NDTV
Dated: July 4, 2012
God Particle Almost revealed
44 minutes of video on the special show
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/india-decides-9/the-9-oclock-news-the-biggest-stories/238274
Saturday, July 7, 2012
CERN scientists to reveal God Particle today?
From : NDTV
July 4, 2012
CERN scientists to reveal God Particle today?
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/cern-scientists-to-reveal-god-particle-today/238161
July 4, 2012
CERN scientists to reveal God Particle today?
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/cern-scientists-to-reveal-god-particle-today/238161
India to launch $75m mission to forecast rains
From: BBC
India to launch $75m mission to
forecast rains
India is launching a
$75m (£48) mission using computer models to understand the south-west monsoon
and forecast the rains more accurately, officials say. Experts say scientists
all over the world struggle to forecast weather patterns
India receives 80% of its annual rainfall during the summer
monsoons between June and September.
Forecasting the monsoon is a tricky task, as India's meteorologists have discovered time and again.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) admitted later
that it was "not very accurate" in its forecasts.
In its 137-year history the IMD has never been able to predict a drought or a flood - the two extremes of a monsoon season - successfully.
Title: India to launch $75m
mission to forecast rains
Date: July 2, 2012
By: Pallava Bagla
By Pallava Bagla
Delhi
A significant shortfall in rain can trigger drought, which
can cause great damage to India's 235 million farmers.
There have been reports that this year's monsoons have been
less than satisfactory so far.
"Understanding the monsoon will be a major priority of
the government for the next five years," says Shailesh Nayak, a senior
official in the ministry of earth sciences.
He said efforts will be made to understand the rains using
computer models developed by the UK and the US and gathering fresh data.
Forecasting the monsoon is a tricky task, as India's meteorologists have discovered time and again.
Last year they predicted a bad monsoon, but in the end the
rains turned out to be in excess of what was forecast.
In its 137-year history the IMD has never been able to predict a drought or a flood - the two extremes of a monsoon season - successfully.
Experts say scientists all over the world struggle to
forecast weather patterns.
They say the IMD does a "commendable job, putting its
reputation on the block" by making monsoon forecasts every year.
Monsoon watchers like Prof J Srinivasan from the Indian
Institute of Science says seasonal forecasts for drought and floods are
relatively accurate for the Sub-Saharan region in Africa, but no agency in the
world has ever been able to predict a drought or flood for the Indian region.
The US weather office also struggles to predict droughts for
North America but there have been occasions where they have been able to make seasonal
drought forecasts, experts say.
Pallava Bagla is a
correspondent for Science magazine
India's rocket launch business is open to industry
India's
rocket launch business is open to industry
New Delhi: In a bold move, the Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO) is opening up to market forces and is hoping to hand over
part of the lucrative rocket launch business and satellite manufacturing to the
Indian industry.
India's workhorse rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which has completed 20 consecutively successful launches under the eagle eye of ISRO, is one such technology that the agency is hoping to hive off to private players. Today, about 80 % of the vehicle is put together with parts supplied by the private industry. If K Radhakrishnan, the current chairman of ISRO and a manager trained at the Indian Institute of Management at Bangalore has his way, then the entire vehicle itself could well be made and launched by private players.
Mr Radhakrishnan says, "The PSLV is a reliable vehicle...there are requirements of putting Indian satellites, and in the global market, the PSLV too has a niche. Capability is there, demand is there, now how to enhance the capacity to realize more PSLVs? As of now more than 400 industrial firms are working for realizing various elements of PSLV. Can we get the Indian space industry to realize the [entire] PSLV vehicle itself?"
Each PSLV vehicle costs the tax payer about Rs. 120 crores, and today ISRO can, at best, fabricate four PSLV rockets per year. In the next two-three years, almost a dozen launches of PSLV are already slated and ISRO will be stretched to meet these requirements.
The plan is to carve out a 250-acre, dedicated 'Space Park' adjoining the space port at Sriharikota, which could be used by private players to develop the Indian aerospace industry.
ISRO is also thinking of hiving off the money-spinning communication satellite business. Adding further, Mr Radhakrishnan said, "On communications satellites, there is a large demand for transponders today. So, if the proven platforms of communications satellites...if they could be replicated with the help of the industry. With industry taking a major role, that is another way of meeting the national demands at the earliest possible."
With missions to Mars, moon and sun on the mind, ISRO
rightfully seeks to divest itself of repeat and routine manufacturing which is
best done by nimble private players, but with the Antrix-Devas fiasco fresh in
everyone's mind, will the private players really bite the bait? ISRO now seeks
to do what it does best - cutting-edge research. So it now wants to sell off
its launcher and communication satellite units to the industry.
From: NDTV
Date: July 1, 2012
Title: India's rocket launch business is open to industry
By: Pallava Bagla
See Video:
India's rocket launch business is open to industry
Written by Pallava Bagla, Edited by Mala Das | Updated: June
30, 2012 22:09 IST
India's workhorse rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which has completed 20 consecutively successful launches under the eagle eye of ISRO, is one such technology that the agency is hoping to hive off to private players. Today, about 80 % of the vehicle is put together with parts supplied by the private industry. If K Radhakrishnan, the current chairman of ISRO and a manager trained at the Indian Institute of Management at Bangalore has his way, then the entire vehicle itself could well be made and launched by private players.
Mr Radhakrishnan says, "The PSLV is a reliable vehicle...there are requirements of putting Indian satellites, and in the global market, the PSLV too has a niche. Capability is there, demand is there, now how to enhance the capacity to realize more PSLVs? As of now more than 400 industrial firms are working for realizing various elements of PSLV. Can we get the Indian space industry to realize the [entire] PSLV vehicle itself?"
Each PSLV vehicle costs the tax payer about Rs. 120 crores, and today ISRO can, at best, fabricate four PSLV rockets per year. In the next two-three years, almost a dozen launches of PSLV are already slated and ISRO will be stretched to meet these requirements.
The plan is to carve out a 250-acre, dedicated 'Space Park' adjoining the space port at Sriharikota, which could be used by private players to develop the Indian aerospace industry.
ISRO is also thinking of hiving off the money-spinning communication satellite business. Adding further, Mr Radhakrishnan said, "On communications satellites, there is a large demand for transponders today. So, if the proven platforms of communications satellites...if they could be replicated with the help of the industry. With industry taking a major role, that is another way of meeting the national demands at the earliest possible."
Today, the global space business is valued at $ 177 billion
and growing. So, will the Indian industry not want a share? M V Kotwal, Board
Member, Larsen & Toubro & President Heavy Engineering and head of
L&T's space and nuclear business told NDTV, "If ISRO is interested in
partnering the Indian Industry in overall management of the entire Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle programme and the communications satellite fabrication
programme, it is a very welcome and necessary step. With its wide experience
and expertise in project management, L&T would be positively inclined and
well placed to take over the complete programme management with technical
support from ISRO. In future, we could jointly explore global opportunities in
these domains."
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
India's first ICBM launch: Agni-5 full coverage by NDTV
From: NDTV
Dated: April 19, 2012
Title: Agni-5 launch
full coverage
By: Pallava Bagla
See all videos and you can download them directly using Real
Player from the website itself for your own use.
Hindi
India's missile woman: Tessy Thomas
From: The Times of India
Dated: April 25, 2012
Title: ‘Leadership or technology doesn’t know gender’: Tessy
Thomas, key player Agni-5 missile
By: Pallava Bagla
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Leadership-or-technology-doesnt-know-gender/articleshow/12854609.cms
‘Leadership or technology doesn’t know gender’: Tessy
Thomas, key player Agni-5 missile
She was named after Nobel peace prize-winner Mother
Teresa - but scientist Tessy Thomas
made news for heading the team responsible for India's first missile that can
cross continents. With a range of over 5,000 kilometres, the multi-functional Agni V can be used
to direct weapons over vast distances - or even launch a 300-kg satellite in a
low earth orbit. Thomas, often termed India's 'agni-putri', spoke with Pallava
Bagla about her feelings at Agni V's launch, what the weapon gives India -
and why being a woman has never deterred her from succeeding in a
male-dominated work field:
The Agni V has been successfully launched - after all the effort, how does it feel?
It is a feeling of great satisfaction. The country needed such a defence system and i am proud to be part of the team that made history. This is a game-changer missile that gives India the capability to launch nuclear weapons if required, launch anti-satellite weapons and even launch satellites on demand. This is a 21st century, highly modern missile that gives India the strategic depth it lacked.
Please tell us about your role in the development of the Agni V missile.
I started with navigation and guidance. I designed the guidance for the entire Agni series. I then switched over to the mission design for Agni-plus and for all the Agni series of missiles. I developed the guidance and mission design for the Agni V missile.
You are a leader in this field today - has being a woman and reaching the top been difficult?
No. I have been given this project to head as a leader - and we have proven the system. Leadership or technology doesn't know gender. Science has no gender. Science does not know from where knowledge is coming - it's only the willingness to learn and know things that matters. If you are willing to take on challenges and learn from experience, that's what is required. I have faced no gender discrimination at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It all depends on the type of organisation it is - and we at DRDO get the support we need. Further, my husband is also from a naval background, so he knows the responsibility of the work i am doing, the importance of this work. My son and my family, my parents, all were supportive towards my work.
But in a heavily male dominated work area like missile technology, is it easy to get male colleagues to listen to you?
I think they listen and do the job like any other...it depends on leadership and the science which we are working out toge-ther. They all take up the work jointly and know their responsibilities while i know how to convey this sense of responsi-bility. We work together...the whole team has been working for this class of missiles.
Do you have a message for young women who want to take up a career in science?
Yes. It's the willingness to learn, to take on challenges that is important. If you are confident that you can do science well, you will excel at it. Science is a subject of great popular interest today and it's vital for our technology. We're seeing people willing to study science at the school and college levels. I also interact with many children, all of whom are willing to take up science as their subject of choice.
The Agni V has been successfully launched - after all the effort, how does it feel?
It is a feeling of great satisfaction. The country needed such a defence system and i am proud to be part of the team that made history. This is a game-changer missile that gives India the capability to launch nuclear weapons if required, launch anti-satellite weapons and even launch satellites on demand. This is a 21st century, highly modern missile that gives India the strategic depth it lacked.
Please tell us about your role in the development of the Agni V missile.
I started with navigation and guidance. I designed the guidance for the entire Agni series. I then switched over to the mission design for Agni-plus and for all the Agni series of missiles. I developed the guidance and mission design for the Agni V missile.
You are a leader in this field today - has being a woman and reaching the top been difficult?
No. I have been given this project to head as a leader - and we have proven the system. Leadership or technology doesn't know gender. Science has no gender. Science does not know from where knowledge is coming - it's only the willingness to learn and know things that matters. If you are willing to take on challenges and learn from experience, that's what is required. I have faced no gender discrimination at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It all depends on the type of organisation it is - and we at DRDO get the support we need. Further, my husband is also from a naval background, so he knows the responsibility of the work i am doing, the importance of this work. My son and my family, my parents, all were supportive towards my work.
But in a heavily male dominated work area like missile technology, is it easy to get male colleagues to listen to you?
I think they listen and do the job like any other...it depends on leadership and the science which we are working out toge-ther. They all take up the work jointly and know their responsibilities while i know how to convey this sense of responsi-bility. We work together...the whole team has been working for this class of missiles.
Do you have a message for young women who want to take up a career in science?
Yes. It's the willingness to learn, to take on challenges that is important. If you are confident that you can do science well, you will excel at it. Science is a subject of great popular interest today and it's vital for our technology. We're seeing people willing to study science at the school and college levels. I also interact with many children, all of whom are willing to take up science as their subject of choice.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Chandrayaan -- India Aims for the Moon
India Aims for the moon with Chandrayaan-1
October 11, 2008, New Delhi, India
October 11, 2008, New Delhi, India
By Pallava Bagla
India is finally moonstruck! Multiple missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond are on the anvil and a ringside view of this `one giant step for India’ is on offer.
India is finally moonstruck! Multiple missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond are on the anvil and a ringside view of this `one giant step for India’ is on offer.
The country’s maiden mission to the Moon called Chandrayaan-1 (or ‘moon craft’) is the most detailed exploratory mission to the moon in several decades. It is a truly multi-continent scientific endeavor that has been spearheaded by Indian scientists with the lunar satellite and rocket both designed and launched by the Indian Space Research Organization.
This is indeed a unique mission where tables have literally been turned, with India offering a virtual free ride to the moon to advanced countries like the USA and UK! Yes, India is not charging anything as travel ticket to its partner nations, in return the participating nations share the lunar data with India. A great barter indeed!
India’s first unmanned satellite to the moon is the cheapest lunar mission in this latest twenty first century Asian surge to the moon, with Chandrayaan-1 costing Rupees 386 crores -- almost a quarter of what the Japanese mission Kaguya costs and half the cost of the latest Chinese moon mission Chang’e-1. Despite this, the Indian mission has double the life time of all the current lunar missions.
It is indeed a pioneering project that will permanently place India’s tri-colour on the moon, with India joining a small but elite club of nations led by Russia, America and Japan that have achieved this feat. The motivation for this it seems is establishing India's presence on the moon as part of global geopolitcs all being done with an eye on sharing the spoils of lunar resources as and when they can be mined in the distant future.
Chandrayaan-1, will map the resources of the moon like never before, hoping to prepare the most detailed and complete physical map of the moon. It has five instruments from India and six from overseas partners. There are 14 countries participating in this Indian mission. Among the several other scientific objectives of Chandrayaan-1, the Indian mission offers the most detailed search for water on the moon ever attempted in history. If water is discovered on the moon it could pave the way for establsihing human colonies on the lunar surface.
Even as India gets ready for this `one small step', Indian scietists are are already preparing for the second mission to the moon called Chandrayaan-2 in which an unmanned lander and a rover will be placed on the lunar surface in 2012, this will be done in collaboration with Russia. ISRO has already expressed its willingness to go further by sending a manned mission to space by 2015 and landing an Indian on the moon using Indian rockets by about2025. India is also preparing for missions to explore Mars, the Sun and an asteroid.
Fabled in songs, poetry and films the Earth’s closest neighbor, the Moon is still an enigma, mostly hidden from view. Despite the fact that about a dozen men have visited the moon till date yet, little is really known about its origin and what it is composed of. Does it contain life giving water on the lunar poles? To unravel some of these mysteries Chandrayaan-1, an unmanned satellite mission to the moon, will be shot into space on board India’s trusted rocket the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, with the 400,000 kilometer distance to the moon to be covered in several days.
Coming at the very end of the sixth decade of India’s Independence, the country is reaching for the skies, and in more ways than one. As the country gets propelled towards new adventures in space, a whole generation of Indians will experience first-hand the incredulous science and thrill of exploration of the Moon.
The Moon has always held pride of place in the human ethos – across diverse communities, nations, cultures and faiths. It has also held secrets and mysteries, with experts of planetary science and space seeking answers about its true origin and evolution, the presence of water and the possibility of exploiting natural resources on the moon on a commercial basis in times to come.
India is no stranger to human civilization’s unending quest for knowledge and this latest programme will place the country squarely in the galaxy of scientifically advanced nations that seek to answer the unanswered, search unexplored frontiers and tirelessly work to keep the flame burning, shedding its light in the dark unknown. In the past, lunar missions have succeeded in galvanizing entire nations and igniting collective psyches, and the Indian mission is no different. India's moon yatra has truly begun!
Pallava Bagla
(Pallava Bagla is Science Editor for NDTV and Chief Correspondent (Soutrh Asia) for Science.
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