Space History Made Today--Messenger enter Mercury Orbit

      From about 6 a.m. on Friday, ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM),'' was keyed to the com watching the live webcast from the missions operations control room at John Hopkins Univesity's Applied Physics Lab.

      Why so early in the day? The reason is that in about an hour Nasa's Messenger spacecraft, launched on August 3,2004, would be entering the orbit around Mercury becoming the first in the world to accomplish this tremendous feat.

      And it happened at about 7.15 a.m. (IST), raising a loud round of applause in the missions operations control room. Said an official: `` We are in orbit. We hit the trajectory perfectly. We were worried about the communications. There were certain manourvres and there were indications that the burn went off well,'' he said.

      Messenger project manager, Peter Bedine, recalled that some people had worked on the programme for the last 15 years. ``It is a wonderful thing. The navigation and guidance team did a wonderful job and they are the stars now. The management was nervous, but the team was calm,'' he said.

      On April 4,2011, the process of switching on the science experiments will be initiated.

      According to Nasa for the next several weeks engineers of the Applied Physics Laboratory will be focussed on ensuring that the spacecraft's system perform satisfactorily in Mercury's harsh thermal enviironment.
     
     Congrats! 

     A great day for space history.

Space history made today

Hi....You are the first tourists to visit this place!

        Eighty five years ago on March 16, space history was created when Robert Goddard launched the first liquid propellant rocket at Auburn in Massachesetts.

       To ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM)'' it is something personal. The reason? The story follows.

       In the summer of 1995, ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM)'' and with its wife, Usha, went on a two-month tour of the US. It was a visit which took us to a number of places, and among them were two Nasa centres---the Kennedy Space Centre and the Johnson Space Centre.

       We were staying with our family at a lovely town called Lexington in a beautiful house on 15 James St. Wonderful hosts who went out of their way to make our stay comfortable and a again a fantastic house. We hope to revist them again and of course take our daughter, Rimanika, with us. We hope it just does not just remain a dream.

       One day when BMM's brother-in-law, Kannan, inquired as to where it would like to visit, the reply came as a bit of a surprise to Kannan. Neither a shopping mall nor some conventional tourist attraction, but Auburn, the very spot where Goddard launched his liquid propellant rocket.

       Kannan paused and readily agreed--the rest of the folks had gone to see a film that day. We wondered how to get to Auburn. So typically of him, Kannan consulted maps and sort of zeroed down on the likely area. It was a lovely morning. and we drove out grabbing sandwiches and coffee on the way. On our way we inquired about Auburn, but did not get any specific or precise directions.

      Nothing to be surprised about because for some unexplained reason a country like the US which celebrates every important event, has somehow not thought of promoting this place. Strange, yes but it is true. Kannan was extremely patient and was hell bent on not disappointing me. A great guy and BMM is grateful to him.

      While finding our way around for this little known spot which has played an important role in world space history, Kannan decided to inquire with a gas station. We hit the mark. The guy managing this station guided us correctly. A short drive then took us to Auburn.

      BMM could not believe that it was at the very spot that space history had been created.

      We crossed the road and entered the area. We found that the historic launch zone had been turned into a golf club. At the very spot where Goddard had launched his liquid propellant rocket  people were enjoying playing golf!  Someone shouted across and inquired who we were. We replied that we had come to pay our respects to the area where the world's first liquid propellant rocket was launched.

     The guy greeted us saying that we were the first tourists to come to the place having important space connections. We exchanged pleasantries, waved to him and then left after a while. Kannan took a few shots of me standing next to the marker saying that the Goddard had launched the rocket from this very place!

    As we left the place, BMM collected a stone as a souvenir from the launch area. It always does this at places of interest.

    It was a definately memorable trip.

    Thank U Kannan..

      

T-28 days and counting

         T-28 days and we will have lift off the 50th anniv celebrations of the first manned space flight by Yuri Gagarin. The historic date is April 12,1961 and the celebrations are scheduled for April 12,2011.

        As part of this exciting launch campaign on Monday the consulate general of the Russian Federation in Mumbai has organised a photographic exhibition of the life and times of Yuri Gagarin at the consulate premises in Napean Sea Road.

        ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM)'' attended the opening and went through photographs depicting the various stages of the life of Gagarin. For Mumbaikars Gagarin is of special interest, because he visited Mumbai in October 1961 and addressed the rally at Shivaji Park.

        One can see newspaper clippings of the first flight and books, including one by Yuri Gagarin called ``The Road To Space.'' Unfortunately, an English version of the book is not available, deputy consul general. A.M.Mzareulov, told BMM.

         He said that the Russian consulate plans to bring school children to the exhibition. It is a very good idea. At a time when India is planning a manned mission, it would be worthwhile to educate our youngsters about the first man who flew into space. This will really help school children to take an interest in science and space.

         Mzareulov also said that the Russian consulate also plans to take advantage of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the flight and expose our youngsters to Russian art, science and culture. According to him, to mark the important occasion the consulate is planning a concert which will be dedicated to Yuri Gagarin.

        Present at the opening of the photographic show, was my good friend S.Kulkarni of the Observer Research Foundation. He was equally excited about the Gagarin's flight and is exploring the possibility of organising a programme to mark the 50th anniversary of the mission.

       BMM has just one complaint. The exhibition of photographs should have been bigger . There should be more excitement about the 50th anniversary celebrations and some private organisation infact should take upon itself the task of making Gagarin souvenirs and selling them. Why not?

       There should be books available about Gagarin. After all the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight is not an event to be dismissed as something of little consequence. It is a major occasion which eventually led to the first landing on moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969. Gagarin's flight after all opened space to mankind.

      Can anyone forget it?

      No never.

      So let there be more excitement about it.
     
      BMM is looking forward to participating in all these events.

No---please do not blame the sun...............

        As Japan is reeling under the terrible impact of the deadly earthquake and tsunami, a debate has started among international space experts whether it could have been possibly triggered by heightened solar activity?

        No says space expert Dibyandu Nandi who recently brought glory to India by showing Nasa the way. In an e mail interview to ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM),'' Nandi who also happens to be my good friend explained that ``there is no established connection between solar storms and tsunami.''  Last week he led a breakthrough research on understanding the sun's activity.

       Nandi said that ``although there was a high solar flare on March 9,2011, which hurled charged particles and magnetic fields towards the earth, it is unlikely that this solar flare had any role in the recent tsunami. According to him ``tsunamis are created by the sudden movement of tectonic plates in the ocean floor typically triggered by an earthquake.''

       ``The effects of solar flares are limited to the earth's upper atmosphere, except where they can also affect power grids and oil pipelines. However, I am not aware of any mechanism by which these storms can cause sudden changes in the earth's tectonic plates deep inside,'' he said.

       This interview has been published in The Times of India.

       Nandi has debunked the theory put forth by some Western scientists that the devastation could have had its source in the increased solar activity, To cite an example, Kevin Martin has been quoted in a website called Weather Space.com saying: ``Solar weather has had by interest for years. Many past quakes have been connected with the solar flare events.  I am pretty certain these have connections. Japan's activity may not have happened if it was not for the solar flare activity,'' he has been quoted as saying.

       Echoing the opinion of Nandi, is of course none other than my good friend Piyush Pandey, director of Nehru Planetarium in Mumbai  who remarked: ``There is no known mechanism by which enhanced solar activity can trigger an earthquake resulting in a tsunami,'' he said.

T-31 days-----50th anniv of first human spaceflight.

        Once again my friend and secretary of India chapter of Moon Society, Pradeep Mohandas, has done it and that too at an appropriate time,  Thanks Pradeep.

        When ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM)'' accessed the com on Friday night it had a surprise waiting for it. What was it?  Pradeep had e mailed a video link showing Rakesh Sharma inside the Salyut-7 spacecraft in April 1984 along with Russian crewmates..

         The brief video now available on Youtube shows Indira Gandhi asking Rakesh how India looked from space and he replied: ``Sare Jahan Se Acha.''  This is a historical footage by doordarshan which put it in public domain last year to mark its 50th anniv. Doordarshan you are changing. Keep it up!

         BMM has got the video at a time when the world is about to begin celebrations relating to the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin. The day falls on April 12,2011 and this blog is being written on March 12,2011. In rocket lingo it is T-31 days. This means that exactly 31 days are left for the 50th anniversary of the historic mission. This is almost the final phase of the countdown, and in Mumbai the celebrations will kick off on Monday, March 14,2011, with a photographic exhibition of Gagarin's flight at the Russian consulate.  

        Coincidentally, Rakesh was a part of a Indo-Soviet joined manned space mission project.

        Trust people of Kerala to help. BMM's new friend from Thiruvanathanapuram, Kumar Nair, has e mailed Gagarin stamps. BMM printed the stamps and also photographs from Roscosmos. They will be spiral bound.

        For spacebuffs like me, the video and pics are a treasure.

        Thank you Pradeep and Kumar.
                

Welcome Home Discovery----For The Final Time

        ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM)''  need not have been either at the Kennedy Space Centre (KSC) or Johnson Space Centre (JSC) for space shuttle Discovery's final touch down.

         The entire drama unfolded on BMM's temperamental computer in its room at Breach Candy in Mumbai. It was extremely realistic and exciting.

        On Wednesday night, BMM sat glued to the computer watching Nasa TV's coverage of space shuttle Discovery's final touch down at the KSC after a successful 12-day mission to the International Space Station. It was being streamed through UStream. BMM was hoping that it would not buffer and it did not happen fortunately.

        BMM noticed that during the final moments before the landing the mood in the mission control centre at Houston was pretty tense with flight controllers staring at their computers. Then all of a sudden around 10.20 p.m. (IST), a sillouhette appeared in the sky at a distance. It grew larger and larger and BMM could hear a distant rumble.

       The sillouhette turned into a real space shuttle. It was ``Discovery'' coming into approach at the KSC. The roar of its engines inccreased as the space shuttle was zooming down at a whopping velocity. The parachute deployed and the nose gear touched down the runway at 10.25 p.m.(IST) sharp.

       BMM had to switch off immediately and could not watch the post landing events because it decided to do a report for The Times of India (TOI) about Discovery's Indian connections. What are they?

       First on April 24,1990, ``Discovery''  flew the Hubble Space Telescope to its orbit which on February 12,2011, confirmed Chandrayaan-1's discovery of water on the moon. This is ironical because Nasa had so far not given any credit to Chandrayaan's Chandra Altitudunal Composition Explorer (Chace), an instrument on board the indigenous Moon Impact Probe, for first detecting water vapours on the moon.

      Second, Indian-American astronaut, Sunita Williams flew in ``Discovery'' on December 6,2006, to the International Space Station.

      So, for the people of India the space shuttle ``Discovery'' had a special significance.

      But, the report did not appear in the TOI!

      On Thursday morning, BMM downloaded the Discovery landing video from Spaceport.

      Happy retirement Discovery.