Hard coatings for improving the lifetime of ballbearings in ISRO Spacecrafts: Under MoU with ISRO Inertail Systems Unit (IISU) for developing surface engineering techniques for improving the life and performance of ball-bearing systems in ISRO Spacecraft mechanisms. This mainly involves the studies on appropriate hard-coatings on ball-bearing systems in spacecrafts, and to study the surface energy modification techniques for improving the wettability of steel ball-bearing systems. For the development of the hard-coatings, Space Technology Innovations and Characterizations (STIC) Laboratory at IIST has designed and developed an in-house deposition system.