Human Genome Project

Human Genome Project (Credit:NHGRI)

DNA present in 46 chromosomes of each and every human body cell consitutes human genome. DNA essentially is four nucleotides bases A, C, G & T repeated 3 billion times, so uniquely, to make all the difference between human beings and other life forms. This blueprint of life can be segmented into regions called genes, responsible for specific functions. Mapping of human genome was completed through a multi-nation effort in 2003. Further analysis is still being published. In India, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology mapped the human genome in 2009. All these efforts have provided a big boost to basic biological research and healthcare.

Structure of Influenza A virus H1N1

Structure of H1N1 virus (Credit: wikipedia)

Influenza A virus H1N1 is a RNA virus named according to two proteins found on its surface: Hemagglutinin (H) and Neuraminidase (N). All influenza A viruses contain both these proteins but with varying structure due to rapid genetic mutation in the viral genome. Influenza A virus strains are assigned an H number and N number based on which forms of these two proteins the strains contains. There are 16 H and 9 N subtypes known in birds, but only H 1, 2 and 3, and N 1 and 2 are commonly found in humans. Click here to view WHO provided interative timeline of all cases of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009.

India sets eyes on Mars

With USA, Russia and European Space agency eyeing the Mars, India is not going to stay behind them. There is a complete focus on exploring Mars after a successful unmanned mission to moon. Director of the Ahmedabad-based Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), J N Goswami, said: "Our plan envisages imaging Mars only through an orbiter. We have no immediate plans for a landing mission." He said the Indian Mars mission will focus on basic science
like studying the Martian atmosphere, the ionosphere, the magnetic field, the dust storms and the weather. The project also includes searching for water, he said. If center permits the project, it could lift up in 2015 through Geo-synchronous satellite Launch Vehicle which is already operational. The cost of this project is estimated to be 3 bilion rupees as compared to Moon mission which costed 386 crore rupees.

Controlled Thermonuclear Reaction

Inside NIF target chamber (Credit: NIF)

Controlled fusion reaction holds the key to solve energy crisis for a long time. It is a source of limitless source of clean energy as byproducts of such a reaction are non-radioactive. Prerequisite being to generate in a safe way temperatures  of 1, 000,000 degree C i.e., 10-100 times more than Sun's core temperature  for fusion of hydrogen nuclei to take place. In a hydrogen bomb such a high temperature is created by trigering a fission based atomic bomb. National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California aims to create such a high temperature by focussing the intense energy of 192 giant laser beams on a small target filled with hydrogen fuel - fusing the hydrogen atoms nuclei. Click here to see a youtube video on this. 

Rendezvous with Hubble

Atlantis Launch Video (Credit:NASA)

Mission began with roaring of Atlantis into sky from Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida on May 11 Monday.On the following day, crew members inspected heat ceramic tiles with a robotic arm and reported some scratches which were declared harmless by experts in Houston Control Center. Atlantis finally caught with the Hubble Space Telescope on Wednesday. This was a two-step process in which Hubble was secured by a robotic arm first (see picture) and then Flight Engineer Megan McArthur successfully lowered it into the shuttle's cargo bay onto the Flight Support System, or FSS. Another feat, though not so mission critical, was Mike Massimino becoming the first astronaut to tweet from space (view Massimino twitter feed).   

ATLANTIS READY TO MAKE HUBBLE MORE POWERFUL

Atlantis ready to lift off and Endeavour in the back ready to rescue (Credit: NASA)

Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to liftoff  from Kenedy Space Center, Florida on Monday, May 11 to service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) for the last time. Over a course of 11 days, the seven member crew will carry out five spacewalks to install two new instruments, repair two inactive ones and perform the component replacement that will keep the telescope functioning into 2014. Best wishes to the seven brave astronauts who made a conscious decision to risk their lives in order to continue the advancement of science that Hubble has begun. Space shuttle Endeavour has been put on standby mode in the unlikely event that a rescue mission is necessary during the Atlantis Mission.

Learn more on the mission in an interactive way, click on Last Mission to Hubble.   

Large Hadron Collider

  

Aerial view of LHC (Credit CERN)

Large Hadron Collider, the world’s highest-energy particle accelerator , also creates one of the coolest place in the universe, just  1.9 K (-271C; -456F)  to make superconducting magnets work. Situated beneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, the accelerator is 27 kms in circumference and 100 m underground. The experiment, to be conducted over 20 years,   will revolutionise our understanding, from the minuscule world deep within atoms to the vastness of the Universe.  The proton beams were circulated  on 10^th September, 2008 for the first time, but were halted on 19^th September 2008 due to  a serious fault between two superconducting bending magnets.  As per a CERN press release, the LHC is expected to be restarted at the end of September 2009.  

To know why LHC, click here.

The World’s Highest Telescope is in India

Indian Astronomical Observatory at Hanle, Ladakh (Credit IIAP)

The Indian Astronomical Observatory, which was commissioned on 29^th August, 2001, is situated at an altitude of 4500 m above sea level  in Hanle, Ladakh which makes it the world’s highest optical-infrared telescope. Thus, it enjoys one of the best light pollution free and cloudless skies. The data collected through the 2 meter telescope also called Himalayan Chandra Telescope is sent through dedicated satellite link to a remote control center at CREST, Hosakote (near Banaglore) for deeper analysis. It recently featured in ‘Around the world in 80 telescopes’ program of European Southern Observatory (ESO) for International Year of Astronomy, 2009.

Earth Day

The Blue Marble (Credit NASA)

Our Earth is unique in our solar system as it is in the habitable zone of sun. Till Kepler Mission discovers another such planet, Earth continues to enjoy its unique position in our perceavable universe. The Earth Day, celebrated each year on 22nd April, is time to cherish this uniqueness and take a resolve to preserve it . The above image which is called the “blue marble” image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer of our planet (Source www.visibleearth.nasa.gov).

Simulated Mars Mission

Mars500 crew prepares to enter the isolation facility on 31 March 2009

A crew of six, including two European and four Russians, embarked on a simulated mission to Mars called Mars500 on 31^st March, 2009. It is expected to provide the knowledge of how to keep a small crew psychologically and physiologically healthy, and ultimately, to succeed in the big challenge to bring humankind to Mars and safely back to Earth. The 105-day study precedes a full simulation of a mission to Mars, due to start late in 2009. This will see another six-member crew sealed in the same chamber to experience a complete 520-day Mars mission simulation. Follow the crew throughout their simulated mission, including regular diary updates from the European participants, on the ESA website: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars500/. 

How Kepler Mission discovers Earth like planets?

Kepler photometer's field of view in the Cygnus and Lyra constellations.

When a planet crosses in front of its star as viewed by an observer, the event is call a transit. Transits by terrestrial planets produce a small change in a star's brightness of about 1/10,000 (100 parts per million, ppm), lasting for 2 to 16 hours. This change must be absolutely periodic if it is caused by a planet. In addition, all transits produced by the same planet must be of the same change in brightness and last the same amount of time, thus providing a highly repeatable signal and robust detection method. Once detected, the planet's orbital size can be calculated from the period (how long it takes the planet to orbit once around the star) and the mass of the star using Kepler's Third Law of planetary motion. The size of the planet is found from the depth of the transit (how much the brightness of the star drops) and the size of the star. From the orbital size and the temperature of the star, the planet's characteristic temperature can be calculated. From this the question of whether or not the planet is habitable (not necessarily inhabited) can be answered. For more information please click on elementary or advanced.

Around the world in 80 Telescopes

European Southern Observatory (ESO) takes the public on an astronomical journey "Around the World in 80 Telescopes."  A live 24-hour free public video webcast, "Around the World in 80 Telescopes", will take place from 3 April 09:00 UT/GMT to 4 April 09:00 UT/GMT, chasing day and night around the globe to let viewers "visit" some of the most advanced astronomical telescopes on and off the planet. The webcast, organised by ESO for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009), is the first time that so many large observatories have been linked together for a public event.

Discovery of New Microorganisms in the Stratosphere

Three new species of bacteria, which are not found on Earth and which are highly resistant to ultra-violet radiation, have been discovered in the upper stratosphere by Indian scientists. One of the new species has been named as Janibacter hoylei, after the Distinguished Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle, the second as Bacillus isronensis recognising the contribution of ISRO in the balloon experiments which led to its discovery and the third as Bacillus aryabhata after India’s celebrated ancient astronomer Aryabhata and also the first satellite of ISRO.

Payloads on Chandrayaan-1

Chandrayaan-1 has 11 payloads on board. Five of them are indigenous and remaining six are  from other nations being carried free of cost. One among them is Chandrayaan-1 x-ray spectrometer (C1XS) realised primarily through ESA funds with partial support from ISRO.  The hardware has been developed at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK in collaboration with the ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore. The primary goal of the C1XS instrument is to carry out high quality X-ray spectroscopic mapping of the Moon, in order to find solutions to key questions on the origin and evolution of the Moon. C1XS will use X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (1.0-10 keV) to measure the elemental abundance, and map the distribution, of the three main rock forming elements: Mg, Al and Si. During periods of enhanced solar activity (solar flares) events, it may be possible to determine the abundance of minor elements such as Ca, Ti and Fe on the surface of the Moon.

Search for earth like planet - Kepler Mission

The Delta II rocket carrying the Kepler planet-hunting spacecraft lifted off on time at 10:49 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The spectacular nighttime launch followed a smooth countdown free of technical issues or weather concerns.

Kepler's mission: to peer closely at a patch of space for at least three-and-a-half years, looking for rocky planets similar to our own. The spacecraft will target an area rich with stars like our sun, watching for a slight dimming in the starlight as planets slip through the space between.

"Kepler is a critical component in NASA's broader efforts to ultimately find and study planets where Earth-like conditions may be present," said Jon Morse, the Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The planetary census Kepler takes will be very important for understanding the frequency of Earth-size planets in our galaxy and planning future missions that directly detect and characterize such worlds around nearby stars."

Comet Lulin

Comet Lulin is a non-periodic comet. It was discovered by Ye Quanzhi and Lin Chi-Sheng from Lulin Observatory. Non-periodic comets are defined for these purposes as comets that have an orbital period of 200 years or more, including single-apparition comets that pass through the Inner Solar System only once.

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