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RS : May - June 1999
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Pakistan to launch Badr-II - Russia extends help
Manipal Earth-Satellite link - IT boom in the city
Politics of Remote Sensing - Missing colonies ‘discovered’ in Delhi
Space Applications Centre for Shillong - Facilitates RS based natural resources information system
US Satellite Declared a Failure - Third failed mission in nine months
IKONOS 1 Launch - Met payload fairing problems
Professor George Joseph honoured Recepient of Padma Bhushan
Pakistan to launch Badr-II
Russia extends help
The Space Agencies of Russia and Pakistan have signed an agreement for the launch of the satellite, Badr-II of Pakistan, which is an outlook for increasing bilateral co-operation among the two countries in the field of science & technology and space exploration. Russia will assist Pakistan for the launch; the date of the docket yet to be decided. Earlier, Pakistan’s Badr-I was launched by China in July 1990. It survived 46 days on a 200-1,000 km orbit before it stopped transmitting data because of excessive radiation problem.
Manipal Earth-Satellite link
IT boom in the city
By establishing three earth-satellite links exclusively working independent of any basic telecom services, Karnataka has nabbed the tour de force of becoming the first state in the country for this initiative. First it was in Bangalore, which is quoted to be the biggest such link in Asia, then it was in Mysore, and finally it is in Manipal, district Udupi. It is the fast growing Infotech industry in the state that has developed the demand, says Mr. B. V. Naidu, Director, Software Technology Park, India (STPI). According to him, STPI is bulling its eye for a hassle-free gateway to the IT industry, and these cities are enriched with all the resources. Like in Mysore, in alliance with Scientific and Technological Entrepreneur’s Park (STEP), a segment of SJC College of Engineering, Mysore, STPI is planning to make a link which it hopes to work as an agitator for IT boom in the city. The terrestrial communication is provided through the radio waves and the technology has matured so much that the radio links work with certitude. The multi access radio network has till now provided nearly one hundred buildings in Bangalore with the radio link which makes logging on and completion of work easier.
Politics of Remote Sensing
Missing colonies ‘discovered’ in Delhi
The Congress Government of Delhi has found blunders in the list of unauthorised colonies which was submitted to the High Court by the earlier BJP government. Ms. Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister has now ordered a fresh survey to be conducted by the National Remote Sensing Agency. The list of 1,178 unauthorised colonies, along with 238 new ones, was announced by former chief minister Mr. Sahib Singh Verma in 1997 based on a satellite survey conducted in 1993. The Congress Government now claims that more than 200 colonies listed do not even exist. Mr. Verma denied that he submitted an incorrect list. "The new survey is being conducted to accommodate colonies cut out by Congressmen", he alleged.
Space Applications Centre for Shillong
Facilitates RS based natural resources information system
With the efforts of the Department of Space and the North Eastern Council, the blueprint of the North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NE-SAC) at Shillong in Meghalaya has been finalized. Entailing an expense of about Rs. 25 crores, the centre will exteriorize a Remote Sensing and GIS set up with advanced computing systems for image analysis and organizing special databases that will foster the use of space/aerial images and generation of action plans for implementation /developmental activities as per the requirements of the State departments. The centre will include an earth station, software development facilities and a satellite communication network segment which will enable the North-Eastern states in establishing an operational remote sensing based natural resources information facility to assist developmental/natural resources management in the region.
US Satellite Declared a Failure
Third failed mission in nine months
The US Air Force has formally declared mission failure for a $800 million satellite that was launched into an orbit thousands of miles recently. It was the third failed mission in nine months involving the airforce’s Titan IV rocket programme, with losses totaling $3 billions.
The Titan IV worked fine during the first several minutes of the flight, but an upper-stage rocket misfired and failed to put the Milstar in its intended 22,300-mile-high (35,887 km) orbit. The air force has yet to determine whether the satellite can be boosted using on-board fuel and thrusters, whether it can be of any use where it is, or how to eventually dispose it. It’s too soon to say whether the satellite will be able to achieve its original mission.
IKONOS 1 Launch
Met payload fairing problems
The long-awaited launch of Space Imaging and Lockheed Martin’s IKONOS 1 satellite met with payload fairing problems on 29 April. Launched from Lockheed Martin’s Athena II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 27 April, the satellite experienced an anomaly shortly thereafter. Experts determined that, based on telemetry and flight data analysis, the Athena II’s payload fairing, the rocket did not achieve sufficient velocity to place the IKONOS 1 satellite into Earth orbit. The aluminium-lithium payload fairing, with a separated weight of approximately 518 kg, is used to protect the satellite from aerodynamic friction during the early phases of flight and is designed to separate and fall away from the rocket after it has passed through the atmosphere. Lockheed Martin is continuing its investigation to determine why the payload fairing did not separate. In the mean time, Space Imaging already has built IKONOS 2 and the company is being pressured to facilitate an early launch of the second satellite, as soon as possible, because the failure of IKONOS 1 is identified. This launch could take place as early as the third or fourth quarter of 1999.
Professor George Joseph honoured
Recepient of Padma Bhushan
Dr. George Joseph, former Director, Space Application Centre, President, ISRO, 1996-99 and distinguished professor, ISRO, received Padma Bhushan from President of India Dr. K.R. Narayanan.
‘FUSE’ to find fossil remnants
The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE), a satellite specially focused to try to find the fossil remnants of the ‘Big Bang’ that created the universe has been planned to set off. It will whip around the earth every 100 minutes to search light waves normally blocked out by the planet’s atmosphere.
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