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

NASA begins deepest ever probe of the universe

NASA’s Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes are teaming up to look deeper into the universe than ever before and search for the most distant and faint galaxies that can possibly be seen.
With a boost from natural “zoom lenses” found in space, they should be able to uncover galaxies that are as much as 100 times fainter than what these three great observatories typically can see, NASA said.
In a collaborative programme called The Frontier Fields, astronomers will make observations over the next three years of six massive galaxy clusters, exploiting a natural phenomenon known as gravitational lensing.
The clusters are among the most massive assemblages of matter known, and their gravitational fields can be used to brighten and magnify more distant galaxies so they can be observed.
“The Frontier Fields programme is exactly what NASA’s great observatories were designed to do; working together to unravel the mysteries of the Universe,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
“Each observatory collects images using different wavelengths of light with the result that we get a much deeper understanding of the underlying physics of these celestial objects,” Grunsfeld said in a statement.
The first object they will view is Abell 2744, commonly known as Pandora’s Cluster. The galaxy cluster is the result of a simultaneous pile-up of four separate, smaller galaxy clusters that took place over a span of 350 million years.
Astronomers anticipate the observations will reveal populations of galaxies that existed when the universe was only a few hundred million years old.
“The idea is to use nature’s natural telescopes in combination with the great observatories to look much deeper than before and find the most distant and faint galaxies we can possibly see,” said Jennifer Lotz, a principal investigator with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
Data from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes will be combined to measure the galaxies’ distances and masses more accurately than either observatory could measure alone, demonstrating their synergy for such studies.
“We want to understand when and how the first stars and galaxies formed in the universe, and each great observatory gives us a different piece of the puzzle,” said Peter Capak, the Spitzer principal investigator for the Frontier Fields programme.
“Hubble tells you which galaxies to look at and how many stars are being born in those systems. Spitzer tells you how old the galaxy is and how many stars have formed,” Capak said.
The Chandra X-ray Observatory also will peer deep into the star fields. It will image the clusters at X-ray wavelengths to help determine their mass and measure their gravitational lensing power, and identify background galaxies hosting super massive black holes.

Missiles

In a modern military, a missile is a self-propelled guided weapon system, as opposed to an unguided self-propelled munition, referred to as just a rocket. Missiles have four system components: targeting and/or guidance, flight system, engine, and warhead. Missiles come in types adapted for different purposes: surface-to-surface and air-to-surface missiles (ballistic, cruise, anti-ship, anti-tank, etc.), surface-to-air missiles (anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic), air-to-air missiles, and anti-satellite missiles. All known existing missiles are designed to be propelled during powered flight by chemical reactions inside a rocket engine, jet engine, or other type of engine.[citation needed] Non-self-propelled airborne explosive devices are generally referred to as shells and usually have a shorter range than missiles.

Guidance systems

 Missile guidance

Missiles may be targeted in a number of ways. The most common method is to use some form of radiation, such as infrared, lasers or radio waves, to guide the missile onto its target. This radiation may emanate from the target (such as the heat of an engine or the radio waves from an enemy radar), it may be provided by the missile itself (such as a radar) or it may be provided by a friendly third party (such as the radar of the launch vehicle/platform, or a laser designator operated by friendly infantry). The first two are often known as fire-and-forget as they need no further support or control from the launch vehicle/platform in order to function. Another method is to use a TV camera—using either visible light or infra-red—in order to see the target. The picture may be used either by a human operator who steers the missile onto its target, or by a computer doing much the same job. One of the more bizarre guidance methods instead used a pigeon to steer the missile to its target.
Many missiles use a combination of two or more of the above methods, to improve accuracy and the chances of a successful engagement.

Targeting systems

Another method is to target the missile by knowing the location of the target, and using a guidance system such as INS, TERCOM or GPS. This guidance system guides the missile by knowing the missile's current position and the position of the target, and then calculating a course between them. This job can also be performed somewhat crudely by a human operator who can see the target and the missile, and guides it using either cable or radio based remote-control, or by an automatic system that can simultaneously track the target and the missile. Furthermore, some missiles use initial targeting, sending them to a target area, where they will switch to primary targeting, using either radar or IR targeting to acquire the target.

Flight system

Whether a guided missile uses a targeting system, a guidance system or both, it needs a flight system. The flight system uses the data from the targeting or guidance system to maneuver the missile in flight, allowing it to counter inaccuracies in the missile or to follow a moving target. There are two main systems: vectored thrust (for missiles that are powered throughout the guidance phase of their flight) and aerodynamic maneuvering (wings, fins, canards, etc.).

Engine

Missiles are powered by an engine, generally either a type of rocket or jet engine. Rockets are generally of the solid fuel type for ease of maintenance and fast deployment, although some larger ballistic missiles use liquid fuel rockets. Jet engines are generally used in cruise missiles, most commonly of the turbojet type, due to its relative simplicity and low frontal area. Turbofans and ramjets are the only other common forms of jet engine propulsion, although any type of engine could theoretically be used. Missiles often have multiple engine stages, particularly in those launched from the surface. These stages may all be of similar types or may include a mix of engine types - for example, surface-launched cruise missiles often have a rocket booster for launching and a jet engine for sustained flight.
Some missiles may have additional propulsion from another source at launch; for example the V1 was launched by a catapult and the MGM-51 was fired out of a tank gun (using a smaller charge than would be used for a shell).

Warhead

Missiles generally have one or more explosive warheads, although other weapon types may also be used. The warhead or warheads of a missile provides its primary destructive power (many missiles have extensive secondary destructive power due to the high kinetic energy of the weapon and unburnt fuel that may be on board). Warheads are most commonly of the high explosive type, often employing shaped charges to exploit the accuracy of a guided weapon to destroy hardened targets. Other warhead types include submunitions, incendiaries, nuclear weapons, chemical, biological or radiological weapons or kinetic energy penetrators. Warheadless missiles are often used for testing and training purposes.

Basic roles

Missiles are generally categorized by their launch platform and intended target. In broadest terms, these will either be surface (ground or water) or air, and then sub-categorized by range and the exact target type (such as anti-tank or anti-ship). Many weapons are designed to be launched from both surface or the air, and a few are designed to attack either surface or air targets (such as the ADATS missile). Most weapons require some modification in order to be launched from the air or surface, such as adding boosters to the surface-launched version.

Surface-to-Surface/Air-to-Surface

Main articles: Surface-to-surface missile and Air-to-surface missile

Ballistic

An R-36 ballistic missile launch at a Soviet silo

Ballistic missile

After the boost-stage, ballistic missiles follow a trajectory mainly determined by ballistics. The guidance is for relatively small deviations from that.
Ballistic missiles are largely used for land attack missions. Although normally associated with nuclear weapons, some conventionally armed ballistic missiles are in service, such as ATACMS. The V2 had demonstrated that a ballistic missile could deliver a warhead to a target city with no possibility of interception, and the introduction of nuclear weapons meant it could efficiently do damage when it arrived. The accuracy of these systems was fairly poor, but post-war development by most military forces improved the basic inertial platform concept to the point where it could be used as the guidance system on ICBMs flying thousands of kilometers. Today the ballistic missile represents the only strategic deterrent in most military forces, however some ballistic missiles are being adapted for conventional roles, such as the Russian Iskander or the Chinese DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile. Ballistic missiles are primarily surface launched from mobile launchers, silos, ships or submarines, with air launch being theoretically possible with a weapon such as the cancelled Skybolt missile.
The Russian Topol M (SS-27 Sickle B) is the fastest (7,320 m/s) missile currently in service^[2]

Cruise missile

United States Tomahawk cruise missile

 Cruise missile

 

The V1 had been successfully intercepted during World War II, but this did not make the cruise missile concept entirely useless. After the war, the US deployed a small number of nuclear-armed cruise missiles in Germany, but these were considered to be of limited usefulness. Continued research into much longer ranged and faster versions led to the US's SM-64 Navaho, and its Soviet counterparts, the Burya and Buran cruise missile. However, these were rendered largely obsolete by the ICBM, and none were used operationally. Shorter-range developments have become widely used as highly accurate attack systems, such as the US Tomahawk missile, the Russian Kh-55 the German Taurus missile and the Pakistani Babur cruise missile.The BrahMos cruise missile which is a joint venture between India and Russia. The Brahmos is different in this class as it's a supersonic cruise missile which can travel much faster(2-3m) than other cruise missile which are subsonic.

Cruise missiles are generally associated with land attack operations, but also have an important role as anti-shipping weapons. They are primarily launched from air, sea or submarine platforms in both roles, although land based launchers also exist.

Anti-ship

The French Exocet missile in flight

 Anti-ship missile

 Another major German missile development project was the anti-shipping class (such as the Fritz X and Henschel Hs 293), intended to stop any attempt at a cross-channel invasion. However the British were able to render their systems useless by jamming their radios, and missiles with wire guidance were not ready by D-Day. After the war the anti-shipping class slowly developed, and became a major class in the 1960s with the introduction of the low-flying jet- or rocket-powered cruise missiles known as "sea-skimmers". These became famous during the Falklands War when an Argentine Exocet missile sank a Royal Navy destroyer.

A number of anti-submarine missiles also exist; these generally use the missile in order to deliver another weapon system such as a torpedo or depth charge to the location of the submarine, at which point the other weapon will conduct the underwater phase of the mission.

Surface-to-air

Anti-aircraft

MIM-104 Patriot missile being launched

 Surface-to-air missile

By 1944 US and British air forces were sending huge air fleets over occupied Europe, increasing the pressure on the Luftwaffe day and night fighter forces. The Germans were keen to get some sort of useful ground-based anti-aircraft system into operation. Several systems were under development, but none had reached operational status before the war's end. The US Navy also started missile research to deal with the Kamikaze threat. By 1950 systems based on this early research started to reach operational service, including the US Army's Nike Ajax, the Navy's "3T's" (Talos, Terrier, Tartar), and soon followed by the Soviet S-25 Berkut and S-75 Dvina and French and British systems. Anti-aircraft weapons exist for virtually every possible launch platform, with surface-launched systems ranging from huge, self-propelled or ship-mounted launchers to man portable systems.

Anti-ballistic

Arrow missile

Main article: Anti-ballistic missile

Like most missiles, the Arrow missile, S-300, S-400, Advanced Air Defence and MIM-104 Patriot are for defense against short-range missiles and carry explosive warheads.
However, in the case of a large closing speed, a projectile without explosives is used, just a collision is sufficient to destroy the target. See Missile Defense Agency for the following systems being developed:

• Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI)
• Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System (Aegis BMD) - a SM-3 missile with Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile (LEAP) Kinetic Warhead (KW)

Air-to-air

Main article: Air-to-air missile

A F-22 Raptor fires an AIM-120 AMRAAM

Soviet RS-82 rockets were successfully tested in combat at the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939.

German experience in World War II demonstrated that destroying a large aircraft was quite difficult, and they had invested considerable effort into air-to-air missile systems to do this. Their Me-262's jets often carried R4M rockets, and other types of "bomber destroyer" aircraft had unguided rockets as well. In the post-war period the R4M served as the pattern for a number of similar systems, used by almost all interceptor aircraft during the 1940s and '50s. Lacking guidance systems, such rockets had to be carefully aimed at relatively close range to successfully hit the target. The US Navy and U.S. Air Force began deploying guided missiles in the early 1950s, most famous being the US Navy's AIM-9 Sidewinder and USAF's AIM-4 Falcon. These systems have continued to advance, and modern air warfare consists almost entirely of missile firing. In the Falklands War, less powerful British Harriers were able to defeat faster Argentinian opponents using AIM-9G missiles provided by the United States as the conflict began. The latest heat-seeking designs can lock onto a target from various angles, not just from behind, where the heat signature from the engines is strongest. Other types rely on radar guidance (either on-board or "painted" by the launching aircraft). Air to Air missiles also have a wide range of sizes, ranging from helicopter launched self-defense weapons with a range of a few kilometers, to long range weapons designed for interceptor aircraft such as the Vympel R-37.

Anti-satellite