PSLV-C20 & SARAL

PSLV-C20

India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in its 23rd flight (PSLV-C20), launches the Indo-French satellite SARAL along with 6 commercial payloads from Canada, Austria, Denmark and UK into a 785 km polar sun synchronous orbit inclined at an angle of 98.538 degree to the equator. PSLV-C20 was launched on Feb 25, 2013 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota. 

With a lift-off mass of 407 kg, SARAL is the 56th satellite to be launched by PSLV. The six payloads from abroad together have a lift-off mass of 259.5 kg. PSLV-C20 is the ninth flight of PSLV in 'Core-Alone' configuration (without solid strap-on motors). 

PSLV Workhorse Launch Vehicle of ISRO

PSLV is the first operational launch vehicle of ISRO. PSLV is capable of launching 1600 kg satellites in 620 km sun-synchronous polar orbit and 1050 kg satellite in geo-synchronous transfer orbit. In the standard configuration, it measures 44.4 m tall, with a lift off weight of 295 tonnes. PSLV has four stages using solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately. The first stage is one of the largest solid propellant boosters in the world and carries 139 tonnes of propellant.

The reliability rate of PSLV has been superb. There had been 22 continuously successful flights of PSLV, till February 2013. With its variant configurations, PSLV has proved its multi-payload, multi-mission capability in a single launch and its geosynchronous launch capability.

SARAL

The Satellite with ARGOS and ALTIKA (SARAL) is a joint Indo-French satellite mission for oceanographic studies. SARAL will perform altimetric measurements designed to study ocean circulation and sea surface elevation. The payloads of SARAL are: 

• Ka band Altimeter, ALTIKA - built by the French National Space Agency CNES. The payload is intended for oceanographic applications.
• ARGOS Data Collection System - built by CNES. It will collect a variety of data from ocean buoys to transmit it to the ARGOS Ground Segment for subsequent processing and distribution. 
• Solid State C-band Transponder (SCBT) is from ISRO and intended for ground RADAR calibration.

Application of SARAL

SARAL data products will be useful for operational as well as research user communities in many fields like:

•  Marine meteorology and sea state forecasting
•  Operational oceanography
•  Seasonal forecasting
•  Climate monitoring
•  Ocean, earth system and climate research
•  Continental ice studies
•  Protection of biodiversity
•  Management and protection of marine ecosystem
•  Environmental monitoring
•  Improvement of maritime security

Auxiliary Payloads with SARAL

Besides SARAL, PSLV-C20 launched six auxiliary payloads from Canada, Austria, Denmark and UK from Sriharikota on Feb 25, 2013. 

Name	Weight	Country
SAPPHIRE	148 kg	Canada
NEOSSAT	74 kg	Canada
NLS 8.1 (UNIBRITE)	14 kg	Austria
NLS 8.2 (BRITE)	14 kg	Austria
NLS 8.3 (AAUSAT-3)	3 kg	Denmark
STRaND-1	6.5 kg	UK

Thorium: The Green Energy Source of Future

At the dawn of the atomic age, uranium and thorium were equally important as the element of choice for nuclear energy. Either one could have fuelled the world’s reactors. But it was uranium that won out, and thorium, which is far cleaner, safer, denser and more abundant than uranium, was relegated to the dustbin of science. With it went the possibility of creating a low risk nuclear energy source to power our planet. Now, as the world searches for cheap, non-carbon-emitting energy sources, thorium is re-emerging as an overlooked solution that could provide hundreds of years of clean, safe power.

The Thorium Advantage

More abundant: It is a naturally-occurring element with very low radioactivity. Thorium is approximately three times as abundant as uranium in the earth’s crust, reflecting that thorium has a longer half-life.

Denser fuel: In addition, thorium generally is present in higher concentrations (2-10%) by weight than uranium (0.1-1%) in their respective ores, making thorium retrieval much less expensive and less environmentally damaging per unit of energy extracted and generates more energy per ton. The pro-thorium lobby claim a single tonne of thorium in a liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR), can produce one gigawatt of energy. A traditional pressurised water reactor (PWR) would need to burn 250 tonnes of uranium to produce the same amount of energy.

Nuclear safety: There is a safety side of thorium reactions. Unlike U235, thorium is not fissile and does not undergo chain reaction. To make thorium nuclei split apart, it must be bombarded with neutrons. Then, when there is a need of shutting down the reaction, simply turn off the source of neutrons and the whole process shuts down.

Manageable waste: In thorium based nuclear reaction by-products are far less radioactive, which stays radioactive for only 500 years, instead of 10,000 years in the case of uranium.

Why are we using Uranium

Researches related to nuclear reactions were initially driven not by the desire to make energy, but by the desire to make nuclear weapon. Because the plutonium needed to make fission devices come from reactors based of Uranium fuel. The $2 billion Manhattan Project that produced the atomic bomb sparked a worldwide surge in nuclear research, most of it funded by governments embroiled in the Cold War. The fact that Thorium reactors could not produce fuel (Plutonium) for nuclear weapons, we discarded the much cleaner and safer Thorium. 

Challenges for Thorium

One of the biggest challenges in developing a thorium reactor is finding a way to fabricate the fuel economically. Making thorium dioxide is expensive because its melting point is the highest of all oxides, at 3,300° C. The options for generating the neutrons needed to kick-start the reaction come down to uranium or plutonium, making it uranium or plutonium dependent.

The Bottom Line

Thorium is three times more abundant in nature than uranium. The concentration of thorium is much higher in its ore, which means it does not require enrichment. Thorium-based reactors are safer because the reaction can easily be stopped. Compared to uranium reactors, thorium reactors produce far less waste and the waste that is generated is much less radioactive and much shorter-lived.

To top it all off, thorium would also be the ideal solution for allowing countries like Iran or North Korea to have nuclear power without worrying whether their nuclear programs are a cover for developing weapons. 

Agni-V : India's First ICBM

Agni-V is a surface to surface, three stage, solid fuelled, nuclear capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by DRDO of India. This 50 tonnes missile can strike up to 5,000 km with a nuclear warhead of 1.1 tonne. Agni-V was test fired successfully on 19th April 2012 at 08:05am IST from Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa.

This is the first time India has test-fired a three-stage, all solid-fuelled missile. Only China, France, Russia, United States, Britain and possibly Israel, are believed to have such long range nuclear capable weapons.

Agni-V ICBM has been designed with the addition of a third composite stage to the two-stage Agni-III missile. To reduce the weight it is built with high composite material. The 17.5-metre-long Agni-V is a canister launch missile system which ensures requisite operational flexibility and can be swiftly transported and fired from anywhere. Many new technologies including Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs), ring laser gyroscope and accelerometer for navigation and guidance and carbon composite rocket motor casings were tested in the missile.

Agni-V will feature Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs) with each missile being capable of carrying 2–10 separate nuclear warheads. Each warhead can be assigned to a different target, separated by hundreds of kilometres. MIRVs ensure a credible second strike capability even with few missiles.

The missile will bring the whole of Asia, including the northernmost parts of China, 70% of Europe and other regions under its strike envelope. This is the first time India has produced a missile that has brought China within its range and it is being considered a big deterrent capability. Currently, the longest-range Indian missile, the Agni-III, has a range of 3,500 kilometers and falls short of many major Chinese cities. Agni-V along with Agni-III will provide credible deterrent against china.  Indian authorities believe that Agni-V is more than adequate to meet current threat perceptions and security concerns.

After two more validation tests, Agni-V is expected to be inducted into the armed forces in the next two years. 

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services through internet rather than a product. In cloud computing, the users rather than buying and installing application software on his computers, uses the application software directly from the cloud (or internet). Here cloud is a metaphor for the Internet.

In more technical term, Cloud computing is a technology that uses the internet and central remote servers to maintain data and applications and it allows consumers and businesses to use applications without installation and access their data at any computer with internet access. This technology allows for much more efficient computing by centralizing storage, memory, processing and bandwidth.

A simple example of cloud computing is web-based email like Yahoomail, Gmail, or Hotmail etc. Here users don’t need a software on his personal computer to use them. All a user would need is just an internet connection and browser and can start sending emails. The server and email management software is all on the cloud (internet) and is totally managed by the cloud service provider Yahoo, Google etc.

Cloud computing system is divided it into two sections: the front end and the back end. They connect to each other through a network, the Internet. The front end is the side the computer user, or client. The back end is the cloud server where applications and data are stored.

Characteristics 

1. Lower Cost: Cost is claimed to be reduced and in a public cloud computing model capital expenditure is converted to operational expenditure.
2. Multi-location Access: It enables users to access systems using a web browser regardless of their location or what device they are using (e.g., PC, mobile phone).
3. More Reliability: Reliability is improved if multiple redundant sites are used, which makes well-designed cloud computing suitable for business continuity and disaster recovery.
4. Better Security: Security could improve due to centralization of data, increased security-focused resources, etc., Security is often better than other traditional systems, because providers are able to devote resources to solving security issues that many customers cannot afford.
5. Easy Maintenance: Maintenance of cloud computing applications is easier, because they do not need to be installed on each user's computer and can be accessed from different places.

Concerns 

1. Privacy: Cloud computing poses privacy concerns because the service provider at any point in time, may access the data that is on the cloud. They could accidentally or deliberately alter or even delete some vital information.
2. Security: While most cloud service provider would ensure that their servers are kept free from viral infection and malware, it Is still a concern considering the fact that a number of users from around the world are accessing the server which can lead to malware and viral spread over the server. That is why users might not be comfortable handing over their sensitive and important data to a third party.
3. Abuse: Hackers posing as legitimate customers can purchase the services of cloud computing for nefarious purposes. This includes password cracking and launching attacks using the purchased services. 

Fastest Supercomputer of India and Word.

K computer- world's fastest supercomputer

Japan’s “K Computer“, which is being jointly developed by RIKEN (a large natural sciences research institute in Japan) and Fujitsu have taken the first place on the 37th TOP500 list of Super Computers announced at the 26th International Supercomputing Conference (ISC’11) held in Hamburg, Germany (June 2011).

It is named for the Japanese word "kei”, meaning 10 quadrillion. This machine is currently installed at the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science campus in Kobe, Japan. The K computer is based on a ‘distributed memory’ architecture, with over 80,000 computer nodes. In November 2011, K became the first computer to top 10 petaflops. It is slated for completion in June 2012.

SAGA-220- India’s fastest supercomputer

SAGA-220 is a supercomputer built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). As of May 2011, it is the fastest supercomputer in the nation with a maximum theoretical speed of 220 Teraflops. The name SAGA-220 stands for Supercomputer for Aerospace with GPU Architecture-220 teraflops. It was unveiled on May 2, 2011 by Dr K Radhakrishnan, Chairman, ISRO.

It is located at the supercomputing facility named Satish Dhawan Supercomputing Facility at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram. The system is being used by scientists to complex aeronautical problems. It has been hinted that it will be used to design future space launch vehicles. The system is environmentally green and consumes a power of only 150 KW. This system can also be easily scaled to many PetaFLOPS (1000 TeraFLOPS).

The fastest Indian computer so far has been the EKA at the Tata Sons’ Computational Research Laboratory in Pune which ranks no 47 in the global TOP 500 Supercomputer rankings with a peak of 172.6 TFlops. The SAGA-220 claim of 220 peak TFlops would probably be putting it around # 30 in the global ranking. 

28 Feb - National Science Day - Remembering Sir Raman

February 28 is celebrated as National Science Day. On February 28 we remember a great scientist Sir C.V. Raman. His discovery placed India on the world Science map. He was the first person from Asia to be awarded a Nobel Prize in any field of science.

It was on this day years ago (February 28, 1928) that Sir C.V. Raman made a discovery that later came to be known as the Raman Effect. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1930.

In 1986, the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) asked the Government of India to designate February 28 as National Science Day to commemorate the legacy and discovery of the Raman Effect. The theme for 2012 is Clean Energy Options and Nuclear Safety.

Raman Effect

While working as professor at the University of Calcutta Raman started experiments to study how light behaved when it passed through various substances. On February 28, 1928, he found that light of only one colour was passed through a liquid emerged out with small traces of another colour. This meant that the molecules in the liquid were changing the colour of some of the light passing through it. The discovery created a sensation around the world and was named the Raman Effect. In 1930, C.V. Raman became the first person from Asia to be awarded a Nobel Prize in any field of science. The date of the discovery, February 28, is now celebrated as National Science Day in India.

The Raman Effect has been very useful in many areas of science. It was found that when light was passed through a substance, a series of colours were seen that could be specific for a substance and thought of as a fingerprint of the substance. This idea has been used in chemistry, medicine, biology and many other areas of science to find out what a substance’s material composition.

Raman spectroscopy employs the Raman effect for materials analysis. It is used to analyze a wide range of materials, including gases, liquids, and solids. Highly complex materials such as biological organisms and human tissue can also be analyzed by Raman spectroscopy.

New legless amphibian family found in India

A new family of legless amphibians, caecilians, has been discovered in northeastern India by a team of scientists led by a Delhi University professor, S D Biju. These animals could be mistaken as huge earthworms; but they are actually vertebrates with backbones and more like salamanders or frogs. Prof. Biju and team named the new family as Chikilidae and the new genus as Chikila, deriving the name from the Northeast Indian tribal language of Garo.

DNA evidence suggests the family split from its closest African relatives more than 140 million years ago, when the ancient super-continent of Gondwana fragmented, separating present-day India and Africa. Until this discovery, there were only nine known families of legless amphibians or caecilians, found across the wet tropical regions of Southeast Asia, India, Sri Lanka, parts of East and West Africa, the Seychelles and northern and eastern parts of South America.

Caecilians are very hard to spot as they live either underground or under leaf litter that lies on the soil. The females incubate their young for several months without eating. Their eggs hatch into adult caecilians, with no larval stage in between. Their eyesight is very limited and their skulls adapted for burrowing.

Professor Biju, also known as Frogman, found them in the forest area and close to human settlement, so conservation of this group may be extremely challenging. Some of the animals have reportedly been killed by villagers who mistook them for poisonous snakes. In fact, they carry no venom. Slash and burn agro-practices can also pose challenge for this newly found animal in the north-eastern state of India. One positive point for the new discoveries is that the region seems to be free of the fungal disease chytridiomycosis, which has devastated amphibian populations in many parts of the world.

Globally, amphibians are the most threatened group of animals, with about 40% of species on the Red List. But new discoveries are regularly made, though most come from rarely-visited regions of rainforest rather than quite densely-populated areas.

These findings have been published in a paper titled 'Discovery of a new family of amphibians from Northeast India with ancient links to Africa' in the current issue of Proceedings of Royal Society of London B.