INDIA IN SPACE ( PART-3 )

INDIA IN SPACE ( PART-3 )

INDIAN ROCKETS AND SATELLITES:

                                                

                                                FOR THE FIRST TIME ON SEPTEMBER 20,1993 THIS KIND OF ROCKET WAS SENT BUT IN VAIN.DUE TO SOFTWARE PROBLEMS THE ROCKET HAS FALLEN IN TO THE SEA WITH IRSE SATELLITE.

                                                 BUT BY THE NEXT YEAR PSLV WAS SUCCESSFUL IN CARRYING A SATELLITE ( IRSP2 ) WEIGHING 870 KG WHICH ORBITED AROUND THE POLAR ORBIT.LATER ON PSLV WAS SUCCESSFUL STEP BY STEP.

                                                               

                                                  PSLV WAS PROVED TO BE RELIABLE. SOME FOREIGN COUNTRIES LAUNCHED THEIR OWN SATELLITES WITH THE HELP OF OUR PSLV.FOR EXAMPLE ON MAY 1999 INDIA'S OCEANSAT 1( 1036 KG ) SATELLITE  WAS SENT THROUGH PSLV TO A GREATER ALTITUDE.    

                                                   WITH OUR  INDIAN SATELLITE, TOOLSAT ( 45 KG ) OF GERMANY AND KITSAT ( 103 KG ) OF SOUTH KOREA WERE ALSO CARRIED BY OUR PSLV.THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME A ROCKET WHICH CARRIED THREE SATELLITES WAS LAUNCHED FROM SRIHARIKOTTA. 

                                                  LATER IN 2001, WHEN TES SATELLITE OF INDIA WAS LAUNCHED, ALONG WITH IT PROBA SATELLITE  OF GERMANY AND BIRD SATELLITE OF GERMANY  WERE ALSO ACCOMPANIED.EVEN IN 2007 JANUARY THREE SATELLITES WERE SENT THROUGH IN ONE ROCKET.

                                                   IN THE SAME YEAR ON APRIL AGILE SATELLITE OF ITALY WAS LAUNCHED FOR ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH PURPOSES.

                                                   AT THE SAME TIME INDIA WAS TRYING TO MAKE ROCKETS   HAVING MORE CAPACITY THAN THE PSLV.IN THESE MULTI-STAGE ROCKETS OUR PURPOSE IS TO USE CRYOGENIC ENGINES.IN THESE TYPE OF ENGINES LIQUID HYDROGEN AND LIQUID OXYGEN WERE USED AS FUEL AS WELL AS OXIDISER. 

                                       WHEN INDIA WAS TRYING TO BUY THIS MODERN TECHNOLOGY ( CRYOGENIC ENGINES TECHNOLOGY ) FROM RUSSIA, AMERICA BLOCKED   RUSSIA NOT TO GIVE THIS TECHNOLOGY TO INDIA.BUT ATLAST RUSSIA AGREED TO SELL ONLY 7 CRYOGENIC ENGINES TO INDIA.

                                      
                                                   

                                                   

                                                  

                                                  

                                                 

                                                                 
           

Friday, May 27, 2011

INDIA IN SPACE ( PART-2 )

INDIAN SATELLITES AND ROCKETS :
                      WHEN ASLV WAS LAUNCHED FOUR TIMES TWO LAUNCHES WERE SUCCESSFUL.(i.e.DURING  1992 & 1994). BOTH SLV AND ASLV CARRIED ONLY SMALL SATELLITES WITH THEM.ALSO THEY BOTH USED SOLID FUELS.
                        

1ST CRYO ENGINE

                       SOLID FUELS COULD NOT GIVE SUFFICIENT AMOUNT OF POWER TO THE ROCKETS.BUT LIQUID FUELS WOULD PROVIDE MORE POWER THAN SOLID FUELS.LIQUID FUELS ARE OF TWO TYPES.ONE IS AN ORDINARY LIQUID FUEL.ANOTHER ONE IS CRYOGENIC LIQUID FUEL (a liquid that boils at below -160 Degree Celsius  and is used as a refrigerant).

CRYOGENIC ENGINE

                       
                        IT WAS NOT EASY TO MAKE ROCKETS USING CRYOGENIC ENGINES.OUR NATION WAS NOT TECHNOLOGICALLY STRONG IN MAKING CRYOGENIC ENGINES AT THAT TIME. SO INDIA STARTED TO MAKE ROCKETS ( LIKE PSLV ) USING ORDINARY LIQUID FUELS.

                        THIS NEW INDIA'S PSLV ROCKET HAD FOUR STAGES PLACED ONE AFTER ANOTHER.IN THE FIRST STAGE SOLID FUEL WAS USED.IN THE SECOND STAGE LIQUID FUEL WAS USED.THIRD STAGE HAD AGAIN SOLID FUEL.FOURTH STAGE AGAIN HAD LIQUID FUEL.AROUND THE BOTTOM STAGE SIX SMALL ROCKETS WERE FITTED.

                          SLV WEIGHED ONLY 40 TONNES WHEREAS PSLV WEIGHED 295 TONNES.ITS HEIGHT IS 45 METRE.GENERALLY  IN ALL THE ROCKETS, WEIGHT  OF THE FUEL WILL BE MORE. BUT IN PSLV TOTAL  WEIGHT OF THE FUEL IS ONLY 197 TONNE.

                          INDIA SENT SATELLITES CARRIED BY PSLV FOR LAND MANAGEMENT RESEARCH PURPOSES.THE SATELLITES ORBIT AROUND NORTH-SOUTH POLES. THIS IS THE REASON WHY THE ROCKETS CARRYING THESE SATELLITES ARE CALLED AS PSLV ( POLAR SATELLITE LAUNCH VEHICLE ).

  

                          

                      

Monday, May 9, 2011

INDIA IN SPACE (PART-1)

INDIAN ROCKETS AND SATELLITES :

ARYABHATTA

                   * ON APRIL 19,1975 INDIA'S FIRST SATELLITE "ARYABHATTA"   ( THE NAME OF A  FAMOUS ANCIENT ASTRONOMER IN INDIA ) WAS LAUNCHED USING A RUSSIAN ROCKET NAMED "KOSMOS 3M", AT KAPUSTIN YAR LAUNCH SITE IN RUSSIA.
ABOUT ARYABHATTA SATELLITE :  
                         MASS - 360 Kg

                        ORBITAL PERIOD - 96 MINUTES

                        APOGEE - 619 Km

                        PERIGEE - 563 Km

SLV-3

INCLINED AT 50.7 DEGREE                   

DIAMETER - 1.4 m 

KOSMOS-3M

ARYABHATTA SATELLITE

* IT WAS BUILT BY "ISRO" TO CONDUCTEXPERIMENTS IN X-RAY ASTRONOMY,AERONOMICS AND SOLAR PHYSICS.

* THE SATELLITE WAS 26-SIDED POLYGON.ALL FACES ( EXCEPT TOP AND BOTTOM ) WERE COVERED WITH SOLAR CELLS.

* THE SATELLITE'S IMAGE APPEARED ON THE REVERSE OF INDIAN 2 RUPEE BANK NOTES BETWEEN 1975 AND 1997.

        

ROHINI

ROHINI

ON JULY 18,1980 INDIA'S "ROHINI 1B" SATELLITE WAS LAUNCHED USING INDIAN ROCKET NAMED "SLV-3".ARYABHATTA'S MASS WAS 360 Kg BUT ROHINI 1B'S MASS WAS ONLY 35 Kg.

ASLV

SINCE A ROCKET CAPABLE OF LIFTING A SATELLITE LIKE  ARYABHATTA (WHOSE MASS IS 10 TIMES GREATER THAN ROHINI 1B ) WAS NOT MADE BY INDIA  AT THAT TIME, ARYABHATTA WAS LAUNCHED BY RUSSIAN ROCKET.

EVENTHOUGH INDIA HAS MADE SATELLITES ON HER OWN ,IT COULD NOT MAKE HI-TECH ROCKETS ON HER OWN.THE REASON FOR THIS IS,SO MANY NATIONS REFUSED TO HELP INDIA IN THIS REGARD.SO INDIA TRIED TO MAKE ROCKETS ON HER OWN.

INDIA'S 1ST ROCKET WAS SLV-3 (SATELLITE LAUNCHING VEHICLE).FIRST SLV WAS LAUNCHED  TO SPACE ON AUGUST 10TH,1979,AT SRIHARIKOTTA SATELLITE LAUNCH CENTRE, IN ANDRA PRADESH.

BUT IT HAS FAILED TO PLACE ROHINI 1A INTO CORRECT ORBITAL PATH.NEXT YEAR THIS FAILURE WAS COMPENSATED BY SUCCESSFUL TWO LAUNCHES. IN THE NEXT FOUR YEARS INDIA STEPPED INTO NEXT STAGE.TWO SMALL ROCKETS WERE PLACED ON THE SIDES OF SLV. THIS ROCKET WHICH HAD EXTRA CAPACITY IS NAMED AS "ASLV" ( AUGMENTED SATELLITE LAUNCH VEHICLE )

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

ANCIENT INDIAN ASTRONOMY AND ASTRONOMERS

VARARUCHI1:

 PERIOD:4TH CENTURY CE. 

VARARUCHI 1 HAS BEEN ONE OF THE EARLIEST HINDU ASTRONOMERS LIVED IN KERALA.

HE WAS BELIEVED TO BE THE THE AUTHOR OF CHANDRAVAKYAS (MOON SENTENCES),A SET OF NUMBERS SPECIFYING THE LONGITUDES MOON AT DIFFERENT INTERVALS OF TIME.

HIS CHANDRAVAKYAS IS A SET OF 248 NUMBERS FOR CALCULATING THE POSITION OF SUN AND MOON.

THESE NUMBERS ARE CODED IN THE KATAPAYADI SYSTEM OF NUMERATION AND IT IS BELIEVED THAT VARARUCHI HIMSELF WAS THE INVENTOR OF THIS SYSTEM OF NUMERATION.

VARARUCHI'S NAME APPEARS IN A VERSE LISTING THE NINE GEMS (NAVARATHNAS) IN THE COURT OF ONE KING VIKRAMA.

VARARUCHI (TAMILNADU) :

IN TAMILNAU REGION OF SOUTH INDIA ANOTHER SCHOLAR IS ALSO KNOWN AS VARARUCHI (13TH CENTURY CE) WHO IS TOO KNOWN AS HINDU ASTRONOMER.

HE IS THE AUTHOR OF WELL-KNOWN VAKYAKARANA WHICH IS THE SOURCE BOOK OF VAKYA PANCHANGA, POPULAR IN SOUTH INDIA,ESPECIALLY IN TAMIL RELIGION.THIS TREATISE WAS ORIGINALLY PRODUCED AROUND 1282 CE,PRESUMABLY IN KANCHI, TAMILNADU.

THE TREATISE IS ALSO KNOWN AS VAKYA PANCHADHYAYI AND IS BASED ON THE WORKS OF HARIDATTA (C.650 CE) OF KERALA.

IN 5 CHAPTERS VAKYAKARANA DEALS WITH ALL ASPECTS OF ASTRONOMY REQUIRED FOR THE PREPARATION OF HINDU ALMANAC.

 

CHAPTER 1 : COMPUTATION OF SUN,MOON AND MOON'S NODES

CHAPTER 2 : COMPUTATION OF PLANETS

CHAPTER 3 : PROBLEMS INVOLVING TIME,POSITION, DIRECTION AND OTHER PRELIMINARIES LIKE THE PRECESSION OF EQUINOXES.

CHAPTER 4 : COMPUTATION OF SOLAR AND LUNAR ECLIPSES

CHAPTER 5 : COMPUTATION OF PLANETS AND STARS.

Friday, February 25, 2011

ANCIENT INDIAN ASTRONOMY AND ASTRONOMERS

 VARAHAMIHIRA:

BORN : 505 IN KAPITTHAKA,INDIA

DIED  : 587 IN INDIA.

KNOWN AS THE FATHER OF MODERN INDIAN ASTRONOMY.

HIS MOST FAMOUS WORK WAS PANCHASIDDHANTIKA ( THE FIVE ASTRONOMICAL CANONS ) DATED 575 A.D.

HIS WORK BRIHATSAMHITA ( THE GREAT COMPILATION ) HAS DESCRIPTIONS OF HEAVENLY BODIES,THEIR MOVEMENTS AND CONJUNCTIONS, METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA.

HE MADE SOME IMPORTANT MATHEMATICAL DISCOVERIES.AMONG THESE ARE CERTAIN TRIGNOMETRIC FORMULAE LIKE

                                                                sinx=cos[pi/2 -x]

                                                                sin^2 x + cos^2 x=1

                                                                (1-cos2x)/2=sin^2 x.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION TO TRIGNOMETRY WAS HIS SINE TABLES WHERE HE IMPROVED THOSE OF ARYABHATTA1 GIVING MORE ACCURATE VALUES.ACCURACY WAS VERY IMPORTANT FOR THESE INDIAN MATHEMATICIANS SINCE THEY WERE COMPUTING SINE TABLES FOR APPLICATIONS TO ASTRONOMY AND ASTROLOGY.

IN ONE OF HIS TREATISES NAMED ROMAKA-SIDDHANTA HE HAD GIVEN EPICYCLE THEORY OF THE MOTIONS OF THE SUN AND THE MOON WHICH WERE BASED ON THE GREEKS WORKS.

THE PANCASIDDHANTIKA ALSO CONTAINS MANY EXAMPLES OF THE USE OF A PLACE-VALUE NUMBER SYSTEM.

VARAHAMIHIRA ALSO HAD WORKED ON MAGIC SQUARES.

ENLARGE  IT BY CLICKING

Monday, February 21, 2011

ANCIENT INDIAN ASTRONOMY AND ASTRONOMERS:

view it by enlarging

BRAHMAGUPTA:
          HE WAS BORN AT BHINMAL,GUJARAT,IN 598 A.D.HE BECAME COURT ASTRONOMER TO KING VYAGHRAMUKHA OF CHAPA DYNASTY.   

          HE WAS ONE OF THE GREAT INDIAN MATHEMATICIANS, WHO FRAMED THE RULES OF OPERATION FOR ZERO.

          HE GAVE A SOLUTION TO INDETERMINATE EQUATIONS OF THE TYPE ax^2+1=y^2 AND WAS THE FOUNDER OF BRANCH OF HIGHER MATHEMATICS CALLED NUMERICAL ANALYSIS.

YOUNG  BRAHMAGUPTA

BRAHMAGUPTA THEOREM

           BHASKARA, ANOTHER GREAT MATHEMATICIAN OF INDIA,GAVE HIM THE TITLE GANAKACHAKRACHUDAMANI( THE GEM OF CIRCLE OF MATHEMATICS).

           HIS TWO TREATISES ('AARAICHI KATTURAIGAL' IN TAMIL) WERE (1) BRAHMASPHUTASIDDHANTA AND (2) KARANAKHANDAKHADYAKA  .

            HE SAID ADDITION OR SUBTRACTION OF ZERO,NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE DOES NOT AFFECT ZERO.PRODUCT OF ANY QUANITY BY ZERO IS ZERO,BUT DIVISION OF ANY QUANTITY BY ZERO IS INFINITY.

            HE ALSO FRAMED THE RULES TO SOLVE A SIMPLE EQUATION OF THE TYPE ax+b=0 AND A QUADRATIC EQUATION OF THE TYPE ax^2+bx+c=0  AS WELL AS TO SUM UP THE GEOMETRIC SERIES.

             HE WAS THE FIRST MATHEMATICIAN TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN ALGEBRA AND ARITHMETIC AS TWO SEPARATE BRANCHES OF MATHEMATICS IN HIS 1ST TREATISE.

             IN HIS 2ND TREATISE HE HAD EFFECTIVELY USED ALGEBRA FOR ASTRONOMICAL CALCULATIONS.

             HE BELIEVED THAT EARTH WAS ROUND.

             HE SAID ABOUT GRAVITY:BODIES FALL TOWARDS THE EARTH.

             
         

Thursday, February 17, 2011

ANCIENT INDIAN ASTRONOMY AND ASTRONOMERS

THE SURYA SIDDHANTA:

 A TEXT BOOK ON ASTRONOMY OF ANCIENT INDIA, SHOWED THAT EARTH'S DIAMETER TO BE 7840 MILES, COMPARED TO MODERN MEASUREMENTS OF 7926.7 MILES. 

BRAHMAGUPTA

MADHAVACHARYA

ALSO IN THAT BOOK IT WAS SHOWED THAT THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE EARTH AND MOON AS 253,000 MILES, COMPARED TO THE MODERN MEASUREMENTS OF 252,710 MILES.

ARYABHATTA