Oct’11 to Dec’11 A Quarterly Newsletter from SPACE

SPACE NEWS

Contents: Education Astrotourism Events Member’s Speak

Featured Article:

Conquering the Sun: Mission Aditya

Cover story:

R . I . P . SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM

Is it the end of NASA in outer space?

Chief Editor: Sachin Bahmba, Editors: Amit Verma, Gunjan Sharma

The picture shows the two space shuttles Endeavour and Discovery , in a nose to nose photo opportunity. Photo courtesy : NASA.

Conquer ing the Sun – Miss ion Adi tya

To explore the Star of the Solar System “the Sun”, a special mission is

being commissioned by ISRO. This fiery RED ball in the sky has always

dominated our life and culture. In order to study the SUN in detail, a

visible emission line space solar coronagraph is being proposed as a

payload under the small-satellite programme of the Indian Space

Research Organisation (ISRO).

Uniqueness of this Payload

- Simultaneous emission line images in

the green and red emission lines

allowing for temperature diagnostics

- Very high cadence (3images per

second)

- Simultaneous polarization images in

the continuum and line allowing for

density diagnostics, magnetic topology,

and 3d structure of CME’S

- Observations close to the limb

(better than 1.1 sun)

ISRO, along with many other scientific institutions in the country, especially the IIA ; is set to roll out a deserving successor to the Chandrayaan programme. Aditya-1 is India’s first dedicated scientific mission to study the Sun. This is a low Earth orbit mission at an altitude of 800km. It will provide high time cadence sharp images of the solar corona in the green and red emission lines. These images will be used to study the highly dynamic nature of the solar corona including the small scale coronal loops and large-scope coronal mass ejections (CME’S). These studies will enhance our current understanding of the solar corona and also provide vital data for space weather studies. Scientific objectives of the mission:

• Coronal waves as a source of coronal heating • Dynamics of coronal loops: formation and evolution • Temperature diagnostics of the corona using line ratio techniques • Development, dynamics and origin of CME’s • Vital inputs to Space weather prediction • Topology of magnetic fields.

Technological challenges: • Highly polished primary mirror- micro roughness of the order of IA; an order better than the current technology • High pointing accuracy- 20 arcsec; requires better sensors and gyros •Large format fast 2d detector arrays

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Developed under guidance from: Dr. Dipankar Banerjee, is an Associate Professor, IIA; he pursued BSc. (Phy), then MSc. (Theoretical Physics) and further PhD in Astrophysics. He is a key member of the Aditya Mission, with crucial role to play in its research, analysis and implementation of the mission.

Why is this being done? To study the SUN, the outer atmosphere – called the corona . The mission aims to study the Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) and the crucial physical parameters such as the coronal magnetic field structures, evolution of the coronal magnetic field and other factors determining space weather. In the recent past, space-based instruments (Yohkoh, SOHO, TRACE, RHESSI and HINODE) have permitted us to study the corona uninterruptedly. Yet, the dynamic corona and its high temperature (1–2 million K) are yet to be fully understood. When is this happening? Beginning with its conceptualization in 2008 by Advisory Committee for Space Research, Aditya is planned to launch during the next high solar activity period (2012-13) and is expected to last for 3 years. What’s cool about it? Everyone is excited for Aditya 1 after the Chandrayaan, as ‘Aditya Mission’ would be an exclusive mission which would take pictures of the sun at the speed of three frames per second as compared to the present speed of satellite images of the sun being one frame per eighteen minutes. What’s in store for students? The Aditya Mission, aims to do scientific outreach, build Scientific Temperament and excite the next generation towards space exploration. SPACE plans to partner ISRO and IIA, in bringing the mission’s data for student analysis and also start an outreach program with students & society.

Aditya weighs 125 Kg . Its estimated cost is around Rs 50 Crores . To be placed at an orbit of around 600 kms from Earth. The satellite will

carry as its payload an advanced solar coronagraph.

Dr. Banerjee delivering a talk on ‘Aditya” at Space’s CSE school – BBPS pitampura

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ISS EARTHKAM SPACE conducted for its Centre for Student Excellence schools(CSE), a 3 hour exclusive workshop on NASA’s ISS Earth KAM which means Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle school Students. The workshop was conducted for Indraprastha World School Dwarka & Paschim Vihar, GD Goenka School Rohini, Step by Step School Noida and Bal Bharati Public School Pitam Pura. It is an Educational program that enables students to take pictures of Earth and examine it from the unique perspective of an aerial view from outer space by way of a digital camera on board with the International Space Station. In it, students controlled a special digital camera mounted on the window of the International Space Station. From this window they photographed a wide range of beautiful and fascinating features on the surface of the Earth.

Image of the Ganges River Delta taken from ISS.

Video Conferencing with Sunita Williams – Women in Science Students of CSE, participated in a Live Interaction with astronaut Sunita Williams, as part of the “ Women in Science” seminar organized by the American Embassy in association with Department of Science & Technology (DST). The workshop focused upon women’s contribution in the field of science and their achievements on 12th Sept, 2011 at the Constitution Club, Delhi.

It included a session with well known & established females in field of science like Dr. Geetha Bali, Ms Indu Gupta, Dr. Viji Ravindranath, Dr. Jennie Hunter-Cevera. In the seminar students participated in various group activities on promoting science education, facilitating women seeking science career, raising standards of education in remote /rural areas. It was followed by a interactive Q/A session with the students. Later students were put face to face with Sunita Williams via a live web conference. Anusha Jain & Aditi Jain of GD Goenka, Rohini, had the special opportunity to chat one to one with Sunita Williams.

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Courtesy: https://earthkam.ucsd.edu/ek-images/favorites/STS081ESC00212933

SCHOOL FAIR Students of CSE are always at the forefront of representing the school across all the available platforms, including special exhibitions that are organized by the school. The annual exhibition organized by Indraprastha World School, saw wonderful exhibits and models on astronomy and space sciences at display, especially the Hydro Rocket that was launched by the Chief Guest. The students were allotted stalls for which they did the entire thing on their own. Starting from stall set up and decoration to explanation and execution of activity, all the tasks were handled by the CSE club kids. We really appreciate the efforts put in by all the CSE club students.

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Internet Telescope Project 16th – 17th July, 2011 SPACE in collaboration with IASC ( International Astronomy Search Collaboration) opened up another project for the first time in India, called the project ‘Internet telescope’.

The students remotely commanded a CCD camera on the telescope to take images of asteroids, comets and deep sky objects. For the asteroids and comets, images were taken 1-hour apart, then blinked to see the moving object against the fixed background stars. For deep sky objects three images of each were taken with red, green and blue filter. These were later combined into a colored image of the deep sky objects. This was the first time that such a project was conducted in India, this will give the students an opportunity to be a part of an international project and use hands on techniques to control telescope in real time and understand how to identify a target, how to plan the exposures and how to analyze the data.

Photo taken by two students from Indraprastha World school, Paschim Vihar.

A s t r o T o u r i s m : R e d i s c o v e r i n g T r a v e l

The Sharma’s love to travel. Back from a holiday weekend, they are still reverberating with the midnight camel safari, star gazing on sand dunes and Milky Way. Zooming in and out in the pictures taken they are still euphoric with the captivation that their Eyes have touched in sync with heart.

Astronomy has been able to resurrect its charm with every possible occupation that humans have engaged into be it research and education, traveling, storytelling, poetry and others. Out of these, travel has went on to become one of the most stimulating venture of all. The Destinations are the same, but journeys are redefined in terms of motives only by clubbing them with science and astronomy, where thought engaging travel programs are readily available, making it an Adventure Extravaganza. It is a very popular concept around the world to gather on moonless nights in remote areas like wild life reserves to observe the beauty of the heavens above and get hands on knowledge and training of telescopes and learning to use frequently used objects like binoculars to observe the sky and find places where stars take birth.

Rahul, their son is still dazed by the 300 old watch which outdid his brand new digital piece in accuracy. He has dedicated the whole coming week in understand the working of Sundials and other interesting medieval time keeping machines.

Karan the younger one didn’t even bother to unpack and straight away went to his best friend Aditya’s house to make the smallest possible accurate model of the solar system. For their next trip, Mr. Sharma and his family are looking forward to find themselves amidst a hundred shooting stars, nomadic space rocks, a few thousand young stars and places from where all of this comes alive.

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“ Traveling for the purpose of Astronomy and Space-Science, or doing Astronomy or Space activities while you are traveling”, is defined as AstroTourism .

Astrotourism enthusiasts within India have been into exploring offbeat and popular locations, which are available in plenty for small duration getaways. Several people gather every year, where they get to interact with nature and enjoy its beauty to the fullest while keeping mainstream travel plans. A lot of this travel takes place around Celestial events like Solar and Lunar eclipse, Meteor showers, and Comet appearances, while there are many students who have joined in to explore International destinations, important from the point of view of Science and Learning.

Countries like India, USA, France, China, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, UK, Italy, Chile are some of the most sought after astrotourist destinations. There’s a lot to travel and so little time. Let’s get started.. Lets astrotravel .. !

Astrotourism is the travel division of SPACE and offers various services in this field. Please stop by www.astrotourism.in for interesting travel ideas or write to us at getintouch@space-india.com

A few such upcoming events are : - The Total Lunar Eclipse of December 2011 in India - Annular Solar Eclipse May 2012 in China - The Venus Transit of 2012 in China -The Total Solar Eclipse of November 2012 in Australia.

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Space Campers with an Astronaut at Camp KSC

Popular scientific locations including scientific institutions like Research and launch centre’s at NASA, CERN, Royal observatory, enriched with their cultural ethos, is exactly what astrotourism combines to offer.

When the first ever space shuttle was sent into space on April 1981, transported along with it

was not just the best of engineering marvels but the swelling horizon of any human’s imagination to be in SPACE. For the next 30 years, the space shuttle program of NASA (STS program); flew many missions to outer space including the ISS. On its way, it has had its fair share of supporters and critics. The program came to close in July 2011 and with it a sea change has come in the way, space program and supremacy of outer space is being looked at world over. Does this mean an end to NASA’s reign at the top? Lets explore.

NASA’s Space Shuttle program, i.e. the Space Transportation System (STS) was the manned launch vehicle for the US Exploration program, and 135 STS missions flew between 1981 to 2011. On July 8, 2011, Space Shuttle Atlantis completed the 135th launch - the last launch of the three-decade shuttle program. On its 14 day mission, Atlantis delivered supplies to the ISS. The first space shuttle, ‘Columbia’ was launched on April 12, 1981 on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's space flight. Columbia was followed by Challenger, Endeavour, Discovery and Atlantis.

5 Space Shuttles are:

Columbia, Challenger,

Endeavour, Discovery,

Atlantis.

Late Kalpana Chawla was

onboard Columbia; while

Sunita Williams has

flown in Discovery

The program caught the fancy of the world and has always been in the limelight world over. Humans being transported to space, is inspiring and motivating. To set things straight, that is not going to stop, Russians and their Soyuz s are still there and that is how, astronauts and cosmonauts are still going to visit outer space and the ISS. Private industry is already trying its hand at manned space flights, and the day is not far off in future; when you could pay and get to fly to outer space at affordable prices, which has already started (though it is exorbitantly expensive to do so, right now).

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Image Courtesy: www.nasa.gov

Though the space shuttle is viewed as futuristic, its design is three decades old. The shuttle's main engines, first tested in the late 1970s, used hundred more moving parts than do new rocket-motor designs. Until 2005, the flight-deck computers on the space shuttle used old 8086 chips from the early 1980s. What the end of the STS program has done though is, it has opened the Space frontiers for others to lead. America’s dominance in the outer space is now contested strongly by Russia and China. China, though perched higher than Russia because of its stronger economic position and the pace at which it is developing its own space program. Using earth based laser to blow of its own satellite to sending its own manned mission in 2003.

China is still far behind the U.S. in space technology and experience, but what it doesn't lack is a plan or financial resources. While U.S. programs can fall victim to budgetary worries or a change of government, rapidly growing China appears to have no such constraints. The unmanned module, Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1, blasted off on Sept. 29 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China's desert area marking China’s strong and steady pursuit of its space aspirations.

Administrators at NASA, have spelt out ambitious plans for the future, that include the space vehicles to explore the Solar system like the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and Space Launch System. NASA is also researching ways to design and build aircraft that are safer, more fuel-efficient, quieter and environmentally responsible. The shuttles are now being retired, Atlantis to Kennedy Space Centre, Discovery to Smithsonian Institute, Endeavour to California Science Centre.; where they would be stationed for learning, inspiring and to remind people about the golden era.

What the forthcoming generations go on to explore might be far more exceptional than this feat ,but this era of space achievements have been bookmarked in the human timeline.

Over the past few years though, the STS program was under a lot of pressure, especially from American public and administrators. Grappling under economic recession, people are concerned about livelihood, jobs and education more than human space flights. Originally projected to cost $5 million per flight in today's dollars, each shuttle launch instead runs to around $500 million.

Shuttle Atlantis on its last trip, visited by KSC camper under Astro tourism tour

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A l l I n d i a A s t e r o i d S e a r c h C a m p a i g n 2 0 1 1

SPACE in collaboration with IASC brought 'All India Asteroid Search Campaign' to India for the 2nd year in a row. The program includes giving exclusive access to astronomy datasets of the sky provided by various observatories to hunt for asteroids. The ARI Observatory in Arizona is used to taking images along the ecliptic using its 36 inch and 24 inch telescope, targeting NEOs. 62 schools and amateur astronomy organizations from different parts of India including Delhi and NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Maharashtra, Karnataka and other states participated. The schools download and analyzed the images, searching for moving objects that may be asteroids. AIASC 2011 was conducted in two phases, Phase I from May to June, and Phase II from July to August, each for a period of 45 days.

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A u t u m n a l E q u i n o x : P r o j e c t P a r i d h i - S e p t 2 3 r d

SPACE embarked upon yet another international citizen science project to measure the size of the Earth with measuring shadows– “Project Paridhi “. Students from various schools became a part of it. Under this project students replicated it and in fact took actual measurements of the shadows made by Sun to gather the size of Earth and its shape as done 2300 years back by Eratosthenes. The project involved reading of shadows at local noon by pair of teams on the same longitude on the globe. Cities like New Delhi, Bangalore & Almata in Kazakhstan fall almost with one degree of longitude and readings taken at the same time from these cities tell us about the size and shape of the Earth. Started on 23rd September, on the autumnal equinox day, this project initially will have a pan-Asian presence by having readings from India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, china and Russia. The observation base will be extended to global arena by next winter solstice in Dec 2011.

This project is a showcase for proving that science can be best learnt by doing. Visit http://www.space-india.org/spaceindiaorg/paridhi/

This year, India had remarkable achievements including a rare Trojan Asteroid discovery, 5 Provisional Asteroid Discoveries and 52 Preliminary asteroid discoveries. The ten students who have discovered an asteroid may get to name it later in time. Besides this, there were 8 NEO Confirmations and 298 NEO Observations.

P. Chawla, A. Aggarwal, Asteroid Discoverers, BBPS, Rajinder Nagar

An educator explaining how to measure the size of the earth at Jantar Mantar, astronomical observatory as a part of Project Paridhi.

SOLAR ECLIPSE CONFERENCE - SEC INDIA The International Solar Eclipse Conference (SEC), is for the first time being organized in Asia Pacific region by SPACE. It celebrates the pursuit of humans to unravel the phenomenon of solar eclipses and to bring together on a single platform the excitement of travel, the joy of photography, the value of scientific research and recordings, of history and cultural implications, of demystifying this celestial event for public and to celebrate this event for fun and enjoyment operation, support and help. Speakers for the conference are renowned chasers and scientists, including Sheridian Williams, Fred Espenak, Xavier Jubeir, Dr. Banerjee and many more. The conference is to be organized from December 15-17, 2011 at New Delhi, India. Registrations for the conference have already started; you can register yourself at www.eclipsechasers.in

Project Dark Skies: The Great Indian Star Count -GISC Have you ever wondered where all the stars have gone? Or why the stars appear so close to touch when you are off to non commercial places ? or why the Milky way galaxy is not visible with naked eyes?

Picture taken by an expedition member, during the

HELIODYSSEY ‘06 program conducted by SPACE in Turkey.

Project dark skies is an effort to bring back the charm of unpolluted ,star filled skies. It is a dedicated campaign for better use of lighting and other illumination devices used in our day to day lives, which will lead to efficient use of electricity and saving of electrical energy. This will directly lead to less load on our natural fuel reserves.

Let us count stars and fight light pollution

GISC as a part of Project Dark Skies, is an event for the astronomy fraternity in which they give something back to astronomy in the form of less polluted skies. GISC is an opportunity for amateurs and professional astronomers, public and students to count the stars seen in their city skies and in turn allows us to estimate the level of light pollution, which in turn will be used in quantifying the light pollution.

Projects dark skies is an initiative of SPACE . Be a part of the scientific study project to quantify light pollution in India by counting stars at night at your place. For more details log on to : http://www.projectdarkskies.org/

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M e m b e r ’ s S p e a k

"My Dream" I sat in a rocket and bounded up to space, the asteroids all around me, Oh God! it was a race! I quickly landed on Mars, amongst the beautiful stars. Suddenly I saw four feet I thought it was an alien I'd meet. The alien spoke Marshian, I thought I'll go crazy with all this confusion! I ran to my rocket the engine had failed, the alien started following me, "HELP ME!", I wailed. I tried to escape I was in such a bad shape! If I'd listen to my parents I wouldn't fall into trouble! Oh no! It's too late, Someone was eager to meet me, It was my Marshian mate! - Khushi Bhasin, 6 D Step by Step School Noida

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“The trip was planned very well we had fun and

education both at the same time and our tour

director, Mr. Sachin Bahmba was very co-

operative. SPACE TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

ROCKS..!! 12 days I spend there was like d best 12

days of my LIFE..!!And I would like to travel with

space technology and education on further trips...

SACHIN SIR U R D BEST..!!U r d best educator ever

seen...”

Ms. Atisha Kudesia, Space Camper, MVN school,

June-2011

The best part of this achievement lies in the fact that, at this very moment there is something roaming around in space that I have discovered. And I know that this asteroid would stay up there forever and inspire me to make it big in this field and unravel the mysteries of this universe. Pragya Chawla, Asteroid Discoverer , Bal Bharati Public School, G.R.H. Marg

This page showcases the contributions of people linked to SPACE. We would love to build on this page further by

way of your contributions. Send in your share of experiences in the form of any art, write ups, messages,

feedbacks etc. to Editor at spacenews@space-india.com. Also visit us at www.space-india.com

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