World takes drastic steps to contain swine flu
Posted: April 30, 2009 Filed under: News Leave a comment »
From Egypt’s order that all 300,000 pigs in the country be slaughtered to travel bans and putting the kibosh on kissing, the world is taking drastic — and some say debatable — measures to combat swine flu.
World Health Organization raised its pandemic alert to the second-highest level, meaning it believes a global outbreak of the disease is imminent.
Great Wall of China longer than believed
Posted: April 30, 2009 Filed under: Countries, News 2 Comments »
With the new discovered sections, the total length of the Great Wall is around 3,900 miles.
The Great Wall of China is even greater than once thought, after a two-year government mapping study uncovered new sections totalling about 180 miles, according to a report posted on the website of the country’s national mapping agency.Using infrared range finders and GPS devices, experts discovered portions of the wall concealed by hills, trenches and rivers that stretch from Hu Shan mountain in northern Liaoning province to Jiayu Pass in western Gansu province, the official China Daily reported .
The additional parts mean the Great Wall – construction of which began more than 2,000 years ago to prevent incursions into China by the Mongols and others – spans about 3,900 miles through the northern part of the country.
Satellite eye on Earth
Posted: April 30, 2009 Filed under: Satellites Leave a comment »
This Envisat image over the North Sea captures numerous aircraft condensation trails, or 'contrails', as well as parts of the Netherlands (upper right), Belgium (lower right) and England (lower left)
Cases of Swine Flu Grow in US, Internationally
Posted: April 29, 2009 Filed under: News Leave a comment »The US Center for Disease Control has issued an update on the Swine Flu outbreak.The CDC reports additional cases of confirmed swine influenza and a number of hospitalizations of swine flu patients. Internationally, the situation is more serious too, with additional countries reporting confirmed cases of swine flu. In response to the intensifying outbreak, the World Health Organization raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 4.
Major Emitters’ Meet To Tackle Climate Change
Posted: April 28, 2009 Filed under: Ecosystem, Environment, pollution Leave a comment »Sixteen nations are responsible for 80 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Now those nations, dubbed the “
major emitters,” are sending representatives to a conference beginning Monday in Washington, D.C., to see if they can work together to slow the pace of climate change. The Obama administration has moved quickly to deal with climate change in the international arena. It has joined the United Nations talks that will take place in Copenhagen later this year and are aimed at developing a climate-change treaty. It is working one-on-one with China — which recently surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest carbon emitter.
China launches Yaogan VI
Posted: April 28, 2009 Filed under: Remote Sensing 101, Space Leave a comment »
TAIYUAN, CHINA — China launched the sixth remote-sensing satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north Shanxi Province on 22nd of April. The satellite, ‘Yaogan VI,’ was successfully launched into the space on a Long March 2C carrier rocket at 10:55 a.m.
It will be mainly used for land resources survey, environmental surveillance and protection, urban planning, crop yield estimates, disaster prevention and reduction, and space science experiments, according to the center.
China has so far launched five remote-sensing satellites. The first Chinese remote-sensing satellite blasted off in April 2006, and four more were launched in 2007 and 2008.
With the successful launch of “Yaogan-VI” it is presumed that China has established a new real-time data transmission spy-star constellation, which consists of 3 SAR satellite (Yaogan-I Yaogan-III and Yaogan-V) and 3 imaging satellites (Yaogan-II, Yoagan-IV and Yaogan VI), replacing previous satellites.
RazakSAT’s launch postponed
Posted: April 28, 2009 Filed under: News Leave a comment »
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia: The April 21 scheduled launch of RazakSAT, Malaysia’s second remote sensing satellite, has been postponed due to technical problems with the launch vehicle Falcon 1. RazakSAT was scheduled to be launched from Omelek island, part of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, at 6am Malaysian time on April 21.
However, Space Exploration Technology (Space X), the company set to launch the satellite, detected vibration at unsafe level on the launch vehicle, said Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry secretary-general Datuk Abdul Hanan Alang Endut in a statement. He said work to fix the problem would take about six weeks to be completed.
The new launch date will be announced as soon as Falcon 1 is ready for the launch.
GPS on Tankers to Check Water Theft
Posted: April 27, 2009 Filed under: GPS, water 1 Comment »RAJKOT, India: Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) has decided to fit GPS on water tankers that supply drinking water to the city. This has been done to check rampant water theft. Officials of RMC said that in many areas of the city, drinking water is still provided through tankers but before the water can reach its destination, some people take it out and sell it at a premium. This has been going on for a long time. A Pune-based agency has shown its willingness to make the GPS systems at a low cost . Dinesh Brahambhatt, municipal commissioner of the city, said, “Every system costs Rs 20,000 but the Pune company will make it at Rs 6,000 for RMC. We will buy 50 such systems initially.” Once this system is fitted on a tanker, it will be possible to track the route, amount of water filled and water supplied at a particular place. If the tanker goes on an unassigned route, then it will immediately give out a signal and beep.
Man is Going to Sun: ESA’s Solar Orbiter
Posted: April 27, 2009 Filed under: Solar System 1 Comment »
This is man’s innate nature to overstep his limits . This overstepping brings all the progress. We are again going to try to overstep over limits again. ESA’ Solar Orbiter will do it for us.
To perform close-up, high-resolution studies of our Sun and inner heliosphere, ESA‘s Solar Orbiter is intended to brave the fierce heat and carry its telescopes to just one-fifth of Earth’s distance from our nearest star.ESA’s Solar Orbiter mission is conceived to perform a close-up study of our Sun and inner heliosphere – the uncharted innermost regions of our Solar System- to better understand, and even predict, the unruly behaviour of the star on which our lives depend. At its closest point, the spacecraft will be closer to the Sun than any previous spacecraft, braving the fierce heat and will carry its telescopes to almost one-fifth of Earth’s distance from our nearest star. It will provide unique data and imagery of the Sun.
Solar Orbiter will be the first satellite to provide close-up views of the Sun’s polar regions, which are very difficult to see from Earth, providing images from latitudes higher than 30 degrees. It will be able to tune to the Sun’s rotation around its axis for several days, and so it will be able for the first time to see solar storms building up over an extended period from the same viewpoint. It will also deliver data of the side of the Sun not visible from Earth.
At nearly one-fifth of Earth’s distance from the Sun, Solar Orbiter will be exposed to sunlight 20 times more intense than what we feel on Earth. The spacecraft must also endure powerful bursts of atomic particles from explosions in the solar atmosphere.
To withstand the harsh environment and extreme temperatures, Solar Orbiter must be well equipped. It will exploit new technologies being developed by ESA for the mission BepiColombo to Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun. This includes high-temperature solar arrays and a high-temperature high-gain antenna.
When travelling at its fastest along its orbit around the Sun, Solar Orbiter will be able to remain positioned over approximately the same region of the solar atmosphere, as the Sun rotates on its axis. It will be the first time in the history of solar exploration that this will be achieved by a solar spacecraft. Just as geostationary weather and telecommunications satellites are stationed over particular spots above Earth’s surface, so the spacecraft will seem to ‘hover’ for a while over the Sun. Solar Orbiter will therefore be able to watch storms building up in the atmosphere over several days.
Solar Orbiter is specially designed to always point to the Sun, and so, its Sun-facing side is protected by a sunshield. The spacecraft will also be kept cool by the positioning of special radiators, which will dissipate excess heat into space. The solar arrays and the communications system are inherited from the design of ESA’s BepiColombo mission to Mercury.
Following launch, currently foreseen for 2015, Solar Orbiter will begin its journey to the Sun. This will require a cruise phase lasting approximately 3.4 years. During this time, the instruments will be commissioned, and some in-situ data will be acquired. During the cruise, Solar Orbiter will use gravity assists from Venus and the Earth. These swing-bys will put Solar Orbiter into a 150-day-long orbit around the Sun from which the spacecraft will begin its scientific mission.
Zenith and Nadir
Posted: April 26, 2009 Filed under: Solar System Leave a comment »
In broad terms, the zenith is the direction pointing directly above a particular location (perpendicular, orthogonal). Since the concept of being above is itself somewhat vague, scientists define the zenith in more rigorous terms. Specifically, in astronomy, geophysics and related sciences (e.g., meteorology), the zenith at a given point is the local vertical direction pointing away from the direction of the force of gravity at that location.Zenith is also used for the highest point reached by a celestial body during its apparent orbit around a given point of observation. [1] Often used in this sense about the Sun, it only corresponds to the first concept of zenith for one latitude at a time, and never at all for latitudes outside the tropics.
The nadir (from Arabic نظير nathir, “opposite”) is the direction pointing directly below a particular location (perpendicular, orthogonal). Since the concept of being below is itself somewhat vague, scientists define the nadir in more rigorous terms. Specifically, in astronomy, geophysics and related sciences (e.g., meteorology), the nadir at a given point is the local vertical direction pointing in the direction of the force of gravity at that location. The direction opposite of the nadir is the zenith.
Nadir also refers to a downward-facing viewing angle of an orbiting satellite[1], such as is employed during remote sensing of the atmosphere, as well as when an astronaut faces the Earth while performing an EVA.
The word is also used figuratively to mean the lowest point of a person’s spirits.
