Sciencedoze: Science, Education and Technology

U.S space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has officially said moon lander Vikram has a hard landing and that its own orbiting spacecraft could not get clear picture of Vikram's crash site during its recent flyover. Vikram's possible crash site by LRO Camera NASA on Thursday night released a set of hazy images of the southern site where the lander probably crashed on September 7. Vikram's precise  location eluded the sharp camera of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) when it last flew over the probable site on September 17 . It captured a 150 Km wide area in the southern lunar highlands but the pictures were not clear as it was sunset and light had faded . Vikram lander is hiding in the shadow? A NASA statement said " It is possible that the Vikram lander is hiding in a shadow. The lighting will be favorable when LRO passes over the site in October and once again attempts to locate and image the lander ." This wa...

Chandrayaan-2 mission was launched on 22 July and its expected date of land was 7 September but unfortunately ISRO lost the communication with its lander (Vikram). Vikram's normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, communication from the lander to ground stations was lost. Prime minister Narendra Modi with ISRO'S chairman Dr. K.Sivan. What happened in those last 15 minutes? The expected time of Vikram to land on moon was 1.55 A.M, but at 1: 39 am, Vikram was travelling at a speed of around 21,600 kmph or 6 km per second. The speed of a commercial airplane is around 900 Kmph and by comparing Vikram’s speed with it, Vikram was travelling 25 to 30 times speed of the airplane. Immediately after 1:39 am, in the last 15 minutes, came a challenge for ISRO scientists to lower down the speed to 7 Kmph. From 21,600 Kmph to 7 Kmph was always going to be a tough task in order to land safely without crash or any other technical failure. ...

How will Chandrayaan 2 Study the Moon? When Chandrayaan-1, India's first moon mission was launched on October 22, 2008 from Sriharikota using the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV), India became the fourth country to plant its flag on the lunar surface. On the moon, the mission conclusively detected traces of water along with magnesium, aluminium and silicon. Now, close to decade later, India will launch its second lunar mission, Chandrayaan 2 , on July 22, 2019 again from sriharikota using the Geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) Mark lll rocket. The launch falls a day short of the 50th anniversary of the launch of the American mission Apollo 11 which took humans to the moon and back. The first moon landing occurred on July 20, 1969, on the Apollo 11 mission which was launched on July 16. How will the Launch Work? The GSLV Mark lll rocket will first launch the spacecraft into an Earth parking orbit (170 Km×40,400 Km). Then the height of the orb...

What would happen if we live on mars? We can't live freely on mars as we today live on earth. We can't talk, walk ,and eat freely as we do on earth. In short, our life will be hell. Here are the reasons why? Time to travel If we board on the fastest space ship even then it would take around 40 days to 270 days to travel from earth to mars, depending upon the position of mars in the orbit. Breathing We can't breathe freely as there is only 0.14% of the oxygen on Mars. We have to carry excess oxygen from earth or we have to find an effective way to produce oxygen from Co2 as it is a major part of mars. Weather Mars is a global desert filled with infertile dry sand. The temperature on mars can drop down to -55°C to -123°C which unbearable for humans. Also, heavy dust storms are common on Mars. Radiations As mars have no magnetic field and the ozone layer. So we can't bear the UV radiations of the sun and can't move freely like on earth. Cha...

NASA will send a drone to Saturn's largest moon For its next mission in our solar system, NASA plans to fly a drone copter to saturn's largest moon TITAN in search of building blocks of life. The dragonfly mission which will launch in 2026 and land in 2034 will send a rotorcraft to fly to dozens of locations across the icy moon which has a substantial atmosphere and is viewed by scientist as an equivalent of early-era earth. Why Saturn? It is the only celestial body besides our planet known to have liquid rivers, lakes and seas on its surface. Though these contain hydrocarbons like methane and ethane not water. This cutting-edge mission would have been unthinkable even just a few years ago but we are now ready for dragonflies amazing flight. What it will discover? NASA said the vehicle would have 8 routers and fly like a large drone. During its 2.7 year baseline mission, Dragonfly will explore diverse and environments from organic dunes to the floor of an impact cr...