The 9-year wait is finally approaching its end as India prepares for one of the most historical space mission, the launch of <keyword id="6357965" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="pratham">Pratham</keyword> - a satellite made IIT-Bombay students. It's going to be a moment of pride because it's the first student-led satellite programme of the country. 
 Currently six students from <keyword id="61708" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="IIT-Bombay">IIT Bombay</keyword> are working at the <keyword id="6358064" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="ISRO">ISRO</keyword> in Bengaluru for the pre-launch of the satellite. ISRO has not only provided the students with facilities for testing, it is also going to bear the expenses of the launch. 
 
Pratham missed its 2012 launch deadline due to administrative delays and technical glitches, however, the satellite is now ready to be launched by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on its 37th flight. With this, the efforts of almost seven batches of students who worked on the satellite all these years will finally come true. ISRO has itself called it one of the most historic space missions as it is the first time they will be launching a student satellite. 
 
The satellite was conceptualised by two students of the Aerospace Engineering department—Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay and Shashank Tamaskar — in July 2007. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed with ISRO in September 2009, and later extended in 2014. 
 The much-awaited launch will happen at 9:12 am on September 26 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in <keyword id="6355143" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sriharikota">Sriharikota</keyword>. The satellite will be placed at an altitude of 720km and its main will be the measurement of 'electron count'.This will benefit scientific studies correcting errors in communication like the GPS and will also help in tsunami warnings. The total cost of the project is estimated at around Rs 1.5 crore. Satellite data will be transmitted to any university with a small ground station. Currently, 15 Indian universities are setting up their own ground stations. <keyword id="3676335" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="atharva-college">Atharva College</keyword> in Mumbai already has one. 
 
Moreover, only 18 days after successfully launching Pratham, ISRO's ScatSat-1 PSLV will be placed in orbit for the first time. It will help in ocean and weather-related studies.

IIT Bombay students' satellite 'Pratham' is all set for launch, and here's why it is going to be one of the most historical space missions ever

The <keyword id="116095" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Space-Research-Organisation">Indian Space Research Organisation</keyword> (<keyword id="6358064" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="ISRO">ISRO</keyword>) is preparing for India’s first launch vehicle that could put humans in space. The launch vehicle-GSLV Mark III- was critical for the flight and the space centre has gone strength to strength to build it. The third generation geostationary launch vehicle (GSLV) had several constraints at Sriharikota facility due to space, components, etc which would have been expensive. ET reported the <keyword id="1373812" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="GSLV-Mark-III">GSLV Mark III</keyword> was a complex vehicle and some of its critical technologies had to be developed from scratch. Isro's <keyword id="139573" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cryogenic-engine">cryogenic engine</keyword> development had hit hurdles and got delayed beyond reasonable measure. However, as they say nothing is impossible, ISRO is now readying the vehicle for its first full flight at the end of this month, roughly three weeks after another flight of the current generation GSLV on May 5. It has used new ideas in its design, manufacturing and this would be the first flight of GSLV III using India's fully-indigenous cryogenic engine. "This vehicle is going to be at the frontier for ISRO. It can be used for human flight as well,” G Ayyappan, Mark III project director, told ET. All of these combine to make it one of the most critical flights in ISRO’s history. The current f light of GSLV III is a developmental f light. The successful flight of GSLV Mark II in 2014 was a major milestone for ISRO, in which it used India's cryogenic engine, which was a reengineered version of the Russian cryogenic engines. ET reported for the cryogenic engine, ISRO had to create new high altitude test facilities at Mahendragiri near Thiruvananthapuram and it tested the full engine in April 2015 for 635 seconds, and again in June 2015 for 800 seconds, well beyond the duration of its burning during a real flight. "We had doubts about the configuration. So we decided to have an atmospheric test f light with a passive cryogenic engine,” K Radhakrishnan, former chairman of Isro, told ET. GSLV Mark III has a core liquid stage with twin engines, another - smaller - novelty in design.

ISRO is set for India's first human space flight. Here’s why we all should be proud of it

The <keyword id="66" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="delhi" source="Orion">Delhi</keyword> government's <keyword id="45077" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="excise" source="Orion">excise</keyword> department is devising ways to dispose 70 lakh bottles of leftover <keyword id="6356212" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="liquor" source="Orion">liquor</keyword> and to roll them over for sale under the current excise regime, officials said on Wednesday. The stock, also comprising wine and beer, is stored at warehouses as it could not be sold under <keyword id="570373" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="excise-policy" source="Orion">Excise Policy</keyword> 2021-22 that finally ended on August 31, they said. "There are over 35 lakh bottles of various spirit brands are registered under the current excise policy. Such brands can be sold through corporation vends," a senior government officer said. The remaining stock belongs to brands that are yet to be registered under the prevailing excise policy. "It is being explored how to dispose this stock of unregistered brands. One option is to register the brands concerned and sell them through the liquor vends. Another option is to destroy them," the officer said. Officials, however, said the government may allow sale of the unregistered brand bottles instead of destroying them. They cited an example from 2019 wherein the excise department had prepared a proposal seeking permission to sell liquor bottles seized during raids at 25 per cent less than their actual price, after proper testing, instead of destroying them. The Excise Policy 2021-22 that came into being from November 17, 2021, was withdrawn by the Delhi government following recommendation of a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in its implementation. The government then reverted to the excise policy that was in operation before November 17, 2021, by running liquor vends through its four undertakings- DTTDC, DSIIDC, <keyword id="1603215" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="dscsc" source="Orion">DSCSC</keyword> and DCCWS- from September 1 this year. Officials said 518 licenses have been issued for liquor vends to the four corporations so far. A total of 406 vends have opened and 400 of them have started placing purchase orders for stock. The excise department has also registered nearly 650 brands of liquor. Officials said the left over stock could be sold at prices consistent with the current excise policy. A part of the stock comprises beer bottles of unregistered brands, that will be needed to be disposed soon as they can not be stored for long without proper refrigeration facilities, the officials added. SEE ALSO : <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/robots-and-humans-are-gearing-up-to-explore-space-with-isros-gaganyaan/articleshow/94216760.cms">Robots and humans are gearing up to explore space with ISRO's Gaganyaan</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/rupee-rises-5-paise-to-79-47-against-us-dollar-in-early-trade/articleshow/94216323.cms">Rupee rises 5 paise to 79.47 against US dollar in early trade</a>

Delhi is looking to roll over 70 lakh unsold liquor bottles to the current excise regime

<ul><li>Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri allowed domestic flights to operate in the country from May 25. </li><li>This comes as Karnataka reports seventy-five new cases of COVID-19 taking the total number of infections in the state to 2,493 </li></ul>. The Karnataka government has issued guidelines for all the international, national and local travellers arriving from the different parts of the country. Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri allowed domestic flights to operate in the country from May 25. This comes as Karnataka reports seventy-five new cases of COVID-19 taking the total number of infections in the state to 2,493. With 47 deaths and 809 discharges, there are 1,635 active corona cases in the state, the department said in its mid-day bulletin. Twenty-eight patients have been discharged so far on May 28. The new guidelines listed for international travel are as follows: <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td colspan="4" style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">SOP Summary for the Travellers/Returnees to Karnataka 27-05-2020 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#edebe0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">International </td><td colspan="2" style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Inter State </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#eaf0dd;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Inter District </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#edebe0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Category </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Quarantine Guidelines </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#eaf0dd;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#edebe0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">IQ of 7 days + HQ of 7 days If there is no symptoms during 7 days of IQ , they will be sent for HQ after medical assessment No Test required </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">If returning or Boarding from High prevalence state ( MH, TN, Delhi, Raj, Guj. MP) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">IQ of 7 days + HQ of 7 days If there is no symptoms during 7 days of IQ , they will be sent for HQ after medical assessment No Test required </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#eaf0dd;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">No permission letter required to commute No - Quarantine </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#edebe0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> Exempted Category: Pregnant women, Children below 10 and below, senior citizens 80yrs and above and Terminally ill patients (caner, chronic kidney disease, stroke)- Post Covid19 test, will be sent to home quarantine for 14 days </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Carry the Covid19 test (negative) report issued by CMR approved lab latest by 2 days </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Home Quarantine for 14 days (exempted from 7 days IQ) </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Exempted Category: Pregnant women, Children below 10 and below, senior citizens 80yrs and above and Terminally ill patients (caner, chronic kidney disease, stroke) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> Post Covid19 test, will be sent to home quarantine for 14 days </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#edebe0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">If returning from other than above mention 6 states </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">14 days Home Quarantine and Testing will be done only if develop symptoms during HQ </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#eaf0dd;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#edebe0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">If transit in high risk state (staying inside airport) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> Home Quarantine for 14 days </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#eaf0dd;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#edebe0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">If medical professional, nurse, para-medical staff, sanitation personal </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> Home quarantine </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#eaf0dd;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#edebe0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">If Central Minister or State Minister or Government official on duty travelling anywhere in India </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Referred to home Quarantine for 14 days </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#eaf0dd;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#edebe0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">If member of defence, para-military, Railway, DRDO, ISRO, PSUs </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Institutional quarantine for 14 days in dedicated guest house or quarantine facility of the organisation </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#eaf0dd;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#edebe0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Travelling by Flight/Train </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Mandatory Registration under Sevasindu portal acknowledgement is equal to approval </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#eaf0dd;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#edebe0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">If Travelling by Car/personal vehicle </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#dbe4f0;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Mandatory registration under Sevasindu portal. Epass is must to enter border (acknowledgement not acceptable) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#eaf0dd;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td></tr></tbody></table>Note: If any symptoms develop during Institutional Quarantine or Home Quarantine immediately test will be conducted SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/flights-between-delhi-mumbai-can-cost-anywhere-between-350010000/articleshow/75866096.cms">Airfares to be capped, flights between Delhi-Mumbai can cost anywhere between ₹3,500—₹10,000</a>

Karnataka government issues travel guidelines for international national and local arrivals — making 7 days of institutional quarantine compulsory

<ul><li>Astronomers have captured what looks to be the birth of a <keyword id="438857" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="New-Planet">new planet</keyword> for the very first time, 520 light-years from Earth. </li><li>Images taken by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) are the deepest images of the AB Aurigae star system till date. </li><li>The bright yellow “twist” at the centre is the new planet winding inwards into its orbit and expanding outwards to kick out gas and dust — making some room for itself.</li></ul>For the first time in human history, astronomers were witness to the birth of a new planet. The European Southern Observatory (<a href="https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2008/">ESO</a>) released an image of a fiery-looking orange mass of gas that shows the cosmic matter of the universe at a gravitational tipping point — which it believes to “telltale” signs of a star system being born. <div type="image" title="ESOinnerdisk" msid="75860153" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The &amp;#8216;twist&amp;#8217; (in very bright yellow) marks the spot where a planet may be forming&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The planet is forming around a young star called AB Aurigae around 520 light-years from Earth. The spiral formation captured by the Very Large Telescope (VLT) signals the presence of a <keyword id="9258230" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="baby-planet">baby planet</keyword>. <div type="image" title="ESO3_star_edited" msid="75860180" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Wide-field view of the region of the sky where AB Aurigae is located&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The pictures captured by the SPHERE instrument on the VLT are the deepest images of the AB Aurigae system obtained to date. <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[]]></cdata></div> Explaining the birth of a star The distance between AB Aurigae and the new planet is approximately the same as the distance between Neptune and the Sun — around 4.5 billion kilometres. "The twist is expected from some theoretical models of planet formation,” said co-author of the study published in <a href="https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2020/05/aa38008-20/aa38008-20.html">Astronomy &amp; Astrophysics</a>, Anne Dutrey. She explains that it shows how the two spirals are meeting up where the planet is being born. One is winding inwards towards the planet’s orbit and the other is expanding outwards, kicking out the gas and dust, allowing a planet to grow. <div type="image" title="ESO2" msid="75860132" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The image on the right is a zoomed-in version of the area indicated by a red square on the image on the left. It shows the inner region of the disc, including the very-bright-yellow &amp;#8216;twist&amp;#8217; (circled in white) that scientists believe marks the spot where a planet is forming. &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> As the gas kicks outwards, “disturbances in the disc in the form of a wave, somewhat like the wake of a boat on a lake,” explained Emmanuel Di Folco, who also participated in the study. The wave gets shaped into a spiral arm as the planet rotates around the central star as seen by the bright yellow ‘twist’ region at the centre. Astronomers knew this was going to happen years ago “Thousands of exoplanets have been identified so far, but little is known about how they form,” added lead author of the study, Anthony Boccaletti. He embarked on the mission to find a newly forming planet after the first hints of a new planet being born were observed a few years ago with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). “We need to observe very young systems to really capture the moment when planets form,” he explained. He and his team fine-tuned the SPHERE instrument on the VLT to observe if there had been any further developments. The result was some of the most in-depth images of the star system till date. Not only do they confirm the observations that were initially made by ALMA, but also captured the enigmatic ‘twist’, which is the key to their assumption that it could be a new planet being born before their very own eyes. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/lt-and-godrej-join-like-boeing-and-lockheed-martin-ula-after-biggest-space-reform/articleshow/75778037.cms">"Now, L&amp;T and Godrej can join hands like Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s ULA," says Gateway House scholar cheering India’s 'biggest space reform'</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/india-tells-isro-to-give-startups-and-private-players-access-to-geospatial-data-and-testing-facilities/articleshow/75776128.cms">ISRO treasure trove of testing facilities and data will now be open to startups and private players</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/the-best-candidate-for-an-earth-like-planet-is-also-the-farthest-one-detected-yet-and-it-has-a-guinness-world-record-to-prove-it/articleshow/75715617.cms">The best candidate for an Earth-like planet is also the farthest one detected yet — and it has a Guinness World Record to prove it</a>

In a fiery swirl of orange gas, a new planet is born — witnessed by astronomers for the very first time

Space 2021: All the Mars landings, eclipses, astronaut flights, rocket launches, and other big missions to look for this year

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3">Breakthrough Foundation</a> An illustration of a Breakthrough Starshot "nanocraft" being propelled toward the Alpha Centauri star system with a powerful laser beam. </div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/breakthrough-starshot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Breakthrough Starshot</a> wants to use powerful lasers to propel tiny robotic probes to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/alpha-centauri" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alpha Centauri</a>, a nearby star system that may contain habitable planets.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/yuri-milner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yuri Milner</a>, a Russian-American billionaire, and other Silicon Valley investors are funding the project.</li><li>Starshot calls for a 100-gigawatt <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/lasers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">laser</a> that could shoot into space and accelerate probes called StarChips to 20% of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/speed-of-light" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speed of light</a>.</li><li>Chief engineer Peter Klupar said the laser would be brighter than the sun and "could ignite an entire city" if reflected back to Earth.</li></ul>An initiative called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starshot-alpha-centauri-robots-stephen-hawking-yuri-milner-2016-4">Breakthrough Starshot</a> wants to explore another star system using ultra-powerful laser beams and wafer-thin spaceships.It's a goal that sounds so fantastic, you'd be forgiven for dismissing it as <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> fiction. But it's no joke, and the project's chief engineer says millions of dollars' worth of work is moving along without any major snags.Starshot's founders and collaborators include the late <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stephen-hawking-how-the-physicist-inspired-my-career-2018-3">Stephen Hawking</a>, Harvard University astronomer Avi Loeb, and Russian-American billionaire Yuri Milner. The concept is based on more than 80 <a href="https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/research/3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scientific studies</a> about interstellar travel.Milner and other Silicon Valley investors have even paid $100 million to cover the first 10 years of research and development."They had us go and study a whole range of different approaches of how would we send an object to [another star]," Peter Klupar, the engineering director of the nonprofit <a href="https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Breakthrough Foundation</a> and its Starshot initiative, told an audience at the Economist's <a href="https://events.economist.com/events-conferences/americas/space-summit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Space Summit</a> on November 1. "We ended up deciding that the only credible way to do it today was building a large laser based in probably Chile."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1241e/">ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2 Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin</a>A wide-field view of the sky around the bright star Alpha Centauri.</div></div></div>The project hopes to propel roughly 1,000 tiny <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/breakthrough-starshot-sprite-spacecraft-launch-2017-7">"StarChip" spacecraft</a> toward Alpha Centauri, the second-closest star system to Earth, at 20% of light-speed (about 134 million mph). Each "chip" would weigh 1 gram or less. Another destination under consideration is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starshot-proxima-centauri-habitable-planet-2016-8">Proxima Centauri</a>, which is even closer to Earth and may have a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/proxima-b-potentially-earth-like-planet-around-closest-star-2016-8">habitable planet</a>.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alien-signals-search-for-extraterrestrial-intelligence-study-2018-10">Smart aliens might live within 33,000 light-years of Earth. A new study explains why we haven't found them yet.</a>In either case, StarChips may start careening out of the solar system in the mid-2030s. Each one would accelerate to its insane cruising speed within minutes, thanks to the mighty laser blast beamed into space from Earth.But Klupar noted that a 100-gigawatt laser "beamer" would be powerful enough to "ignite an entire city in minutes" if it were reflected off a mirror in space and back to Earth.Vaporizing cities is not the goal of Starshot, of course.Rather, if the plan works out, camera-wielding Starchips could send humanity the first close-up photos of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-space-telescope-tess-searches-for-alien-planets-2018-8">Earth-size worlds</a> by the 2060s. (The voyage would take about 25 years, then receiving data would take another 4-plus years depending on the destination.)Starshot was unveiled in 2016, and Klupar said work on the project since then has moved right along."You would think that this is all impossible, but we have folks at Caltech and the University of Southampton and Exeter University working on about 50 contracts on making all [of] this happen," Klupar said. "No one has come up with a deal-breaker that we can find yet. It all seems real."<h2>Sprites, lasers, and 'reflective smoke'</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Breakthrough PrizeAn artist's depiction of a laser array that'd propel Starshot's "nanocraft" to nearby star.</div></div></div>Klupar and others are not deluding themselves about Starshot's <a href="https://sites.uci.edu/energyobserver/2017/09/15/challenges-to-the-starshot-dream/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">many hurdles</a>. Even the project's own <a href="https://arxiv.org/search/?query=breakthrough+starshot&amp;searchtype=all&amp;source=header" target="_blank" rel="noopener">studies</a> regularly make room for dead ends.Some of the internal research frets about the potentially untenable <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.01306" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cost of building a laser facility</a>. Other papers analyze the concept of a "light sail": the device that would need to "catch" the laser beam and convert its energy into motion.Some researchers question whether such a sail would <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1704.04310" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fall apart</a> when faced with the heat or mind-numbing acceleration (about 60,000 times the force of gravity on Earth's surface). There's also a risk that the sail could steer a StarChip <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.05856" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wildly off-course</a>."The sail is very thin. It's about 400 atoms thick, it weighs about a half a gram, and it's four meters in diameter," Klupar said. "I think of it as 'reflective smoke.'"There's also the pesky issue of <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1608.05284" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gas and dust</a> that lurk between stars; such material could <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1701.04319" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blast a fast-moving spacecraft</a> into robotic Swiss cheese.Nevertheless, Starshot engineers and scientists either see ways around all these issues (such as accepting that a majority of spacecraft won't make it) or figure that future technological advancements could solve many of the problems within a couple of decades.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Initiative/3">Breakthrough Starshot</a>An edited photo of Starshot's "sprite" prototype spacecraft.</div></div></div>As an example of demonstrable progress, Klupar highlighted experimental 4-gram satellites, called "sprites," built and tested <a href="https://www.mae.cornell.edu/news/breakthrough-starshot-sprites-orbit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by Cornell</a>. In June 2017, a fleet of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/breakthrough-starshot-sprite-spacecraft-launch-2017-7">six sprites rode into space</a> aboard an Indian-built rocket."This first one was just a stunt just to see if it'd work," Klupar said. The launch was a success - the sprites used a temperature sensor and relayed the data to Earth along with a radio "beep" signal.Such tiny spacecraft could be seen as a precursor to StarChips, Klupar said."It feels a lot like the way CubeSats felt 20 years ago," he said, referring to roughly fist- to breadbox-size spacecraft that are pervasive today.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-rocket-launch-webcast-live-stream-video-ssoa-2018-11">Watch SpaceX launch a fleet of more than 5 dozen satellites on a twice-used rocket</a>"People were saying, 'Those are toys, they're never going to develop into anything, there's no way I can see that ever working,'" Klupar said. "And today and look them: Hundreds of millions of dollars is being spent [on CubeSats]."'Starshot aims to launch more 4-gram sprites next year, though with some significant improvements that will be essential to developing a StarChip."We're going to put cameras on there, and we're going to start to put all kinds of devices on them," Klupar said.<h2>'You can get to Mars in days'</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/space-images/mars/global-view-of-mars-from-mom-meridiani.html">ISRO/ISSDC/Emily Lakdawalla (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)</a>A photo illustration of the red planet using imagery taken by the Mars Orbiter Mission.</div></div></div>Klupar said Starshot's next five years of work is devoted to "learning how to put together these systems so that they actually operate" in the way Starshot envisions them.But before Starshot reaches for the Centauri star systems, it has a much closer target: the solar system.Around the year 2030, the project hopes to build a 1-gigawatt laser-beaming base station somewhere in the Sierra Nevada mountains (assuming it secures more funding). Such a facility would then test the concepts of laser-powered interstellar StarChip missions, but at a cost about 10 times less. The ideas is to propel probes past planets, moons, asteroids and more at 1% the speed of light."It turns out that with a 1-gigawatt system and a 10-meter sail, you can get to Mars in days, or get to Jupiter in weeks, or get to Pluto in months," Klupar said. (By contrast, it took NASA's New Horizons probe <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasas-new-horizons-probe-wakes-to-explore-ultima-thule-2018-6">about nine years</a> to reach Pluto.)Klupar estimated the whole effort would cost about $1 billion, with most of the investment devoted to the laser-beamer. Once that facility is built, though, simple and frequent deep-space exploration could be relatively cheap.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Breakthrough PrizeAn illustration of a Starshot "nanocraft" sailing toward a distant star using a powerful laser beam.</div></div></div>According to <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.01306" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a preliminary study</a> by a Starshot researcher, each "launch" of a StarChip across the solar system may cost tens of thousands or just thousands of dollars.That estimate assumes optimistic decreases in the cost of lasers, energy, and energy storage, but it's still far cheaper than the $1 billion or so typically required to send a robot to another planet.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-insight-mars-probe-landing-successful-science-mission-2018-11">NASA's new Mars mission just landed - and it could reveal why Earth is habitable but the red planet is not</a>The StarChip variant designed for our solar system would be about 100 grams, Klupar said - about 100 times more massive than the interstellar kind. But he added that launching any StarChip would require many nations to be involved and approve of the effort. That's because shooting a 1-gigawatt laser into space is not only bright, but could damage passing satellites (which could especially be an issue for planned satellite-internet constellations like SpaceX's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-spacecraft-pictures-elon-musk-2018-2">Starlink</a> project.)With the interstellar Starshot effort, the need for global collaboration is even more important."The 100-gigawatt laser can be seen across the galaxy. It will be brighter than the sun," Klupar said.Such a powerful laser blast would turn Earth into a brilliant beacon that loudly broadcasts "intelligent life exists here" to any alien civilization that happens to be staring down the figurative barrel."We're not really doing this just for one group of people," he said. "It's also the whole planet." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stephen-hawking-warning-space-aliens-seti-2016-12">Stephen Hawking warned us about contacting aliens, but this astronomer says it's 'too late'</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

A startup is developing a 100-gigawatt laser to propel a probe to another star system. That may be powerful enough to 'ignite an entire city.'

The whole world is mourning the demise of the great ‘Missile Man’ of India, Former President of India <keyword id="6402687" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="APJ-Abdul-Kalam">APJ Abdul Kalam</keyword>. While his great achievements in life have inspired us forever, the lesser known notorious facts about him is what makes him the ‘People’s President’ of India. 

	1. When Kalam was with <keyword id="490397" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Defence-Research-Development-Organisation">Defence Research Development Organisation</keyword> (DRDO), he rejected the suggestion to put broken glass on the walls of a building that need protection as he was concerned it would be harmful for the birds. 

	2. He founded the trust named PURA (Providing Urban Amenities to Rural Areas) and started giving all his life’s salaries and savings to it when he came to know that the government takes care of its Presidents.
 

	3. Kalam is known to write his own thank you cards with personalised messages in his own handwriting. 
 

	4. It was the convocation day at IIT Varanasi and our own humble Former Prez was the chief guest. He surprised all when he refused to sit on the chair made ready for him. It was slightly larger than the rest.
 

	5. He was famously known for his frequent surprise visits to college and school students and sometimes with minimal security facilities. Once while he was one of the key advisors to the government, he was invited as a guest. Before the event he drove off in a jeep without any security to visit the students of the organising committee and at night.
 

	6. In his book ‘<keyword id="414796" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="My-Journey">My Journey</keyword>’, APJ Abdul Kalam reveals his life’s first lesson that made him the Missile Man of India. He remembers building the first boat with his father. His father’s courage and dedication was what inspired him the most. Not only this, when it was lost in a cyclone, his father’s stoic figure helped him learn his first lesson about life. 

	7. During his tenure at ISRO, he came forward and faced the press during all the failed tests, accepting it as his own mistake. But one huge success and he is nowhere to be seen. He sent his fellow scientists to talk to the press.
 

	8. India had tested five nuclear bombs in 1998 at the Indian army’s Pokhran Test Range. This incident makes it worth mentioning as the way they deceived CIA spying was wonderful. First spotting the time when CIA satellites was over India and then working at shifts accordingly was how the plan was carried. They worked mostly at nights. Also, they dressed in Indian military attire as scientists in plain clothes at army area would attract attention and suspicion. This is how scientist APJ Abdul Kalam and his gave India its first nuclear bomb.

	 
	 
	(Image credits: colorlibrary)

Some lesser known facts about the popular APJ Abdul Kalam

India, as a country, today stands at the crossroads as it tries to take the centre stage in the world economy; harness its innate strengths; gain a stronghold in the world’s political stage; and reinforce its place in the global scientific fraternity. The recent ‘<keyword id="6354869" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="make-in-India">Make in India</keyword>’ campaign and <keyword id="1506013" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="mangalyaan">Mangalyaan</keyword> success was just a teaser for the world. 
 As the world wakes up to the power that lies within the sub-continent, it’s time that Indians should start focusing on education says Dr Govind Swarup, the Emeritus Professor from National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of TIFR. The well-known <keyword id="2546530" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Radio-Astronomer">radio astronomer</keyword> shared several insights and perspectives on how India can establish the intellectual potential and become one of the world’s best developed nations in a candid conversation with Richa Sharma, Deputy Editor-Business Insider India. Below are the excerpts: 
 
Q. Sir, you laid the foundation of radio astrophysics in India, and built the GMRT, a lot has changed, right from technology to science governing the Physics. How do you view all these changes? 
I look at them with positivity and lots of hope. But my fear is brain drain. Today, very few bright students join research institutes or Indian universities as many get attracted to software industries in lieu of handsome salary package. Many go abroad. This must change and for this we need to overcome the ‘caste system’ dividing our education system into four buckets/boxes. (He pauses and then explains) I say, we have a caste system in education because we’ve science colleges and research institutes in one box, engineering colleges in second, medical colleges in third box and humanities in fourth. In most American Universities, all are offered in one campus and students at undergraduate and postgraduate level are required to take 20 to 30 % courses outside their discipline. 
 
Q. So, you want to say that science education should be revamped? 
 Yes, precisely. Almost all universities in India impart only education in science, but very little research isencouraged. Unless we combine undergraduate education with research and experiments in all disciplines (e.g in social sciences with field surveys), we cannot expect our universities to become world-class. 
 
Q. What’s your take on Mangalyaan success? ISRO scientists have created history by successfully inserting the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) into the Martian Orbit. This makes India the first country in the world to accomplish the feat in its maiden attempt. 
It’s a great achievement. Not only it has proved the technical skills of ISRO scientists but also mathematical ability by few in ISRO who calculated and mastered the gravitational variations across the solar system from the earth to mars that led to the unique success. But there’s a lesson that we should learn from this success. 
 
(Lesson?) We should enhance mathematics teaching and learning—right from primary levels to secondary levels across India in private schools, municipal schools and rural schools. Science can’t exist without Maths, you can even say vice-versa. A group in Orissa and Pune selects undergraduate students in Degree colleges and encourages them to go to municipal schools, interact with 20 students studying in class 5th or above, and impart mathematical knowledge. Imagine the impact we can create if we implement the same rule across thousands of science and engineering degree colleges in India. How do we tell Smiriti Irani? 
 
Q. From discovery of Type U solar radio bursts, gyro-radiation model for microwave radio emission from solar active regions; lunar occultation observations using the ORT to high angular resolution studies (about 1 to 10 arc sec) of more than 1,000 weak radio galaxies and quasars-you have done it all. Now, what’s next in your list? 
Next on my list is education. I dream of India, where we’ve world-class universities. I feel that’s the only way to capture the intellectual potential we have in the country, and make India one of the world’s best developed nations as well. 
 
From 1996 to 2004, I and Professor Bhide (former VC of the Pune University) struggled to set up a 5-year integrated Science Education and Research at the University of Pune. Our initiative was approved by the Cabinet in 2004, which later lead to the establishment of: 5 Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs); another National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER); and Center of Excellence in Basic Sciences at the Bombay University. I consider this as a bigger achievement than building the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). 
 
I hope that the Modi Government would select four State Universities across India on competitive basis, provide sufficient funds, ensure that faculty is selected on a national basis and thus in due course improve our ~ 250 or more universities. There’s tremendous talent going untapped in our young population. Apart from education and nurturing talents at the bottom of the pyramid, we need to take special care of the top that would contribute to innovation. At age of 85, I can’t contribute more to these dreams, but I am sure there are others who can pave us on the road to faster growth and success. 
 
Q. That’s an intriguing thought sir, but we would still like to know what are you researching these days? We heard that you are making observations with the GMRT for problems related to cosmology. 
Currently, I am closely guiding a student from VSSC (isn’t it Trivandrum??), ISRO, to analyze observations made with the GMRT of the planet Venus and to investigate any heat flow and its magnitude from its interior. Along with Dr Sandeep Sirothia of NCRA, currently in South Africa, we are also analyzing GMRT data of "Extremely Cold Spot" in the microwave background that has cosmological implications. 
 
Q. You are probably the reason why people think of being a radio astronomer—the term however, is not known to many. Can you please explain what it’s all about in simpler words? 
Radio Astronomy is a new subject. Using radio telescopes (large antennas connected to very sensitive electronics), it has been discovered that one in a million galaxy is a very powerful source of radio emission emitting trillions of power due to presence of massive black holes at the centre of certain galaxies that give rise to outflow of powerful jets of electrons and positrons as matter spirals from galaxy to the central black holes. Many other discoveries have been made in Radio Astronomy and has brought Nobel Prize to 8 radio astronomers over the last 50 years. 
 
India has GMRT, the world's largest radio telescope operating from 130 MHz to 1430 MHz. It is being used by astronomers and students from India and 31 countries in the world including astronomers from Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard and Stanford. There are only a few other scientific instruments in India that has been used by international scientists and that too on a limited occasions. 
 
Q. Any tips for our readers, who want to become a radio astronomer? 
A good education background and exceptional analytical skills is all that you need. If you have completed B.Sc. and M.Sc levels in Physics and Mathematics, Or B.Tech in Electronics and telecommunications, you can sit in for competitive tests held in this field. National Centre of Radio physics of TIFR at Pune, Raman Research Institute at Bangalore and a few other places, annually select students through JEST, IUCAA-NCRA (INIAT) and TIFR entrance exams. 
 
<a href="http://www.iiap.res.in/Swarup">(Dr Govind Swarup is an internationally well known pioneer in the field of radio astronomy who is known for building ingenious, economical and powerful observational facilities for front-line research in radio astronomy, namely, the Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT) in South India and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) near Pune, that are amongst the largest in the world.) </a> 
 
 
Image: <a href="http://ncra.tifr.res.in/ncra/people/academic/emeritus-professor/Swarup">ncra.tifr.res.in</a>

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