Space facing parking problem with 12,000 satellites

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.

Large Hadron Collider is ready to exploring secrets of the universe

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.

Best Space Finds Of 2009

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'.

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India launches spy satellite RISAT-2 and ANUSAT

The Indian Space Research Organisation on Monday successfully launched a revolutionary spy satellite that will help security agencies monitor the hundreds of mountain valleys that connect India with Pakistan and terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan further north.

The PSLV-C12, carrying the 300-kg spy satellite Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-2) and the 40-kg Micro Satellite ANUSAT lifted off from ISRO's Satish Dhawan space Centre on Monday morning.

At the end of a 48-hour countdown, the 44-meter tall four-stage PSLV-C12 blasted off from the second launch pad with the ignition of the core first stage.

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C12, in its 15th Mission will launch 300 kg Radar imaging Satellite (RISAT-2) and 40 kg micro satellite named ANUSAT built by Anna University, Chennai. The intended orbit of the satellites is at 550 km with an inclination of 41 degree.

PSLV is a four-stage launch vehicle employing both solid and liquid propulsion stages. PSLV is the trusted workhorse launch Vehicle of ISRO. During 1993-2008 period, PSLV had fourteen launches of which thirteen were consecutively successful. PSLV has repeatedly proved its reliability and versatility by launching 30 spacecraft (14 Indian and 16 for international customers) into a variety of orbits so far. It may be recalled that during its previous mission on October 22, 2008, PSLV had successfully launched Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, which is now exploring the Moon from lunar orbit.

In its standard configuration, the 44 m tall PSLV has a lift-off mass of 295 tonne. It is a four-stage launch vehicle with the first and the third stages as well as the six strap-ons surrounding the first stage using HTPB based solid propellant. PSLV’s first stage is one of the largest solid propellant boosters in the world. Its second and fourth stages use liquid propellants.

PSLV-C12 will be launched without the six strapons in its ‘core alone’ configuration. PSLV-C12 weighs about 230 tonnes at lift off. It may be recalled that PSLV in its core alone configuration had launched AGILE and TECSAR during 2007 and 2008 respectively.

RISAT -2

Satellite Specifications
Altitude 550 km
Inclination 41 deg
Orbit Period 90 minutes
Mass 300 kg

RISAT-2 is a Radar Imaging Satellite with all weather capability to take images of the earth. This Satellite will enhance ISRO’s capability for Disaster Management applications.

ANUSAT

Satellite Specifications
Altitude 550 km
Inclination 41 deg
Orbit Period 90 minutes
Mass 40 kg

ANUSAT (Anna University Satellite) is the first satellite built by an Indian University under the over all guidance of ISRO and will demonstrate the technologies related to message store and forward operations.