Science

Washington, September 02: Two US spacewalkers left the International Space Station (ISS) Tuesday to remove an empty ammonia tank that is crucial for keeping the station cool.

John ‘Danny’ Olivas and Nicole Stott left the ISS at 2149 GMT for the planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk.

They will disconnect lines that transfer ammonia and nitrogen in the tank, unhook the electricity and unbolt the tank before lifting it away from the station and placing it on the robotic arm to be moved out of the way.

New York, September 02: The Japanese electronics company Sony Corp plans to introduce a liquid-crystal-display television capable of playing 3-D programming by the end of next year, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Sony is to announce its plans for the new TV next week at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, an unnamed source familiar with the plans told the Journal.

San Francisco, September 02:A disruption to Google’s Gmail service frustrated users throughout the world Tuesday and flummoxed engineers at the giant internet company.

Google said the problems started early in the morning and were not resolved until approximately 2330 GMT.

The problem prevented users from accessing Google email and stymied customers who use the popular software to sync their information with the Microsoft Outlook email programme.

New York, September 02: Potential Muslim internet users who might previously have avoided the internet for some of its less wholesome content, now have a safe option in the new search engine Imhalal.com.

“Our main goal is to become the number one website in every Muslim home,” Reza Sardeha, Founder of ImHalal.com, told.

Guwahati, Septemebr 01: US astronaut Mike Fincke Tuesday took a close look here at the river Brahmaputra, which he had viewed from space some months ago.
“I saw the Brahmaputra from space. Today I have seen it with my own eyes. It is indeed a pleasure to be by the side of this great river,” Fincke told IANS.

Fincke and his wife Renita, an engineer with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), arrived here to attend a series of functions.

The visit is special for the couple as Renita originally hails from Assam.

Washington, September 01: The crews of the space shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station
Monday transferred a container holding 816 kilograms of cargo to the station.

In the first day of joint operations at the station, the crews used a robotic arm to take the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module out of the shuttle’s payload bay and install it outside the station for easy access during spacewalks.

Beijing, September 01: An Indonesian communications satellite launched from China failed to enter a preset orbit, state media reported, in another setback in China’s efforts to market its space launch capability.

China is rapidly expanding its own space capability and plans to land a vehicle on the moon in 2012.

The Palapa D satellite, owned by Indonesian satellite communications company Indosat, was launched by a Chinese-made Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang launch site in Sichuan province, southwestern China on Monday.

Sydney, September 01: The search for the best observatory site in the world has led to the discovery of what is thought to be the coldest, driest and calmest place on earth.

No human is thought to have ever been there but it is expected to yield images of the heavens three times sharper than ever taken from the ground. The site known as Ridge A is 4,053 metres high up on the Antarctic Plateau.

Washington, August 31: The US shuttle Discovery was closing in on the International Space Station
to deliver food, a lab freezer and a treadmill to the orbiting outpost.

As the shuttle sped toward the ISS, the astronauts conducted a routine inspection of Discovery’s heat shield by manoeuvring a sensor on a robotic arm to look for possible damage.

Pilot Kevin Ford and mission specialists Patrick Forrester and Jose Hernandez took turns at the controls of the sensor system to inspect the shuttle’s nose cap and its right and left wings, NASA said.

Panaji: India’s mission to Mars will take place between 2013-2015, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief G Madhavan Nair said on Monday.

“We have given a call for proposal to different scientific communities. Depending on the type of experiments they propose, we will be able to plan the mission,” he told reporters.

The mission is at conceptual stage and will be taken up after Chandrayaan-2, Nair said.

“Once in two years you get an opportunity for the mission,” Nair said.

ISRO Chairman is in Goa to host the eighth international conference on low cost planetary missions.

Kokrajhar, August 31: A rare species of butterfly, believed to be extinct, has been sighted and documented in Assam’s Kokrajhar district.

Researcher Kushal Choudhury who spotted the Yellow-Crested Spangle (Papilio elephenor), last sighted hundred years ago, photographed and documented it at Phipsu in the Ripu-Chirang reserve forest in the district.

This is the first-ever photograph of the live species to be taken in the world after it was first recorded by naturalist C T Bingham in 1907, confirmed Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Wildlife Division, Sonali Ghosh.

Panaji, August 31: India will undertake Mission Mars between 2013 to 2015, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief G. Madhavan Nair said here Monday.
The space agency had called for proposals from various scientific communities in preparation for Mission Mars, Nair told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on low cost planetary missions at a five-star hotel in the city.

“The project would be taken up after Chandrayan II,” he said, adding that Mission Mars would be following the low cost concept of operation.

He said Mission Mars was still in a conceptual stage.

Panaji, August 31: Indian Space Research Organisation chief G. Madhavan Nair has been elected the chairman of the International Academy Astronautics, an official said here Monday. He will be the first Indian and first non-American to hold the post.
He will formally take over Oct 16, the official added.

The IAA is an international community of experts committed to expanding the frontiers of space.

—IANS

Munich, August 31: It all used to be simpler for Mac users: viruses and other malicious software affected Windows computers, not them. That is slowly changing. “The threats have intensified,” says Candid Wuest from anti-virus maker Symantec.

Cape Canaveral, August 31: Space shuttle Discovery closed in fast on the international space station for a Sunday night linkup more than 200 miles above the planet.

A thruster failure made the rendezvous all the more challenging for shuttle commander Rick Sturckow.
One of Discovery’s small thrusters began leaking shortly after Friday’s midnight liftoff and was shut down. None of the little jets was available for the rendezvous and docking, and Sturckow was going to have to use the bigger, more powerful primary thrusters, making for a somewhat bumpier, noisier ride.

Panaji/Bangalore, August 30: India’s first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 has been terminated abruptly after repeated attempts to restore radio contact with the spacecraft failed, a top space official said Sunday.

“We had to terminate the mission as we don’t have contact with the spacecraft. Though we are disappointed with what has happened, we have managed to salvage a large volume of data,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G. Madhavan Nair told reporters at Panaji.

Panaji, August 30: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair today said the country should be proud of Chandrayaan-1 for being a successful low cost planetary mission.

“Most of the missions are expensive between one and two USD billion. India can be proud as Chandrayaan-1 was less than USD 100-million mission,” Nair told reporters shortly after the mission was formally called off.

“We started the Indian mission inviting queries, the response was very good. We spent USD 85 million, while USD 30 million were spent by the other partners,” he said.

Bangalore, August 30: India’s first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 has been terminated abruptly after repeated attempts to restore radio contact with the spacecraft failed, a top space official said Sunday.
“We had to terminate the mission as we don’t have contact with the spacecraft. Though we are disappointed with what has happened, we have managed to salvage a large volume of data,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G. Madhavan Nair told reporters at Panaji.

Thane, August 30: A high-level delegation of representatives of Small and Micro Industries associations called on the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently.

The delegation, led by Micro Small and Medium Industries, Dinsha Patel, apprised the Prime Minister of the problems being faced by the sector due to global meltdown.

The issues raised by the delegation included need to enhance the credit flow to the sector from 4.9 % of gross credit to 6 %, establishing national fund, setting up SME Exchange to help this sector raise equity finance, etc.

New Delhi, August 30: This is a rare photograph of a Tibetan monk called Sangha Tenzin which a nomadic biker, Anuj Singh, found mummified inside a tomb at Ghuen Village in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh.

Professor Victor Mayer, who studies mummies, says it is at least 500 years old. “He died around the time that Columbus discovered America.” Anuj had taken Professor Mair and his team from the University of Pennsylvania to see the mummy when they were in India for a research.

Apparently, the monk had given up his life while meditating in the position he was found mummified.

Bangalore, August 30: Indian scientists are still trying to restore radio contact with the lunarcraft Chandrayaan-1, but the chances of re-establishing contact are slim, a senior space official said Sunday.

‘Efforts are still on to restore the signal with the mooncraft though chances are slim. If we fail to establish the link again, we may call off the mission much earlier than the two-year schedule,’ Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S. Satish told IANS.

New Delhi, August 30: Contrary to perceptions that Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are not doing enough research, IIT-Delhi has earned over Rs.102 crore (Rs.1.2 billion) in a year from research projects — more than what the government gives it as annual grant.

Sponsored research saw a major growth in the number of projects as well as in revenue earning during 2008-09.

Bangalore, August 30: Indian scientists are still trying to restore radio contact with the lunarcraft Chandrayaan-1, but the chances of re-establishing contact are slim, a senior space official said Sunday.

“Efforts are still on to restore the signal with the mooncraft though chances are slim. If we fail to establish the link again, we may call off the mission much earlier than the two-year schedule,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S. Satish told IANS.

London, August 30: British scientists have designed a spacecraft which they claim is capable of saving Earth from a catastrophic asteroid collision.

A team at British space company EADS Astrium has made the spacecraft, “gravity tractor”, which will be deployed when an orbiting rock is detected on a collision course with Earth — in fact, it will intercept the asteroid and position itself to fly alongside it, just 160 feet from its surface.

Bangalore, August 30: Indian scientists are still trying to restore radio contact with Chandrayaan-1, but the chances of re-establishing contact are slim, a senior space official said on Sunday.

“Efforts are still on to restore the signal with the mooncraft though chances are slim. If we fail to establish the link again, we may call off the mission much earlier than the two-year schedule,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S Satish said.