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ISRO all set to launch first-ever private rocket

It will carry a total of three payloads in space, including one from the foreign customers…reports Asian Lite News

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to make history on Friday when it will launch the first-ever private rocket on Friday, setting a new milestone in the 75 years journey of independent India.

Union Science & Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said that this will be a major milestone in the journey of ISRO, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had unlocked the space sector in India two years ago for private participation.

He said that the non-government entity, startup Skyroot Aerospace Pvt Ltd (SAPL) has developed the Vikram-suborbital (VKS) rocket, which is a single stage spin stabilised solid propellant rocket with mass of approx 550 kg. He said, the rocket goes to the max altitude of 101 km and splashes into the sea and the overall duration of launch is 300 seconds only.

Skyroot was the first startup to sign a MoU with ISRO for launching its rockets. Apart from being the nation’s first private launch, it will also be the maiden mission of Skyroot Aerospace, named “Prarambh”. It will carry a total of three payloads in space, including one from the foreign customers.

The Minister said this it will provide a level playing field for cost-efficient satellite launch services by disrupting the entry barriers and will also help the startups to make spaceflights affordable and reliable.

Space reforms have unleashed innovative potentials of startups and within a short span of time, from a couple of space startups three-four years back, today the country has 102 star-ups working in cutting-edge areas of space debris management, nano-satellite, launch vehicle, ground systems, research etc, he said, adding that with the integration of R&D, academia and industry, it is safe to say that a ‘Space Revolution’ led by the ISRO along with the private sector and startups is on the horizon.

‘ISRO’s rocket launch and tracking fee is nominal’

The fee charged by the Indian space agency for the rocket launch and tracking services is nominal, said a top official of private rocket startup Skyroot Aerospace.

“The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) provides integration facility, launchpad, range communications and tracking support before and during our rocket launch,” Pawan Kumar Chandana, CEO and Co-Founder said.

“The fee is reasonable. However, we won’t be able to share contractual details as we are bound by a non-disclosure agreement with ISRO and IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre — the regulator for private sector space industry),” Chandana added.

Skyroot Aerospace’s rocket Vikram-S with three small satellites is scheduled for launch on November 18 at 11.30 a.m.

“Launch is likely on 18th as the weather is predicted to be ideal. Due to inclement weather, we got an updated launch window of November 15-19, 2022,” Chandana said.

According to him, the Vikram-S rocket is a scaled down version of Vikram-1 rocket. The former is a single stage rocket whereas the latter is a multi-stage vehicle.

“Almost all our systems flying in Vikram-S were designed in-house, except for few sensors which were imported,” Chandana said.

The rocket will be powered by a single stage to help test and validate the majority of the technologies in the Vikram series of rockets.

The company plans to have three rocket variants: Vikram I – payload or carrying capacity 480 kg to 500 km low inclination orbit (LIO); 290 kg to 500 km sun synchronous and polar orbit (SSPO); Vikram II – 595 kg to 500 km LIO, 400 kg to 500 km SSPO and Vikram III – 815 kg to 500 km LIO, 560 kg to 500 km SSPO.

Skyroot Aerospace’s rockets are named ‘Vikram’ as a tribute to the founder of the Indian Space programme and renowned scientist Dr Vikram Sarabhai.

Chandana said Vikram-1 is expected to fly during the third quarter of calendar year 2023.

ALSO READ-ISRO increases carrying capacity of LVM3 rocket

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India News Science

Agnikul Cosmos successfully test fires rocket engine

Agnikul Cosmos successfully test fires rocket engine

Queried about the payload to be carried, Ravichandran had said it will be a dummy payload…reports Asian Lite News

Rocket manufacturing startup, Agnikul Cosmos on Tuesday said that it successfully test fired a second stage semi-cryogenic engine.

According to Agnikul Cosmos, the single piece, fully 3D printed, second stage rocket engine powered by semi-cryogenic fuel Agnilet was test fired at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), part of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The company’s co-founder and CEO, Srinath Ravichandran, earlier told that they are pushing hard to have the first test launch of their rocket Agnibaan before the end of 2022.

Queried about the payload to be carried, Ravichandran had said it will be a dummy payload.

Agnibaan is a two-stage rocket with 100 kg payload capacity to orbits around 700 km high (low Earth orbits) and enables plug-and-play configuration.

The company recently opened its first 3D printed rocket engine factory located at the IIT Madras Research Park.

The factory has been designed keeping in mind the ability to produce two rocket engines per week for its rocket Agnibaan.

When queried about plans to have the test launch sometime next month, S.R. Chakravarthy, Professor and Head, National Centre for Combustion Research and Development, IIT Madras and Advisor to Agnikul told IANS: “We have been working towards it all the while but nothing is fixed yet.”

The Agnikul and ISRO signed an MoU, enabling access to the former to ISRO facilities and expertise towards the development and testing of subsystems/systems of Space Launch Vehicles.

ALSO READ-Russia will quit International Space Station: Roscosmos

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Science World News

World to witness thrilling ‘Blood Moon’ spectacle

Moon will be seen 60 per cent covered in Nagpur, 66 per cent in Srinagar and in varying degrees in other cities, said Prof. Adur…reports Asian Lite News

Director, Akash Ganga Centre for Astronomy (AGCA) here.

“Tomorrow, the Earth’s looming shadow will cover the Moon and during this period it will appear a dark reddish colour, almost like a large drop of blood balanced in the sky… This phenomenon is called a ‘Blood Moon’ and it’s an exciting spectacle,” said Prof. Adur.

He urged the people to view it wherever possible, as this will be the last total lunar eclipse, and the next one (total lunar eclipse) due only after three years on September 7, 2025.

The Earth will come between the Sun and Moon and the blue planet’s monstrous shadow — from a staggering distance of 3.93 lakh kms — will shroud its small natural satellite, partially or fully, depending on the angle of alignment from where it is viewed, Prof. Adur explained.

The Sun is around 109 times bigger than Earth and over 148-million kms away, while the Earth is nearly four times larger than the Moon, with an average distance of 3,85 lakh kms separating them.

“In a total lunar eclipse, the Moon is entirely blanketed by the Earth’s darkest shadow, called the ‘umbra’, and at this time, the Moon appears a dark-reddish colour, or what is called the ‘Blood Moon’ phenomenon,” Prof. Adur said.

In scientific terms, it’s called the ‘Rayleigh Scattering’ as during a lunar eclipse the only sunlight that reaches the Moon passes through the Earth’s atmosphere, thus turning the Moon an apparent reddish colour.

This is the second celestial event since the last partial Solar Eclipse (October 25), and can be witnessed by people in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, parts of Asia, Russia, North and South Americas, Australia, North Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean regions.

Despite the scary myths or deep religious aspects associated with any eclipse (solar/lunar), Prof. Adur assured that there is absolutely no harm in viewing the unusual ‘Blood Moon’ on Tuesday with naked eyes or with binoculars which will enhance the reddish colour.

The northeastern parts of India like Kohima, Agartala, Guwahati and other regions in the world will witness it in totality on Tuesday, the final eclipse of 2022.

As the Moon will be below the horizon during the eclipse hours, most other parts of India will miss the exciting starting phases of both the partial and total eclipse, he said.

Kolkata, New Delhi, Chennai along with Mumbai, can witness only the partial phase, and in the country’s commercial capital barely 14 per cent of the Moon’s obscuration can be viewed at 18.03 hours in the setting sun.

However, the Moon will be seen 60 per cent covered in Nagpur, 66 per cent in Srinagar and in varying degrees in other cities, said Prof. Adur.

In case people miss the ‘Blood Moon’ on Tuesday, they can wait for October 28, 2023, when there will be another partial lunar eclipse that will be visible in some parts of the country, Prof. Adur smiled.

ALSO READ-NASA’s Lucy captures images of Earth, Moon

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India News Science

ISRO places 36 ‘OneWeb’ satellites into orbit

OneWeb Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said: “It is a historic day for the Indian space sector. It is a new chapter for India in the space sector.”…reports Venkatachari Jagannathan

In a historic maiden commercial flight, an Indian heavy-lift rocket GSLV MkIII – renamed for this mission as LVM3 M2, successfully placed 36 satellites of UK-based OneWeb into orbit.

With this, India has put one more rocket to compete in the global commercial satellite launch market.

The 43.5 metre tall and weighing 644 ton LVM3 M2 rocket, carrying 36 satellites weighing totally 5,796 kg or about 5.7 ton, blasted off from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 12.07 a.m.

With the thick orange flame at its tail, the rocket lit up the clear midnight sky, and growling it went up.

About 20 minutes into its flight, the LVM3 began slinging the satellites of Network Access Associated Ltd (OneWeb) into low earth orbit (LEO).

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S.Somanath told reporters: “The satellite separation is a slow process. All the satellites got separated successfully. The rocket’s cryogenic engine was at its best.”

OneWeb Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said: “It is a historic day for the Indian space sector. It is a new chapter for India in the space sector.”

Mittal said OneWeb had put a request to ISRO for the launch of its satellites a few months back and the space agency accepted the challenge to carry out two launches of 36 satellites each.

Referring to OneWeb’s planned launch of its Gen2 satellites, Mittal said the company may need about 12-16 launches and ISRO will have a major role to play.

“There is a shortage of launch vehicles and ISRO now has a great opportunity,” Mittal added.

According to D.Radhakrishnan, CMD of NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), ISRO’s commercial arm, the GSLV MkIII has made a remarkable entry into the commercial satellite launch market.

He also said that this is the beginning of many more business associations with OneWeb.

With the latest successful mission, ISRO has put into orbit a total of 381 foreign satellites.

Another set of 36 satellites from OneWeb is planned to be put into orbit in January 2023. The UK company has contracted with NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) to pay over Rs 1,000 crore for both launches.

OneWeb is a joint venture between India Bharti Global and the UK government.

The satellite company plans to have a constellation of about 650 satellites in low earth orbit (LEO) to offer communication services.

According to ISRO, the OneWeb Constellation operates in an LEO Polar Orbit.

The LVM3 is a three-stage rocket with the first stage fired with liquid fuel, the two strap-on motors powered by solid fuel, the second by liquid fuel and the third is the cryogenic engine.

The ISRO’s heavy-lift rocket GSLV MkIII has a carrying capacity of 10 ton to the LEO and four-ton to the Geo Transfer Orbit (GTO).

Normally the GSLV rocket is used for launching India’s geostationary communication satellites. And hence it was named as GeoSynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The GSLV MkIII refers to the third-generation rocket.

As the rocket that flew on Sunday morning was for orbiting the satellites in LEO, the ISRO has renamed GSLV MkIII as LVM3 (Launch Vehicle MkIII).

The rocket mission has several firsts for the Indian space sector. It is the first commercial launch of GSLV MkIII and for the first time, an Indian rocket will be ferrying a payload of about six tonnes.

Similarly, OneWeb is using an Indian rocket to put its satellites into orbit for the first time. Also, it is the first commercial launch of GSLV MkIII contracted by NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO, and for the first time, a renamed GSLV MkIII is being used for launching satellites in LEO.

OneWeb pays over Rs 1,000 cr

The UK-based Network Access Associated Ltd (OneWeb) will be paying over Rs 1,000 crore to the Indian space agency to launch its 72 satellites, said a top group official.

He also said OneWeb’s merger with French satellite company Eutelsat Communications is likely to be completed around April-May of 2023. OneWeb will be a 100 per cent subsidiary of Eutelsat Communications.

Speaking to reporters here, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, OneWeb, said the company will be paying Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)/NewSpace India Ltd over Rs 1,000 crore for launching 72 satellites.

The first batch of 36 satellites will fly on ISRO’s rocket LVM3 at 12.07 a.m. on Sunday. OneWeb will also use ISRO’s another LVM3 rocket in January to launch 36 satellites.

OneWeb plans to have a constellation of 648 satellites in LEO to offer its broadband services across the world.

“Nearly 10 per cent of OneWeb’s satellites will be launched by ISRO,” said Shravin Mittal, Managing Director, Bharti Global.

Queried about the prospects of sourcing its Gen2 satellites from ISRO, Sunil Mittal said the discussions are on. OneWeb will look at India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) to orbit some of its satellites as replacements in space.

Queried about any changes in constellation configuration following the decision to merge OneWeb with Eutelsat Communications, Massimiliano Ladovaz, Chief Technology Officer, OneWeb, said there is no change in respect of Gen1 satellite constellation.

Ladovaz also said the request for quote (RFQ) for manufacturing of Gen2 satellites will be issued by the end of this year.

Officials of OneWeb and ISRO on Saturday held a meeting where the possibility of ISRO participating was also discussed.

According to Sunil Mittal, by the middle of next year, OneWeb will start offering its broadband service mainly focused on the business-to-business segment.

When asked about the competition, he said the market is big enough to have three or four satellite constellations.

Asked if three or four constellations with several hundreds of satellites orbiting in the space will increase the space debris, Ladovaz said OneWeb satellites are designed in such a manner that it would not become a debris.

ALSO READ-36 OneWeb satellites reach India for ISRO launch

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NASA set to break sound barrier again for future air travel

“Their responses will be shared with regulators who will then consider writing new rules to lift the ban,” said NASA…reports Asian Lite News

NASA aeronautical innovators are poised to break the sound barrier again, this time in a very different way that could make it possible for all of us to one day travel by air just as fast as any of the X-1 pilots who flew supersonic.

NASA’s X-59, the centerpiece of the agency’s Quesst mission, will enable commercial supersonic travel over land.

Lockheed Martin has designed, built and conducted initial flight tests with the aircraft and the first flight is targeted for 2023.

“That first supersonic flight was such a tremendous achievement, and now you look at how far we’ve come since then. What we’re doing now is the culmination of so much of their work,” said Catherine Bahm, an aeronautical engineer at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California.

Through Quesst, NASA plans to demonstrate the X-59 can fly faster than sound without generating the typically loud sonic booms that led to supersonic flight over land being banned in 1973.

The plan includes flying the X-59 over several communities to survey how people react to the quieter sonic “thump” it produces – if they hear anything at all.

“Their responses will be shared with regulators who will then consider writing new rules to lift the ban,” said NASA.

“And when that happens it will mark another historic milestone in flight, potentially opening a new era in air travel, where airline passengers might hop on a supersonic jet at breakfast time in Los Angeles to make a lunch-time reservation in New York City,” it added.

Seventy-five years ago, a sonic boom thundered for the first time over the high desert of California, when the thunder came from the Bell X-1 rocket plane flying faster than the speed of sound.

It was October 14, 1947, and the joint X-1 team of NACA, Air Force (newly formed that year), and Bell engineers and pilots had broken the sound barrier — an imaginary wall in the sky some said was impossible to penetrate.

“With the X-59 flying on the Quesst mission, I think wea’re ready to break the sound barrier once again,” said Peter Coen, NASA’s mission integration manager for Quesst.

ALSO READ-NASA calls off Tuesday moon launch  

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‘Space sector moving towards constellation of satellites’

India has agreed to expand space cooperation with Italy by tapping opportunities in earth observation, space science, robotic and human exploration, the state-run Indian space agency said on Thursday. (Twitter)

He said there are estimates that 10,000 satellites are likely to be launched in the near future…reports Asian Lite News

The global space sector is moving away from geo-statellites and towards the constellation of small satellites in low earth orbit, a senior official of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) said on Saturday.

In his address at the conference ‘Space Technology: The Next Business Frontier’, Prof. Rajeev Jyoti, Distinguished Scientist, Director (Technical), IN-SPACe, said the space sector, in the next 10 years, is shifting from geo-satellites to constellation of satellites.

He said there are estimates that 10,000 satellites are likely to be launched in the near future.

Jyoti said the space sector must be taken forward by entrepreneurs and space business instead of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) being the only integrator of the entire space ecosystem.

“According to a newly-announced policy, if a space object is not functionally working, it has to be removed within five years in order to avoid space debris in place of the earlier 25 years. We have to develop technologies for active space debris removal,” he said.

The conference is organised by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), the US Consulate General Chennai, and the Indian Space Association.

Drew Schufletowski, Minister Counselor for Economic, Environment, Science and Technology Affairs, US Embassy, New Delhi, said, India and the US are natural partners in the space sector and there is immense opportunities for expanding bilateral and multilateral collaboration in space sector.

Back in 1963, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and ISRO worked together to launch the first Indian sounding rocket.

Since then, the two space agencies have collaborated on numerous projects including moon exploration, Schufletowski said.

“Currently, NASA and ISRO are collaborating on one of NASA’s biggest project – the NASA-ISRO SAR Mission (NISAR), a joint Earth-observing mission, he said.

On September 30, 2014, the NASA and the ISRO signed a partnership to collaborate on and launch NISAR. The mission is targeted to launch in early 2023.

Dr. Mylswamy Annadurai, Vice President, Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology and former senior official of the ISRO said: “This conclave is a focused project with the outcome being a white paper that will lead to establishment of ‘Association of Space Entrepreneurs in the Indo-Pacific’ (ASEIP).

ALSO READ-‘India will leverage space warfare for its security’

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Oppenheimer and influence of Vedic Philosophy

Physicists Albert Einstein and Oppenheimer conferring circa 1950

PS “Oppenheimer” is the subject of forthcoming Hollywood biopic to be released in 2023…writes Dilip Roy

JR Oppenheimer (1904-1967) was an American theoretical physicist of German origin just like his friend Nobel laureate Albert Einstein was also of German descent and both were profoundly influenced by Hindu thought along with notable physicists such as Niels Bohr, Heisenberg and Schrodinger to name but a few. The Vedas are a group of writings in Sanskrit that consists of hymns, prayers, myths, historical accounting, science and the nature of reality. The Vedic compositions dates back to around five thousand years BCE.Oppenheimer today is rightly regarded as the father of Atomic Bomb.

Presentation of the Army-Navy “E” Award at Los Alamos on October 16, 1945. Oppenheimer (left) gave his farewell speech as director on this occasion. Robert Gordon Sproul right, in suit, accepted the award on behalf of the University of California from Leslie Groves (center)

He was among those who observed the Trinity test in New Mexico where the first Atomic bomb was detonated successfully on July 16, 1945. While witnessing the explosion of Trinity nuclear test he thought of a verse from Bhagavad Gita “If the radiance of thousand suns were to at once into the sky that would be like the splendor of the mighty one.” Among his friends was Arthur W. Ryder a notable professor of Sanskrit at Berkeley University for Oppenheimer, he found a quintessential intellectual as a friend and it is Ryder who made him aware of India’s ancient language and started giving him lessons once every week. Robert was so enraptured by his Sanskrit studies that when, in the year 1933 , his father bought him a Chrysler, and he named it Garuda, after the giant bird god in Hindu Mythology The Gita which constitutes the heart of Sanskrit epic The Mahabharata is told in the form of a dialogue between the incarnate god Krishna and a human hero Prince Arjuna. About to lead his troops into the battle, Arjuna refuses to go to war against his cousins the Kurus. Lord Krishna the charioteer tells Arjuna that he must fulfil his duty as a warrior and pick up the weapon and fight. Oppenheimer’s yet another of his favorite parts of the Gita, the (Satakatrayam) contains these fatalistic lines:


Vanquish enemies at arms
Gain mastery of the sciences and varied arts
You may do all this, but Karma’s force
Alone prevents what is not destined
And compels what is to become.


Oppenheimer also read the Sanskrit poems of the great Kalidasa in its original and his favorite romantic poem was “The Cloud Messenger.”
Vedic philosophy has influenced whole generation of Quantum physicists and Oppenheimer was certainly among them. According to Oppenheimer if there was anything that may be regarded as privilege the West has in 19th century it was the study of GITA. The use of Brahmastra has been mentioned in the MAHABHARATA war. Remarkably Oppenheimer also believed at the possibility of Brahmastra on par with the modern nuclear weapons of today.

The famous Danish physicist and Nobel Laureate Niels Bohr (1885-1962) was an ardent follower of the Vedas. He said, “I go into the Upanishads to ask questions.” Both Bohr and Schrodinger were the founders of quantum physics, were avid readers of the Vedic texts and came to a conclusion that their experiments in quantum physics were consistent with what they had read in the Vedas. This is pretty much also the belief of scientists of today.

Oppenheimer in 1946 with his trademark cigarette

Erwin Schrodinger (1887-1961) Austrian born physicist and Nobel Laureate came up with his famous wave of equation that predicts how the Quantum Mechanical wave function changes with time. Schrodinger, in speaking of a universe in which particles are represented by wave of functions, said “The unity and continuity of Vedanta are reflected in the unity and continuity of wave mechanics. This is entirely consistent with the Vedanta concept of All in One.” Vedanta and mythical beliefs are likely to appeal to a mathematical physicist, a brilliant child, tempted on occasion by intellectual pride.

Such factors may help to explain why Schrodinger became a believer in Vedanta. Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976) was a German physicist and a Nobel Laureate like his fellow scientists was profoundly influenced by Hindu Vedic philosophy. According to Heisenberg Quantum theory will not look ridiculous to people who have read Vedanta because it is the conclusion of Vedic thought. In lectures given in the 1950’s and later published as (Physics and Philosophy) Heisenberg stated that modern physics is part of a general historical process that tends toward a unification and a widening of our present world. As regards to the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, he liked his idea about the Sanskrit language which according to German Indologists is the origin of all languages.

Heisenberg admired Eastern philosophy and thought and saw parallels between it and quantum mechanics, describing himself as in complete agreement. Heisenberg even as far as to state that after conversations with India’s Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore about Indian philosophy that seemed to make much more sense which was at par with the Vedas.

In the 1920’s Quantum Mechanics was created by three great minds namely Bohr, Heisenberg and Schrodinger, who all read from the greatly respected the Vedas. They elaborated upon these ancient books of wisdom in their own language and with modern mathematical concepts in order to understand the ideas that are to be found throughout the Vedas referred to in the ancient Sanskrit as “Brahman,” “Paramatma,” “Akasha” and “Atma.” Vedic texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads were the most influential to have come from ancient India and went on to influence whole generation of European intellectuals, artists and scientists alike.

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes’ Laboratory in Leiden, Netherlands, 1926. Oppenheimer is in the middle row, second from the left.

PS “Oppenheimer” is the subject of forthcoming Hollywood biopic to be released in 2023.

(Dilip Roy is an elected Fellow of Royal Asiatic Society of United Kingdom is also a researcher and an Indo-German cultural enthusiast. Mr Roy is a great admirer of European classical music and operas particularly those of composer Richard Wagner and his favorite music conductor is the world renowned Indian maestro Zubin Mehta.)

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Science USA

NASA rover discovers green landscape in Mars  

The rocks and lava the rover is examining on Mars are nearly 4 billion years old…reports Asian Lite News

Not just red rocks and craters we saw in the popular science fiction film ‘The Martian’ starring Matt Damon, Mars has several volcanic rocks composed of large grains of olivine — the muddier less-gemlike version of peridot that tints Hawaii’s beaches dark green, NASA’s rover Perseverance has discovered.

Perseverance landed in the Jezero Crater, a spot chosen partly for the crater’s history as a lake and as part of a rich river system, back when Mars had liquid water, air and a magnetic field.

What the rover found once on the ground was startling. Rather than the expected sedimentary rocks — washed in by rivers and accumulated on the lake bottom — many of the rocks are dark green in nature, according to researchers from Purdue University in the US.

“We started to realise that these layered igneous rocks we were seeing look different from the igneous rocks we have these days on Earth. They’re very like igneous rocks on Earth early in its existence,” said planetary scientist Roger Wien in the study published in the journals Science and Science Advances.

Understanding the rocks on Mars, their evolution and history, and what they reveal about the history of planetary conditions on Mars helps researchers understand how life may have arisen on Mars and how that compares with early life and conditions on ancient Earth.

“One of the reasons we don’t have a great understanding of where and when life first evolved on Earth is because those rocks are mostly gone, so it’s really hard to reconstruct what ancient environments on Earth were like,” said Briony Horgan, associate professor in Purdue’s College of Science.

“The rocks Perseverance is roving over in Jezero have more or less just been sitting at the surface for billions of years, waiting for us to come look at them. That’s one of the reasons that Mars is an important laboratory for understanding the early solar system,” he added.

The rocks and lava the rover is examining on Mars are nearly 4 billion years old.

Rocks that old exist on Earth but are incredibly weathered and beaten, thanks to Earth’s active tectonic plates as well as the weathering effects of billions of years of wind, water and life.

On Mars, these rocks are pristine and much easier to analyse.

Scientists can use conditions on early Mars to help extrapolate the environment and conditions on Earth at the same time when life was beginning to arise.

“From orbit, we looked at these rocks and said, ‘Oh, they have beautiful layers!’ So we thought they were sedimentary rocks,” Horgan said.

“And it wasn’t until we were very close up and looked at them, at the millimeter scale, that we understood that these are not sedimentary rocks,” he added.

NASA to develop next-gen spaceflight computing processor

NASA has selected US-based Microchip Technology to develop a high-performance space flight computing (HPSC) processor that will provide at least 100 times the computational capacity of current spaceflight computers.

The next-generation processor would advance all types of future space missions, from planetary exploration to lunar and Mars surface missions.

“This cutting-edge spaceflight processor will have a tremendous impact on our future space missions and even technologies here on Earth,” said Niki Werkheiser, director of technology maturation within the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, in a statement.

“This effort will amplify existing spacecraft capabilities and enable new ones and could ultimately be used by virtually every future space mission, all benefiting from more capable flight computing,” Werkheiser added.

Microchip will architect, design, and deliver the HPSC processor over three years, with the goal of employing the processor on future lunar and planetary exploration missions.

Microchip’s processor architecture will significantly improve the overall computing efficiency for these missions by enabling computing power to be scalable, based on mission needs. The design also will be more reliable and have a higher fault tolerance.

As part of NASA’s ongoing commercial partnership efforts, the work will take place under a $50 million firm-fixed-price contract, with Microchip contributing significant research and development costs to complete the project.

“We are pleased that NASA selected Microchip as its partner to develop the next-generation space-qualified compute processor platform,” said Babak Samimi, corporate vice president for Microchip’s Communications business unit.

The platform “will deliver comprehensive Ethernet networking, advanced artificial intelligence/machine learning processing and connectivity support while offering unprecedented performance gain, fault-tolerance, and security architecture at low power consumption”, Samimi added.

Microchip’s HPSC processor may also be useful to other government agencies and applicable to other types of future space missions to explore our solar system and beyond, from Earth science operations to Mars exploration and human lunar missions.

The processor could potentially be used for commercial systems on Earth that require similar mission critical edge computing needs as space missions and are able to safely continue operations if one component of the system fails.

ALSO READ-NASA postpones Artemis I moon mission

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UK boosts space tech funding

Prime Minister Boris Johnson looks at stands in the Space Hall during a visit to the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

Morris is a longstanding advocate for the UK space industry and chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Space…reports Asian Lite News

Funding for pioneering new space technologies will help to cut carbon emissions, improve energy security and enhance the UK’s reputation as a science superpower, the Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng announced today.

£3 million of grant funding will be made available for space-based solar power (SBSP) projects that collect the Sun’s energy using solar panels orbiting the Earth and can deliver clean energy, day and night, unaffected by the weather.

The technology has the potential to boost energy security by providing reliable, affordable alternative to expensive and volatile fossil fuels, while reducing the UK’s contributions to climate change.

Grant funding will also be made available for cutting-edge weather monitoring sensors to aid more accurate weather forecasts. The sensors will be put into orbit for the first time, thanks to a partnership with data and analytics company Spire Global.

The Hyperspectral Microwave Sounder (HYMS), developed by the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s RAL Space, will help meteorological agencies and businesses around the world involved with planning, shipping and flood warnings. It is 4 times more powerful than the sensors used on existing satellites.

In a further demonstration of the government’s commitment to the sector, Morecambe and Lunesdale MP David Morris will serve as the first ever National Space Champion. He will work closely with industry to ensure the UK’s space sector continues to grow, attract investment, and develop innovative products. Morris is a longstanding advocate for the UK space industry and chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Space.

Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said, “Space-based solar power could provide an affordable, clean and reliable source of energy for the whole world to benefit from, helping the move away from expensive fossil fuels. Today’s investment is an exciting example of how we can go even further in our ambitions to make the UK a science superpower.”

These projects are major milestones for our National Space Strategy, developing the UK’s space capabilities while boosting the economy and delivering high-skill jobs.

National Space Champion David Morris MP said, “It is a privilege to be asked to be the first UK National Space Champion and the appointment shows the government’s commitment to the sector and its commitment to its growth. The UK space sector is fast becoming a world leader and I look forward to being a champion for the industry within government to ensure we are able to spearhead the industry to even further growth.”

Similarly, the HYMS occupies a footprint fifty times smaller than current technology, which makes it possible to launch dozens of HYMS-equipped satellites, together forming a constellation that can track fast moving extreme weather events such as hurricanes.

Dr Paul Bate, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said, “Satellite technology is helping us solve some of the most significant challenges we face. We’re working with the space sector to drive innovation, catalyse investment and bring tangible benefits to people and businesses across the UK.” The UK space sector employs around 47,000 people directly around the UK and supports around 190,000 jobs in the supply chain. By building on the commitments of the National Space Strategy to grow the economy and lead pioneering scientific discovery, these 2 projects will help to protect and grow these high-quality jobs across the country for generations to come.

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Science USA

NASA’s universe images flashed on Times Square screens

The images captured on the world’s most powerful space Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope were taken from its most powerful observatory ever placed in orbit….reports Asian Lite News

Giving the deepest view of the Cosmos, the first full-colour images from the world’s most powerful space telescope were on display at Times Square Screens in New York City on Tuesday.

The images captured on the world’s most powerful space Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope were taken from its most powerful observatory ever placed in orbit, NASA revealed.

The first image unveiled earlier showed the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723.

Webb’s First Deep Field is a composite made from different images taken at different wavelengths. It was made using images taken with the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). NASA then revealed images of the following targets: Carina Nebula, WASP-96 b (spectrum data), Southern Ring Nebula and Stephen’s Quintet.

Located 7,600 light-years away, the Carina Nebula is a stellar nursery, where stars are born. It is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky and home to many stars much more massive than our sun, CNN reported.

The “Cosmic Cliffs” are seen in the stunning new image that reveals previously hidden baby stars, which provides “a rare peek into stars in their earliest, rapid stages of formation,” according to NASA.

This compact galaxy group, first discovered in 1787, is located 290 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. Four of the five galaxies in the group “are locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters,” according to a NASA statement.

The Southern Ring Nebula, also called the “Eight-Burst,” is 2,000 light-years away from Earth. This large planetary nebula includes an expanding cloud of gas around a dying star.

The new observatory is a joint project of the US, European and Canadian space agencies.It has been specially tuned to see the sky in the infrared – that’s light at longer wavelengths than can be sensed by our eyes. (ANI)

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