Heena Sharma Blog

  India is likely to receive above average rainfall in September, the state-run weather office said on Wednesday, helping millions of farmers who had to endure patchy rains in July and August. Monsoon rains were 10% above average in June. "According to critical weather parameters, rains are most likely to be above normal in September this year," Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), told a news conference. The IMD defines average, or normal, rainfall as between 96% and 104% of a 50-year average of 88 cms (34 inches) for the four-month season beginning in June. After lashing the southernmost Kerala coast on June 3, the monsoon spread to two-thirds of India by the end of the first half of the month, nearly 15 days earlier than expected. And then it tapered off in the third week of June. Read More  

  The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently demonstrated free-space quantum communication over a distance of 300 m for the first time. The demonstration included live videoconferencing using quantum-key-encrypted signals. This is a major achievement for unconditionally secured satellite data communication using quantum technologies. Isro said that a number of key technologies were developed indigenously to accomplish this major feat, which included the use of an indigenously developed navigation satellite system, with an operational name of NavIC, a receiver for time synchronisation between the transmitter and receiver modules, and gimbal mechanism systems instead of bulky large-aperture telescopes for optical alignment. Read More

  Three Space Technology Incubation Centres (S-TIC) were inaugurated at National Institute of Technology (NIT) at Nagpur, Bhopal and Rourkela by the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) K Sivan. ISRO signed bilateral Memorandum of Understanding with Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur (for Western region), Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal (for Central region), and National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (for Eastern region). In an online programme on this occasion on Thursday, Sivan, also Secretary in the Department of Space (DoS), encouraged the students to explore their entrepreneurship skills in the space domain. The S-TIC concept is conceived with one selected major academic institute taking the lead role in a particular region and providing opportunities for final year graduate, post graduate and research scholars as "future budding entrepreneurs," Sivan was quoted as saying in an ISRO statement. Read Mo...

  NASA has completed a crucial hot fire test of the core stage of Space Launch System (SLS) rocket which is designed to power future Moon missions under the agency's Artemis programme. The successful test is a critical milestone ahead of the agency's Artemis I mission, which will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a test flight around the Moon and back to Earth, paving the way for future Artemis missions with astronauts, NASA said on Thursday. The team will use data from the tests to validate the core stage design for flight. "The SLS is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built, and during today's test the core stage of the rocket generated more than 1.6 million pounds of thrust within seven seconds," acting NASA Administrator Steve Jerzy said in a statement. "The SLS is an incredible feat of engineering and the only rocket capable of powering America's next-generation missions that will place the first woman and the next man on the Moon....

  Russia has successfully launched its first satellite to monitor the Arctic's climate and environment, the country's space corporation Roscosmos said in a statement. A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the " Arktika-M " satellite on board blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9.55 a.m. on Sunday, Roscosmos said. The Arktika-M spacecraft was delivered to the orbit at 12.14 p.m., Xinhua news agency quoted the space corporation as further saying in the statement. The creation of a satellite system in highly elliptical orbits is necessary for information collection to solve operational meteorology and hydrology problems, and monitoring the climate and environment in the Arctic region, it said. The Arktika-M will provide round-the-clock continuous monitoring of the northern territory of Russia and the seas of the Arctic Ocean, Roscosmos added. Read More

  SpaceX has cancelled the planned launch of a Falcon 9 carrier rocket with 60 Starlink satellites. "Auto-abort at T-1:24 ahead of tonight's Falcon 9 launch of Starlink; next launch opportunity is tomorrow, March 1 at 8:15 p.m. EST [03:15 GMT on Tuesday]," SpaceX said on Twitter on Sunday. The company did not specify the reasons behind the delay. The Falcon 9 rocket was supposed to lift off from the Cape Canaveral (Kennedy) Air Force Station in Florida at 01:37 GMT on Monday. The mission aims to put 60 Starlink satellites into orbit. If successful at its next launch opportunity, it will expand SpaceX's fleet of broadband relay satellites to include over 1,200 (some of them are prototypes that are no longer in service). The Starlink project seeks to provide affordable access to broadband internet connection across the world. Read More

  The Indian space rockets are set to go green as ISRO is working to replace its existing hazardous fuel with non-hazardous and environment- friendly fuels for its rockets and satellites, the ISRO Chairman said. He also said that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is looking at green propulsion through hydrogen peroxide in its rocket that would take Indians into the space under its 'Gaganyaan' mission. "Since humans will be inside the rocket, we want only non-hazardous fuel and not the hazardous one to power the human space mission's Gaganyaan rocket ," ISRO chief K Sivan, who is also Secretary in Department of Space, told IANS. According to him, ISRO is also looking at rocket engines powered by hydrogen peroxide as a mono-propellant or as a bi-propellant along with ethanol. ISRO is also developing another green fuel - LOX/Methane- liquid oxygen as oxidiser and methane as fuel. Read More

  After a fast paced race to Mars and plans to return to the moon, there is still something left for science and astronomy enthusiasts in 2020, a rare celestial phenomenon —the Great Conjunction— when Jupiter and Saturn will align to form one of the brightest stars in the night sky on Monday being seperated by just one-tenth of a degree. The planets regularly appear to pass each other in the solar system, with the positions of Jupiter and Saturn being aligned in the sky about once every 20 years. However, this year the conjunction is special as it’s been nearly 400 years since the planets passed this close to each other in the sky, and nearly 800 years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night. The rare phenomenon can be visible globally including in India between 6:30-7:30 pm. The planets will be easy to see with naked eye by looking toward the southwest just after sunset. Jupiter bigger and closer to Earth will be vastly brighter. Read More  

  Delhi's air quality remained in the 'poor' category on Friday, as per System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecasted a maximum temperature of 16 degrees Celsius and a minimum temperature of 3 degrees Celsius in the national capital today. The overall air quality of the national capital was recorded at 235 at around 8:15 am while the AQI in various parts of the city remained in the 'poor' category. According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research's (SAFAR) prediction yesterday, cold day conditions are likely to slow down after that. Better ventilation conditions are likely to continue for the next two days and likely to continue for the next two days and likely to decrease thereafter, as per SAFAR. Read More

  Lunar Eclipse 2020 : A lunar eclipse will take place today. This year, a total of four penumbral lunar eclipses were expected to take place, out of which the first lunar eclipse took place on January 10, the second on June 5 and the third on July 5. The fourth one will occur today. "A penumbral lunar eclipse takes place when the sun, earth, and moon align in almost a straight line. The earth blocks some of the sun's light from directly reaching the moon's surface, and partially covers the moon with the outer part of its shadow, also known as the penumbra," Rajendraprakash Gupt, superintendent of Jiwaji Observatory in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh said. At what time will the lunar eclipse take place The 'penumbral lunar eclipse' will begin at 12:59:09 pm and continue till 05:25:09 pm today. Lunar Eclipse 2020: Which countries will witness it? The lunar eclipse will be seen in most of Europe, most of Asia, Australia, North America, South America, Pacific, ...

  As you drive down the road leading to Jodrell Bank Observatory , a sign asks visitors to turn off their mobile phones, stating that the Lovell telescope is so powerful it could detect a phone signal on Mars. Radio telescopes are designed to be incredibly sensitive. To quote the legendary astronomer Carl Sagan, “The total amount of energy from outside the solar system ever received by all the radio telescopes on the planet Earth is less than the energy of a single snowflake striking the ground.” The total energy now is probably a few snowflakes’ worth, but nevertheless it is still true that astronomical radio signals are typically magnitudes smaller than artificial ones. If Jodrell Bank could pick up interference from a phone signal on Mars, how would it fare with an entire 4G network on the Moon? That is the issue that is worrying astronomers like me, now that Nokia of America has been awarded US$14.1m (£10.8m) for the development of the first ever cellular network on the M...

  The launch of next batch of satellites of SpaceX's Starlink project was postponed on Saturday due to inclement weather during pre-flight operations. According to SpaceX , the next launch could take place on Tuesday, September 1 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. "Standing down from today's launch of Starlink due to inclement weather during pre-flight operations. Next launch opportunity is Tuesday, September 1 at 9:29 a.m. EDT, pending Range acceptance," SpaceX tweeted. Starlink is the next-generation satellite network capable of providing Earth's inhabitants with broadband internet access, Sputnik reported. The project's implementation began in February 2018. In total, it plans to launch about 12,000 satellites. Read More  

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said that the agency is planning its first round-trip voyage to Mars during which the crew could spend about a month on the planet's surface. The US space agency wants to send humans to Mars as early as the 2030s. NASA will use advanced propulsion systems to enable a faster journey to the Red Planet while limiting radiation exposure for its astronauts and other mission risks, Bridenstine said on Monday while participating in a discussion with the Space Foundation, a non-profit organisation. "Our preferred launch window will give the crew about 30 days on the Martian surface, which is ample time to search for life on another world," he said. Read More

Researchers have developed an Internet of things (IoT) device for soap dispensers which they say can ensure that people wash their hands properly for over 20 seconds as per the World Health Organization guidelines for COVID-19 . The device called '20Sec4Life' will glow, beep and play a musical tone for more than 20 seconds to help people disinfect their hands properly, according to the researchers from Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Punjab. The splash-proof device can be mounted on any liquid soap dispenser and operates using a battery, they said. According to WHO, promoting good hand hygiene is one of the most basic yet powerful tools that countries must leverage to reduce the spread of COVID-9. Read More

India was among several countries in the world where greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from fossil fuels combustion reduced due to lockdowns imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said after observing satellite data. America’s NASA , the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) collaborated for the first time to document planet-wide changes in the environment and societies during the lockdowns. The agencies collated data from their Earth-observing satellites tracking changes in air and water quality, climate change, economic activity, and agriculture. Read More

The first solar eclipse or Surya Grahan of 2020 will fall on June 21. This will be an annular solar eclipse where moon will cover the sun from the centre leaving the outer rim visible, thus creating a ring of fire. The annular solar eclipse of June 2020 will start at 9:15 am on June 21 according to Indian Standard Timing (IST). The full eclipse will start from 10:17 am with the maximum eclipse occurring at 12:10 pm. Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST) will live telecast the eclipse. “Astronomical events such as eclipse are exceptional opportunities to excite and instruct the youth and indeed the society at large about science and to instill scientific temper,” said Professor Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST. Read More

Amid the countrywide lockdown due to coronavirus , students and faculty of premier institutes like the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are working round the clock. They have developed mobile applications, robots and ventilators to help the country in its fight against coronavirus. The app "GoCoronaGo", developed by a team at IISc, can help identify people who may have crossed paths with Covid-19 suspects. "The app will help identify people who may have crossed paths with Covid-19 positive individuals or suspects by tracking their interactions in the past using bluetooth and GPS. It uses temporal network analytics in the backend to understand the risk propensity even for distant contacts, understand disease spread and identify high-risk people who are likely to contract and spread the virus," Tarun Rambha, a faculty member at IISc, told PTI. Read More

India early Friday launched a communication satellite called GSAT-30 from French Guiana on the northeast coast of South America, aiming to use the space device to improve broadcasting and connectivity in the country. European space consortium Arianespace's Ariane 5 VA-251 rocket lifted off from Kourou, the launch base, at 2:35 am IST to carry GSAT-30 for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Eutelsat Konnect satellite for the French telecommunications company Eutelsat. After a flight lasting 38 minutes 25 seconds, GSAT-30 separated from Ariane 5 upper stage in an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. “ The satellite will provide communication services to Indian mainland and islands through Ku-band and wide coverage covering Gulf countries, a large number of Asian countries and Australia through C-band,” said ISRO chairman K Sivan in a statement. Read More

NASA has found the crash site and debris of India's Chandrayaan-2 Vikram moon lander following a tip from an Indian space enthusiast who examined pictures of the area of the moon taken by a US orbiting camera. The site was located by Shanmuga Subramanian, who on his own scoured the pictures taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbital Camera (LROC), NASA and Arizona State University announced on Monday confirming the find. The first mosaic image of the likely crash site made from pictures taken by the LROC on September 17 was downloaded by several people to look for signs of the Vikram, NASA said. Arizona State University (ASU), where the LROC project is located, said, "After receiving this tip the LROC team confirmed the identification by comparing before and after images."One of them, Subramanian, contacted the LROC project with a positive identification of debris, it said. When the images for the first mosaic were acquired on September 17, the impact point...

India launched 14 satellites Wednesday morning, boosting the morale of its space agency which lost contact with a spacecraft to trying to land on the moon in September. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C47 (PSLV-C47) placed in orbit India's earth observation satellite Cartosat-3 and 13 nano-satellites for the US when it blasted off from the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro's) Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 9:28am. Seventeen minutes after lift-off, Cartosat-3 separated from the launch vehicle and put into orbit. The 13 US satellites will be launched in the next eight minutes, completing the first business order of Isro's newly formed commercial arm NewSpace India Ltd. Cartosat-3, India’s third-generation earth observation satellite, will be used for large-scale urban planning and to monitor coastal land, rural resources and infrastructure development. The satellite, which will last for five years and weighs 1,625kg, can pick a 25-cm object fr...