Sun in 3D

        Recently, ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM), attending an international space meet relating to space weather which mainly focussed about the sun.

       As stated earlier by BMM, there were presentations by Nasa officials about the Solar Dynamic Observatory mission and there were also references made to the Stereo project.

      Now almost a fortnight after the international space summit on Feb. 6, NASA's twin STEREO probes moved into position on opposite sides of the sun, and they are now beaming back uninterrupted images of the entire star—front and back.

     "For the first time ever, we can watch solar activity in its full 3-dimensional glory," says Angelos Vourlidas, a member of the STEREO science team at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, DC.

NASA released a 'first light' 3D movie on, naturally, Super Bowl Sunday:

› Download this and more STEREO 360 videos The solar sphere as observed by STEREO and the Solar Dynamics Observatory on January 31, 2011. Because the STEREO separation was still slightly less than 180o at that time, a narrow gap on the far side of the Sun has been interpolated to simulate the full 360o view. The gap and quality of farside imaging will improve even more in the days and weeks ahead.

      "This is a big moment in solar physics," says Vourlidas. "STEREO has revealed the sun as it really is--a sphere of hot plasma and intricately woven magnetic fields."

      According to Nasa each STEREO probe photographs half of the star and beams the images to Earth. Researchers combine the two views to create a sphere. These aren't just regular pictures, however. STEREO's telescopes are tuned to four wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet radiation selected to trace key aspects of solar activity such as flares, tsunamis and magnetic filaments. Nothing escapes their attention.

› View larger
An artist's concept of STEREO surrounding the sun. Credit: NASA "With data like these, we can fly around the sun to see what's happening over the horizon—without ever leaving our desks," says STEREO program scientist Lika Guhathakurta at NASA headquarters. "I expect great advances in theoretical solar physics and space weather forecasting."

     Consider the following: In the past, an active sunspot could emerge on the far side of the sun completely hidden from Earth. Then, the sun's rotation could turn that region toward our planet, spitting flares and clouds of plasma, with little warning, says Nasa.

    "Not anymore," says Bill Murtagh, a senior forecaster at NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado. "Farside active regions can no longer take us by surprise. Thanks to STEREO, we know they're coming."

    NOAA is already using 3D STEREO models of CMEs (billion-ton clouds of plasma ejected by the sun) to improve space weather forecasts for airlines, power companies, satellite operators, and other customers. The full sun view should improve those forecasts even more.

› Download this and more STEREO 360 videos Observing solar storms from two points of view has allowed forecasters to made 3D models of advancing coronal mass ejections (CMEs), improving predictions of Earth impacts. Credit: NOAA/SWPC

The forecasting benefits aren't limited to Earth.

    "With this nice global model, we can now track solar storms heading toward other planets, too," points out Guhathakurta. "This is important for NASA missions to Mercury, Mars, asteroids … you name it."

› View larger
An artist's concept of STEREO spacecraft. Credit: NASA NASA has been building toward this moment since Oct. 2006 when the STEREO probes left Earth, split up, and headed for positions on opposite sides of the sun (movie). Feb. 6, 2011, was the date of "opposition"—i.e., when STEREO-A and -B were 180 degrees apart, each looking down on a different hemisphere. NASA's Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory is also monitoring the sun 24/7. Working together, the STEREO-SDO fleet should be able to image the entire globe for the next 8 years.

       The new view could reveal connections previously overlooked. For instance, researchers have long suspected that solar activity can "go global," with eruptions on opposite sides of the sun triggering and feeding off of one another. Now they can actually study the phenomenon. The Great Eruption of August 2010 engulfed about 2/3rd of the stellar surface with dozens of mutually interacting flares, shock waves, and reverberating filaments. Much of the action was hidden from Earth, but plainly visible to the STEREO-SDO fleet.

     "There are many fundamental puzzles underlying solar activity," says Vourlidas. "By monitoring the whole sun, we can find missing pieces."

      Researchers say these first-look whole sun images are just a hint of what's to come. Movies with even higher resolution and more action will be released in the days and weeks ahead as more data are processed. Stay tuned!



Related Links:

For more information about STEREO, please visit › www.nasa.gov/stereo.

Simulation and experiments to assess cause of Gslv failure

         Isro is currently simulating the Christmas day failure of the Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and conducting a series of experiments to determine the cause of 10 connectors of three-stage rocket snapping which resulted in the mission ending in the Bay of Bengal, G.Madhavan Nair, who is chairing the failure analysis committee, stated.

       On December 25,2010, the rocket deviated from its designated trajectory and broke up 53.8 seconds after lift off. The destruct command was flashed 64 seconds after launch. The failure was a huge set back to Isro. It was the first time that an Indian rocket was ferrying the heaviest indigenous satellite, the 2300 kg GSat-5 Prime communication satellite. Initial speculation that the huge weight of the satellite could have caused the set back has not gained much ground.

       Speaking to ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM)'' , Nair, a former Isro chairman, said that these simulations and analysis will go on for several weeks. ``Only after this we will be able to arrive at a firm conclusion as to why the connecters snapped,’’ he said. This failure analysis exercise is being conducted largely at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvanathanapuram.

        Nair was in Mumbai to deliver the convocation address at Mumbai University.

        He said that the failure analysis committee has also saught data from the Russians since the connectors passed between the Russian cryogenic engine and rocket’s equipment bay. Some of these connectors carry command signals from the on board computer residing in the equipment bay located near the top of the vehicle to the control electronics of the four L40 strap-ons in the first stage of the rocket.  

        The former Isro chief said that similarly, simulations were also being carried out to find out why the maiden flight of the Indian cryogenic engine on the Gslv on April 15, 2010 was unsuccessful. He said that the failure of the two Gslv missions --one caused by the indigenous cryogenic engine and the other due to the snapping of 10 connectors—could possibly impact on the launch time table of the second Indian mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-2.

         The joint Indo-Russian lunar flight is slated for lift off in 2013. ``But some delay cannot be ruled owing to all these factors,’’ he speculated. But, Isro has expressed confidence that despite these circumstances the second Indian moon will take off in 2013 according to the original schedule.

   ends     

Dream Turn Into Reality. Human ``landing'' on The Red Planet

       The dream of many astronauts including that of Buzz Aldrin, became a reality on Wednesday.

       Finally man has entered Mars.  But, hold your breadth folks. It is a successful simulation.

      According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the first full-duration simulation of a manned voyage to Mars has reached a major milestone: the ‘spacecraft’ yesterday (Feb 2)  ‘arrived’ at Mars after 244 days of virtual interplanetary flight. Three crewmembers will ‘land’ on Mars on February 12 and make three sorties onto simulated martian terrain, according to ESA.

      The ``human'' mission to Mars has been designated as Mars500.

      ESA says that Mars500, a pioneering international study of the complex psychological and technical issues that must be tackled for long spaceflights, has been running for more than eight months in hermetically sealed modules imitating a Mars spacecraft at the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow.

     The crew of three Russians, two Europeans and one Chinese has been living and working in the facility like a real expedition to Mars. They are following a similar seven-day week, with two days off duty, similar to the astronauts on the International Space Station. Their work time during the ‘flight’ is filled with maintenance jobs, experiments and daily exercise.
 
     “Mars500 is a visionary experiment,” notes Simonetta Di Pippo, ESA Director for Human Spaceflight. “Europe is getting ready to make a step further in space exploration: our technology and our science grow stronger every day.
 
     “Mars 500 today is only an enriching simulation, but we are working to make it real,” he said. 

	Mars 'seen' from Mars500

Mars now – but virtually

     On Wednesday the craft ‘entered a circular orbit around Mars’ – as the mission scenario says.

    According to ESA the final approach began on 24 December by shifting their imagined trajectory from interplanetary space to a spiral orbit leading down to the vicinity of the Red Planet.
 
  The crew opened the hatch between the mothership and the mockup of a lander that, according to script, was launched separately to Mars.
 
  In the coming days, the cargo inside the ‘lander’ will be transferred into the habitat and the lander will be prepared for ‘undocking’ and ‘landing’
.
 The crew will then divide: Russian Alexandr Smoleevskiy, Italian Diego Urbina and Chinese Wang Yue will enter the lander, while the rest of the crew, Romain Charles from France and Sukhrob Kamolov and Alexey Sitev from Russia ‘remain in orbit.
 
  The hatch between the interplanetary spacecraft and lander will be closed on 8 February. The lander will undock and ‘touch down’ on Mars on 12 February.
 

	Mars500 crew testing Orlan suits

Going out


     The first sortie onto the simulated martian surface, housed in a large hall alongside the Mars500 modules, will happen on 14 February: Alexandr Smoleevskiy and Diego Urbina will don the modified Russian Orlan spacesuits and exit the lander’s airlock.

   The next sortie – by Smoleevskiy and Wang Yue – will take place on 18 February, and the last one – by Smoleevskiy and Urbina – is scheduled for 22 February.
 
  On 23 February, the lander will be launched to ‘orbit’ and dock with the mothership on following day.
The lander crew will stay in quarantine for three days before the hatch is opened on 27 February and the astronauts are reunited, says ESA..
 

	Mars surface simulator

Still more than 200 days to go

   On 28 February the lander will be loaded with rubbish and unwanted items and the vehicle will be ‘abandoned’. This will happen 1 March, just before the spacecraft spirals away from Mars by virtually firing its engines.

  After that, the crew is faced with another monotonous ‘interplanetary cruise’ before arriving home in early November 2011.
 

ends

A signature campaign to confer Bharat Ratna on India's first man of Stars--Rakesh Sharma

       The launch campaign relating to the 50th anniv celebrations of Yuri Gagarin's flight is steadily gathering momentum and one looks forward to the main function on April 12,2011. This was the day in 1961 when Gagarin flew in space for 108 minutes opening a challenging new era of manned space exploration.

       As the celebrations to mark the historic event are being organised mainly by the Russian Embassy in New Delhi and the Russian consulates, one person we associate with these programmes is the country's first spaceman, Rakesh Sharma, who was a part of the joint Indo-Soviet Joint Manned Space mission in April 1984. He is scheduled to be the chief guest at the function in New Delhi and perhaps even in Mumbai.

       Now it is the 50th anniv of Gagarin's flight. But, on April 3,2009, to mark the 25th anniv of Rakesh Sharma's flight the Hyderabad-based Planetary Society,India, designed a very informative website about the mission which can be accessed on indonaut.tk. It contains interesting details about various aspects of the flight like the Salyut-7 space station and the launch vehicle. Be sure that spacebuffs like ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM)'' will endlessly access the site. It is extremely educative. Hats off to the designers especially the society's secretary, N. Sri Raghundan Kuman whom we shall hereafter call Raghu for short and also for the sake of informality.

       There is a special section for school kids along with a video.

       Now Raghu has come up with another good idea. He is about to launch a project which is long overdue and BMM will extend its full support to it. What is this plan? Starting an on line petition to request the government of India to confer the prestigious Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest award, on Rakesh Sharma, who has brought honour to this country.After all if Sunita Williams, the Indo-American astronaut, an US citizen, can be presented the Padma Bhushan then does not Rakesh Sharma, a true India, qualify for the Bharat Ratna? Sure he does. BMM looks forward to a feedback on this issue.

      The Bharat Ratna is well deserved for Rakesh Sharma because he was chosen for the manned space mission after an extremely tough selection process. BMM's aunt, Vimala, a Hyderabad resident, who is deeply interested in space and astronomy has agreed to sign the petition. When BMM informed her about Raghu's proposal on Wednesday, her instant response was: ``Sure, Rakesh deserves it.'' Another person who has agreed to sign is secretary of India chapter of Moon Society, Pradeep Mohandas.

      Gagarin had played a key role in strengthening Indo-Soviet space ties during his visit to India after his flight. This was further enhanced during the Rakesh Sharma's mission. So what better opportunity to announce the Bharat Ratna for Rakesh Sharma than the 50th anniv of Gagarin's flight?

      BMM's dad and Rakesh Sharma were simultaneously honoured by the prestigious Sri Venkateshwara University in Thirupathi some years ago. As a part of the felicitation, they were each presented with a huge and powerful figure of Lord Balaji. BMM's mom recalls Rakesh Sharma carrying this figure for them during the flight from Thirupathi to Chennai. This lovely figure occupies a prominent place at BMM's home in Mumbai.

      BMM has had the opportunity to interact with the cosmonaut on several occasions seeking his comments for articles on space-related issues especially manned space flight. BMM found him to be extremely co-operative, friendly, affable and pleasant. When BMM requested him to write a preface for its book ``Moonshot India,'' which is about the Chandrayaan-1 mission, he readily agreed.

      In frequent interviews with BMM, Rakesh Sharma, had vigorously spoken about India embarking on a manned space flight programme. Despite this the government has yet to give its formal green signal. The reason for the delay is perhaps understandable---Isro has yet to provide a clear road map about its human space flight programme. In this respect it could perhaps emulate the example of the Chinese.

      More recently, the India chapter of Moon Society had requested Rakesh Sharma to give his views about the nation's future lunar plans post Chandrayaan-2. He was the first to submit them. His analysis is significant and important because he was among those who gave the thumbs up for the Chandrayaan-1 mission. BMM recalls attending his infomative presentation regarding lunar settlement during the International Astronautical Congress at Hyderabad in September 2007.

       BMM has a book called Indo-Soviet Joint Space Odyssey which is about the flight of Rakesh Sharma. It is autographed by Rakesh Sharma and Yuri Malyshev, one of the crew members. It was published by the Space Cell of the Air Headquarters in October 1985 and was not available at bookstores. It was presented to BMM by former director of Nehru Planetarium, V.S.Venkatavaradhan. It is one of BMM's prize possessions. Thank You Venkat.

       Sometime back a New Delhi-based publisher told BMM that Rakesh Sharma was planning to write his autobiography. When BMM asked him about this book, Rakesh Sharma replied: ``Maybe after my retirement.''

       He has shifted from Bangalore and is now settled in Wellingdon in the Nilgiris. We, therefore, look forward to his autobiography. He is undoubtedly a force to reckon with in not only India's space programme, but globally as well.  Who is then better deserving of the Bharat Ratna than Rakesh Sharma?

       Congrats to Raghu on initiating the move.

       Remember we are with you on this issue.


      ends

They Aim For The Stars

           Yes, they aim for the stars. Who are they?  Any guess?  If you think the statement refers to students, you are wrong!

          This is, of course, not to say that students do not aim for the stars.,Yes, they certainly do. But in this particular case the statement does not refer to students. It is about India's space programme and the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).

           The statement was mentioned in an ad of the State Bank Of India which was published on January 31,2011, on the front page of ``The Times of India.'' It says: ``They aim for the stars with single-minded efficiency. We share their dreams. The Indian space programme is the most economical--and therefore the most efficient--way to place a satellite in orbit. And space exploration, one day may be the salvation of mankind. SBI (State Bank Of India) applauds those visionaries and draws inspiration from this grand endeavour that makes us all proud.''

          There is a sketch of a rocket---the geo synchronous satellite launch vehicle (gslv)--- with a father carrying his daughter and pointing towards the vehicle. The drawing is captioned ``Proud To Be Indian.''

          It is a wonderful ad which has been published at the most appropriate moment because hopefully towards the end of this month a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (pslv) will lift off from Sriharikota carrying the indigenous Resourcesat-2 satellite, YouthSat, a dream project of APJ Abdul Kalam and X-Sat of Singapore NTU University.

         SBI has always been associated with India's space programme.``Beyond Moon and Mars BMM'' recalls that when it first visited Sriharikota in the early 90s it noticed a huge board at the entrance of the spaceport saying: ``State Bank Of India Welcomes You To India's First Spaceport.''

         BMM is a spacebuff and was undoubtedly delighted to see such an ad.

         All it can say is a big thank u to SBI.


    ends    

         
       

Eight years ago today.

          February 1 2003 was a Saturday. ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM) who was a journalist with the Mumbai edition of The Times of India (TOI) left office as usual around 8 p.m. and walked towards the bus stop at Hutatma Chowk to take a bus home.

          Around 9 p.m. BMM reached home and Usha, BMM's wife, said that she had just received a telephone call from her friend, Roshan, who was watching TV, that space shuttle Columbia with Kalpana Chawla and six others on board had lost contact with the mission control centre at Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas. Usha also recalled Roshan telling her that all attempts to contact Columbia by the mission control had failed. It was clear at that moment that the worst had happened to Columbia.

         BMM grabbed a quick dinner and rushed back to office. Resident editor, Dina Vakil, immediately asked BMM to collect the max info through its sources and contribute to the coverage of the Columbia tragedy focussing mainly of course on Kalpana Chawla. BMM had done a number of reports about Kalpana and managed to access the exclusive interview with Kalpana which it had done in December 1997. This was published in the following day's edition of the TOI.

         When BMM reached home around 1 a.m. on Sunday February 2 Usha said that our daughter, Rimanika, was deeply affected by the death of Kalpana and she broke down, crying uncontrollably for a long time. Rimu learnt about the disaster only around 10 p.m. on Feb 1 because she was spending the evening with her friend.

         BMM recalls that in May 1995 Usha and BMM were at the Johnson Space Centre on a tour. When BMM inquired about Kalpana, the young tour guide, smiled, blinked and admitted that she had not heard about her!  Nothing really surprising. However, she requested BMM to give her name in writing saying that she would come back once the interview was firmed up. Yes, she honoured her committment and sure it was firmed up. But when? The very day Usha and BMM were heading from Lexington near Boston to New York's JFK International Airport to catch the return Air India flight to Mumbai.

         But the opportunity finally arrived in December 1997, a month after Kalpana's maiden voyage in the Columbia, BMM managed to get a tele interview with Kalpana. Prior to the interview there was a lot of correspondence with the Nasa public relations office. The interview was fixed and Nasa officials calculated the time and said it would be only for 10 minutes starting at 1 a.m. (IST)!  It was a Thursday.

         The TOI telephone operater who was on night duty had to be requested to stay back to provide the connection to Houston. BMM reached office around 12.45 a.m. and asked the operator for the connection. The night shift editorial team were wondering why BMM had returned to office so late!   In two minutes the telephone rang in the small room in which BMM worked. BMM picked up the receiver. The voice at the other end said: ``Hi. This is Kalpana Chawla!''

         BMM introduced itself and after a brief exchange of pleasantries the interview started. Kalpana most politely and patiently answered all the questions including about the fact that there were complaints about her performance. What was supposed to be a 10-minute interview lasted for nearly an hour.

        The next day which was a Friday, BMM filed the interview and submitted it to Dina for her evaluation. She called me and said it was extremely boring because she could not understand anything!!!  Despite the fact that she found it boring she splashed it on the front page of TOI the next day which was a Saturday. The interview made a splash when top space scientists from all over India were attending an Aeronautical Society of India meeting at what was then Hotel Juhu Centaur. The scientists said that they liked the interview very much.

         Years later when BMM was in New Delhi with Usha and Rimu along with Usha's brother, Ramki, from Singapore to attend a ceremony where BMM's dad received the Padma Vibhsuhan. BMM was staying at the Asiad village and knew that Kalpana's family--her mom--were staying somewhere nearby.It  inquired with the driver who asked BMM to wait and returned in a minute. He asked BMM to accompany him, and took it to the next block of flats and rang the door bell. Yes, it was Kalpana's house. Though BMM had gone without advance info, everyone at home was most polite. BMM took her mom's autograph on all the books BMM had purchased about Kalpana.
        
         After a few days, we visited her sister, Sunita Chowdhary, at her flat in New Delhi and took a no of pics. Sunita gave a number of CD's about her celebrated sister. That time there was a plan that BMM would do a bio of Kalpana, but it never materialised. 

         Nehru Planetarium had organised a meeting with the family members of the ill fated crew members of Columbia which BMM covered for the TOI. But, for reasons unknown Kalpana's husband was not present.

         This is story of BMM and Kalpana.

          Now BMM is attempting to get a fiction written by a space buff Danial Guiteras called ``Launch On Need,'' which is about the Columbia disaster.

          BMM is heading for Strand Book Stall,

          ends

Look Before U Leap

      It is now clear that Washington has not given up its attempts to make India a partner of the International Space Station (ISS).

      What better proof of this than a statement of assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert O Blake saying:`` We are seeking additional ways to collaborate on future lunar missions, the international space station, human space flight, and data sharing. I hope that our private sectors will now have the opportunity to develop new avenues of cooperation in the space realm and build on our achievements to further improve the livelihoods of our populations, he said. He was addressing a meeting at the Syracuse University.

      As stated by ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM)'' earlier India has to tread cautiously while responding to US's proposal to be a partner of the ISS. Any hasty decision will only result in India being controlled by US policies as it has happened to some extent in the nuclear sector.

      That is not all. Also when Blake said that colloboration is being explored in future lunar missions, there is a degree of ambiguity in this statement. Which Indian lunar missions is he talking about? Atleast for the moment there is no Nasa payload in India's second mission to the moon, ``Chandrayaan-2,'' tentatively slated for lift off in 2013.''  Or, for that matter there are no foreign scientific instruments on this flight which is a joint Indo-Russian mission. Also there is no indication moreover of a third India mission to the moon.

    , With regards to human space flight, what type of teaming up is US contemplating with India? On the American side the space shuttle is being phased out. And New Delhi is yet to give the formal `go' for an Indian human space flight programme.

       According to SpaceDaily, a space-related website the  Obama administration has said that United States is hoping to become 'close partner' of India in space exploration.

      The recent removal of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) from the US Commerce Department's Entity List is an indication that Washington will no longer treat India's space program as a target, but as a close partner in space exploration, Blake said.
   
     Blake said that the possibilities of cooperation between the India and the US in space, to advance scientific knowledge and human welfare, are without boundaries and limits.
 
    Paraphrasing former ISRO Chairman Madhavan Nair words that India's space program can only be successful when it can produce benefits - material change-for Indian citizens, Blake said: "Indian farmers will see the fruits of our collaboration as U.S. and Indian space scientists work together on climate and weather forecasting for agriculture, navigation, resource mapping, research and development, and capacity building."
 
   "Our experts have developed enhanced monsoon forecasting that will begin to transmit detailed forecasts to farmers, beginning with the 2011 monsoon season. India also is an emerging leader in earth observation, with the second highest number of earth observation satellites in orbit. American fishing fleets could increase their catch thanks to the collection of tidal data as part of this initiative," he added.
 
    If it is a colloboration with the US the message is ``look before u leap!''
 
    ends