Science

Moscow, April 14:An interplanetary spacecraft for a flight to Mars will be created not before 2025 and the maiden flight to the red planet will be possible only after 2035, said Russian space agency Roscosmos chief Anatoly Perminov Wednesday.

“The possibility of a flight to Mars needs to be combined with the construction of a spaceship having a new nuclear power propulsion unit, which will make it possible to reach the planet in a month,” Perminov said in Russia’s upper house of parliament.

Bangalore, April 14:Global software major SAP plans to develop and localise its enterprise applications in Hindi, the most widely-spoken Indian language, to enable its domestic customers leverage technology for speedy delivery, the company said Wednesday.

“The Hindi version of various applications such as human capital management, employee self-service, enterprise resource planning (ERP) financials and logistics solutions will be made available soon to Indian customers familiar with the popular language,” SAP globalisation services vice-president Yueting Zhou said in a statement here.

Moscow, April 13: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today hailed Yuri Gagarin’s flight into space 50 years ago as a symbolic, revolutionary event, saying Russia still dreams about “conquering” other planets and flying to distant stars.

“I believe it was a truly revolutionary event, a highly symbolic one. It was a tremendous achievement of Soviet cosmonautics, which divided the world into ‘before’ and ‘after the flight,’ what has been termed the ‘space era,” Medevdev said in an interview to China Central Television CCTV.

Washington, April 13: According to a blog post from Microsoft Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel David Howard, a US Justice Department brief found that Google does not have Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification for its Google Apps for Government suite for government customers while Google’s site clearly states that the suite is FISMA certified, The Washington Post reported.

Bangalore, April 11: The state-run National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) has set up a state-of-the-art acoustic test facility for satellites of the Indian space agency in this tech hub.

‘The hi-tech facility will be used to perform qualification and acceptance tests of satellites built by the the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for communications and remote sensing applications,’ NAL said in a statement here Monday.

Moscow, April 12: Russia on Tuesday marked a half century since Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, the greatest victory of Soviet science which expanded human horizons and is still remembered by Russians as their finest hour.

At 0907 Moscow time on April 12, 1961 Gagarin uttered the famous words “Let’s Go” as the Vostok rocket, with him squeezed into a tiny capsule at the top, blasted off from the south of the Soviet republic of Kazakhstan.

Washington. April 12: On the eve of two prominent space anniversaries, the six humans circling the Earth said on Monday that they will join in the celebrations from the best vantage point of all – orbit.

Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of man’s first journey into space and the 30th anniversary of the first space shuttle launch.

New Delhi, April 11: In a move towards allowing large scale private sector participation in the Defence sector, leading power utility Tata Power Company has been awarded the contract to modernise the Airfield Infrastructure of the Indian Air Force (IAF) for an undisclosed amount.0

In a statement on Monday, Tata Power said it has got the order to modernise the Airfield Infrastructure of Indian Air Force from the Ministry of Defence.

Tehran, April 11: Iranian Fuel Conservation Company (IFCO) has announced plans to unveil a newly-designed hybrid bus and vessel at Tehran’s 16th international oil and gas exposition.

IFCO managing director Abbas Kazemi said hybrid engines reduce fuel consumption in buses by nearly 50 percent and greatly reduce greenhouse gas emission in large urban areas, SHANA reported on Sunday.

The company said its domestically designed and manufactured a hybrid vessel, which can be used for fishing and transport, will be on display at the exhibition as well.

Chennai, April 09: ISRO will spend Rs 426 crore for the country’s second unmanned moon mission — Chandrayaan-2, a senior scientist of the space agency said here today.

This is an additional Rs 40 crore from Rs 386 crore spent earlier on the first mission, Project Director Mylswamy Annadurai told reporters here on the sidelines of a function.

Chandrayaan-2, which is expected to be launched in September 2013, is a lunar landing mission, while the earlier one (Chandrayaan-1) was only an orbiter, Annadurai said.

Chennai, April 09: ISRO will spend Rs 426 crore for the country’s second unmanned moon mission, Chandrayaan-2, a senior scientist of the space agency said here today.

This is an additional Rs 40 crore from Rs 386 crore spent earlier on the first mission, Project Director Mylswamy Annadurai told reporters here on the sidelines of a function.

“Chandrayaan-2, which is expected to be launched in Sept 2013, is a lunar landing mission,while the earlier one (Chandrayaan-1) was only an orbiter,” Annadurai said.

Los Angeles, April 09: YouTube, the video site owned by Google, on Friday unveiled a page highlighting live programming and said users have asked for more live streams.

“With over 2 billion views a day, it’s easy to think about YouTube as a place to watch videos recorded in the past,” it said in a blog post. “But you’ve told us you want more – and that includes events taking place right now. In response, we’ve live streamed a number of popular concerts, sporting events, and interviews, but primarily on a one-off basis.”

Washington, April 08: The National Aeronotics and Space Administration (NASA) has said that the next decade US Space programme will have focus on working on the International Space Station (ISS) as it will be the frst step in preparing for manned flights on Mars.

“ISS is an anchor for the future of human space exploration and major component of our current human space programme,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden at the International Space Station and Mars Conference at George Washington University Wednesday.

Tehran, April 08: Students from an Iranian university have designed a car that runs entirely on solar energy, state-run Press TV reported.

The students from the vehicular research department at the University of Qazvin designed the vehicle named “Havin” which means “shining sun”.

The car is five metres long and two metres wide and can run at a maximum speed of 130 km per hour, according to the report.

The fibre glass vehicle weighs 160 kg and is fitted with six square metres of silicon solar cells.

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Tehran, April 08: Iranian students from the vehicular research department at the University of Qazvin have designed an entirely solar-powered vehicle named “Havin.”

Havin, or shining sun, is five meters long and two meters wide and is capable of reaching speeds of over 130 kilometers (80 miles) per hour, according to ISNA.

The students unveiled the fiber glass vehicle at the Tehran Permanent International Fairground on Thursday.

The vehicle weighs 160 kilograms (352 lb.) and is fitted with six square meters of silicon solar cells.

New York, April 07: Microsoft Corp. has appointed Chris Capossela as its chief marketing officer, responsible for the software giant’s marketing, advertising and corporate communications.

Capossela will replace Mich Mathews, Microsoft’s long-time head of global marketing who announced in March that she will retire this summer, Xinhua reported.

The new chief marketing officer will also take the role of senior vice president of the company’s Consumer Channels and Central Marketing Group.

Tehran, April 06: Iranian scientists have developed high performance VHF and UHF aeronautical band radio for various purposes in tough electromagnetic environments.

The digital radio, which complies with known international standards and recommendations, provide air-to-air and air-to-ground communication and can be installed on all types of fighter jets, cargo planes as well as helicopters to facilitate excellent audio performance,

Moscow, April 06: Three astronauts have blasted off for the International Space Station (ISS) in order to mark the 50th anniversary of the first flight to space by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

On Tuesday, one American and two Russians left Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the ISS on the Russian Soyuz TMA-21 spaceship, AFP reported.

Cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Andrei Borisenko are on their first mission to space, while American astronaut Ronald Garan is making his second flight.

New York, April 06: The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reportedly considering a broad anti-trust investigation into Google Inc.’s dominance of the Internet search industry.

Before proceeding with any probe, the FTC is awaiting a decision by the Justice Department on whether it will challenge Google’s planned acquisition of ITA Software Inc. as a threat to competition in the travel-information search business, Bloomberg quoted two people familiar with the matter as saying on condition of anonymity.

Washington, April 05: NASA has postponed the launch of its Endeavor space shuttle by 10 days after a scheduling conflict with Russia’s Progress space freighter.

NASA announced the postponement Monday following talks with the Russian Space Agency and other space station partners over the weekend, RIA Novosti reported.

“The delay removes a scheduling conflict with a Russian Progress supply vehicle scheduled to launch April 27 and arrive at the station April 29,” NASA said on its website.

Moscow, April 05: Two Russian cosmonauts and a US astronaut have blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station (ISS) for a two-day journey.

Their TMA-21 Soyuz spacecraft was emblazoned with the name and portrait of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, whose historic journey into orbit took place 50 years ago this month.

The Tuesday pre-dawn launch from Russia’s cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is the first for Russians Andrei Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyayev.

Washington, April 05: NASA has postponed the launch of its Endeavor space shuttle by 10 days after a scheduling conflict with Russia’s Progress space freighter.

NASA announced the postponement Monday following talks with the Russian Space Agency and other space station partners over the weekend, RIA Novosti reported.

“The delay removes a scheduling conflict with a Russian Progress supply vehicle scheduled to launch April 27 and arrive at the station April 29,” NASA said on its website.

Washington, April 04: Internet giant Google said Monday it is bidding $900 million to buy the patent portfolio of Canadian technology company Nortel at a bankruptcy auction.

The Mountain View, California-based Google said the move is aimed at protecting the company from potential frivolous patent litigation.

The bid came on Google co-founder Larry Page’s first day as chief executive of the Internet search titan. Page, 38, replaced Eric Schmidt as CEO on Monday.

Patna, April 04: The Bihar government has decided to constitute a Bihar Information Technology Authority (BITA) to develop and expand the IT sector in the state to attract investment.

The state government had said last week it would soon announce an Information Communication Technology (ICT) Policy, 2011.

An IT department official here said Monday that BITA will be constituted as the apex body to oversee the comprehensive development of the IT sector in the state.

The authority will be headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Tehran, April 04: Director of Iranian Space Agency Hamid Fazeli says Iran will design and build a remote sensing satellite in cooperation with the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO).

Fazeli told ISNA on Sunday that Iran has been an active member of the APSCO and plans to have larger share in building the satellite.

Earlier in mid-March, Iran successfully launched its first domestically-made bio-capsule into space by Kavoshgar 4 (Explorer 4) satellite carrier.