French President Nicolas Sarkozy to visit ISRO

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is going to visit Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 4^th December. Sarkozy is slated to interact with top scientists from across the country.

ISRO sources said the President, during his one-hour visit, is expected to be briefed about some of activities of the organisation as also about the Megha-Tropiques climate satellite.  Sarkozy, accompanied by wife Carla Bruni, will start his four-day India's visit from this IT hub with a brief stopover at the ISRO facility with which France has a long-standing association.

France is collaborating with ISRO in developing two satellites for studying weather and climatic conditions. Megha-Tropiques (Megha meaning cloud in Sanskrit and Tropiques in French meaning Tropics), being jointly developed by ISRO and French National Space Agency (CNES), is expected to be launched by 2011 to study tropical climate.

Another ISRO-CNES mission to be launched next year is SARAL (Satellite for Argos and Altika) for seasonal forecasting, oceanography and climate studies.

ISRO has been working closely with the Centre Nationale d'Etudes Spatiales, CNES, and has a long-standing collaboration. Several joint research projects have been undertaken by the agencies. Several scientists of both agencies have visited each others' facilities and exchanged views.

ISRO made Hylas-1 satellite launched

An advanced communication satellite Hylas built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was today launched successfully aboard the European Ariane-5 rocket from Kourou in French Guyana. 35 minutes after lift-off, the Highly Adaptable Satellite separated from the Ariane rocket and ISRO’s ground control centre in Hassan, Karnataka, began receiving radio signals transmitted by the satellite.

The £120 million Hylas-1 satellite will act as a relay station for broadband traffic, enabling isolated rural communities to connect with the World Wide Web for the first time. Hylas is the first superfast broadband satellite to be launched outside the US.

ISRO developed Hylas satellite for Avanti Communications plc, which is intended to deliver high-speed broadband services across Europe. Isro received the contract after it created an alliance with EADS Astrium, for joint development of communication satellites.

ISRO developed the bus integration and testing for the 2,541-kg satellite that is expected to have an operating life of 15 years.

A second satellite, Hylas-2, to be launched in 2012, is now at an advanced stage of development. It will provide further coverage across Europe as well as a footprint in the Middle East and parts of Africa. Together, the two satellites will have a capacity of one million consumers.

ISRO to launch 2 satellites in December

India is going to launch a new communication satellite GSAT-5 Prime from Sriharikota which will augment existing capacity and services in the field. ISRO scientists will give the go-ahead for the launch only after a mission-readiness review. The launch will takes place between 10-20 December.

The satellite, GSAT-5 Prime, is to be launched with Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F06).

The GSAT-5P carries 24 normal C-band and 12 Extended C-band transponders to augment communication services in areas like television broadcasting and telecom. Positioned at 55 deg East longitude GSAT-5P will have a designed mission life of 12 years. The satellite weighs 2330 kg and has payload power requirement of 1700W. Satellite configuration and equipment panel layouts have been finalised as are payload subsystems and other subsystem packages

ISRO to prepare environmental database

The Central Pollution Control Board Wednesday asked the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to help in preparing an integrated environmental database using the Geographical Information System (GIS).

'We will ask ISRO to help us in preparing environment impact statement (EIS) using GIS, which will be of great help to policy makers,' said CPCB chairperson S.P. Gautam.

The central pollution monitoring agency released a compendium 'Studies on Pollution Mitigation', comprising of 133 research papers on various facets of pollution related matter.

Former ISRO chief G. Madhavan Nair, who was present at the function, said he will take up the matter with ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan.

'India has not paid much attention on pollution monitoring. Monitoring environment is necessary as forest cover, level of ground water, status of water bodies, land cover is key input for national planning,' said Nair. The compendium incorporates the research papers of scientists and engineers from various institutions in the country.

Homemade Spacecraft

An ingenious father-and-son duo in New York launched a HD video camera tied to a weather balloon 30 kms above the earth into the stratosphere and share footage that their camera captured in its incredible 100-minute journey. To get back the camera intact, they also attached an iPhone as a GPS device to send its coordinates upon landing to a cell phone tower. The video reveals that the camera, tied to a parachute that auto-inflated when the balloon burst due to atmospheric pressure, landed safely just 30 miles away from where it was launched.

Video from a camera attached to a weather balloon that rose into the upper stratosphere and recorded the blackness of space.

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.