With an eye on Venus and Mars, ISRO attempts mega world record

February 12, 2017

Bengaluru, Feb 12: India will boldly go to Venus for the first time and re-visit the Red Planet very soon. Buried and hidden in the hundreds of pages of the new format electronic budget documents, is the first formal acknowledgement by the government about these two new bold inter-planetary sojourns to Earth's immediate neighbours.

satellite

This uplifting news comes ahead of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) attempting to undertake its mega launch where it will drop off into space not one, two or three but a full load of 104 satellites in space in a single mission.

No other country has ever tried to hit a century in a single mission. The last world record is held by Russia which in 2014 rocketed 37 satellites in a single launch using a modified inter-continental ballistic missile.

If all goes according to plan, on the morning of February 15, ISRO will hurl into space using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) three Indian satellites and a 101 small foreign satellites.

India is hoping to better the previous world record by a whopping two-and-a-half times. ISRO, considered the new kid on the block in the multi-billion dollar world launcher market, hopes to set an enviable benchmark for the space fairing nations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's love affair with space is quite evident. The government, it seems, is rather pleased with the Indian space agency as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gave the Department of Space a whopping 23 per cent increase in its budget. Under the space sciences section, the budget mentions provisions "for Mars Orbiter Mission II and Mission to Venus".

The second mission to Mars is tentatively slated for in 2021-2022 timeframe and as per existing plans it may well involve putting a robot on the surface of the Red Planet.

While India's first mission to Mars undertaken in 2013 was a purely Indian mission, the French space agency wants to collaborate in making the Mars rover.

In fact on a visit to India this month, Michael M Watkins, Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA, said they would be keen to at least put a telematics module so NASA's rovers and the Indian satellites are able to talk to each other.

The second Indian mission to Mars is likely to be all about doing good science since the first one had a nationalistic streak on it in trying to beat China to the orbit of Mars which the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) did magnificently.

India's maiden mission to Venus, the second planet of the Solar System named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, is in all probability going to be a modest orbiter mission.

Watkins said a mission to Venus is very-very worthwhile as so little is understood about that planet and NASA would definitely be willing to partner in India's maiden voyage to Venus.

Towards that, NASA and ISRO have already initiated talks this month on trying to jointly undertake studies on using electrical propulsion for powering this mission.

India's original inter-planetary dreamer K Kasturirangan, former chairman of ISRO, says, "India should be part of this global adventure and exploring Venus and Mars is very worthwhile since humans definitely need another habitation beyond Earth."

Closer to home on its 39th launch India's workhorse rocket the PSLV will lift off carrying 1378 kg of robots to be deployed in space.

The first to be let off will be India's high resolution Cartosat-2 series satellite made especially to monitor activities of India's hostile neighbours at a resolution of less than a metre keeping a bird's eye view on both Pakistan and China.

This earth imaging capability is not unusual but the rest of the passengers are unique. There are two small Indian satellites each weighing less than 10 kg that are forerunners of a new class of satellites called ISRO Nano Satellites which the engineers seek to master.

What follows next is a trailblazing performance by the PSLV when at an altitude of over 500 km in space it will release from its womb, 101 co-passengers one each from Israel, Kazakhstan, The Netherlands, Switzerland, the UAE and a whopping 96 from the US. It is only recently American private companies have warmed up to ISRO as India offers cheap and reliable option.

Eighty-eight of the American satellites belong to a San Francisco based start-up company Planet Inc which is sending a swarm of small 4.7 kg each satellite it calls 'Doves'. This constellation will image earth like never before and with a high repeat rate providing satellite imagery at an affordable cost.

This suite of 101 small satellites all together weighing 664 kg will be released in space in a manner akin to a typical school bus which drops of its passengers namely children at their respective bus stops in a sequential manner, avoiding squabbling and elbowing in near zero gravity is not easy.

Ensuring that no collisions take place even is an art that ISRO has mastered from previous launches. In less than 600 seconds all 101 satellites will be released into space each travelling at whopping velocity of over 27,000 km per hour or at 40 times the speed of an average passenger airliner.

Some experts are suggesting that in a bid to earn some money ISRO is actually contributing significantly to the creation of space junk as these small satellites are really not very useful.

But Laura Grego, Senior Scientist, Global Security Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, Cambridge, USA says, "I think that these launches can be done responsibly and provide benefits to all people. Developing a culture of responsible space launch and operations is key as more and more countries become space-faring.

"While the number of countries that can launch satellites independently is still quite small, many dozens of countries own and operate satellites."

Kasturirangan says, "India has the capability putting several satellites in a single launch and demonstrating that capability is certainly not bad as it adds to India's credibility and then later if ISRO deploys this capability of formation flying in a constellation of its own satellites it would be a useful addition to its arsenal."

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@9 hahaha ... pakistanis posing as indians commenting about toilets ... FYI ... first ask your community to pay tax ... kaka antha bitti sigo benefits ge baayi tegedu kondu nillodakke bidodakke heli , we can understand frustration boss , not even 0.01% ar

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Pro-CAA arsonists burn down BSF Jawan’s house, call him ‘Pakistani’

News Network

February 29,2020

New Delhi, Feb 29: The arsonists, who were allegedly hired by the pro-CAA politicians in Delhi to unleash violence against Muslims, did not even spare the residence of Border Security Force personnel Mohammed Anees.

While the jawan, who has spent three years guarding the borders along Jammu and Kashmir, had hoped that his job profile mentioned on the nameplate hung outside their two-storey house would discourage the vandals, he was proved wrong.

The nameplate on house number 76 in Khas Khajuri Gali clearly mentioned it was the property of a security force personnel who protects India’s borders from foreign invasions. Yet, it was burned down on the afternoon of February 25.

First, the ruthless goons set the vehicles parked outside the jawan’s house on fire, then they torched his home. Stones were also pelted at his house amid slogans of “idhar aa Pakistani, tujhe naagarikta dete hai” (Come here Pakistani, get your citizenship).

Apart from Anees, his father Mohammed Moonis, 55, uncle Mohd Ahmed, 59, and 18-year-old cousin Niha Parveen were in the house. Sensing what was about to go down next, they all escaped from the house, and were helped by paramilitary troops.

Charred remains of the house now stand where the house was till three days ago. In the two lanes of Khajuri Khas near Anees’s house, 35 houses were set on fire.

The loss suffered by the BSF soldier’s family was perhaps greater as they had kept all their life’s savings inside: two weddings in the family were to take place in the next three months.

Niha Parveen was to get married in April and Anees himself was to get married the following month. “All the things we collected all our life, jewellery – two gold necklaces, silver jewellery, it is all gone,” the family said.

“We used to buy jewellery on instalments… used to give money every month and collected this jewellery,” they said. Rs 3 lakh in cash for the wedding arrangements also got burnt along with other valuables and all their belongings.

Khajuri Khas is a Hindu-majority area, but Anees’s family says no neighbour of theirs was involved in the attack. “People came from outside.” Instead, their Hindu neighbours were asking the rioters to leave. They requested them to leave and helped douse the vehicles on fire.

Comments

India now divided into 3 section..

GOOD Hindus, Muslim & Evil Hindutva.

we Good hindus and muslim must unite to save the great india.

from now onwards every good hindu and muslim must keep weapon in his home like petrol, sword, sharp knife, hammer etc..

when the evil hindutva terror enter your house you shoul fight till death...these dogs only attack in number...if few they run..

before you die atleast kill one hindutva terror dog..

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Prohibitory orders during anti-CAA protests illegal: Karnataka High Court

coastaldigest.com news network

February 14,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 14: In a major embarrassment to the police, the Karnataka High Court has termed as illegal the prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 of CrPC by the City Police Commissioner in December 2019 in the light of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in Bengaluru.

The orders were passed “without application of mind” and without following due procedures, the court noted. Giving reasons for upholding the arguments of the petitioners that there was no application of mind by the Police Commissioner (Bhaskar Rao) before imposing restrictions, a division bench of the High Court said he had not recorded the reasons, except reproducing the contents of letters addressed to him by the Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs).

The state government had contended that prohibitory orders were passed based on reports submitted by the DCPs who expressed apprehension about anti-social elements creating law and order problems and damaging public property by taking advantage of the anti-CAA protests.

The High Court bench said the Police Commissioner should have conducted inquiry as stated by the Supreme Court to check the reasons cited by the DCPs who submitted identical reports. Except for this, there were no facts laid out by the Police Commissioner, the court said.

“There is complete absence of reasons. If the order indicated that the Police Commissioner was satisfied by the apprehension of DCPs, it would have been another matter,” it said.

“The apex court has held that it must record the reasons for imposition of restrictions and there has to be a formation of opinion by the district magistrate. Only then can the extraordinary powers conferred on the district magistrate can be exercised. This procedure was not followed. Hence, exercise of power under Section 144 by the commissioner, as district magistrate, was not at all legal”, the bench said.

“We hold that the order dated December 18, 2019 is illegal and cannot stand judicial scrutiny in terms of the apex court’s orders in the Ramlila Maidan case and Anuradha Bhasin case,” the HC bench said while upholding the arguments of Prof Ravivarma Kumar, who appeared for some of the petitioners.

Partly allowing a batch of public interest petitions questioning the imposition of prohibitory orders and cancelling the permission granted for protesters in the city, the bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar observed that, unfortunately, in the present case, there was no indication of application of mind in passing prohibitory orders.

The bench said the observation was confined to this order only and it cannot be applicable in general. If there is a similar situation (necessitating imposition of restrictions), the state is not helpless, the court said.

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Five Coronavirus suspects admitted at Bengaluru hospital

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March 4,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 4: A total of five people suspected of being infected with Coronavirus have been admitted to the isolation wards of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases in Bengaluru.

Samples of these patients have been collected and their reports are likely to be received later today.

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has assured people in state about preparedness to tackle Coronavirus.

Earlier in the day, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had said that there were 28 cases of Coronavirus in the country and added that universal screening of all international flights will begin to control the spread of the deadly virus.

Global deaths due to Coronavirus outbreak have risen above 3,000.

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