Space Expedition-52 Soyuz Launch

Russian Rocket Soyuz-MS-05 launched with Expedition-52 flight engineer Sergei Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos and flight engineer Randy Bresnik of National Aeronautics Space Administration, Paolo Nespoli flight engineer of European Space Agency. The flight also had some crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). Soyuz-MS-05 flight was launched on 28 July of 2017 (Friday) at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Flight engineers Ryazanskiy, Bresnik, Nespoli will spend the next four and half months living and working aboard the International Space Station.

Photo Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Tags: Expedition-52 | Space Updates | International Space Station 

Read More

Mercury Facts

Mercury Facts:

•  Mercury has highest number of creators and impact marks than other planet

• The creators in Mercury are not active to heal from surface impact created by asteroids and comets
• Its surface structure is closely similar to the surface of Moon
• Larger creator is called Basin whose diameter is more than 250 km.
• Mariner-10 spacecraft discovered the largest basin 'Caloris Basin' on Mercury which is about 1550 km in diameter

• Mercury has weak magnetic field

• Mercury planet has very weak magnetic which is about 1% of magnetic field of Earth.

• Man made object which visited Mercury

•  Due to high temperature and closer distance to sun, it is difficult to reach Mercury
• Mariner-10 of NASA visited Mercury during 1974 flyby, after traveling a distance of 91 million kilometers
• Messenger spacecraft also visited Mercury which was launched in 2004
• Bepi-Colombo  of European Space Agency is aimed to launch in the next window

• Mercury has very thin atmosphere
• Due to the weak gravitational field, it was unable to withhold its atmosphere. So that it continuously blown away into the space.

• Mercury has outer shell which is about 500-600 km

• Its Orbit helped Albert Einstein to prove "General Theory of Relativity"
  

• Mercury has large iron core about 1800-1900 km thick.

• It is the only planet in the solar system which improperly rotating around Sun every year. (2-3 times).

• Mercury is the second hottest planet in the solar system and has no seasonal changes.The night time temperature is about -770 degree Celsius and 430 degree Celsius in daytime.

• Due to low gravity and lack of atmosphere, it has no moons and rings.
  

• The Mercury was considered as planet only after the publication of paper "Sun centered model of the Solar system" in 1543 A.D.

• Mercury is named after the Roman God of Messenger.

• Mercury is the second dense planet after the Earth and the smallest planet in Our Solar System with a diameter of 4,879 km.

• Mercury is one of the five visible planet to our naked eye (Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn).

• Mercury orbits quickly around the sun (2-3 times) so that it appears morning as well as in the evening.

• One year in Mercury = 88 days | One Mercury day = 176 Earth days

• Mercury was known to human race since 3000 B.C. 

Read More

Chemical Compound in Saturn | Possibility of Life

Scientists of Nasa have detected the presence of chemical called "Acrylonitrile" in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon "Titan" that could form 'Membranes'.

On Earth, acrylonitrile is useful in the manufacture of plastics. Scientists predict that under the harsh condition in Titan's atmosphere,the compound is capable of producing stable, flexible structures that are similar to the cell membranes. This chemical compound was previously detected in the Saturn's moon 'Titan' but the capability of producing cell-membranes was not informed. Acrylonitrile is also called Vinyl cyanide.

Researchers have identified the chemical fingerprint through the Titan data collected by Atacama Large Millimeter or Sub-millimeter Array located in Chile. They found this chemical compound in the stratosphere of Titan moon and it gives brownish-orange colour to the atmosphere.

Image Credit: Cassini Spacecraft NASA/JPL 

For More information:  Saturn's Chemical Compound

Read More

Dog Galaxy

Magnificent View of Dog Galaxy

Dog Galaxy:

     Hubble Space Telescope spotted a small Dog Galaxy ( already spotted by William Herschel in 1788) in the northern constellation of Canes Venatici which was named as galaxy NGC 4242. This galaxy lies somewhere around 30-million light years way from us. At this distance not such all cosmic objects visible to us. NGC 4242 is visible to anyone having basic telescope as British astronomer William Herschel found when he discovered the galaxy in 1788.

Image Description:

      Scientists reveals that the galaxy is relatively very dim, but looks bright. It also supports the star formation. The galaxy also seems to have a weak bar of stars cutting through its asymmetric center and a very faint and poorly defined spiral structure through its disk. NGC 4242 is not remarkable in the sky but it looks beautiful and ethereal sight.

Image Credit: ESA/Hubble Space Telescope & NASA

Text Credit: European Space Agency

Tags:

Universe is accelerating | Galaxy with gravitational lens | Clumps of new stars | Einstein theory to measure white dwarf | Hubble Hidden Galaxy | Hubble Spirograph Nebulae | Abel-370 galaxy cluster | Magnificent view of Universe

Read More

Mangalyaan

Mission Overview:

     Mangalyaan was the first interplanetary probe of India to reach Mars which was called Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM). It made India's first venture into the interplanetary space. Mangalyaan was launched on 5 November 2013 and it was carried by (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) PSLV-XL C25 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre. It was planned to explore and observe Martian surface features, morphology, mineralogy and Mars atmosphere after its arrival on 24 September 2014.

Mission Proposal:

     The Mangalyaan mission was mainly designed for the search of Methane in martian atmosphere and it will give clue for possibility of past or present life on the planet. It had many modern technologies to face and cover the challenge of far long distance of planet from earth. 

     After leaving the earth, the orbiter will have endure the interplanetary space for 300 days before reaching Mars, apart from the space communications and navigation guidance control capabilities, the mission will require autonomy at the spacecraft end to handle contingencies.But India decided to go Mars and never wanted to miss nearest launch window, next launch would be possible after 780 days in 2016.

Start of Mission:

     Mangalyaan mission was officially started with its launch on 5 November 2013 and the mission operation began on 24 September 2014 after its successful orbital insertion. It was launched with PSLV-XL C25 (XL- is one of the world's most reliable launch vehicles). This XL variant was earlier used to launch Chandrayaan in 2008, GSAT-12 in 2011 and RISAT-1 in 2012.

Spacecraft Design and Tracking:

    MOM was based on I-1K bus satellite which has been providing reliability over the years. Similar bus was also used in Chandrayaan, Indian Remote Sensing, Indian National Satellites. Mom has a total fuel of 850 kg of fuel and 5 scientific Payloads. The orbiter is being tracked by Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) located outside Bangalore. IDSN's 32 m and 18 m diameter antennas are being complemented by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Deep Space network.

Scientific Payloads:

• LAP - Lyman-Alpha Photometer
• MSM - Methane Sensor for Mars
• MENCA - Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser
• TIS - Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer
• MCC - Mars Colour Camera

 The total weight of these five instruments is 15 kg installed in Mars Orbiter Mission

Mission Objectives:

Primary Mission Objectives:

• Orbit manoeuvres to transfer spacecraft from earth orbit to martian orbit
• Computational analysis for orbital forces
• Navigation phases
• Maintain spacecraft in phases of mission
• Autonomous features for contingency handling
• Meeting the requirements for communications, thermal and payload operations`

Scientific Objectives:

• Exploring Mars by observing and studying the morphology, topography and mineralogy
• Study the atmosphere and to search the presence of Methane and CO2 using remote sensing techniques
• Study the upper atmosphere and its effects of solar wind and radiation on it.
• If mission extends it would also provide opportunities to observe the Martian moon "Phobos".

Technical Details:

• The spacecraft bus was modified I-1-K
• Total lift-up mass is 1,337.2 kilograms
• Solar panels that could produce 840 watts and stored in 36 Ah Lithium-ion battery
• Propulsion was provided by 440 newtons thrust engine
• It carried five scientific instruments of 15 kilograms

Instruments Description:

• MENCA - Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser
• The main scientific objective is to study the neutral composition and density distribution of Martian exosphere from an altitude of 370 km and beyond, and to study its radial, diurnal, and possibly seasonal variations. This would help in understanding the escape of the Martian atmosphere.
• LAP - Lyman-Alpha Photometer
• It is a far-ultraviolet scientific instrument to measure the distribution of Deutrium and Hydrogen in Martian Exosphere.
• MCC - Mars Colour Camera
• It is a multi-purpose versatile camera with RGB Bayer pattern to image various morphological features on Mars. It also expected to observe and provide information  about events like dust storms and dust devils
• MSM - Methane Sensor for Mars
• It a differential radiometer based on Fabry-Perot filters operating in short wave infrared region. It used to detect Methane by absorption of mathane in the first channel
• TIS - Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer
• It is a grating based spectrometer which will be used to measure the thermal emission from Martian surface. It will be useful to determine the surface temperature of Mars

Current Status:

     Mangalyaan is currently active on Mars and sending information to us. First year data was released on ISSDC website. To see first year of MOM archived data. Click Mangalyaan First Year data archive.

Further References:

1. Click to see images from Mars Colour Camera 
2. List of Mars Orbiter Mission Publications 
3. Announcement of Opportunity to use Mangalyaan data 
4. Release of Mars Atlas with celebration of 1 year on Mars.

Read More

NIUSAT

NIUSAT is an Student satellite developed by students from Noorul Islam University in Tamil Nadu, which is under Indian University / Academic Institute Satellite. The total mass of the satellite is 15 kg and it is a three stabilised satellite. It was launched to provide multi-spectral imagery for agricultural crop monitoring and disaster management. 

This mission was fully controlled by Ultra-High Frequency (UHF)/ Very High Frequency (VHF) antenna for Telemetry/Tele-command operations and S-band antenna has been established for payload data reception.

Satellite Details:

Name                 : NIUSAT

Mass                  : 15 kg

Orbit                  : 505 km SSPO

Launch Vehicle : PSLV-C38 / Cartosat-2 Series Satellite

Satellite Type    : Student Satellite

Orbit Type         : Sun Synchronous Orbit

Multi-Spectral Images from NIUSAT:

Read More

Documentary On Saraswati Cluster

A Documantary on Saraswati Cluster discovered by Indian Astronomers. Amazing discovery of 2017 by Indain Astronomers. 

What is Super-Cluster?

     A supercluster is chain of galaxy and a galaxy approximately consisting of ten thousand galaxies and this saraswathy cluster is about 600 million light years stretched over the universe

Discovery:

     This discovery was made by Indian Astronomers from Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) and two other members of Indian Universities  

Video Tags:

Mangalyaan-Mars Orbiter Mission | Journey of Five Spacecraft to Mars by Russia | Mariner 3 | Mariner 4 | ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter | Mangalyaan-2 Proposal | Kosmos 419 Orbiter | Mariner 6 | Mars 2 Orbiter and Lander | 2001 Mars Odyssey Updates | Mars Express Updates |

Read More

Solar Flares on 14th July 2017

     A Medium seized solar flare and coronal mass ejection erupted in one of the large active region of the sun on 14th July 2017. The flares lasted for nearly two hours and it was the very longer. The coils like flares in this active region are the particles which spirals along with the magnetic field lines. They are disrupted away by the blast. The above image was taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light.

What is solar flares?

   Solar flares are giant explosions of the sun that sends high speed particles, energy and light into space. These fields also have solar magnetic storms known as coronal mass ejections. These are most common events happens in the sun which emits fast photons known as energetic particle and the regions where the solar coils ejects out is known as corotating interaction regions.

Where the solar flare kind of observations are noted?

  These kind of observations are observed in The Solar Dynamics Observatory, which was managed by (National Aeronautics Space Administration) NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Its Atmosphere Imaging Assembly was built by the Lockheed Martin Solar Astrophysics Laboratory, Palo Alto, California.

Read More

NASA founded a Brown Dwarf

     NASA discovered a Brown Dwarf whose paper was published on 24 May 2017 in the Astrophysics Journal. Castro and four other citizen were the co-author of the paper. There are 117 additional dwarf planets candidates has identified by Planet 9. These planets were orbiting at the fringes of our solar system beyond Pluto.

Scientists said that the dwarf planet was discovered since two decades. These new type of dwarf is an intermediate between a star and a planet. And it can ability for Nuclear fusion reactions They do not energy to maintain their luminosity, so they slowly cool over the years and due to their lower temperature also render them very intrinsically dim.

For many years Kuchner has been fascinated by Infrared images of the whole sky captured by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) which was launched in 2009. This telescope was especially designed to image dwarf planets like this, but after its initial mission it was deactivated in 2011. It was then reactivated as NEOWISE, a new mission funded by NEO Observation program.

ABOUT PLANET 9: 

     Planet 9 is a joint collaboration between NASA, UC Berkeley, the American museum of Natural history in New York, Arizona state university, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore and Zooniverse..

For more information visit http://backyardworlds.org 

Read More

MAVEN

Mission Overview:

     MAVEN is expanded as Mars Atmospheric Volatile Evolution Mission, was an American spacecraft launched by National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) to study the Mars atmosphere and evolution of gases. This spacecraft was designed under the supervision of Lockheed Martin.It was launched on 28 November 2013, after the successful launch of Indian Mars Spacecraft Mangalyaan (Mars Orbiter Mission).

Mission Proposal:

      MAVEN mission was originated from American Mars Scout Program. Mission was designed and tested by Lockheed Martin Space Subsystems. After the completion of spacecraft, it arrived Kennedy Space Center for launch in August of 2013. But the launch was delayed due to down of the government. Finally it was scheduled to launch in 28 November 2013.Maven is similar to previous Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey.

Start of Mission:

      Mars Atmospheric Volatile Evolution Mission was started with the successful launch on 28 November. After a 10 month journey to mars Maven entered the martian orbit on 22 September 2014 at 02:24 UTC.

Objectives:

   There are four primary objectives of the spacecraft are

• To measure - how much volatile compounds is escaped from Martian atmosphere to space
• To measure the rate of escaping atmosphere into space
• To report the current status of martian upper atmosphere, ionosphere and its interactions with solar wind
• To measure the availability of stable isotopes on Mars

  An instrument called Sample Analysis for Mars (SAM) mounted on board of Curiosity Rover will investigate Mars atmosphere from the Gale creator. It will help Maven to interpret upper atmosphere of Mars.

  

Scientific Instruments:

• Particle and Field Package
• Solar wind electron analyser
• Solar wind ion analyser
• Supra-Thermal and Thermal  Ion Composition
• Solar Energetic Particle
• Langmuir Probes and Waves
• Magnetometer

• Remote Sensing package
• Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrometer

• Neutral gas and ion mass spectrometer 

Mission Status:

     Maven is currently in operation and active. its first phase ended in November 2014 and its second science phase started in June of 2015. Maven has enough fuel to extend its mission for next to years and can orbit around mars as orbiter for next 6 years. 

Discoveries:

• On 5 November 2015, Scientists reported that the Solar wind is responsible for the stripping away of Martian Atmosphere
• Mars lost its magnetic shield, because the planetary dynamo is cooled
• It loses water into thin atmosphere by evaporation and the Solar wind splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen.
• Hydrogen gas rises high into the Martian atmosphere due to its lightness and lost to space by several processes.
• The rate of loss of hydrogen into space increases. This was noted from the beginning, when the Maven entered the Martian Orbit.   

Tags:

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter | Mariner 9 | Mars 96 Orbiter | Mars 2 Orbiter | Mariner 8 | Mars 3 Orbiter | Mars 5 Orbiter | Mars Express | Mars 2M No.522 Orbiter | Mars Climate Orbiter | Mars 7 Lander | Prop-M Rover | Zond 2 Flyby | Viking 2 Orbiter | Viking 1 Orbiter | Mariner 6 | Mariner 3 |  Kosmos 419 Orbiter

 

Read More