On the road for a year, 74-wheel truck carrying sophisticated space machinery reaches Kerala

A truck that set off last year from Maharashtra carrying heavy, sophisticated machinery for a space research project at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram, arrived on Sunday.

"We started the journey on July 8, 2019, from Maharashtra. Now after travelling for one year and across four states, we have reached Thiruvananthapuram. We hope to deliver the cargo today at VSSC," a staff member travelling with the cargo told ANI.

The truck is carrying an Aerospace Horizontal Autoclave which is used to make weightless material. It started from Maharashtra a year ago for the VSSC.

Finally, after travelling through four states moving 5 kilometres a day, it reached Thiruvananthapuram.

Kerala: A truck, carrying an aerospace horizontal autoclave for delivery to Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, reached the city today a year after starting from Maharashtra. Staff say, "Started in July 2019 & travelled across 4 states. Hope to deliver this today" pic.twitter.com/XNaCjXa1C3

— ANI (@ANI) July 19, 2020

There are 32 staff members accompanying the truck. The giant machine weighs about 70 tonnes and has a height and width of 7.5 metres and 6.65 metres respectively.

It was manufactured in Nashik and will soon be commissioned for the Indian space research project.

"We're using ropes to carry the cargo's weight. It's being pulled by two axles, front and back. Both have 32 wheels each and the puller has 10 wheels. The puller is pulling it all. Drop deck weighs 10 tonnes and the cargo weighs 78 tonnes. The weight is distributed on the two axles," said the staff member.

As per the staff, due to the height of the machine, they were unable to transport it via Cargo in the ship and thus had to choose the road.