India has 300 million people without electricity and will soon have the world’s third largest hypersonic wind tunnel

India has parts which are very advanced and parts that are completely undeveloped.

Of the world’s 1.3 billion people who live without access to power, a quarter — about 300 million — live in rural India in states such as Bihar. Nighttime satellite images of the sprawling subcontinent show the story: Vast swaths of the country still lie in darkness. “It’s a matter of shame that 68 years after independence we have not been able to provide a basic amenity like electricity,” ­Piyush Goyal, India’s minister of state for power, coal and new and renewable energy, said recently.

The Indian government has launched an ambitious project to supply 24-hour power to its towns and villages by 2022 — with plans for miles of new feeder lines, infrastructure upgrades and solar micro­grids for the remotest areas.

India’s progress in Space

ISRO (India’s space agency) on Monday commissioned two major facilities — a Hypersonic Wind Tunnel and Shock Tunnel — at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram as part of its continuous and concerted efforts to minimise cost of access to space.

ISRO Chairman Kiran Kumar said commissioning of such facilities would provide adequate data for design and development of current and future space transportation systems in the country.

He said commissioning of the facility symbolizes the country’s capability in establishing such world class facilities wherein technology from outside is restricted or not available.

The one meter Hypersonic Wind Tunnel and one meter Shock Tunnel have been established with a wide spectrum of simulation capabilities in terms of Mach number, Reynolds number and re-entry velocities, an official release said.

These facilities, indigenously designed, developed and ‘Made in India’ with the support of Indian industries, are the third largest in terms of size and simulation capability in the world, it said.

A few critical technologies, which are under embargo, have been jointly developed by ISRO and industries for realisation of these facilities.

VSSC Director Sivan in his presidential address said though excellent modeling capabilities exists with the advent of powerful computers, there was no other replacement for wind tunnel testing for aerodynamic characterisation.

The new facility would help aerodynamic characterisation of advanced space transportation systems, he said.

The facilities were dedicated in the memory of Satish Dhawan, a pioneer in the field and named as the Satish Dhawan Wind tunnel Complex.

ISRO is planning future missions such as Reusable Launch Vehicles, Two Stage to Orbit, Air Breathing propulsion systems and Human Space Flight Programme, the release added.