5 Apr 2014

Explore Mars this month

The Red Planet puts on its best show in more than six years in April.

Mars finder chart
Look for brilliant Mars in the southeastern sky after darkness falls. The Red Planet lies in Virgo, not far from the bright star Spica.
Astronomy: Roen Kelly
The Red Planet has returned to glory. Every two years, Mars puts on a show in the evening sky as it reaches a point in its orbit called opposition, when the planet lies opposite the Sun in our sky, which means it rises near sunset and remains visible all night. In 2014, this event occurs April 8, and it signals the best views of the Red Planet in more than six years.
On that night, look for a brilliant point of light in the southeastern sky just above the bright star Spica in the constellation Virgo. That’s Mars, which shines at magnitude –1.5, brighter than it has since December 2007. The Red Planet even appears slightly brighter than the night sky’s brightest star, Sirius.
Mars is comparatively impressive this year compared to the past few oppositions because the orbits of Earth and Mars aren’t circular. At a distant opposition, the Red Planet can be more than 60 million miles (97 million kilometers) away. On April 14 of this year, though, it lies 57.4 million miles (92.3 million km) distant. As that point, the planet appears 15.2” across through a telescope, and that diameter doesn’t drop below 14.6” throughout the rest of April.
“Check out Mars with naked eyes in the early evening during April, but then transfer to a telescope for better views,” says Senior Editor Richard Talcott. “Because light from the planet passes through less of Earth’s atmosphere when it lies higher in the sky, the best observing should come in the hours around midnight.”
The most obvious Red Planet feature to check out through a telescope is the north polar cap. Because it’s currently early summer for Mars’ northern hemisphere, careful observers should be able to see the cap shrink during April.
Mars won’t appear this big and bright again until its next opposition May 22, 2016, so don’t wait any longer to check out the Red Planet.
Fast facts
  • Earth is 9.3 times as massive and nearly twice as wide as Mars.
  • From Mars, the Sun appears 44 percent as bright as it does from Earth.
  • Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos, both of which Asaph Hall discovered in 1877.
  • Mars is the most explored planet besides Earth. There have been 18 successful missions to the Red Planet, including five that are still ongoing, and two more are currently en route.

ISRO gears up to launch second navigation satellite


IRNSS 1B Satellite positioned atop PSLV-C24’s
fourth stage at Sriharikota. Photo: ISRO
IRNSS 1B Satellite positioned atop PSLV-C24’s fourth stage at Sriharikota. Photo: ISRO
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is looking forward to the liftoff of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C24 from Sriharikota at 5.14 p.m. today.
After more than 19 minutes of flight, if the PSLV-C24 puts India’s navigation satellite, called the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS-1B), into a perfect orbit, applause will echo across the Mission Control Centre. More so, because it will be the 25th consecutive successful launch of a PSLV, the ISRO’s trusty workhorse.
This launch vehicle is the PSLV’s XL version, armed with more powerful strap-on booster motors than in the standard PSLV, which will put the 1,432-kg IRNSS-1B into its orbit.
The IRNSS-1B is India’s second dedicated navigation satellite. The first, IRNSS-1A, was put into orbit on July 1 last year. All the seven satellites, which form the IRNSS, will be in orbit by 2016.
“The countdown is proceeding as per the timeline, without any issues,” said M.Y.S. Prasad, Director, Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, on Thursday.
The countdown, which will last 58 hours and a half, began at 6.44 a.m. on April 2. By Thursday afternoon, the PSLV-C24’s fourth stage was accurately filled with liquid propellants and the lower stage control systems with solid propellants.
“From 11 p.m. on Thursday till the early morning of Friday, we will fill the rocket’s second stage with more than 41 tonnes of liquid propellants. Then, other operations such as filling the launch vehicle with pressurised gas will be done,” said Dr. Prasad. During the countdown’s final phase, the rocket’s electronic systems will be tested.

Courtesy with  THE HINDU
 

PSLV puts navigation satellite in orbit


PSLV-24-IRNSS-1B successfully launched at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikotta on Friday. Photo: M. Karunakaran
 
The Hindu PSLV-24-IRNSS-1B successfully launched at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikotta on Friday. Photo: M. Karunakaran
India marched towards establishing its own navigation system on Friday when its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C24) put into precise orbit the country’s second navigation satellite, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS-1B). The 1,432-kg IRNSS-1B will form part of a constellation of seven navigation satellites.
It was the 25th success in a row for the PSLV, after it majestically lifted off from the first launch pad at Sriharikota at 5.14 p.m. After 19 minutes of flight, IRNSS-1B was put into a perfect orbit.
K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said two more IRNSS satellites would be put into orbit before 2014-end and three more before mid-2015.
Mission Director P. Kunhikrishnan, said the mission accuracy was such that the satellite achieved a perigee of 283 km against the target of 284 km and an apogee of 20,630 km against the targeted 20,650 km.
“The satellite is doing extremely well in orbit,” said M. Nageswara Rao, Project Director, IRNSS. Its solar panels were deployed. Dr. Rao was confident that the satellite’s life would be longer than the targeted 10 years.
The IRNSS satellites will be useful for land, sea and air navigation. They have civil and defence applications

Courtesy with: THE HINDU
 

GSLV to soar into sky with crew capsule in June


ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan (centre) with S. Ramakrishnan, Director,
VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram (left), P. Kunhikrishnan, Mission Director, PSLV -
C24 (second from left), M. Nageswara Rao, Project Director, IRNSS (second
from right), and A.S. Kiran Kumar, Director, Space Application Centre,
Ahmedabad (right), after the successful launch of IRNSS-1B from Sriharikota
on Friday. Photo: K. V. Srinivasan
 
              ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan (centre) with S. Ramakrishnan, Director, VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram (left), P. Kunhikrishnan, Mission Director, PSLV - C24 (second from left), M. Nageswara Rao, Project Director, IRNSS (second from right), and A.S. Kiran Kumar, Director, Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad (right), after the successful launch of IRNSS-1B from Sriharikota on Friday. Photo: K. V. Srinivasan
India’s huge Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV- Mark III) will soar into the sky with a crew capsule from Sriharikota in June, signalling that the country is getting ready to send its own astronauts into space. It will be an experimental mission and it will carry no astronauts. This crew capsule will return to the earth with parachutes.
It would be identical to the “final crew capsule in structural and thermo-structural parts,” said S. Ramakrishnan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram. “We will take it beyond the atmosphere, make it re-enter the earth’s atmosphere, decelerate it and make a soft touchdown in the Bay of Bengal off the Andaman coast. We will make efforts to recover it.”
The VSSC Director was speaking to reporters here after the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C24) put into orbit India’s second navigation satellite, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS-1B).
Mr. Ramakrishnan said the Indian Space Research Organisation would evaluate the structural and thermal protection systems to withstand the re-entry load, and thermo-dynamic heating.
This crew capsule will not contain the life-support systems which will be required when actual astronauts fly in the crew capsule. “We will be measuring the environment inside the capsule which will give inputs on the validation of the astronauts’ life-support systems in terms of temperature, vibration and shock which will be experienced inside the crew capsule. This will help us in designing the life-support systems when we actually fly the astronauts into space.”
No astronauts would be aboard the crew capsule in the GSLV-MkIII mission, he stressed.
K. Radhakrishnan, ISRO Chairman, said the June mission would be a passive flight. Its massive cryogenic engine would not fire.
The GSLV-MkIII was getting assembled at Sriharikota, Dr. Radhakrishnan said. Its two strap-on motors had arrived at the spaceport. . The cryogenic stage is getting ready in the ISRO Propulsion Complex at Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu.
Dr. Radhakrishnan said the PSLV would put into orbit in June the French SPOT-7 satellite and four other satellites from abroad. 

Courtesy with: THE HINDU