ISRO lines up SARAL for February, restored GSLV for April

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has slated its first launch of the year — ocean study spacecraft SARAL — for February 14.

It will herald the 8 to 10 missions, including satellites and launch vehicles, which ISRO has planned this year,

Flights of the GSLV rocket would be resumed and the first of the navigational spacecraft would be sent up, an ISRO official told.

Along with the 450-kg Indo-French SARAL, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will put into orbit six small experimental satellites built by western universities for a fee.

SARAL would be one of the very few such ocean-centric satellites and a vital cog in studying sea surface heights and other aspects, the official said.

It would be similar to ISRO’s Oceansat-2, but with an altimeter (named ‘Argos’ here) to measure heights.

In October 2012, NASA relied on Oceansat-2 to get finer details of Hurricane ‘Sandy’ that wreaked havoc on the eastern U.S.

SARAL is short for Satellite with ARgos and ALtiKa, the two main devices on it which have been provided by French space agency CNES. Besides building the spacecraft, ISRO will launch and operate it through its life.

SARAL will come up two months later than the earlier planned fancy date of 12-12-12.

The December launch was put off to complete a few tests and validations, the official said.

Around April this year, ISRO expects to resume flying the GSLV rocket. The GSLV-D5 will lift the communications satellite GSAT-14 into orbit.

ISRO had put the GSLV programme on hold after it suffered two successive failures in April and December 2010. The lapses were analysed and corrections made, the official said.

Russia plans unmanned moon mission in 2015

An unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2015 from a new launch pad in the country’s Far East will be sent, the Russian Space Agency has said.

Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin told Russian news agencies on Tuesday that the rocket booster would deliver a 500 kg (1,100-pound) space exploration vehicle with up to 25 kg (55 pounds) of scientific equipment that would search for water and take soil samples.

Mr. Popovkin said the moon-bound spacecraft would be launched from Russia’s new Vostochny cosmodrome. President Vladimir Putin has vowed to invest $1 billion in building this launch pad in the Amur Region not far from the Chinese border.

Russia’s last and only moon mission was accomplished in 1973.

Scientists discover the oldest star in the universe

Scientists have identified a star, at least 13.2 billion-years-old, as the oldest yet seen in the universe and it is just 186 light years away from Earth.

The Big Bang is calculated by scientists to have taken place about 13.77 billion years ago and the star, known as HD 140283, was among the earliest stars to form, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.

Since it contains some heavy elements it is thought to have been one of the second generation of stars to be created following the Big Bang.

The first generation of stars contained hardly any elements heavier than helium but when they exploded in a succession of supernovas within a few hundred million years after forming they were replaced by stars like HD 140283.

Observations from the Hubble Telescope helped Researchers fix the distance of the star from the Earth with unprecedented accuracy which allowed them to make more accurate measurements of how brightly it shines.

Once its brightness was established they were able to work out how rapidly its hydrogen is being exhausted and so determine its age.

When stars start running short of hydrogen they start dimming which is regarded as a reliable indicator of age.

The actual age that the Astronomers’ calculations gave was 13.9 billion years but calculations of this type usually contain large error margins, the report said.

In the case of HD 140283 the error margin was 700 million years, making it at least 13.2 billion years old.

One other star, known as Methuselah2, has previously been shown to be 13.2 billion years old but the research team are confident they have determined HD 140283’s age with greater certainty.

NASA to turn asteroid into space station to orbit the Moon

NASA scientists are planning to capture a 5,00,000 kg asteroid, relocate it and transform it into a space station for astronauts to refuel at on their way to Mars.

It would be the first time a celestial object has ever been moved by humans, a media report said.

The White House's Office of Science and technology will consider the $2.6 billion plan in the coming weeks as it prepares to set its space exploration agenda for the next decade.

A feasibility report prepared by NASA and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) scientists outlined how they would go about capturing the asteroid.

An 'asteroid capture capsule' would be attached to an old Atlas V rocket and directed the asteroid between the Earth and the Moon.

Once close, the asteroid capsule would release a 50 ft diameter bag that wrap around the spinning rock using drawstrings, the paper said.

The craft would then turn on its thrusters, using an estimated 300 kg of propellant, to stop the asteroid in its tracks and tow it into a gravitationally neutral spot.

From here space explorers would have a stationary base from which to launch trips deeper into space.

“The idea of exploiting the natural resources of asteroids dates back over a hundred years, but only now has the technology become available to make this idea a reality,” the report said.

“The feasibility is enabled by three key developments: the ability to discover and characterise an adequate number of sufficiently small near-Earth asteroids for capture and return; the ability to implement sufficiently powerful solar electric propulsion systems to enable transportation of the captured asteroid; and the proposed human presence in cislunar space in the 2020s enabling exploration and exploitation of the returned asteroid,” it said.

NASA declined to comment on the project because it said it was in negotiations with the White House, but it is believed that technology would make it possible within 10-12 years.

The technology would also open up the possibility of mining other asteroids for their metals and minerals.

Some are full of iron which could be used for in the making of new space stations, others are made up of water which could be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen to make fuel.

Spaceplane Successfully Completed Flight Test

The spaceplane constructed by Richard Branson's spaceflight company called Virgin Galactic successfully completed the important flight test which would be able to carry the people to space.

SpaceShipTwo, the spaceplane was piloted to soft runway touchdown after high-altitude release from WhiteKnightTwo mothership, which eventually enabled it to score successful test drop. It additionally also checked off various milestones at Mojave Air and Space Port in California.

George Whitesides, CEO and president of Virgin Galactic declared that the test flight made them closer to first powered flight.

The spaceplane called SpaceShipTwo is the hybrid motor-powered plane which is designed for carrying six passengers as well as two pilots. The spaceplane would carry these passengers to edge of the space without completing the full orbit of Earth. The price of spaceplane per seat is 200000 dollar. Commercial operations would be carried out in America at New Mexico’s Spaceport.

Planets around ‘solar twins’ of Sun more habitable than Earth

Planets orbiting the scattered stars around the Milky Way may be even more hospitable to life than the Earth, researchers claim.

According to a new study by Ohio State University, any planets orbiting those stars may very well be hotter and more dynamic than Earth.

The interiors of any terrestrial planets in these systems are likely warmer than Earth - up to 25 per cent, which would make them more geologically active and more likely to retain enough liquid water to support life, at least in its microbial form.

Researchers studied eight “solar twins” of the Sun — stars that very closely match it in size, age, and overall composition — in order to measure the amounts of radioactive elements they contain.

Those stars came from a data set recorded by the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher spectrometer at the European Southern Observatory in Chile.

They searched the solar twins for elements such as thorium and uranium, which are essential to Earth’s plate tectonics because they warm our planet’s interior.

Plate tectonics helps maintain water on the surface of the Earth, so the existence of plate tectonics is sometimes taken as an indicator of a planet’s hospitality to life.

Of the eight solar twins they’ve studied so far, seven appear to contain much more thorium than our Sun — which suggests that any planets orbiting those stars probably contain more thorium, too.

That, in turn, means that the interior of the planets are probably warmer than ours, researchers said in a statement.

Jupiter to make closest approach to Earth

Jupiter, the largest after the Sun in the solar system, will be at its biggest and brightest on December 3 night much to the delight of sky-gazers.

The planet, which has a system of rings, is at its closest approach and thus would appear more big and bright than usual.
The planet can be seen with naked eyes an hour after the sunset in the eastern direction on December 3. It will be visible all through the night and at midnight one can spot it in the southern direction at a higher elevation.

The last opposition of the planet occurred on October, 29, 2011 and the next will be January 6, 2014.

The minimum distance of Jupiter from Earth is approximately 588 million kms while its maximum distance is about 967 million kms.

On December 3, the ring planet will be at 608 million kms, which is very close to its minimum distance from Earth.

ISRO Designing GEO Imaging Satellite

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is designing a satellite – GEO Imaging Satellite (GISAT), which will be placed in geostationary orbit of 36,000 km. GISAT will provide near real time pictures of large areas of the country, under cloud free conditions, at frequent intervals. That is, selected sector-wise imaging every 5 minutes and entire Indian landmass every 30 minutes at 50m spatial resolution.

GISAT will carry a GEO Imager with multi-spectral (visible, near infra-red and thermal), multi-resolution (50m to 1.5 km) imaging instruments. It will provide pictures of the area of interest on near real time basis including border areas.

NASA launched Space Station Alert Service

The US Space Agency, NASA on 2 November 2012 launched a new service in which people can receive text messages on their phones, whenever the International Space Station would come over their house. The service was launched during the celebration of 12th anniversary of astronauts living and working on the orbiting lab.

The message would make people aware in finding out the International Space Station (ISS) as people yet are unaware about the location of ISS in the sky also about the fact that after sun and moon, it is the third brightest object present in the sky. The Spot the Station facility would be available across the world as the trajectory of the station carries more than 90 percent population on earth.

The Spot the Station Service would provide people information about the location of the ISS in the sky.

About International Space Station (ISS)

International Space Station (ISS) that looks similar to Venus is mainly visible in the sky during dusk and dawn at the time, when only moon is visible in the sky. It is a habitable satellite made and placed on the lower earth orbit by the Scientists, and can be seen in the sky with naked eyes without using telescope or any other device. The International Space Station Acts as a platform and environment for scientists to conduct research in the space, which cannot be performed by any other means.

The ISS provides a platform to conduct scientific research that cannot be performed in any other way. While small unmanned spacecraft can provide platforms for zero gravity and exposure to space, space stations offer a long term environment where studies can be performed potentially for decades, combined with ready access by human researchers over periods that exceed the capabilities of manned spacecraft.

China unveils Asia's biggest radio telescope

China October 28 unveiled Asia's biggest radio telescope to be used in collecting accurate data from satellites and space probes.

The 65 meter diameter telescope was unveiled at the foot of Sheshan Mountain in Shanghai.

The sprawling telescope with the size of about 10 basketball courts can pick up eight different frequency bands and also track Earth satellites, lunar exploration satellites and deep space probes.

The telescope will be used for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), a type of astronomical interferometry used in radio astronomy, as it can collect accurate data and increase its angular resolution during astronomical observation, state run Xinhua.

China's VLBI system is made up of four telescopes in the cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Kunming, Urumqi, respectively, as well as a data center in Shanghai.

Radio telescopes differ from optical ones in that they use radio antennae to track and collect data from satellites and space probes.

The first radio antenna used to identify astronomical radio sources was built by American radio engineer Karl Guthe Jansky, an engineer with Bell Telephone Laboratories, in the early 1930s.

NASA observes record-setting gas storm on Saturn

A NASA satellite has captured rare, record-setting "burp" on the surface of Saturn in the aftermath of a massive storm, the US space agency said. 
 

Temperatures in Saturn's stratosphere soared more than 65.5 Degree Celsius above normal in the aftermath of a storm, according to data captured by NASA's Cassini satellite, which orbits the ringed planet.

The ethylene gas which NASA calls a "burp" generated by the storm - was 100 times more than scientists thought the planet was capable of making.

First commercial cargo flight heading to International Space Station

The SpaceX rocket, the first commercial flight to the International Space Station, lifted off October 7 carrying an unmanned cargo capsule. The Falcon 9 rocket with its Dragon capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. About 10 minutes into the flight, the Dragon separated from the rocket and was on its way to the space station. Mission control called it "a picture-perfect launch and a flawless flight of Falcon."
It is is the first of a dozen NASA-contracted flights to resupply the International Space Station, at a total cost of $1.6 billion. The launch comes nearly five months after a demonstration mission in which a Dragon capsule successfully berthed at the station and returned to Earth.
The unmanned capsule is packed with about 1,000 pounds of cargo -- everything from low-sodium food kits to clothing and computer hard drives. It's scheduled to return in late October with about 2,000 pounds of cargo, including scientific experiments and failed equipment that can be repaired and sent back
The Dragon spacecraft is supposed to catch up with the space station early Wednesday. Station Commander Sunita Williams and Aki Hoshide from the Japanese Space Agency will use the robotic arm to grab Dragon and berth it to the station.
Much of Dragon's cargo is material to support extensive experimentation aboard the space station. One deals with plant growth. Plants on Earth use about 50% of their energy for support to overcome gravity. Researchers want to understand how the genes that control that process would operate in microgravity -- when objects are in free-fall in space. Down the road, that could benefit food supplies here on the planet. The spacecraft is also carrying nearly two dozen microgravity experiments designed and being flown through the Student Experiment Spaceflight Program.
SpaceX is not the only commercial company in the spacefaring business. Within the next few months, Orbital Sciences is expected to fly its own demonstration flight to the space station. Instead of using Cape Canaveral as its launch site, the company's rocket will take off from Wallops Island off the coast of Virginia. Orbital has a nearly $2 billion contract with NASA for station resupply missions.
SpaceX is one of three companies NASA has selected to continue work developing a human-rated spacecraft that would carry astronauts to the International Space Station. Boeing and Sierra Nevada are the other two companies.The SpaceX plan is to modify the Dragon capsule to carry people.

ISRO plans 58 space missions during 12th Plan

ISRO plans to launch 58 space missions, including sending spacecraft to moon and Mars, an exclusive satellite to keep a round-the-clock watch on the country and deploy 500 transponders in the next five years.
    
The space agency also aims to deploy its own version of the Global Positioning System by putting into orbit a constellation of seven satellites which would form the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS).
    
According to the 12th Five Year Plan, approved by the Cabinet last week, the Indian Space Research Organisation plans to add 400 transponders to the existing 187 to meet the growing demand from DTH operators, satellite mobile communications and new generation broadband VSAT systems.
    
An indicative plan outlay of Rs 39,750 crore for the 12th Plan has been made for the Department of Space.
    
"Overall, 58 missions are planned for realisation during 12th Plan period which includes 33 satellite missions and 25 launch vehicle missions," the 12th Plan document says.
    
The space agency is also designing a special 'eye-in-the-sky' -- Geo-Imaging Satellite or GISAT -— to be stationed 36,000 km above to maintain round-the-clock vigil and assist state authorities to tackle natural disasters, floods and forest fires and keep a watch over the country's sensitive borders.
    
Missions initiated in the 11th Plan like Chandrayaan-II, Astrosat-1 and Aditya-1 are also expected to set forth on their respective destinations into space over the next five years.
    
As part of Chandrayaan-II, ISRO plans to land a rover on the lunar surface and put a satellite in an orbit around the moon. The mission is expected to be launched in 2014.