SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS SEPTEMBER 2009

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS SEPTEMBER 2009

• Space shuttle Discovery reached the earth safely after its travel in the space.
  
  
• NASA and ISRO’s Bi- static experiment to find water on the moon failed. It involved coordinated use of Chandrayaan-I and US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LRO spacecraft. 
  
  
• Sowa-Rigpa, a traditional system of medicine practiced in the Himalayan region, has been accorded legal status in India, through a proposed amendment in Medicine Central Council Act.
• The powerful Revolutionary Guard, which controls Iran's missile program, successfully tested upgraded versions of Iran's medium-range Shahab-3 and Sajjil missiles. Both can carry warheads and reach up to 1,200 miles, putting Israel, U.S. military bases in the Middle East and parts of Europe within striking distance.
• The Chandrayaan-1 probe had found traces of water across the surface of large parts of the moon. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had clearly indicated the presence of water molecules on the lunar surface.
• In its sixteenth flight conducted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C14 successfully launched the 960 kg Indian remote sensing satellite Oceansat-2 and six nano European education satellites for international customers into a polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). This was the fifteenth successful flight of PSLV. The four nano satellites are named as Cubesat 1, 2, 3 and 4. The other two are named as Rubinsat 9.1 and 9.2.
• India has launched the Navy - warship INS Kochi, a Delhi-class destroyer. This is the second warship of Project 15-A built by Mazgaon Dock Limited.
• India has designed a new version of Advanced Heavy Water Reactor named Advanced Heavy Water Reactor-Low Enriched Uranium (AHWR-LEU) which will use low enriched uranium along with thorium as fuel.