Chennai-based MSME plays crucial role in Arab world's first lunar rover

The Indian enterprise made key structural parts for the rover, from materials many times lighter and several times stronger than steel

The historical launch of the Arab world's first lunar rover on December 11 also marked the culmination of a two-year long effort by ST Advanced Composites (STAC), a Chennai-based MSME that had been entrusted with the task of manufacturing and supplying key structural parts fpr the rover.

The rover was named Rashid in memory of the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, former ruler of Dubai. It was launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket that took off from Florida in the US. The rover’s Chennai connection is expected to provide a fillip to the Make-in-India initiative in the defence and aerospace sector, and fuel hopes of the country becoming a global manufacturing hub for aerospace products in the near future.

Weighing a little less than 10 kg, Rashid Rover is the Arab world's first lunar rover, conceived by Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, UAE’s national space agency. Since the weight, strength, and reliability of the materials that go into making the rover’s structure are crucial for the success of its lunar mission, the space agency scouted the world to identify a company with the necessary expertise, before signing the contract with STAC. The rover is now about to complete its 385,000 km journey and start crawling on the moon’s surface to discover water sources and test soil conditions on the Earth's only satellite. All of this makes a strong case for STAC to prove its mettle in making innovative composite parts.

Dwelling on the company’s expertise and the Rashid Rover project, Devendran Thirunavukarasu, Director, STAC, said, “We make parts in advanced composite materials such as metallic and carbon fibre mainly for the defence and aeronautical industries. We have done projects for Isro and DRDO, and for a few global space tech firms, including one in the UK. However, making Rashid’s structure proved to be demanding. Our research and design focus helped us win the confidence of the UAE administration and provide end-to-end solutions for them to their satisfaction.”

“In space missions, we are talking about materials that are at least 10 times lighter and five times stronger than steel. We built the rover’s structures using magnesium alloy, carbon fibre and aluminium. We are glad that the customer is extremely happy with our work. We hope to keep building on our strength and contribute towards indigenisation of the local defence and space industry, while also tapping export opportunities,” he added.

STAC is a full-service of the composites manufacturer providing engineered composite products for various industries. Founded in 2014, the company has specialists in offering design assistance, material selection consultation and manufacturing advanced composite materials using natural, glass, carbon, and Kevlar fibres. It has emerged as a comprehensive one-stop composites shop with an on-site manufacturing facility that meets design requirements from start to finish, meeting production schedules.