SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS DECEMBER 2014
The GSLV MK III rocket has been in the works for about 15 years and, as officials stressed, is not an extension of the 'regular' GSLV rocket. The MK III is an entirely new rocket and will be used in future satellites of 4 tonnes in weight to 36,000 KM above the earth. The idea is to test how the stage I and II behave during the atmospheric flight.
The re-entry is crucial, to human flights. As an object approaches 80 km above the earth, or the 'sensitive atmosphere' the friction between the object and the atmosphere can heat the object to some 1600 degrees Celsius.
Climate talks in LimaThe crucial negotiation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was kicked off in Peruvian capital on 1st December with key UN body appealing the world to step up their actions to deal with disastrous consequences of global warming.
How much burden each of the nations would share to save the world may be known only later in the run up to the Paris meeting, the current meetings — called COP20 (20th edition of the Conference of the Parties) — would, hopefully, throw lights on countries' priorities and willingness to move on low-carbon development path.
Environment ministers and other key representatives of over 190 countries are expected to join the conference for the high-level segment of the negotiation.
Since the present COP is happening in the backdrop of the recent bilateral climate deal between the US and China, it has drawn lot of attention among nations whose representatives may also try to figure out how effectively the two countries - the biggest historical emitter (US) and the world's top present polluter (China) - adhere to their promised goal and what course of actions they would take to reach their self-goals.
Under the bilateral deal that was signed in Beijing last month, the US will reduce emissions by 26-28% below the 2005 levels by 2025. China, on its part, intends to achieve the peaking of carbon emissions around 2030 and makes best efforts to peak early and intends to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20% by 2030.
Climate change mastodons to the brinkClimate change played a pivotal role in the extinction of mastodons in North America, new radiocarbon dating of fossils has revealed — though hunting by people may have been the last straw.
Mastodons are the relatives of modern elephants and were widespread across North America from 1,25,000 years ago, going extinct around 10,000 years ago. Their disappearance coincides with the arrival of early humans on the continent, and has led to the “overkill” hypothesis that they were hunted to extinction by our species.
The new results, which are published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest a more nuanced sequence of events.
India focused on ‘adaptation’: India has made strong pitch pm 3rd December for "adaptation" measures in the new agreement at the time when rich nations are more obsessed with "mitigation" (cutting emission) efforts and goals, in the talks that are happening in Lima, on global climate agreement.
India also made it clear that the "adaptation is critical to the country's development paradigm" in view of climate change
Without denying the importance of "mitigation" in the efforts to face the challenges of climate change, India sought including "adaptation" element in the new agreement in a "comprehensive and balanced" manner.
Referring to a certain para of the draft text which has provisions to enhance cooperation and support for developing countries, Indian representative said, "India would suggest to amend this para to show that adaptation is a global commitment to be discharged by each country party". The member also elaborated on India's ongoing adaptation measures through various plans under its national missions to combat challenges of climate change.
He also referred to the Indian government's recent initiative of establishing a National Adaptation Fund for providing financial, technical and capacity building support at national and state level for implementation of adaptation activities in the country.
Philippines moved out: In a setback to developing countries in general, and India and China in particular, at the climate change talks, the Philippines has moved out of the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) group.
The Philippines, which had become a leading voice of poor countries at the climate talks for years, was under tremendous pressure from the US and the EU to move away from the powerful LMDC group.
Also, as a fallout of the mounting pressure, its prominent negotiator Naderev M Sano (better known as Yeb Sano) has been dropped from the Philippines delegation for the Lima round of climate change negotiations. Another well-known senior negotiator and veteran from Philippines, Berneditas Muller, has not found a permanent place in the country’s delegation as well.
The absence of the two members from the delegation and the distancing of Philippines from the group led to discussions between delegations of many developing countries as well as civil society groups at Lima even before the formal talks were to begin.
Yeb Sano had not only emerged as a strong negotiator for the poor countries last year at Warsaw but also caught the imagination of civil society, becoming a mascot for their protests against inaction of the developed countries. Personally impacted by the typhoon Haiyan back home, Sano moved the UN conference with his tears-riddled speech and then a fast through the fortnight, demanding more action from rich nations.
The presence of Philippines in the group also dented the influence of the coalition of countries that the EU had built up over the years, which included other poor country groups. Till 2013, many small island countries and Least Developed Countries had been seen aligned closer to the EU at the climate talks than large developing economies such as China and India.
They had aligned with the EU weakening the demand for a more equity-based new compact on climate change. But in the talks at Warsaw at 2013, their edge was partially blunted by Philippines, as vulnerable a country, impacted by the Haiyan, demanding that a new ambitious agreement in 2015 be built on the basis of existing provisions of the UN Climate Convention, including equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibility.
ISRO, HAL initiate rocket cryogenic engine unitHindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and Indian Space Research Organisation have formally initiated an ISRO-funded facility at HAL to manufacture cryogenic engines for present and future indigenous launch vehicles.
The 5,560-sq.m facility will come up opposite HAL’s Aerospace Division and will be operated by HAL. Once operational, it is estimated to have an annual turnover of around Rs. 9 crore. ISRO is contributing Rs. 139 crore towards the unit.
Agni-IV for shorter range successfulIndia on 2nd December successfully test fired its 4,000 km nuclear capable Agni-IV missile in Odisha. The Agni-IV, which can carry one tonne nuclear warhead, was fired at 10.19 am from a launch pad from the Wheeler Island, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said.
The Radars and Electro-Optical Tracking systems (EOTS) located along the coast tracked and monitored all the parameters throughout the flight, said official sources. It was the first user trial of the long-range, nuclear-capable, surface-to-surface missile. The operation was carried out by the Indian Army's Strategic Forces Command (SFC).
The two-stage, 17 tonne and 20-metre tall Agni-IV is equipped with state-of-the-art avionics, and a fifth generation on-board computer. It has the latest features to correct and guide itself through in-flight disturbances. This was the fourth success in a row for Agni-IV. The first was in November 2011, the second in September 2012 and the third in January 2014.
Japan launched asteroid probe
Japan on 3rd December launched a rocket carrying a space probe destined for a distant asteroid, just weeks after a European spacecraft's historic landing on a comet. The H-IIA rocket blasted off from Tanegashima Space Center in the south of the country. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) sent the probe, Hayabusa2, on a six-year mission.
The 31-billion-yen ($260-million) project will send the explorer towards the 1999JU3 asteroid in deep space. It will blast a crater in the asteroid to collect materials unexposed to millennia of wind and radiation, in the hope of answering some fundamental questions about life and the universe.
It is expected to reach the asteroid in mid-2018 and spend around 18 months in the area.
It will also study the surface by dropping tiny robots. If all goes well, asteroid samples will be returned to Earth in late 2020.
Hottest year ever recorded-2014: NOAAAccording to a new report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2014 is shaping up to be the hottest since scientists began keeping records more than 130 years ago. The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature from January to October was 1.22 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 20th-century average of 57.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
The midsection of the U.S., meanwhile, has been experiencing a below-average winter this year. That’s become fodder for climate changedeniers. But scientists say that long-term trends and global averages are more accurate gauges of the planet’s health.
Nations have set a goal of limiting the global average surface temperature to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial temperatures, with the consensus that the increase could result in disastrous storms, melting ice, and rising sea levels. Two members of the Union of Concerned Scientists have argued that the world is on track to exceed that and have suggested revising the goal.
- Scientists 'map' water vapor in Mars
Scientists have created a 'map' of the distribution of water vapour in Mars' atmosphere. Researchers observed seasonal variations in atmospheric concentrations in Mars using data collected over ten years by the Russian-French SPICAM spectrometer aboard the Mars Express orbiter. This is the longest period of observation and provides the largest volume of data about water vapor on Mars, said scientists from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), who worked with the French laboratory LATMOS and NASA's Goddard Center.
Conditions on Mars - low temperatures and low atmospheric pressure - do not allow water to exist in liquid form in open reservoirs as it would on Earth.
However, on Mars, there is a powerful layer of permafrost, with large reserves of frozen water concentrated at the polar caps. There is water vapor in the atmosphere, although at very low levels compared to the quantities experienced here on Earth. - Retrieving weapons under water task achieved
Naval Science and Technological Laboratory has achieved a rare thing, with the assistance of the National Institute of Ocean Technology. Both the organizations have successfully retrieved torpedoes and other underwater weapons embedded in the sea beyond diving depths during their evaluation trials, which had been considered impossible till now. NSTL took up a three-day joint mission with NIOT of Chennai off the coast of Visakhapatnam. - DRDO conducts maiden test-flight of Panchi
India on 24th December carried out maiden flight testing of Panchi, the wheeled version of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Nishant, capable of taking-off and landing by using small airstrips. A defense release stated that the test was carried at Kolar test facility in Karnataka. The maiden flight of the unmanned aircraft lasted about 20 minutes and was successful. Wednesday’s flight was preceded by a series of high speed taxi trials.
Designed and developed by Pune-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a unit of Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Panchi UAV has autonomous flight capabilities and is controlled from a user friendly Ground Control Station (GCS).
The aircraft has a jam resistant command link and digital down link for transmission of imagery. While its length is about 4.63 meter and wingspan 6.57 meter, it weighs around 380 kg. Travelling at a maximum speed of 185 km/hour, it can cruise at a speed of 125 km/hour to 150 km/hour with a service ceiling of 3,600 meter.
Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and DRDO chief Avinash Chander congratulated the team for the success. The UAV Panchi has all the surveillance capabilities of UAV Nishant. However, it will have longer endurance as it does not have to carry the air bags and parachute system as in the case of UAV Nishant. - Nations decided to curb carbon emissions
Negotiators on 14th December adopted a compromise draft for national pledges to cut global carbon emissions at marathon. UN climate talks addressed all of India's concerns and paved way for a new ambitious and binding deal to be signed in Paris next year to combat climate change.
The document is approved, announced President of the United Nations climate talks meeting Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, who is also the Environment Minister of Peru, after hectic negotiations by officials from 194 countries for about two weeks in the Peruvian capital.
The deal paves the way for what is envisioned as the historic agreement in environmental history. The agreement was adopted hours after a previous draft was rejected by developing countries, which accused rich nations of shirking their responsibilities to fight global warming and pay for its impacts.
The final draft is said to have alleviated those concerns by saying countries have "common but differentiated responsibilities".
Indian delegation led by Javadekar worked overnight, engaging with developed as well as developing nations to reach the deal taking into account India's concerns. "We are happy that the final negotiated statement at COP20 in Lima has addressed the concerns of developing countries and mainly the efforts of some countries to re-write the convention," Javadekar said.
But environmental groups criticised the deal as a weak and ineffectual compromise, saying it weakens international climate rules. The talks proved difficult because of divisions between rich and poor countries over how to spread the burden of pledges to cut carbon emissions.
The draft mentioned only that all pledges would be reviewed a month ahead of December 2015 Paris summit to assess their combined effect on climate change. UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres told reporters that the approved text is a sign of progression on closing the gaps between three key elements: science, policy response and action.
It reads that Paris 2015 agreement should reflect "the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in light of different national circumstances." It also restored a promise to poorer countries that a "loss and damage" scheme would be established to help them cope with the financial implications of rising temperatures.
However, it weakened language on national pledges, saying countries "may" instead of "shall" include quantifiable information showing how they intend to meet their emissions targets. The last portion was lifted directly from the US-China climate agreement announced in November this year.
As agreed in the draft, countries would come up with their own emissions reductions targets, with a suggested deadline of March 31 next year. - NASA finds methane in Mars
Nasa on 17th December announced that the Mars Curiosity rover has detected methane on the red planet. Whether the Martian atmosphere contains traces of the gas has been a question of high interest for years because methane is a potential sign of life.
The team responsible for the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite on the Curiosity rover announced it has made the first definitive detection of organic molecules at Mars. This comes a year after the Curiosity rover team announced that it had found no evidence of methane on the Red Planet.
The surface of Mars is currently inhospitable to life but there is evidence that the Red Planet once had a climate that could have supported life billions of years ago. For example, features resembling dry riverbeds and minerals that only form in the presence of liquid water have been discovered on the Martian surface.
The organic molecules found by the team were in a drilled sample of the Sheep bed mudstone in Gale crater, the landing site for the Curiosity. Scientists think the crater was once the site of a lake billions of years ago and rocks like mud stone formed from sediment in the lake. - GSLV- Mark III launched successfully
Indian space programme on 18th December attained a new height when the experimental flight of its heaviest rocket GSLV-Mark-III successfully launched an unmanned crew module, which later splashed down in the Bay of Bengal as expected.
The crew module got detached from the Launch Vehicle and descended into the Bay of Bengal, 600 km from Port Blair, where the Indian Coast Guard was stationed to retrieve it. The success of this mission was all the more significant as it gave a big boost to ISRO's plans for a full-fledged launch in two years and realise India's dream of sending its astronauts into space.- The 42.4 metre tall GSLV-Mark III, with a lift off weight of 630 tonnes, took off majestically from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
- The entire mission, starting from lift off to the splashing down of the Crew Module in the Bay of Bengal, lasted 20 minutes. The Crew Module resembled a giant cup cake and weighs about four tonnes.
- It has enough space to accommodate three people and approximately the size of a small bedroom.
- GSLV Mk III has been conceived and designed to make ISRO fully self reliant in launching heavier communication satellites of INSAT-4 class, which weigh 4,500 to 5,000 kilograms.
- It would also enhance the capability of the country to be a competitive player in the multi-million dollar commercial launch market
- According to ISRO Chairman Radhakrishnan this is a very significant day in the history of Indian space programme for the development of advanced launch vehicle that will carry heavier satellites weighing 4 to 5 tonnes.
- GLSV-Mk III Project Director is S. Somnath.
- Exactly 5.4 minutes after liftoff from the Second Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, the module separated from the rocket at an altitude of 126 km and re-entered Earth's atmosphere (about 80 km from sea level).
- It descended in a ballistic mode and splashed down into the Bay of Bengal, some 180 km from Indira Point, the southern tip of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
- The LVM3-X flight with active S200 and L110 propulsion stages and a passive C25 stage with dummy engine, carried CARE (Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment) as its payload.
- Weighing over three tonnes, the 2.7-metre tall cup cake shaped crew module with a diameter of 3.1 metres, which features aluminium alloy internal structure with composite panels and ablative thermal protection systems, was made to safely drop down into the sea by specially-made parachutes from Agra-based DRDO lab Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment.
- The experiment also witnessed the largest parachute in action ever made in the country.
- The main parachute, which helped the crew module touch the waters at around 7 metre/second speed, was 31 metres in diameter.
- The crew module, which can carry up to two to three astronauts, withstood a heat of around 1,600 degree Celsius, while it travelled towards the surface of the Earth attracted by gravity.
- This experimental mission has helped ISRO with two primary lessons -- to study the flight validation of the complex atmospheric flight regime of LVM3 vehicle and study the re-entry characteristics of CARE crew module.
- This is the first time ISRO was carrying a payload weighing over three tonne. The national space agency's first space recovery experiment (SRE-1) module, launched by a PSLV rocket in January 2007, weighed only 555 kg and that too was not a crew module.
- Though it would take at least 10 years for India to send humans into space, this experiment has helped the space agency to test the module for safe return of humans from space, according to ISRO.
- While the heavy duty cryogenic engine is still under development in one of the ISRO labs at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu, the latest attempt was to primarily study the atmospheric performance of GSLV Mk III in the first two stages.
- Once ISRO masters its GSLV Mk III, the country can save a massive amount of the foreign exchange it presently is spending to send its heavy communication satellites through other space agencies aboard.
- The heavy launch vehicle would also help India earn considerable foreign exchange by sending heavy satellites for other countries, in addition to the revenue PSLV rockets are already securing for ISRO's commercial arm Antrix Corporation Limited.
- This CARE module is expected to enhance ISRO's understanding on re-entry and parachute phases of crew module.
- The total budget of the experimental mission was Rs 155 crore, including the crew module, which cost Rs 15 crore.
- Old laptop batteries could power slums in India: study
Discarded laptop batteries still have enough life in them to power slums in India and other developing countries, a new study has found. The research presented at a conference in San Jose, US, analysed a sample of discarded batteries and found 70 per cent had enough power to keep an LED light on for more than four hours a day for a year.
According to researchers at IBM India, many of the estimated 50 million lithium-ion laptop batteries discarded every year could provide electricity storage sufficient to light homes in developing countries.
It is possible to combine LED lights with solar panels and rechargeable batteries, however, using discarded batteries could make the approach far cheaper, according to MIT Technology Review. - India tests glide bomb
India has tested a 1,000 kg indigenously-developed glide bomb, which successfully hit a target 100 kms away, in the Bay of Bengal off the Odisha coast, making the country self-reliant in guided precision bombs. DRDO Director General Avinash Chander said that the nation has capability to design, develop and launch heavy bombs for delivery up to 100 km away with high precision. - No concrete decision at Peru
As of 13th December, no concrete step has been taken in the talks that have been happening in the Peru capital Lima.
India sought solutions: Urging rich nations not to use disasters as tools to make business profit, India on the first day of the high-level segment of the UN climate talks on 9th December sought them to cooperate to solve the "global problems" of climate change without getting into the "price-tag" of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regime.
Bringing the sentiments of people of most of the developing countries at the UN platform, Indian environment and climate change minister Prakash Javadekar cited past examples where rich nations selflessly collaborated to pull out their poor counterparts from crisis and asked them to follow that path to save the world.
Javadekar, however, hasten to add that the success of India's endeavours in all these issues will also be critical for the success of the global efforts for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He emphasized that the "beautiful balance of collective action - the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDRs) - should form the basis of continued action. It is equally evident that developing countries could do more if finance, technology support and capacity building is ensured. This must be a key focus of the new agreement".
The remarks come at a time when the rich nations are trying to dilute the provisions of the CBDRs which are ingrained the principles of the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocal.
Showing mirror to the developed countries by bringing the pre-2020 period at the fore, he said, "Our ambition in the post-2020 period is directly linked with ambitious actions in the pre-2020 period by the developed countries, otherwise the poor people in developing countries will not get the carbon space to achieve sustainable development.
He also mentioned about the reluctance of the rich nations to contribute to the Green Climate Fund — a financial mechanism where the developed countries contribute to help their developing counterparts in their efforts to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
So far, the rich nations have collectively contributed slightly over 10 billion dollars as against the overall goal of 100 billion dollars till 2020 and 100 billion dollars per year beyond 2020. Belgium on Tuesday pledged to contribute more than 50 million Euros (around $62 million US) to the Green Climate Fund, edging the fund past its 10 billion dollars goal for 2014.
Developed nations came together: Developed countries came together to demand that references to developing countries’ priority of eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development be dropped from the talks. They insisted the new agreement should work to keep climate change in check, without acknowledging these issues as overriding priorities of developing countries. They also demanded the Paris agreement focus primarily on emission reduction targets and that differentiation between countries be diluted.
The reactions were strong and swift from the developing countries group as well. Many of them stepped up the arguments in talks that ran till late night on 9th December. Several countries, including Brazil, China and others, countered these views of the developed countries. India, too, aligned with other developing countries in defending its developmental interests and demanded primacy of sustainable development, food security and poverty eradication in the preamble of Lima decision. The discussions were being held over the “draft decision” document that more than 190 nations gathered at the Peruvian capital have to find consensus on by 12th December.
The document was originally meant to let countries at Lima list the nature of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) that each country has to put forth for the new agreement starting March next year. INDCs reflect the array of actions that a country would take to fight climate change under the new regime that is to be negotiated by 2015 and implemented from 2020 onwards.
But developed countries pushed hard at Lima to decide and the nature and content of this 2015 agreement using the decision on INDCs as a backdoor entry.
The developed countries, especially the EU, also made a demand for a review of the adequacy of INDCs to fight climate change through next year even before the Paris agreement is signed. It is referred to as the ex-ante review. India and several other developing countries opposed this proposal. There were, however, smaller countries, which do not foresee mitigation targets being hoisted on them that also demanded the Lima decision provide for a review of the INDCs next year.
The talks are to find a conclusion on this “draft decision” in time for the ministers to come together on Friday and adopt it as a formal decision of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Disputes arose on 9th December:- Food security, poverty eradication and sustainable development to be over-riding priorities or not
- INDCs to include adaptation goals or not
- Should there be an early deadline for submitting INDCs* in absence of a deadline for targets on finance and technology
- Should the INDCs be reviewed even before the Paris deal is negotiated next year
Blue print for global agreement:Negotiators working on a deal to fight climate change have agreed on just a single paragraph of text, casting a shadow over the prospects for a strong outcome in Lima. The talks – scheduled to end on 12th December are intended to provide a clear blueprint for a global agreement to find climate change by the end of next year.
But while negotiators descended on Lima in a positive mood, buoyed by recent commitments from the US and China, the talks have fallen into a rut.
By 11th December the text, which had started at a reasonable 6 pages, had ballooned to about 50, with negotiators throwing in their objections to almost every single clause. Just one section, paragraph 34, on countries intensifying engagement in the years up to 2020, has been agreed by negotiators. In a successful negotiation, observers say that by this point officials would be whittling down to the final text to a manageable size.
Again hanged: UN Climate talks in Lima ran into extra time as the negotiators on 11th December struggled to break a deadlock between rich and developing countries aiming to the draft text of a new agreement to be signed in Paris next year
The negotiators are grappling to prepare the elements of the draft due to the logjam between developing countries and industrialized nations that haggle over the formula of sharing the burden for cutting emissions, and who should pay. Peruvian Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, who presides over the talks, was seemingly frustrated by the lack of progress and called for constructive exchanges.
The climate talks are aiming to establish the draft text of a new international climate change agreement to be signed by all countries at the next major talks in Paris in 2015. India is demanding that the key issue of adaptation must be fully reflected in the new climate agreement and developed nations should give enough carbon space to developing nations to achieve sustainable growth.
Talks extended to resolve logjam:Crucial UN climate talks ran into extra time as negotiators from more than 190 countries, including India, on 13th December struggled to break a deadlock between rich and developing countries to agree on a draft text of a new binding agreement to cut global carbon emissions.
The climate talks are aiming to establish the draft text of a new agreement that will be signed by all countries at the next major talks in Paris in 2015 and take effect by 2020.
India is demanding that the key issue of adaptation must be fully reflected in the new climate agreement and developed nations should give enough carbon space to developing nations to achieve sustainable growth.
The current draft of the text regarding the intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) is mitigation- centric once again. Developed countries were not ready to make financial or technology sharing commitments and so the financial portion of the current draft is weaker than previous versions.
There is also no reference to the loss and damage provision for which least developed countries and small island developing states had urged.
Also absent is any reference to common but differentiated responsibility or long term financial commitments. Of particular interest to India is also the section on an ex-ante review process of the INDCs. The section indicates that "sovereignty" should be guarded and will apply only to "parties willing to do so". - G-Sat-16 launched successfully
After being deferred twice, India's latest communication satellite GSAT-16 was successfully launched early on 7th December from the space port of Kourou, French Guiana. Hit by inclement weather, the launch of GSAT-16 was deferred for the second time on 5th December after it was rescheduled to be put into space in the early hours Saturday by Ariane 5 rocket.
Ariane 5 VA221 is to place in orbit GSAT-16 which is designed to augment the national space capacity in communication services, along with DIRECTV-14, built by SSL (Space Systems/Loral) for operator DIRECTV to provide direct-to-home television broadcasts across the US.
The capacity crunch has forced ISRO to lease 95 transponders on foreign satellites mainly for private TV broadcasters' use.
GSAT-16, with a designated on orbit operational life of 12 years, will boost public and private TV and radio services, large-scale Internet and telephone operations. GSAT-16 will replace INSAT-3E, decommissioned prematurely in April. - First green diesel-powered flight
A Boeing aircraft has completed the world's first flight using 'green diesel', a sustainable biofuel made from vegetable oils, waste cooking oil and animal fats. The company powered its ecoDemonstrator 787 flight test airplane on December 2 with a blend of 15% green diesel and 85% petroleum jet fuel in the left engine.
Sustainable green diesel is widely available and used in ground transportation. Boeing previously found that this fuel is chemically similar to HEFA (hydro-processed esters and fatty acids) aviation bio fuel approved in 2011. Green diesel is chemically distinct and a different fuel product than "biodiesel," which also is used in ground transportation.
With production capacity of 800 million gallons (3 billion litres) in the US, Europe and Asia, green diesel could rapidly supply as much as 1% of global jet fuel demand.
On a lifecycle basis, sustainably produced green diesel reduces carbon emissions by 50 to 90% compared to fossil fuel, according to Finland-based Neste Oil, which supplied green diesel for the ecoDemonstrator 787. The flight test was coordinated with the US Federal Aviation Administration, Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney, and EPIC Aviation blended the fuel. - NASA probe wakes up for Pluto encounter
A NASA spacecraft has roused itself from the final slumber of its nine-year trek to the edge of the solar system, setting the stage for the first close encounter with Pluto next year.
The New Horizons spacecraft, currently located 2.9 billion miles (4.6 billion kilometres) from Earth, had been in hibernation since August — with most of its systems turned off to reduce wear. But on 6th December, mission scientists received a confirmation signal from New Horizons at the probe's Mission Operations Centre here at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. The probe is now wide awake for its 2015 flyby of Pluto.
At the time of its wakeup call, New Horizons was just over 162 million miles (261 million km) from Pluto. About 20 people gathered in a conference room here at APL to await the signal from New Horizons
First word from the probe arrived at about 9:30 p.m. EST on December 6th generating a burst of happy applause from the attendees, including Alan Stern, New Horizon's principle investigator, and Jim Green, NASA's director of planetary sciences.
New Horizons even got a wakeup song to mark the occasion: the tune "Where My Heart Will Take Me" by English tenor Russell Watson. The song, which included a special greeting from Watson for New Horizons, was played in the mission operations center after the confirmation signal was received. - ADB’s low-carbon tech platform
The ADB has launched the world’s first platform to facilitate knowledge sharing on low-carbon clean technology and renewable energy among Asian countries including India. The Cleantech Intellectual Property Assisted Brokerage Platform (IPEx) will be operated by Singapore-based clean energy consulting firm ReEx Capital Asia.
In India, the IPEx will team up with Infuse Ventures, IIM-Ahmedabad’s clean tech-focussed fund, to introduce low-carbon technologies in the country.
Infuse Ventures, housed at IIM Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), and would form partnerships with local entrepreneurial teams to help create, build and scale new clean-tech businesses and entrepreneurial ecosystem to solve specific pressing challenges in India.
The initiative by the Manila-based Asian development Bank would initially focus on solar, energy storage, energy efficiency and waste to energy, ReExCapital Chief Executive Officer Yanis Boudjouher said. The Singapore-based platform aims to be a matchmaker and service provider for clean technology companies to bring their products and services to Asia.
Cleantech investment in Asia is estimated at USD 20-30 bn a year between now and 2020, according to industry estimates. The assisted brokerage entity would bridge low carbon technologies (LCT) from around the world with relevant Asia-based project developers and systems integrators, said Frederic Crampe, ReExCapital Asia co-founder. - Curiosity rover finds evidence of large lakes on Mars
The Curiosity rover has discovered evidence that billions of years ago a lake once filled the 154 km wide Gale crater in the Red Planet where the rover is presently exploring. Data sent back by the Rover showing rocks containing water-deposited sediment has now made it more plausible that Mars at one time was suitable for microbial life.
The scientists said that after the crater filled to a height of at least a few hundred yards, or meters, and the sediments hardened into rock, the accumulated layers of sediment were sculpted over time into a mountainous shape by wind erosion that carved away the material between the crater perimeter and what is now the edge of the mountain.
The rock layers - alternating between lake, river and wind deposits -- bear witness to the repeated filling and evaporation of a Martian lake much larger and longer-lasting than any previously examined close-up. Rivers carried sand and silt to the lake, depositing the sediments at the mouth of the river to form deltas similar to those found at river mouths on Earth. This cycle occurred over and over again.
On the 5-mile (8-kilometer) journey from Curiosity's 2012 landing site to its current work site at the base of Mount Sharp, the rover uncovered clues about the changing shape of the crater floor during the era of lakes. - Committed to assist in global efforts to combat Ebola: India
As part of its commitment to assist in global efforts to combat the Ebola virus, India has signed an agreement with a UN agency under which USD 10 million pledged by it will be transferred to a global trust fund set up to address the threat posed by the deadly virus.
The Standard Administrative Arrangement was signed on 10th December between Indian Ambassador to the UN Asoke Kumar Mukerji and Executive Coordinator at the Ebola Response Multi Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) office of UN Development Programme Yannick Glemarec.
The UN system response to the Ebola outbreak was launched by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in September 2014 to unite efforts of all concerned UN entities and act as a platform for global control of the outbreak.
India had announced a contribution of USD 10 million to the fund and had pledged assistance of an additional USD two million for purchase of protective gear to tackle Ebola virus attack prior to the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UN in September. The signing of the arrangement paved the way for transfer of the Indian contribution to the Ebola fund.
India had also provided immediate financial assistance to three of the affected countries Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea for purchase of medical supplies and subsequently provided half a million dollars to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to assist in the efforts of the international community to deal with this challenge. - Corneal blindness: stem cells may provide alternative cure
A research team from India and US had found an alternative to corneal transplantation to cure blindness. The animal studies conducted on the efficacy of using stem cells to treat scarring of whitening of cornea, the central dark portion of the eye, in curing blindness gave positive results, Sayan Basu, consultant corneal surgeon and scientist, LV Prasad Eye Institute (LEPEI). Basu is working along with James L. Funderburgh, Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine in a collaborative research project.
The GSLV MK III rocket has been in the works for about 15 years and, as officials stressed, is not an extension of the 'regular' GSLV rocket. The MK III is an entirely new rocket and will be used in future satellites of 4 tonnes in weight to 36,000 KM above the earth. The idea is to test how the stage I and II behave during the atmospheric flight.
The re-entry is crucial, to human flights. As an object approaches 80 km above the earth, or the 'sensitive atmosphere' the friction between the object and the atmosphere can heat the object to some 1600 degrees Celsius.
Climate talks in LimaThe crucial negotiation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was kicked off in Peruvian capital on 1st December with key UN body appealing the world to step up their actions to deal with disastrous consequences of global warming.
How much burden each of the nations would share to save the world may be known only later in the run up to the Paris meeting, the current meetings — called COP20 (20th edition of the Conference of the Parties) — would, hopefully, throw lights on countries' priorities and willingness to move on low-carbon development path.
Environment ministers and other key representatives of over 190 countries are expected to join the conference for the high-level segment of the negotiation.
Since the present COP is happening in the backdrop of the recent bilateral climate deal between the US and China, it has drawn lot of attention among nations whose representatives may also try to figure out how effectively the two countries - the biggest historical emitter (US) and the world's top present polluter (China) - adhere to their promised goal and what course of actions they would take to reach their self-goals.
Under the bilateral deal that was signed in Beijing last month, the US will reduce emissions by 26-28% below the 2005 levels by 2025. China, on its part, intends to achieve the peaking of carbon emissions around 2030 and makes best efforts to peak early and intends to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20% by 2030.
Climate change mastodons to the brinkClimate change played a pivotal role in the extinction of mastodons in North America, new radiocarbon dating of fossils has revealed — though hunting by people may have been the last straw.
Mastodons are the relatives of modern elephants and were widespread across North America from 1,25,000 years ago, going extinct around 10,000 years ago. Their disappearance coincides with the arrival of early humans on the continent, and has led to the “overkill” hypothesis that they were hunted to extinction by our species.
The new results, which are published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest a more nuanced sequence of events.
India focused on ‘adaptation’: India has made strong pitch pm 3rd December for "adaptation" measures in the new agreement at the time when rich nations are more obsessed with "mitigation" (cutting emission) efforts and goals, in the talks that are happening in Lima, on global climate agreement.
India also made it clear that the "adaptation is critical to the country's development paradigm" in view of climate change
Without denying the importance of "mitigation" in the efforts to face the challenges of climate change, India sought including "adaptation" element in the new agreement in a "comprehensive and balanced" manner.
Referring to a certain para of the draft text which has provisions to enhance cooperation and support for developing countries, Indian representative said, "India would suggest to amend this para to show that adaptation is a global commitment to be discharged by each country party". The member also elaborated on India's ongoing adaptation measures through various plans under its national missions to combat challenges of climate change.
He also referred to the Indian government's recent initiative of establishing a National Adaptation Fund for providing financial, technical and capacity building support at national and state level for implementation of adaptation activities in the country.
Philippines moved out: In a setback to developing countries in general, and India and China in particular, at the climate change talks, the Philippines has moved out of the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) group.
The Philippines, which had become a leading voice of poor countries at the climate talks for years, was under tremendous pressure from the US and the EU to move away from the powerful LMDC group.
Also, as a fallout of the mounting pressure, its prominent negotiator Naderev M Sano (better known as Yeb Sano) has been dropped from the Philippines delegation for the Lima round of climate change negotiations. Another well-known senior negotiator and veteran from Philippines, Berneditas Muller, has not found a permanent place in the country’s delegation as well.
The absence of the two members from the delegation and the distancing of Philippines from the group led to discussions between delegations of many developing countries as well as civil society groups at Lima even before the formal talks were to begin.
Yeb Sano had not only emerged as a strong negotiator for the poor countries last year at Warsaw but also caught the imagination of civil society, becoming a mascot for their protests against inaction of the developed countries. Personally impacted by the typhoon Haiyan back home, Sano moved the UN conference with his tears-riddled speech and then a fast through the fortnight, demanding more action from rich nations.
The presence of Philippines in the group also dented the influence of the coalition of countries that the EU had built up over the years, which included other poor country groups. Till 2013, many small island countries and Least Developed Countries had been seen aligned closer to the EU at the climate talks than large developing economies such as China and India.
They had aligned with the EU weakening the demand for a more equity-based new compact on climate change. But in the talks at Warsaw at 2013, their edge was partially blunted by Philippines, as vulnerable a country, impacted by the Haiyan, demanding that a new ambitious agreement in 2015 be built on the basis of existing provisions of the UN Climate Convention, including equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibility.
ISRO, HAL initiate rocket cryogenic engine unitHindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and Indian Space Research Organisation have formally initiated an ISRO-funded facility at HAL to manufacture cryogenic engines for present and future indigenous launch vehicles.
The 5,560-sq.m facility will come up opposite HAL’s Aerospace Division and will be operated by HAL. Once operational, it is estimated to have an annual turnover of around Rs. 9 crore. ISRO is contributing Rs. 139 crore towards the unit.
Agni-IV for shorter range successfulIndia on 2nd December successfully test fired its 4,000 km nuclear capable Agni-IV missile in Odisha. The Agni-IV, which can carry one tonne nuclear warhead, was fired at 10.19 am from a launch pad from the Wheeler Island, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said.
The Radars and Electro-Optical Tracking systems (EOTS) located along the coast tracked and monitored all the parameters throughout the flight, said official sources. It was the first user trial of the long-range, nuclear-capable, surface-to-surface missile. The operation was carried out by the Indian Army's Strategic Forces Command (SFC).
The two-stage, 17 tonne and 20-metre tall Agni-IV is equipped with state-of-the-art avionics, and a fifth generation on-board computer. It has the latest features to correct and guide itself through in-flight disturbances. This was the fourth success in a row for Agni-IV. The first was in November 2011, the second in September 2012 and the third in January 2014.
Japan launched asteroid probe
Japan on 3rd December launched a rocket carrying a space probe destined for a distant asteroid, just weeks after a European spacecraft's historic landing on a comet. The H-IIA rocket blasted off from Tanegashima Space Center in the south of the country. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) sent the probe, Hayabusa2, on a six-year mission.
The 31-billion-yen ($260-million) project will send the explorer towards the 1999JU3 asteroid in deep space. It will blast a crater in the asteroid to collect materials unexposed to millennia of wind and radiation, in the hope of answering some fundamental questions about life and the universe.
It is expected to reach the asteroid in mid-2018 and spend around 18 months in the area.
It will also study the surface by dropping tiny robots. If all goes well, asteroid samples will be returned to Earth in late 2020.
Hottest year ever recorded-2014: NOAAAccording to a new report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2014 is shaping up to be the hottest since scientists began keeping records more than 130 years ago. The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature from January to October was 1.22 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 20th-century average of 57.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
The midsection of the U.S., meanwhile, has been experiencing a below-average winter this year. That’s become fodder for climate changedeniers. But scientists say that long-term trends and global averages are more accurate gauges of the planet’s health.
Nations have set a goal of limiting the global average surface temperature to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial temperatures, with the consensus that the increase could result in disastrous storms, melting ice, and rising sea levels. Two members of the Union of Concerned Scientists have argued that the world is on track to exceed that and have suggested revising the goal.
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