India sets a world space record
Radhakrishna Rao
In a dramatic breakthrough, India’s four-stage space workhorse PSLV(Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle), after a smooth takeoff from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre(SDSC) in Sriahri-kota island on the sunny morning of April 28 successfully placed in orbit as many as 10 satellites in one go and in the process created a sort of world space record.

Neighbourhood baby supernova
A baby supernova, just over a century old, has been found in the middle of our own Milky Way galaxy and provides an unprecedented opportunity to watch a star dying, astronomers said on  Wednesday.

Prof Yash Pal

India sets a world space record
Radhakrishna Rao

In a dramatic breakthrough, India’s four-stage space workhorse PSLV(Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle), after a smooth takeoff from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre(SDSC) in Sriahri-kota island on the sunny morning of April 28 successfully placed in orbit as many as 10 satellites in one go and in the process created a sort of world space record.

Though sometime last year, a Russian launch vehicle had launched as many as 13 satellites in one mission, no one is sure as to how many of them went in the right orbit. Moreover, the total weight of the satellite payloads delivered by the Russian space vehicle was a mere 295 kg. In distinct contrast PSLV had launched satellite payloads weighing 823 kg, including eight nano satellites from abroad.

As it is, in just about 15 minutes after the blastoff the core alone version of the PSLV weighing 230 tonnes managed to orbit all the 10 satellites in a textbook precise manner. Of course, this is not the first time that PSLV had accomplished multiple launches. On earlier three occasions, PSLV had carried out multiple launches involving both the Indian and foreign satellites.

The 690-kg Cartosat-2A featuring an imaging system with a resolution of better than one metre was the major payload onboard this 13th flight of PSLV. In addition, PSLV launched an Indian experimental remote sensing satellite IMS-1 along with eight nano satellites belonging to the foreign universities.

According to ISRO, the launch of PSLV was a milestone for ISRO as it again proved the versatility and reliability of the launch vehicles and its ability to put multiple payloads into a variety of orbits. Moments after the launch, a beaming ISRO Chairman, G.Madha-van Nair had observed: “This is a memorable occasion for ISRO and India. We have set a record for launching 10 satellites into orbit using a single vehicle. Very few countries have done it. Russia launched 13 satellites at a time. We do not know the result. We have shown the world that we can do multiple launches in a precise manner”.

By all means this was a complex and challenging mission since the launch vehicle was required to deliver all the satellites in orbit in a sequential fashion to avoid collision. However, this is for the third time that ISRO had deployed a core-alone version of PSLV weighing 230 tonnes as against the standard PSLV configuration weight of 295 kg. In the core-alone version, the PSLV is without its usual six strap-on motors attached to its first stage. Significantly, an augmented version of PSLV will be used to launch India’s first lunar mission Chandra-yaan-1 in July 2008.

The Indian-made advanced mapping satellite Cartosat-2A weighing 690 kg was the major payload on board PSLV. Cartosat-2A built for a lifespan of five years is designed to provide data for use in the development of urban infrastructure, rural roads, ring roads and human settlements. Indian defence forces have also evinced a keen interest in the potentials of Cartosat-2A.

The 83-kg IMS-1 formerly known as the third-world satellite is the other Indian payload launched by PSLV. Data from IMS-1 described as an experimental remote sensing satellite will be made available free of cost to the users in the third world countries.

The eight nano satellites built by universities in Canada, Denmark, Germany and Netherlands were launched as part of a commercial contract bagged by Antrix Corp, the Bangalore -based commercial arm of the Indian space programme. This is the fifth time that PSLV has launched satellites of foreign customers.

Neighbourhood baby supernova

A baby supernova, just over a century old, has been found in the middle of our own Milky Way galaxy and provides an unprecedented opportunity to watch a star dying, astronomers said on Wednesday.

The supernova, known as G1.9+0.3, would have made a bright flash when it first exploded 140 years ago but was not seen because dust obscures it, David Green of Britain’s University of Cambridge and colleagues reported.

“It’s by far the youngest supernova identified in the galaxy,” Green told reporters in a telephone briefing.

Green first identified the object in 1985 as a possible supernova, using radio readings from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Very Large Array.

In 2007, Stephen Reynolds of North Carolina State University and colleagues looked at it using the orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory. They were surprised to find it was 16 percent bigger than the radio measurements.

“The only reasonable explanation we could come up with was, in the 22 years between those observations, it had grown by that rate,” Reynolds said.

They extrapolated its rate of growth to date the original explosion at 140 years ago.

The supernova is at the centre of the galaxy, roughly 25,000 light-years from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year — about 5.8 trillion miles. — Reuters

This Universe
Prof Yash Pal

How do animals know who their parents are after they are born?

I am not an expert in this area, but it must have something to do with the touch and the care given to the newborn by the mother. I doubt if the baby also knows who its father is. I am sure the sense of smell is intimately involved. I vividly remember a happening when I was a child of seven years living in Quetta. We had a cow on whose milk we depended for nourishment. The cow was pregnant and we were eagerly awaiting the birth of its calf. Unfortunately the calf died during birth.

The cow was sad and refused to be milked. After a couple of days the milkman brought back the skin of its calf wrapped around a bundle of straw and placed it before the cow at the time of milking. The cow eagerly started licking the bundle and the milking proceeded smoothly. From then on that bundle was always required before milking. The smell of the skin was immediately recognised as that of its offspring. I am sure the sense of smell also helps the baby recognise the mother.

Incidentally, cheating the poor cow like that was a sad thing to do, and her grief stayed with me for a long time. We are now in an industrial age, where vacuum milking machines just suck the milk out. Sad and cruel.

Potbelly and tummies seen in human beings are not seen in animals. Why?

I think the answer should be obvious. Animals have to work hard to get their food. Physical exercise is obligatory. They do not accumulate excess fat.

They also do not get many things that we eat only for taste or diversion. You must have noticed that even amongst humans the hardworking poor do not have potbellies.