Two days long National Convention, which was jointly organised by the “Institution of Engineers (India)”and UPES in the campus of the University at Bidholi, concluded on Saturday. It was the 27th National Convention of Aerospace Engineers (NACE).
The Director Media Affairs of UPES , Mr Arun Dhand informed that while the scope of this convention was diverse in nature encompassing topics like Aerodynamics, Avionics, Structure & Materials, Propulsion, Arial Robotics, space and satellite systems but one of the main objectives was to understand and discuss the future challenges and opportunities which have been thrown up by the recent advances in the Aerospace domain in both the Civil and the Defense sectors.
Four Technical Sessions were organised during this convention where 60 research papers were presented by domain experts from DRDO, DRDl, IITK, VSSC, TSRO, ADE, BITS, HAl and IAF. Issues covered in these sessions included development of autopilot technologies to handle critical maneuvers of advanced propulsion systems like cryogenic engines, multifarious aspects of the next generation of engines like advanced turbo-jet engines, scram-jet engines, pulse detonation engines . Also discussed were the light weight aerospace vehicles and smart structures with advanced composite materials to withstand the high temperatures which arise due to hypersonic flights.
Releasing the book of abstract at the Inaugural Session the Chief Guest Padma Bhushan Dr V.K.Saraswat who is also the former Scientific Advisor to Defense Minister and also the former Director General of DRDO spoke with pride about the recent successful launch of the Indian airship to Mars ‘Mangalayaan’. He shared with the audience the progress made in the aerospace sector by India from the times of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru & Vikram Sarabhai and at the same time highlighted the gaps in the Indian space systems like GPS vulnerability, redundant missiles, requirement to build seekers and electronic scanner arrays.
He also stressed upon the need to create good designers in the country and become more independent and self-reliant which in turn reduces the burden on the exchequer. Delivering the traditional ‘Vikram Sarabhai Memorial lecture’ Dr Y.V.N Krishnamurthy, Director of IIRS spoke on the topic of ‘ Making India Self- Reliant in Space Technology for Societal benefits’ and shared the contributions made by satellite communications and GPS towards the rescue and relief operations in the recent natural calamity which struck Uttarakhand.