When a rocket rocked the campus: Hybrid rocket launch at GNIOT

GREATER NOIDA, India - May 6, 2014 - PRLog -- Students from Greater Noida Institute of Technology (GNIOT) successfully designed, developed and flight tested a hybrid rocket motor system at their campus. B.tech Mechanical Engineering (Final Year) students of GNIOT were quite enthused to see their creation fly high. It took the students nearly six months of hard work to successfully create this rocket system, which uses water and air for the various phases of its flight. The project was completed under the overall guidance of Manjit Singh (Associate Professor –ME, retired advisor to the Deputy Director at ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and Dr JP Mani (HOD-Mechanical Engg.). Also present during the test launch were GNIOT’s President-KL Gupta, Vice President- BL Gupta, Dr Joy Banerjee (Director-GNIOT), other faculty members and students from other branches.

The design, development and fabrication of the rocket motor were carried out following the guidelines stipulated by NASA engineers. Professor Manjit Singh, who guided the students through every phase, shared his various experiences with the students during the event. He talked about how his 36 years at ISRO had shaped him, and how the 10 years spent with former President and scientist par excellence, APJ Abdul Kalam will always be very special to him. He said that students should always be open-minded and the willingness to learn should be there life-long. He also said that the hybrid rocket motor developed has the potential application as Micro-thrust motor for Deep Space Satellite Control and orbit raising.

KL Gupta said, “The students accomplished this project with tremendous hard work and the guidance of Project Head, Manjit Singh. Our aim at GNIOT is that the students should be trained well in every way, so that they are successful in their careers.”

During the course of this project, the students learnt a lot about principles of rocketing, how to make rockets as well as how to launch them. They also became well-versed with the rocket motor chamber, nozzle system, propellant feed system and pressurisation system. The rocket had three chambers, which contained a mixture of 1/3 water and 2/3 air. This mixture created a pressure of 65 psi that propelled the rocket to a height of 80 metres. Names of some of the students who participated were Deepak Goswami, Tarun Sharma, Shashank Gangwar,Swati Bharadwaj, Sneha Seth and other students.

For more information, please visit-  http://gniotgroup.edu.in/

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