ISRO and French National Space Centre (CNES) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2004-05 for the development and implementation of Megha-Tropiques (Megha meaning cloud in Sanskrit and Tropiques meaning tropics in French).
The launch of Megha-Tropiques is planned by 2009-2010.Megha-Tropiques is aimed at understanding the life cycle of convective systems and to understand their role in the associated energy and moisture budget of the atmosphere in the tropical regions. The satellite will carry an Imaging Radiometer, a six channel Humidity Sounder and GPS Radio Occultation System.
YOUTHSAT is a joint scientific mission between India and Russia with participation of youth from both the countries to celebrate the golden Jubilee of the satellite era.
The second satellite in the micro satellite series proposed is YOUTHSAT which will carry payloads of scientific interest with participation of youths from Universities at graduate, post graduate and research scholar level. Youth from universities will participate from testing of the payloads in laboratory up to utilization of the data from payloads. Participation of youth will inculcate interest in space related activities and provide opportunities for realization of future payloads for scientific experiments. The micro satellite bus is planned and designed to carry different kinds of payloads like earth imaging, atmospheric applications, weather monitoring, stellar observations, scientific experiments etc.
YOUTHSAT is planned to be launched as auxiliary satellite along with any remote sensing satellite planned for launch during 2009-10 in a polar sun-synchronous orbit of local time of around 0900 to 1030 hrs.
The understanding of basic sciences is essential to excel in application sciences, whether it is electronics or photonics," said Prof vice-chancellor, Choudhary Charan Singh in Meerut University during the valedictory function of the three-day international conference on emerging trends in electronics and photonic devices and systems (Electro-2009) that concluded at Banaras Hindu University on Thursday
As a chief guest of the function, Prof Kak stressed on the need for collaborative and multi-disciplinary approach in physical and basic sciences. While emphasizing on stem cell revolution and use of nano- technology, he said: "A number of emerging fields in science demand connectivity and integration of system, development biology and synergy of various streams of science can do wonders in this direction."
Focusing on the fundamentals of basic sciences, scientist Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI) Pilani (Rajasthan) Dr SN Joshi said the future of electronic and photonic devices lie in synergy of semi conductors and vacuum technology that demand strong knowledge of basic sciences.
On the occasion, coordinator of the programme Prof P Chakrabarti of department of Electronics Engineering Institute of Technology (IT), BHU said the department along with other departments of life sciences has started collaborative research to enrich knowledge in the university.
Director Development Education and Communication Unit Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Dr KS Dasgupta streamlined the importance of information and communication technology (ICT). He too focussed on the need for innovation through cross connectivity in application sciences.
Later, talking to reporters Dasgupta said ISRO was all set to launch a new geo-stationary experimental satellite in the first quarter of 2010. It would be a communication and propagation based experimental satellite that would use KA band frequency. A number of experts in electronics and photonics from different parts of the country and abroad were present on the occasion.
NASA scientists released a first-of-its-kind image from space showing reflecting sunlight from a lake on Saturn's largest moon, Titan on 24th December 09.
·NASA photo from Cassini probe is first-ever of liquid on another world, says scientist
·Image shows sun reflecting from a lake on Saturn's moon, Titan
·Planets with liquid are thought to be more likely to develop life
·Scientists have been studying Titan because of its similarities to Earth
It's the first visual "smoking gun" evidence of liquid on the northern hemisphere of the moon, scientists said, and the first-ever photo from another world showing a " specular reflection" -- which is reflection of light from an extremely smooth surface and in this case, a liquid one.
"This is the first time outside Earth we've seen specular reflection from another liquid from another body," said Ralf Jaumann, a scientist analyzing data from the Cassini unmanned space probe.
Jaumann said he was surprised when he first saw the photos transmitting from Cassini, orbiting Saturn about a billion miles from Earth.
"It was great because if you look at photos of planets, you mostly see nothing is happening. But in two hours we saw a glint of light getting brighter."
Titan's similarities to Earth have attracted NASA's attention for decades. It's the only body besides our own in the solar system that is believed to have liquid on its surface. Like Earth, Titan has an atmosphere which is mostly nitrogen.
Not everyone is lucky enough to experience the excitement inside the control room at Sriharikota when Chandrayaan-I was launched, but the students of Dikshant International School got the chance to relive history. They were lucky enough not just to see the video, but meet the Group Director of the Indian Space Research Organization.
Suresh Naik, former Group Director of ISRO, interacted with the students and staff of the Dikshant International School at the school’s media centre on Sunday. Naik showed a presentation carrying the facts and pictures related to Chandrayaan-I. He also showed students the different stages of making of a rocket and a satellite. He showed the video of the launching of Chandrayaan-I and the visuals of the research centre.
He said a satellite had a life of 15 to 20 years, after which it gets lost in the space. “There are around 12,000 satellites in the space, of which only 20 per cent are working. The others, along with some other unwanted material, comprise space debris, which is causing a parking problem in space. This debris causes a lot of problem in the launch of new satellites,” he said.
Replying to a question, he said the Indian Space and Science Technology Centre was situated at Thiruvantpuram and that he had worked under the ISRO scientists with former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, being the Chancellor of the university.
Answering another question, he said scientists were seeing Mars as an alternative habitat for humans. He said that by 2035, the first human should be able to reach Mars. He said that according to plans, two years prior to this robot would land on Mars. He also educated students about Chandrayaan-II and Chandrayaan-III, the upcoming projects of the ISRO. Chandrayaan-II, which would carry two rovers for the further exploration of the moon, is scheduled for 2013 while Chandrayaan-III is scheduled for 2015.
The Large Hadron Collider has taken a step closer to unlocking the secrets of dark matter as the atom smasher recorded its first high-energy collisions of protons.
The collisions happened as the collider was put through test runs in preparation for full operations next year, said Christine Sutton of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, or CERN. He also said, they recorded a handful of collisions, and one of them looks quite nice, so it's on their web site. The collisions occurred when the machine was ramped up briefly to 1.18 TeV.
Physicists hope those collisions will help them understand suspected phenomena such as dark matter, antimatter and ultimately the Big Bang thought to have created the universe billions of years ago. Two beams of circulating particles traveling in opposite directions at 1.18 trillion electron volts (TeV) produced the collisions.
The Atlas, one of four major detectors in cathedral-sized rooms in the collider's underground tunnel at Geneva, had part of its equipment turned on and could register collisions.
That same level set a world record for proton acceleration in November, when Geneva's particle beams traveled with 20 percent more power than Fermilab near Chicago, which previously held the record.
The operators plan many more collisions at lower energies so the experiments can calibrate their equipment and prepare for more advances ahead.
CERN then plans more collisions at 1.18 TeV to give all experiments the opportunity to record data at that level, but new scientific discoveries are not expected before next year when the beams are ramped up still higher, to 3.5 TeV. That will be 3.5 times more energy that has been reached at Fermilab, previously the most powerful collider.
1 The year 2009 will go down in history as the watershed year in field of space. From starling revelations like the next ice-age phase to other spectacular discoveries like the water on moon and Martian shorelines, it has been a prolific year of space findings. Now, National Geographic has listed the best space explorations of the year 2009.
2 A new computer model has suggested that the outer crusts of so-called neutron stars are ten billion times stronger than steel, and is in fact, the strongest known material in the universe.
3 Another space discovery of the yr is that Jupiter's moon Europa may harbor fish-sized life in its oceans. A provocative new research suggested that the amount of oxygen in the ocean would be enough to support more than just microscopic life-forms, with at least three million tons of fishlike creatures theoretically living and breathing on Europa.
4. The discovery of 32 new planets outside our solar system, bringing the massive haul of new worlds to more than 400.
5. Another space discovery of the year is that pictures taken in summer 2008 showed strange globs on the leg of the Phoenix Mars Lander that seemed to behave like liquid water, which could be the first proof that modern Mars hosts liquid water
This substance is probably saline mud that splashed up as the craft landed; study leader and Phoenix co-investigator Nilton Renno of the University of Michigan had told National Geographic News. Salt in the mud then absorbed water vapor from the atmosphere, forming the watery drops, according to Renno.
6. This finding of Gliese 581d, the most Earthlike planet yet found, may have liquid oceans.
7. Exploration of the oldest of the subatomic particles called neutrinos might each encompass a space larger than thousands of galaxies.
8. The other space discovery of the year is that high-resolution pictures of a Martian valley revealed three-billion-year-old shorelines along what was once a body of water about the size of Lake Champlain, which is the first proof of ancient Mars lakeshores.
9. Finding of water on the Moon, when NASA crashed a two-ton rocket into a permanently shadowed crater on the moon's South Pole in October.
10. finding of a green 'two-tailed' comet that buzzed by Earth on a one-time visit in late February.
11. This is top space discovery of the year is that the Sun's oddly quiet phase might be indicative of the next 'little ice age'.
