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Lunar probe enters moon's orbit
Wednesday, 7 November, 2007
AA: New Delhi, Nov.6 (ANI): China's first lunar probe, Chang'e I, successfully completed its first braking at perilune and entered the moon's orbit Monday morning, becoming China's first circumlunar satellite. Chang'e I, following the instructions of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC), started braking at 11:15 a.m. at a position around 300 km away from the moon and entered the moon's orbit at around 11:37 a.m. after completing the braking, according to the BACC. Wang Yejun, chief engineer of BACC, considers the first braking just in time to decelerate the probe, enabling it to be captured by the lunar gravity. "The first braking at perilune is a key moment in the long journey of Chang'e-1," Xinhua quoted Wang, as saying. After the braking, the probe's speed was slowed down to 1.948 km per second and is now travelling along a 12-hour elliptical moon orbit, with a perilune of about 200 km and an apolune of about 8,600 km. The probe is expected to brake for another two times in the following two days, which will slow down its speed first to 1.8 km per second to help it enter a 3.5-hour orbit and then to 1.59 km per second to make it enter a 127-minute round orbit, where it is supposed to start "working" formally. Chang'e I will then stay a year in the round orbit, which is 200 km from the moon's surface, for scientific explorations. Chang'e I, named after a legendary Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, blasted off on a Long March 3A carrier rocket on October 24 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in south-western Sichuan Province. The probe completed its fourth orbital transfer on October 31, which shifted it to the earth-moon transfer orbit and pushed it to fly to the moon "in a real sense". Then, it flew another 114 hours to arrive at the perilune 200 km away from the moon. It was previously moving around the earth and experienced three orbital transfers, which lifted it up first to a 16-hour orbit with an apogee of 50,000 km, then to a 24-hour orbit with an apogee of 70,000 km and next to a 48-hour orbit with an apogee of more than 120,000 km. On November 2, BACC successfully carried out an orbital correction for Chang'e I to ensure that it travelled on the pre-set orbit. A second orbital correction scheduled for November 3 was called off because it was "unnecessary" -- Chang'e I had been running accurately on the expected trajectory, a BACC scientist said. The 2,350-kg satellite carried eight probing facilities, including a stereo camera and interferometer, an imager and gamma/x-ray spectrometer, a laser altimeter, a microwave detector, a high energy solar particle detector and a low energy ion detector. Chang'e I is expected to relay the first picture of the moon in late November. (ANI) Labels: Science
International Conference on Disaster Reduction 2007 to be held on Nov 28
AA: Mumbai, Nov 6 (ANI/Business Wire India): The third Annual International Conference on Disaster Reduction (ICDR) 2007 will be held here on November 28 and 29. The Conference focuses on the theme of "Business Continuity Management and Disaster Recovery" will be held at Nehru Centre Mumbai under the chairmanship of Professor Ian Davis. The conference is under the flagship of Global Forum for Disaster Reduction. A one-of-its kind attempt that connects the corporate world with the disaster mitigation efforts in the country will bring together eminent experts from India and abroad for an in-depth discussion. "This conference will equip you with the right tools, modern strategies and new technologies which will bring radical changes to your enterprise risk management and will make your business efficient and your controls effective" said Satya Swaroop, Project Director, ICDR. The conference will seek participation from various verticals such as Information Technology, Banking and Finance, Telecommunications, Insurance, Retail Industry, Government and Education. It will be attended by delegates from 12 countries. Some of the eminent speakers include Prof. Ian Davis, Visiting Professor, Cranfield University, Anil Sinha, United Nations International Risk Recovery Platform, Etsuko Tsunozaki and M.S. Gowari Sanker, Asian Disaster Reduction Centre, Dr. Sanjay Srivastav , ISRO, Prof. Vinod Menon, National Disaster Management Authority, Abraham (Avi) Bachar, ISRATEAM 98 Ltd., Prof. Ravi Sinha, IIT, Dr. Manish Tripathi, IBM, Dilruba Haider Managing Partner, Oracle Communications, C.A Khushroo Panthaky, Grant Thornton, Vinay Disla, Wipro , Sunder Krishnan Reliance Life Insurance Company Limited and many more, who will share their experiences and best practices in implementing BCM in their organisations. Israel is the country partner of this conference while knowledge partner is Grant Thornton. Other partners include IBM, JCB, TERI, WebEx Communications, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, EXIM Bank, National Housing Bank and Global Trade Finance. NEW MEDIA, as part of its commitment to serving society, initiated and established GLOBAL FORUM FOR DISASTER REDUCTION (GFDR) in 2004, with a mission of connecting governments, corporates and communities. GFDR has taken several step and succeeded in creating a Platform for Public-Private Partnership. (ANI) Labels: Science
India to partner with African nations to achieve energy security: Pranab
Tuesday, 6 November, 2007
New Delhi, Nov 6 (ANI): Reiterating India's high resolve at attaining energy security as a matter of national importance, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that prospects in this direction were being relentlessly explored for sourcing energy from the country's neighbourhood and beyond. Inaugurating the India-Africa Hydrocarbon Conference here, Mukherjee said that the newly created Energy Security Unit in the MEA would maintain close coordination with other ministries concerned as well as public and private corporate entities to support their international engagement through appropriate diplomatic intervention. He went on to say that India needs to expand its current primary energy supply levels by three to four times and electricity generation by five to six times in the next two and half decades to sustain the high growth levels required to attain the developmental goals and eradicate poverty. He underlined that the task of investing in overseas energy assets has therefore become an important aspect of our economic diplomacy. In addition, he said, "the possibility of bilateral cooperation in the downstream sectors, petrochemicals, non-conventional energy and joint ventures are constantly being explored with various resource-rich countries." Mukherjee further said that India was increasingly looking at taking forward its partnership with Africa, as the country was a natural market for Africa's rich hydrocarbon resources. Prospects for cooperation with African nations have received a boost with a surge in investments by Indian companies in countries such as Libya, Sudan, Nigeria, Egypt and Gabon over the past few years, he added. "India stands ready to share its experience with its African partners in the hydrocarbon sector, from exploration to distribution through refining, storage and transportation. It is crucial that over a period of time, investment in this sector should directly assist in the building up of a trained and skilled workforce capable of efficiently running the assets," Mukherjee said. The first ever India-Africa Hydrocarbon Conference and Exhibition will conclude tomorrow. The Conference is the first initiative of its kind by the Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) Ministry, jointly with FICCI. The India-Africa engagement in the hydrocarbon sector assumes significance in view of Africa's potential as an investment destination for India's oil and gas companies; and, in particular, Africa's potential to play an increasing role in enhancing India's oil supply security through diversification of its crude oil import sources. A significant quantity of India's crude oil imports are currently being sourced from Africa and given that the continent is expected to contribute approximately 25 per cent of the growth in the world's petroleum and LNG supplies over the next three years, there is enormous potential for India to increase its volumes of crude oil imports from African countries in the future. With 10 per cent of the world's total oil and gas reserves, Africa's hydrocarbon exploration potential remains relatively untapped. There are significant opportunities for Indian companies to increase their exploration efforts in the continent, in line with the Government of India's objective of acquisition of overseas oil equity. (ANI) Labels: Science
“Science Express” launched by India and Germany
Wednesday, 31 October, 2007
MP: New Delhi, Oct 30 (ANI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that the "Science Express", an exhibition which is the result of a partnership in science and technology between India and Germany, will build new bridges of understanding and goodwill between India and Germany.
Flagging off the "Science Express", a special exhibition mounted on a train at Safdarjung Railway Station today, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Singh said: "It will symbolise the exciting partnership between our scientists that befits the 21st century. It will symbolise and showcase our cooperation in the popularisation of science and its importance to our relationship."
Singh said that the "Science Express" will take the wonders of modern science to remote corners of the country and contribute to the propagation of the scientific temper among our youth.
Recalling India's partnership with Germany in setting up the Rourkela Steel Plant and Indian Institute of Technology at Chennai, he said, "Our collaboration with Germany in science and technology goes back several decades."
Singh also thanked the Max Planck Society in Germany, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Indian Railways and the Department of Science and Technology for making this project possible.
Felicitating the scientists and engineers involved in the project, Dr. Merkel, herself a researcher, said, "This train will create a strong movement in the talented youth of India towards research in science."
After visiting some of the coaches, both the Chancellor and the PM waved green flags and the Science Express rolled off a gaily-decorated station to the cheering of the invitees.
The Science Express will travel through 57 cities across the country for over seven months and will display important challenges in science, the future of research and reach different target groups especially students and young researchers.
Many organisations from Germany and India are associated with the exhibition on train which would be available for counselling and guidance of interested youth at each halt.
It has large screen displays for audio-visual experience, interactive computers and many other attractions in each of the coaches.
The exhibition seeks to address issues from micro-cosmos to macro-cosmos through twelve stories. (ANI) Labels: Science
President to inaugurate World Lake Conference in Jaipur
Saturday, 27 October, 2007
MP: New Delhi, Oct 27 (ANI): President Pratibha Patil will inaugurate
the 12th World Lake Conference in Jaipur on October 29. President Patil will arrive in Jaipur on the evening of October 28 and
return to New Delhi the next day after inaugurating the conference. The conference will be attended by experts from around the world and
will discuss ways in which lakes can be conserved. This is the first time that this conference is being held in the South
Asian region. This will be the President's first visit to Rajasthan since she was
sworn-in in July. President Patil was the Governor of Rajasthan before
she was elected as the President of India. (ANI) Labels: Science
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