• 'Chandrayaan Mission a Complete Success'
• India Launches 7 Satellites
• 2 international leaders receive Caltech Aerospace Award
• Wind Can Provide 24-50% of India and China's Power Needs

• PSLV puts Oceansat-2 and six nano satellites in orbit
• India Launches New Satellite to Study Earth's Oceans
• Scientists develop sensor 'nose' to sniff out toxins

India's Chandrayaan Mission, which was called off just last month owing to a communications failure, has been termed a complete success by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) chairman, G Madhavan Nair. He was addressing media persons who were quizzing him regarding the "historic" discovery of water on the moon by NASAs (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Moon Mineralogy Mapper, a small instrument aboard the Chandrayaan. Apart from calling the discovery of water historic, he added that his earlier statement of the Chandrayaan completing 95 percent of its objectives can now be enhanced to 110 percent because the detection of water on the lunar surface was one of the primary objectives of the mission. Madhavan said he was very proud of the fact that India was able to make such a significant contribution to science. "All over the world people are applauding the Chandrayaan's achievement. The discovery of water on the moon has been acknowledged as a significant discovery. The main aim of the Chandrayaan1 mission has been achieved," he added. During Chandrayaan's almost year-long rendezvous with the moon, it has been able to collect lots of data, which run into a few thousand Gigabytes, all of which are still in the process of being decoded. In fact, the data is so huge that scientists expect six months to three years before all of them are decoded. To make things clearer for the layman, Madhavan said that the finding of water on the moon doesn't imply that the moon is filled with lakes and ponds or there is water in the form of a drop. The detection of water is in fact in the form of embedded molecules on the surface and in the lunar rocks. While there are positive signs about the presence of water on the moon, scientists are still perplexed as to how it got there in the first place. A plausible explanation is the effect of asteroids and meteors that might have crashed onto the moon - all of which had some water content in them. The project director of the Chandrayaan mission said in an interview that it would be possible that the discovery of water on the moon might not be the last of the achievements of the Chandrayaan mission. With thousands of gigabytes of data yet to be analyzed, who knows how many more surprises the mission will throw up!

Courtesy: www.techtree.com, September 29, 2009

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Three days after its 16th birthday, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on Wednesday roared its way to success from the Sriharikota spaceport and put in orbit India's Oceansat-2 and six foreign nano satellites. This was the 15th successful flight of the launch vehicle in a row. The first PSLV flight took place on September 20, 1993.

Spectacular mission
It was a spectacular mission. Everything went all right for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as the countdown was smooth and the lift-off perfect at the appointed time of 11.51 a.m. Then the first stage of the PSLV-C14 came alive and the vehicle galvanised itself as it climbed into the sky. The three other stages too ignited and separated on time and the satellites were precisely injected into orbit.

18-minute flight
At the end of 18 minutes of flight, the PSLV's fourth stage injected Oceansat-2 into orbit at a velocity of 25,000 km an hour at an altitude of about 728 km. Thereafter, spring-loaded action mechanisms catapulted four nano satellites called Cubesat 1, 2, 3 and 4 into orbit one after the other. The other two nano satellites, Rubinsat 9.1 and 9.2, remained attached to the fourth stage. It implies that the fourth stage went into orbit. "The PSLV is like a wine. With age, it only improves," said ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair. He called the launch mission "a fantastic achievement" and "a thrilling moment for the ISRO team."

Leak rectified
During the countdown, there was a leak in the vehicle's reaction control package. A team led by M.Y.S. Prasad, Range Operations Director, immediately rectified the anomaly, Mr. Nair said. Recalling the PSLV's first flight, Mr. Nair said: "Unfortunately, we failed [on that day]. Since then, we have not looked back. The next 15 launches have been successful…which gives us the greatest joy."

Solar panels
Director of ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore T.K. Alex said the satellite's solar panels had been deployed. A ground station at Antarctica had tracked it. The spacecraft, which was built at the centre, was pointing towards the earth in the right direction. The satellite was in normal health. While two of Oceansat-2's three payloads were designed and developed by the Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, the third one came from Italy. SAC Director R.R. Navalgund said the satellite would provide data about plant life in the oceans. It would help in locating schools of fish and monitoring algal blooms that were harmful to fish life. It would also help in forecasting weather and providing information on cyclones. Vice-President Hamid Ansari witnessed the launch.

Courtesy: www.hindu.com, September 24, 2009

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India has launched seven satellites from a single rocket, demonstrating its growing skills in multi-satellite launches. The success comes nearly a month after India had to end its inaugural Moon mission early. Within a space of 20 minutes, an Indian rocket placed one big satellite and six small ones into space from the Sriharikota space center in eastern India. The big remote-sensing satellite will map fishing zones around India, measure ocean surfaces and wind speeds and track monsoons and cyclones. The six small satellites belong to other countries - four to Germany, one to Switzerland and one to Turkey. Last year, India put 10 satellites in space in a single launch. The head of the Indian Space Research organization, G. Madhavan Nair, says the latest launches have reaffirmed India's capabilities in successfully putting satellites in space. "It is a fantastic achievement," he said. "I think we have once again proven that we can do the job precisely."

In the past decade, India's 46-year space program has focused on developing rocket-launching capabilities to gain a slice of the multi-billion-dollar space-launch market. It has put an Italian satellite and an Israeli spy satellite into orbit. But India is still a relative newcomer in a field dominated by big players such as the United States, Russia and the European Space Agency. Wednesday's satellite launch also brings a lift to the country's space scientists, who were disappointed last month when the country's first mission to the Moon had to be terminated after contact with the unmanned spacecraft was lost. That mission was undertaken to map the Moon's surface and search for water. Scientists say the mission was a success, and has yielded very useful data, despite its termination, a year ahead of schedule. In recent years, India has scaled up its ambitions to explore space, not wanting to be left behind by countries like China. It hopes to send a manned mission into space, in four years time. India's space program functions on a relatively modest budget of about $1 billion a year.

Courtesy: www.voanews.com, September 23, 2009

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A new spacecraft dedicated to studying the Earth's oceans was shot into orbit aboard an Indian rocket early Wednesday, marking the country's 20th successful satellite delivery mission. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, flying in a core configuration stripped of its six strap-on boosters, lifted off at 0621 GMT (2:21 a.m. EDT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India's east coast. Launch occurred at 11:51 a.m. local time in India. The Indian Space Research Organization declared the launch a success on its Web site early Wednesday. The four-stage rocket was propelled off the launch pad by a powerful solid-fueled motor during the first two minutes of flight. The second and third stages burned liquid hydrazine and solid propellant, respectively. The PSLV's fourth stage was loaded with extra hydrazine fuel during Wednesday's flight to increase the rocket's lift capacity to orbit. A new avionics system was also used aboard the PSLV, according to ISRO The 146-foot-tall launcher deployed the 2,112-pound Oceansat 2 satellite about 17 minutes after liftoff. Four more tiny CubeSat payloads were set free moments later. The PSLV also carried two attached Rubin demonstration payloads for the Automatic Identification System, a communications network used to track and identify shipping vessels.

ISRO confirmed the first signals from Oceansat 2 were received after launch. The PSLV delivered the spacecraft to the expected orbit about 447 miles high with an inclination of 98 degrees, according to ISRO. Circling Earth on a path designed to maximize the potential of science returns, Oceansat 2 will spend the next five years using its three instruments to observe the planet's oceans and atmosphere. Oceansat 2 will ensure continuity of data now provided by the Oceansat 1 satellite, which was launched in 1999 and is nearing the end of its life. The satellite's Ocean Color Monitor, a wide-angle visible and near-infrared imager, will take pictures with a resolution of up to 1,200 feet and across a swath of around 882 miles, according to ISRO. Scientists say the camera will keep tabs on water pollution, fish populations, sediment distribution and algae. A scatterometer will measure wind direction and speed over the ocean's surface. This information will give forecasters insight into weather patterns and tropical cyclones. Oceansat 2's third instrument is an Italian experiment devoted to probing the atmosphere. The sensor will observe distortions in GPS radio signals traveling through the upper atmosphere to derive up to 500 temperature, pressure and humidity profiles each day. Data from Oceansat 2 will be used by Indian and foreign scientists, according to ISRO. Four CubeSat payloads, each about the size of the palm of a hand, were also sent into space during Wednesday's launch. Two German CubeSats, BEESAT and UWE 2, were built by student teams to test new attitude control systems. ITUpSAT 1 was developed by Istanbul Technical University in Turkey to examine the performance of a new stability system and take pictures of the Earth. Another CubeSat, SwissCube, is Switzerland's first satellite and will try to detect a phenomenon known as airglow using an off-the-shelf sensor. Innovative Solutions in Space, based in the Netherlands, provided the launch opportunity for the CubeSat missions. The company said ground stations received signals from all four spacecraft shortly after launch, verifying they were healthy after arriving in orbit.

Courtesy: www.space.com, September 23, 2009

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Two distinguished aerospace leaders are the recipients of the 25th annual International von Kármán Wings Award. Receiving the honor this year are Abdul Kalam, the 11th president of India and distinguished professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, and Yannick d'Escatha, chairman and chief executive officer of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the agency responsible for shaping France's space policy. "Along with their tremendous accomplishments in aerospace, this year's honorees are leaders in international collaboration, climate monitoring, and energy harvesting," says Ares J. Rosakis, chair of the Aerospace Historical Society, chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science, and Theodore von Kármán Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering at Caltech. This is the 25th year that the International von Kármán Wings Award has been given by the Aerospace Historical Society (AHS), which is now apart of the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories at Caltech (GALCIT). The award has a rich heritage in the preservation of world aerospace history and the recognition of renowned aerospace pioneers and luminaries. "GALCIT is proud and privileged to be the home of the Aerospace Historical Society," says G. Ravi Ravichandran, director of the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories and the John E. Goode, Jr., Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering. "It is an honor to give this award, named after the founding director of GALCIT and the founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to Abdul Kalam and Yannick d'Escatha." Rosakis described Adbul Kalam as an "international leader and humanitarian who is honored and admired by the next generation" and Yannick d'Escatha as a "visionary who is using space and technology to bring about collaboration and peace." One example of the honorees' collaborative efforts is the Megha-Tropiques weather satellite, a joint project of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the French Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). The von Kármán Wings Awards will be handed out September 15 at a banquet on the Caltech campus and will be presented by Rosakis. Previous recipients of the Wings Award include last year's winner, Northrop Grumman's chief technology officer Alexis Livanos; director of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Charles Elachi; Kent Kresa, chairman of Caltech's Board of Trustees; TRW cofounder Simon Ramo; aerospace engineer Burt Rutan; and astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

About Abdul Kalam:
Abdul Kalam, the 11th president of India, was born in 1931 in Rameswaram, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He attended the Madras Institute of Technology, specializing in aeronautical engineering. Dr. Kalam was the project director of India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III), which successfully propelled the Rohini satellite into near-Earth orbit in July 1980 and made India a member of the exclusive "space club." After working for two decades in the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and mastering launch vehicle technologies, Dr. Kalam took up the responsibility of developing indigenous guided missiles at the Defense Research and Development Organization as the chief executive of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. He was responsible for the development and operations of AGNI and PRITHVI missiles and for building indigenous capability in critical technologies through networking with multiple institutions. Dr. Kalam was the scientific advisor to India's defense minister and secretary and boosted the country's self-reliance in defense systems by advancing multiple mission projects, such as the Light Combat Aircraft. Dr. Kalam became the 11th president of India in July 2002 and served for five years. He led the country in arriving at Technology Vision 2020, giving a road map for transforming India from its present developing status to a developed nation. Dr. Kalam is a distinguished professor at the Indian Institute of Technology and has also authored a number of books, including Wings of Fire, India 2020:A Vision for the New Millennium and Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India. These books have been translated into many Indian and foreign languages. Being one of the most distinguished scientists of India, Dr. Kalam has received honorary doctorates from 36 universities and institutions in India and abroad. The Royal Society of the United Kingdom has awarded to him the King Charles II Medal for Science and Technology.

About Yannick d'Escatha:
Yannick d'Escatha was born in 1948 in Paris, France. He graduated from École des Mines and École Polytechnique, where he became a professor and was the chairman of the board of trustees. He was internationally recognized for his research in solid, structural, and fracture mechanics. In 1973, he became an expert advisor to the minister of industry on nuclear regulatory and research issues. D'Escatha was the administrator general of the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and chairman of the CEA Industrie Group. At CEA, he promoted astrophysics and global-change research and concentrated on the spin-off potential of the R&D activities. He served as chief operating officer and vice president of Électricité de France from 2000 to 2003. In 2003, d'Escatha was appointed chairman and chief executive officer of the CNES. He conducted an ambitious policy to restructure the French space agency. In addition, he secured the Ariane 5 launcher system and recently issued a report on future launch systems to the French prime minister. At CNES, he developed research and applications dedicated to global change. He led the CNES Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Control Center to successfully dock the European ATV with the International Space Station. D'Escatha is an advocate for international space cooperation. He is responsible for creating large partnerships with the top spacefaring nations in Europe and with other international partners. In Europe, he provides leadership for the new European Space Policy by encouraging strong partnership between ESA and European Union institutions. He also provided the road map for the European Space Council during the French presidency of the European Union (2008). D'Escatha received two distinguished awards from the Académie des Sciences. He is a member of the Académie des Technologies and served on a variety of French Applied Science and Technology Councils. The French Republic awarded him both the Commandeur de l'Ordre National du Mérite and the Officier de la Légion d'Honneur decorations.

Courtesy: www.physorg.com, September 15 2009

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Scientists have developed a stamp sized sensor that can sniff out some poisonous gases and toxins and can show results simply by changing colour. The sensor could be useful in detecting high exposures to toxic industrial chemicals that pose serious health risks at the workplace. While physicists have radiation badges to protect them in the workplace, chemists and workers who handle chemicals do not have equivalent devices to monitor their exposure to potentially toxic chemicals. Senior study author Kenneth S Suslick, chemistry professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UI-UC) and colleagues have created what they refer to as an opto-electronic nose. "It is an artificial nose for the detection of toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) that is simple, fast, inexpensive, and works by changing colour. "By comparing that pattern to a library of colour fingerprints, we can identify and quantify the TICs in a matter of seconds," said Suslick. "This paper brings us one step closer to having a small wearable sensor that can detect multiple airborne toxins," said Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), that is supporting the project. The researchers say older methods relied on sensors whose response originates from weak and highly non specific chemical interactions, whereas this new technology is more responsive to a diverse set of chemicals. The study was published in the September issue of Nature Chemistry.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, September 14, 2009

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If India and China continue their forward momentum in renewable energy investments, wind energy may be able to supply up to 24 percent and 50 percent of their electricity needs, respectively, by 2030, according to two separate studies. India may be able to generate almost five times more wind energy capacity than the government's estimate by 2030, due to offshore wind resources, according to a study by the Global World Energy Council, reports Bloomberg News. The study, Wind Energy Outlook 2009, also indicates that wind energy can provide up to 24 percent of India's power needs by 2030, while creating 213,000 green jobs and cutting 5.5 billion tons of CO2 emissions. Wind energy capacity may reach 241,000 megawatts (MW) in India, based on a best-case scenario, compared with the government's forecast of 48,000 MW from 216 potential sites, according to the study, produced in partnership with the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association, according to Bloomberg News.

According to the report, 4,889 MW was added in the last three years, for a total installed capacity of 10.2 MW as of March 2009, up from 7.8 GW at the end of 2007. India's total installed capacity was 151,073 megawatts as of July 31, according to the Central Electricity Authority, and Indian companies added 222 megawatts of wind power capacity in the first four months of the year, started in April, according to Bloomberg News. According to another recent study, China could also cut emissions by 30 percent and meet half of its power needs over the next two decades if it transitions to wind power, reports the Taragana blog. The researchers also said wind could theoretically supply all of the China's energy needs, although the study only provides figures for meeting half its needs, according to Taragana. Coal currently supplies 80 percent of China's electricity, and hundreds of coal-fired power plants are built every year to keep pace with demand; however, China plans to build seven large wind-power bases over the next decade, and already ranks fourth in the world in terms of installed capacity, at 12.2 gigawatts (GW) (12.2 billion watts), which is equivalent to the energy produced by two dozen average-sized coal-fired plants, according to the blog.

China trails only the U.S., Germany and Spain in installed capacity, but only 0.4 percent (or 3 GW) of its electricity is currently supplied by wind, according to the blog. With a total of 25,369 MW in operation at the end of 2008, the U.S. pulled ahead of long-time leader Germany (23,902 MW) in both wind energy production and in cumulative generating capacity, according to the American Wind Energy Association's Outlook 2009 report. The U.S. is also the world's largest market in terms of new installations with 8,545 MW added in 2008, ahead of China at 6,300 MW, according the AWEA study. Justin Wu, a wind analyst at New Energy Finance, a London-based industry-research firm, told Taragana that connecting wind farms to national electric grids is very difficult and expensive, and the study does not take into account that to overcome this difficulty, power grids would need costly upgrades. The researchers proposed that the country could produce 640 GW from wind farms, assuming they ran at 30 percent average capacity, but in China, most average about 23 to 24 percent capacity, according to the blog. At current prices, the study said the plan would require an investment of about $900 billion.

Courtesy: www.environmentalleader.com, September 14 2009

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