What does Salem, a town in western Tamil Nadu, have to do with ISRO’s launch of 104 satellites? Some of the parts in the launch vehicle were made from steel produced in the Salem Steel Plant
Space grade steel
Salem Steel Plant has played an important part by way of providing high quality stainless steel for the fuel and oxidizer tanks used in the launch vehicle, said SAIL in a statement. This is not the first time the steel plant has provided space grade steel to ISRO missions. It has supplied steel for the iconic Chandrayan and Mangalyan missions too
70,000 tonnes/year
Capacity of the plant’s Cold Rolling Mill
Aiming high
The steel plant first developed space grade steel in July 2015. The plant produced steel that could be used in the construction of rocket launch vehicles
Iconic plant
Inaugurated in March 1982, the Salem Steel Plant is a special steels unit of Steel Authority of India.
It pioneered the supply of wider width stainless steel sheets and coils in India. Over the years,
SAIL established new facilities in the steel plant. Even in 2011, SAIL established a J39 crore unit
at Salem
Plans to divest?
In November last year, the government approved divestment of the plant as it was consistently making losses for five years. But in January, the Centre said it was scrapping the plan