Assam witnessed the rare celestial phenomenon

ASSAM: At least nine sites of Assam witnessed the rare celestial phenomenon of total solar eclipse. The dazzling diamond ring was visible at some areas. In nearly 11 sites partial eclipse was visible and bad weather played spoilsport at many places. Scientists from different places across India took their positions in different parts of Assam. Many scientists were camping in the Dibrugarh University. Scientists from Indian Space Research Organisation, Indian Institute of Geo Magnetism, Mumbai, Equatorial Geo-Magnetic Research Laboratory, Tirunelvelli, National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi and Calcutta University were camping for the event at the Dibrugarh University. Overcast sky spoiled the viewing in several areas of Nagaland. A major partion of Kohima was covered with clouds during the eclipse. Curator of the Guwahati planetarium, Babul Chandra Bora told ET, "The participation of people in large numbers has shown that people are putting aside the age old superstition of not watching eclipse. Assam was one centre of attractions during this eclipse." He added that Baihata Chariali witnessed a magnificent diamond ring. At Guwahati Planetarium, special arrangements were made for viewing.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET-Cetera/Assam-greets-dazzling-eclipse-at-nine-places/articleshow/4809009.cms

Global emission cap to keep temperatures within 2 degree

The only take away for the two countries from the array of meetings was the possibility of greater technology cooperation with the areas of discord remaining unsorted. Coming in the wake of the MEF statement in Italy, the US team spelt out its position much clearer and worked to polish the points of cooperation while downplaying the issues of divergence. The Obama administration's coup at getting the `two degree' clause accepted by the developing countries remained central with the US team looking at a framework for a deal at Copenhagen based on a global emission cap to keep temperatures within 2 degree of the pre-industrial level, demanding peaking of emissions and going below the `business-as-usual emission scenario' from India. While insisting on a 2005 baseline to measure emission cut volumes at home, the US team also indicated that it was not ready to undertake cuts to the levels India has demanded — at least 40% below 1990 levels by 2020. It also made clear that it was not ready for a deal where the developed countries would provide the kind of funds India had asked for — 0.5% of the GDP of the industrialized nations annually. It also remained averse to only crediting the money that passes through UN channels as part of its effort to help developing countries mitigate emissions and adapt to inevitable changes in the climate.

For further details visit as: timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/US-Drop-dependence-on-coal/articleshow/4805270.cms

Moon program is really a tale of engineering improvisation

It's a temptation, watching many of the 40th Anniversary retrospectives, to think of the Apollo space program as a triumph of power and industrial might. The superpowers' space programs were, of course, political and chauvinistic, designed to showcase national wealth. But there's a better way of looking at the program, Dennis Wingo reminded me recently. Masses of money helped put man on the Moon of course, but the Moon program is really a tale of engineering improvisation and human organisation. Space expert and entrepreneur Dennis Wingo put the first webserver - an Apple Mac - in orbit, for just $7m, and has helped piece together a lot of historical material that NASA didn't appreciate at the time - and forgot about, or wiped. There is one piece of kit in particular that encapsulates two stories: NASA's negligence, and the quite amazing improvisation of the engineers. It's the Lunar Orbiter, which mapped the moon's surface prior to manned descent. Wingo painstakingly recovered and restored much of the imagery it took. To give us an idea of how much Apollo owed to seat-of-the-pants ingenuity, it's worth remembering that the story of the Orbiter begins in 1961 - the year of the first human orbit of the Earth by Yuri Gagarin. The space pioneers were seeing a high death rate from test subjects - dogs (the USSR) and chimps (the USA), the latter proving to be a duff move - the chimps panicked in the claustrophobic conditions.

For further details visit as : www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/22/destination_moon/

BMP based 3G handset

Taiwan-based High Computer Tech (HTC) will launch a high-profile 3G handset based on Qualcomm's Brew Mobile Platform (BMP) in September or October targeting the consumer segment, according to industry sources in Taiwan. The BMP-based handset will come with a touchsreeen, HTC's in-house developed TouchFlo 3D technology and HTC Sense interface as found in the HTC touch-enabled smartphone lineup, and yet the device will be available as an entry-level model, the sources noted. HTC also plans to increase the adoption of Android-based platform in place of Windows Mobile. The proportion of HTC's shipments of Android-based smartphones will rise to over 50% in 2010 compared to 30% in 2009, the sources indicated. The deployment of BMP-based models and the enforcement of Android-powered handsets will help further enhance HTC's competitiveness, the sources asserted.

source : www.digitimes.com/news/a20090722PD205.html

National Air & Space Museum in Washington

The first man on the moon took a moment Monday, on the 40th anniversary of his "giant leap," to remember the Apollo program and the engineering triumph that won the Cold War space race and opened the door to the manned exploration of the solar system. Speaking at an Apollo celebration at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, Neil Armstrong enjoyed a standing ovation before sharing his view of the achievement that carried him to the moon, concluding with a simple, heartfelt "Apollo was a good thing to do." Neil Armstrong's shadow on the moon. "Thank you so much," he said from the stage. "Whenever I come to this city, if I have 20 minutes to spare, I come to this building. Not necessarily to look at craft hanging from the ceiling and sitting on the floors. But to absorb, by osmosis or radiation or some unknown mechanism, some of the history that resides here. And it must have worked, because as one young man recently said to me, 'Pop, you're history!' "So let me take one minute to recount some of those flights that we saw in the video earlier. Forty winters have passed since the first manned flights of the Apollo spacecraft. And so, let's kind of return to that remarkable time between October of 1968 and November of 1969.

for further details visit as : news.cnet.com/8301-19514_3-10291518-239.html

RGCB-Arctic expedition team members

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After a month of intensive microbial collection in the sub-zero conditions of the North Pole, Arctic expedition team members Sabu Thomas and Wilson Peter Abraham of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) are back. They landed in Mumbai on Saturday morning and subsequently in Thiruvananthapuram in the afternoon.

``Well, the last few days gave us some anxious moments, as the weather suddenly turned bad and the Dornier aircraft that was supposed to fly us out of the North Pole failed to come till the day of our return journey. But the trip was beyond all our expectations. It is a totally different, white, world out there with the white sky and the fully snow-covered white mountains,’’ recalled Sabu Thomas, who joined for work at RGCB after a short visit to his home at Kottarakkara.
Sabu and Wilson were two of the three Malayalees selected for the expedition, the third being Mohammad Hatha of the Cochin University of Science and Technology, who headed the eight-member team. ``It was a great feeling to see our station Himadri at Ny-Alesund, an island in the Svalbard Archipelago of Norway. Just 14 countries have established their stations in the North Pole and you feel a deep sense of pride within. Actually, India is one of the very few countries which have a station at both the poles,’’ said the scientist. The Indian Arctic Expedition 2009-10 was organised by the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) under the Ministry of Earth Science, Government of India. Sabu Thomas and his student Wilson had gone looking for the cold cousins of the cholera bacteria and also some novel proteins, enzymes and other biomolecules in the polar bacteria that may possibly be of industrial importance.


for further details visit as : www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Account+of+an+Arctic+adventure&artid=GybRgJpkgoc=&SectionID=lMx/b5mt1kU=&MainSectionID=lMx/b5mt1kU=&SEO=&SectionName=tm2kh5uDhixGlQvAG42A/07OVZOOEmts

The astronauts-Moon landing 40 years ago

Two of the astronauts who took part in the first Moon landing 40 years ago have called for renewed efforts to send a manned mission to Mars. At a rare public reunion of the Apollo 11 crew, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins said Mars instead of the Moon should be the focus of exploration. Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, said the race to get to the Moon had been the ultimate peaceful contest. He said it was an "exceptional national investment" for the US and ex-USSR. The trio spoke at an event at Washington DC's National Air and Space Museum to mark the 40th anniversary of their mission. Mr Armstrong told the audience: "It was the ultimate peaceful competition: USA vs USSR. "I'll not assert that it was a diversion which prevented a war, nevertheless it was a diversion. Sometimes I think I flew to the wrong place. Mars was always my favourite as a kid and it still is today Michael Collins Apollo 11 crew "Eventually, it provided a mechanism for engendering co-operation between former adversaries. In that sense, among others, it was an exceptional national investment for both sides."

For further details visit as : news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8158519.stm

LG-New range of Monitors launched in india

Bangalore: LG has launched its new range of monitors in India. This latest monitor allows upto 11 users to experience multi-user computing through one PC. These monitors are specially designed to offer low cost solution to the companies. The monitor aims to redistribute 90 percent of a PC's unused resources to other users.

LG Electronics is the world's second-biggest maker of televisions and third-biggest maker of mobile phones. By offering these monitors at Rs 11000, LG is revolutionizing the way resources are used amongst corporate. Usually less than 10 percent of power is used, these monitors will help in reducing the TCO up to 60 percent. These monitors will only take power of one watt per user. Consumers can also save up to 70 percent of maintenance cost. It will also help network on security issue as it enables the use of one main PC to remove virus in 10 network monitors. Companies will only have to make a onetime automatic upgrade which will cost around Rs.10,400 to Rs.11,800 to set up these monitors.
LG is among 100 global brands, and in 2006, LG recorded a brand growth of 14 percent. Now the world's largest plasma panel manufacturer, its affiliate, LG Display, is one of the largest manufacturers of liquid crystal displays. Nowadays multi-core computers are powerful enough to run more than one monitors. The revolutionary multi-computing solution from LG enables a single PC to be virtualized so that many users can tap the unused capacity and share it as if each person had an individual computer, without compromising performance, stability or speed. These multi-computing solutions include built-in keyboard, mouse, and audio connections. The monitors connect to a PCI card plugged into the host PC that creates multiple virtual workspaces in combination with NComputing vSpace desktop virtualization software.


Source : www.siliconindia.com/shownews/LG_launches_Network_Monitors_for_Rs11000-nid-59202.html

The shuttle launch was rescheduled for Monday at 6:51 pm

The US space agency plans to launch the space shuttle Endeavour after stormy weather forced the fourth postponement of its mission to the International Space Station.

"Looks like the team is ready but the weather is not. At this time we are no-go," the US space agency's launch director Pete Nickolenko said with the crew aboard and little more than 10 minutes to go before the planned takeoff on Sunday.
The shuttle launch was rescheduled for Monday at 6:51 pm (2251 GMT), Nickolenko said.
However, forecasters said the likelihood of favorable conditions was just 40 percent, far below the forecast leading up to Sunday's scrapped attempt when meteorologists predicted a 70 percent chance of good weather.
The cancellation was forced by a storm system that developed late afternoon near the launch site in Florida and gradually moved within 20 miles (32 kilometers) of launchpad 39A, where the Endeavour and its seven-astronaut crew were waiting to take off.
NASA officials waited until just minutes before liftoff to scrub the launch, hoping that a sea breeze might shift the weather system further afield, as has happened before.
But as the minutes ticked down, there were reports of lightning strikes within miles of the Kennedy Space Center, forcing the cancellation.
Lightning strikes were responsible for the third of four delays to Endeavour's mission to the International Space Station (ISS) to assemble the Japanese Kibo laboratory.
A Friday night storm produced at least 11 lightning strikes that hit the shuttle's pad, but did not damage the shuttle.
Takeoff had been delayed previously twice after the discovery of potentially hazardous fuel leaks, apparently caused by a misaligned plate linking a hydrogen gas vent line with the external fuel tank.



For further details visit as : www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ihvfcMvC77MUVRLm4z5p63mE4i7w

Chandrayaan-1 has given Indian scientists

The successful experiment with Chandrayaan-1 has given Indian scientists a newfound confidence.

India’s space program has come a long way since it was established in 1962 as the Indian National Committee on Space Research (INCOSPAR). Its successor, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was set up in 1969, and six years later their first satellite, Aryabhata, was launched. Since then ISRO has matured into one of the “Big Three” Asian space agencies, alongside China’s CNSA and Japan’s JAXA. It is a significant partner in many international space projects.
The first ISRO Moon probe, Chandrayaan 1, was an important step away from ISRO’s previous focus on practical space technology applications, such as remote sensing, communications, distance learning, telemedicine, and security. These efforts were all aimed at supporting India’s national development goals. For many years the feeling was that everything they did had to have a direct payoff for the people and particularly for the impoverished masses. The mission was the first pure space science mission the Indian agency had even done.
The Insat series of communications satellites and the unique weather sensors that they carry are a good example of ISRO’s traditional approach. These satellites were at first launched mostly by Europe’s Ariane and are now being put into orbit by India’s own Geosynchronous Space Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The technology for the spacecraft themselves was almost entirely homegrown. ISRO’s policy was to use as little foreign input as possible, both in order to develop their own industrial base and—so they claimed—to hold down costs.
Chandrayaan 1 represented a major break from that tradition. It incorporated instrument packages from Britain, Germany, Russia, Sweden, and the US, as well as from India itself. This represented a major step forward in India-US cooperation. Overcoming the bureaucratic and political obstacles that have long stood in the way of such bilateral programs was a major achievement for all involved. On the US side breaking through the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) restrictions was only accomplished with a lot of hard work on the part of both NASA and the State Department. It would never have been possible without a commitment from the highest levels of government: former President George W. Bush and former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee deserve a lot of credit in this regard. In their joint November 2001 communiqué they announced that they had “…agreed to initiate discussions on Civil Space cooperation.”


Source : www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23361&Itemid=88