decade of Parallel Meteorological Computing on the Flosolver". In Hoffmann, Geerd-R (ed.). Making its mark : proceedings of the Seventh ECMWF Workshop on the Use of Parallel Processors in Meteorology, Reading, UK, November 2-6, 1996. World Scientific. pp. 449–460. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
- ^ Sinha, U. N. (November 1998). "On parallel computing — Indian trends". Resonance. 3 (11): 2–5. doi:10.1007/BF02838704. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
- ^ K. Raghu (14 April 2008). "Aerospace lab to design, build 90-seat aeroplane". Livemint. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
- HAL Abandons RTA-70 Project, HAL abandons Regional Transport Aircraft project, The tirbune, 29 November 2016
External links
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