Monday: NASA's public MAVEN events inWashington, Maryland, Mississippi, Alabama, WestVirginia.

Five NASA centers around the United States will host events and activities Monday, Nov. 18, for the public to view the launch of the agency's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft and learn about its mission. MAVEN, which is set to launch at 1:28 p.m. EST
from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, will take critical measurements of the Martian upper atmosphere to help scientists understand climate change over the Red Planet's history. Here is a schedule of events at NASA facilities in
Washington, Maryland, Mississippi, Alabama and
West Virginia:
(All times Eastern)
11 a.m. -- NASA's Stennis Space Center, near Bay St. Louis, Miss.: The INFINITY Science Center
located on I-10 Exit 2, will host a live viewing of the launch, science project discussions with
featured speakers, conduct a parachute design and launch demonstration and a Mars habitat
competition. Visitors also may have their photographs taken on a simulated Martian surface.
For more information, call 228-533-9025, ext. 311.
Noon -- NASA Headquarters, Washington: Launch coverage will be available in the James Webb
Auditorium at 300 E St. SW. Jim Garvin, chief scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Md., will discuss Mars exploration plans and answer questions from the public. MAVEN materials and other handouts will be available. Noon -- NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center will host a pre-launch panel discussion with representatives from the Marshall Center titled "Deep Space Exploration: Mars and Beyond." There
will also be educational activities for children. The event will be held in the U.S. Space & Rocket Center's Davidson Center Digital Theater located at One Tranquility Base, Huntsville, Ala., 35805. The event is open to the public and there will be signs directing the public where to park. The launch will be shown live in the theater at 1:28 p.m. For more information, contact Shannon Ridinger at
256-544-3774.
1 p.m. -- NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, Md.: Goddard's Visitors Center auditorium located off ICESat Road (formerly Soil Conservation Road) will show the launch and have available a planetary scientist to answer visitors'
questions. For more information, contact the Goddard newsroom at 301-286-8955.
1 p.m. -- NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility, 5000 NASA Blvd. 5th Floor, Fairmont, W.Va: Events will include educational activities for students and educators before and after launch coverage. Take either elevator to the 5th floor. Media should use the
South entrance. For more information contact Jennifer Neptune at: 304-367-8262.
- courtesy of NASA

NASA'S Mars mission rocket arrives at launching pad

The US space agency NASA Saturday rolled out to the launching pad at Cap Canaveral, Florida, the Atlas 5 rocket, which will blast off Monday for Mars carrying the MAVEN spacecraft, which will study the atmosphere of that planet.

The rocket, 57.3 metres long, is scheduled to take off from Florida Monday at 1:28 p.m. 

Meteorologists point to a 60 percent probability of favourable weather conditions for the rocket launch on that day and hour.

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft will travel 10 months through space to an orbit around the red planet, and will then collect data to determine how and why it became the cold desert it is today.

Research up to now has shown that Mars was once a planet with water but the influence of the sun and other factors caused it to lose its atmosphere.

SACHIN TENDULKAR'S SPEECH

Sachin Tendulkar: " All my friends, settle down let me talk,I'll get more and more emotional ." The crowd does berserk out there. "My life between 22
yards in the 24 years, it 's hard to believe that it 's coming to an end. I would like to thank all the people who have helped me in my life to get here. I
have a list in my hand , please forgive me if I miss out on a few names. First , my father, he passed away in 1999 . He was very key for my career. he
gave me freedom , chase your dreams and don't find shortcuts. He also told me to be a nice human being. My mother, I don't how she dealt with such
a naughty like guy me . She took care of me to be healthy. She started praying for me even before I started my career and I think those prayers gave my strength . In my school days , I used to stay with my uncle and aunt as my school was far away . They treated me like their son.They gave me enough food that I can play well . My eldest brother , he used to tell me , I know you'd do everything right and I have the confidence in you.My sister, she gave my the first bat for me . A Kashmir Willow bat . She continues to fast when I bat . Ajit , I don't what do I talk about him. It all started from the age of 11, he took to Achrekar sir my coach. And my life changed . Even last night , he called me and we were discussing my dismissal. Various things we agreed upon , my technique . I have had a lot of chat with him. If I had not done that , I would have been a lesser cricketer . The most important one in 1991 , I met my wife Anjali. I know she was a doctor . When we decided to make it a family, she said, you continue with your cricket
and I'll take care of the family .Without that I think I couldn't have played so much cricket . Thank you for all that you've done and it is the best
partnership I've had in my life . Then Sara and Arjun are two precious diamonds in my life .Daughter is 16 and son is 14, time has flown
by . I wasn 't able to be with them for the birthdays, annual days and stuff.Thanks for understanding all that, both of you have been so
special to me . I 've not spent enough time with you but I promise you the rest is for you.My in- laws have been supporting. I discuss various things
with them ,we have a strong family and thank you for allowing me to marry Anjali. There have been a lot of friends who have supported me .Leaving their work and coming to bowl at me when I called
them . I thought my career was over when I was injured, by my friends called even at 3 AM and made me believe that it was not over .My career
started at 11. My brother took me to Achrekar sir and that is the best to have happened to me . Sir would be taking me on his scooter allover Mumbai
to ensure that I get enough match practice .On a lighter note, he 's never said well played to me so that I don' t get complacent. ""My cricket started
right here at this ground. The dream was obviously to play for India . BCCI was fantastic , they believed my at the of 16 years and selected me .
Thanks for the support and the freedom ,without that this couldn't have happened . I have played with many senior cricketers, thanks to everyone for
helping me out . I see , Rahul,Laxman, Sourav and my teamates, you guys are like my family . It is going to be difficult without that dressing room,
sharing those special moments.""When Dhoni gave me the 200th Test cap, I just said, we are all proud to be here as a team and I believe that you guys
will take care of this country in the right spirit to the best of our abilities. I believe in you and all the best for your future . Thanks to all the
doctors,physios,without your special efforts , I couldn 't have been fit. I don' t know how you all kept me in good shape. My dear friend , late Mark
Mascerenhas, my first manager . Without him I couldn ' thave achieved all this. All those sponsorship deals etc. . thanks for your support . I
miss you. My manager Vinod Naidu, he 's more like my family. He's given me so much time leaving his family to work with him. In the school days when I played well , the media backed be a lot . You've been doing that till now . Thank you to all of you, all those photographers. Those moments will
remain with me for the career. I thank all the people who supported me a lot . Whether I scored a 0 or a 100. I've met a lot of people who does all
sorts of things for me,thank you for all that you've done . Especially ,"Sachin . .. Sachin .." that will be ringing in my ears till I breath . Thank you very
much. I am sorry if I have missed out on anything .
Good bye. "

MOM’s Midnight Manoeuver.

 

MOM’s Midnight Manoeuver.

Tonight is going to be the culmination of the various baby steps MOM has been taking by gradually soaring to higher apogees around Mother Earth. This manoeuver, scheduled at 01:27 hrs IST, will take the spacecraft to - almost half the way to moon - about two lakh kilometers.

Catch the action live !

Warships to guard INS Vikramaditya from aerial attacks enroute home.

 

 

Aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya will not have any air defense systems on board to protect itself from aerial attacks while coming home from Russia and the Navy has sent warships to escort it safely. To provide it protection from aerial attacks, the Navy has chosen the controversial Barak missiles, which will be integrated with the aircraft only after it reaches India.

“The aircraft carrier Vikramaditya does not have its own air defense missile system. We have chosen the Barak missile to be fitted on board once it arrives in India,” a Navy official said in New Delhi. The escort group of warships has been sent to Russia to bring the carrier to India through a classified route to bring it to its home base in the Arabian Sea, they said.

It is believed that the escort group also includes underwater vessels for providing security to the warship. The Barak missiles, the Navy’s choice for the aircraft carrier, are also in controversy in view of an ongoing CBI probe against them in connection with an alleged bribery scandal of 2006. The Defense Acquisition Council, the apex defense ministry body for deciding on acquisitions, has also formed an independent committee to take a decision on whether to buy the missiles or not.

Defense Minister AK Antony will induct the long-delayed aircraft carrier into the Navy in a shipyard in Russia, where the second-hand warship has been undergoing refurbishment for the last over six years. The Navy has plans of bringing the warship to India and deploy it at the newly-developed Karwar naval base called Project Seabird. The warship, which was given for ‘free’ to India in 2004, is ultimately going to cost more than Rs 12,000 crore to the nation.

Happy 25th Birthday Buran!

Happy 25th Birthday Buran! The only orbital launch of Buran occurred at 3:00 UTC on 15 November 1988 from Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 110/37. It was lifted into orbit unmanned by the specially designed Energia rocket. Buran was the first space shuttle to perform an unmanned flight, including landing in fully automatic mode.
The unmanned flight was the first time that a spacecraft of this size and complexity had been launched, completed maneuvers in orbit, re-entered the atmosphere, and landed under automatic guidance
(Energia)

INDIA'S MARS ORBITERS MISSION

 

PSLV puts Mars orbiter precisely into earth-orbit; trip to the Red Planet will take more than 300 days

The nation’s prestigious interplanetary mission to Mars, 40 crore km away, got off to a flying start on Tuesday when the Indian Space Research Organisation’s trusty Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C25) roared off the first launch pad of the spaceport at Sriharikota at 2.38 p.m. and put the Mars orbiter precisely into its earth-orbit about 44 minutes later.

This was the first crucial and difficult step in the ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission. However, the XL version of the PSLV achieved it with aplomb. The elliptical orbit achieved was so accurate that against the predicted perigee of 250 km and an apogee of 23,500 km, it went into an orbit of 246.9 km x 23,566 km.

The spacecraft first going into orbit around the earth signalled the start of its 300-day voyage to the Red Planet. If everything goes well during this complex and challenging journey through deep space, it will be put into the Mars orbit on September 24, 2014.

Mission highlights

Two mission highlights are: it was the longest PSLV mission at 44 minutes — the previous missions lasted about 18 minutes, and this was the silver jubilee lift-off of the PSLV. Out of the 25 launches, 24 had been successful in a row.

Suspense filled the newly-built Mission Control Centre (MCC) when there was a long coasting phase of 25 minutes between the PSLV’s third stage burnout and the fourth stage ignition.

Tension gripped the MCC again for about half-a-minute for it was only 37 seconds after the fourth stage burnout that the spacecraft was put into orbit. But all this was as planned.

The ISRO scientists’ cup of joy overflowed when M.S. Pannirselvam, Range Operations Director, PSLV-C25, announced tersely from the MCC, “Spacecraft separation achieved. It has been successfully put into orbit.”

Asked later how he felt when he made the announcement, he said, “We had no feeling. We were doing our job.”

Applause erupted when ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan, who did not hide his joy, turned towards his colleagues in the MCC and acknowledged their cheers with folded hands. He called the flight a copybook and textbook mission. It was a new and complex mission in design and execution, he said.

Project Director of Mars Orbiter S. Arunan called it an “excellent mission.” The primary and secondary panels and the high gain antenna of the spacecraft had been deployed. “The spacecraft is in good heath,” he said.

Yash Pal, former Member of the Space Commission, called the successful mission ISRO’s “very very special gift to the nation.”

Long way to go

All former and present brass of ISRO tried to temper the delight by cautioning that “there was a long way to go in time and distance” before the orbiter was put into the Martian orbit in September 2014. They included present top engineers S. Ramakrishnan, M.Y.S. Prasad, A.S. Kiran Kumar, S.K. Shivakumar, M.C. Dathan, P. Kunhikrishnan and the former ISRO chairmen, U.R. Rao and K. Kasturirangan. They emphasised that “while the first job has been successfully done, a long journey lies ahead.”

Objectives
The primary objective of the Mars Orbiter Mission is to showcase India's rocket launch systems, spacecraft-building and operations capabilities. Specifically, the primary objective is to develop the technologies required for design, planning, management and operations of an interplanetary mission, comprising the following major tasks
    Design and realisation of a Mars orbiter with a capability to perform Earth bound manoeuvres, cruise phase of 300 days, Mars orbit insertion / capture, and on-orbit phase around Mars.
    Deep space communication, navigation, mission planning and management.
    Incorporate autonomous features to handle contingency situations.

The secondary objective is to explore Mars' surface features, morphology, mineralogy and Martian atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments.

Spacecraft

The spacecraft structure and propulsion hardware configurations are similar to Chandrayaan 1, India's first successful robotic lunar orbiter that operated from 2008 to 2009, with specific improvements and upgrades needed for a Mars specific mission.

Mass
    The lift-off mass was 1350 kg, including 852 kg of propellant mass.
Dimensions
    Cuboid in shape of approximately 1.5 m
Bus
    The spacecraft's bus is a modified I-1 K structure and propulsion hardware configurations similar to Chandrayaan 1, India's successful lunar orbiter that operated from 2008 to 2009, with specific improvements and upgrades needed for a Mars mission. The satellite structure is of aluminum and composite fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) sandwich construction.
Power
    Electric power is generated by three solar array panels of 1.8 m X 1.4 m each (7.56 m2 total), for a maximum of 840 W generation in Martian orbit. Electricity is stored in a 36 Ah Li-ion battery.

Propulsion
    Liquid fuel engine of 440 N thrust is used for orbit raising and insertion in Martian orbit.
Communications
    Two 230 W TWTAs and two coherent transponders. The antenna array consists of a Low-gain antenna, a Medium-gain antenna and a High-gain antenna. The High-gain antenna system is based on a single 2.2 meter reflector illuminated by a feed at S-band. It is used to transmit and receive the telemetry, tracking, commanding and data to and from the Indian Deep Space Network.

Payload

The 15 kg (33 lb) scientific payload consists of five instruments:

Atmospheric studies

    Lyman-Alpha Photometer (LAP) — a photometer that measures the relative abundance of deuterium and hydrogen from Lyman-alpha emissions in the upper atmosphere. Measuring the deuterium/hydrogen ratio will allow the amount of water loss to outer space to be estimated.
    Methane Sensor For Mars (MSM) — will measure methane in the atmosphere of Mars, if any, and map its sources.

Particle environment studies

    Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyzer (MENCA) — is a quadrupole mass analyzer capable of analyzing the neutral composition of particles in the exosphere.

Surface imaging studies

    Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS) — will measure the temperature and emissivity of the Martian surface, allowing for the mapping of surface composition and mineralogy of Mars.
    Mars Color Camera (MCC) — will provide images in the visual spectrum, providing context for the other instruments