China is planning to launch their own space station, named Tiangong, by the end of 2010 or beginning of 2011. There have been a few instances where information about the station surfaces briefly over the past few years about the development of the space station. Specific details on the program are not being release in large doses by the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA), so the development of the station is somewhat shrouded in mystery.
Qi Faren, one of the designers of the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft, said in an interview on CCTV last month of the upcoming launch, "Quality is the key to technology. We must guarantee a successful launch. We will launch it whenever we are ready. It will be the end of 2010, or the beginning of 2011."
NASA has named low-cost missions to Venus, the moon and an asteroid on a shortlist to become its latest space adventure, as the US agency faces astronomical political pressure to cut costs.
The proposed probes -- to the surface of Venus, the moon and to bring back a piece of a primitive asteroid -- must all come with a price tag of less than 650 million dollars, a fraction of the cost of manned space flight.
The agency, in a statement Tuesday, said the winner of the competition will be announced in mid-2011, with the project to launch by the end of 2018.
NASA has faced growing pressure to cut its budget as the US government's debt soars and as the United States buckles under the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
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.
