Science & Technologies

Joshimath located on the steep slopes of Auli Mountain is highly unplanned with overcrowding of dwellings. Those constructions weigh many times more than the sloped-surface can bear. In addition, natural sub-soil waters and lack of drainage system have made sub-soil slide with the slightest excitation/trigger caused by the tremors in this Gr-V seismic zone. There is strong apprehension of it grabbing another headlines soon with even moderate tremors striking the region.

The Himalayas sitting over the tectonic fault lines is naturally vulnerable to instabilities and disruptions of several kinds. Human indulgence of creating infrastructures and habitats in the mountains without adequate consideration to the safety norms is the principle cause of the increasing devastation through mud/landslides triggered by the seismic activities.

Joshimath is apparently sinking in some parts due to subsoil subsidence. However, many other areas in the region far away from Joshimath also show signs of sub-soil strain. Part-1 of the article takes a look at the problem through a scienst's eyes.

The Earth is being continuously being degraded by multitudes of factors. The main culprits are the greenhouse effects of temperature caused mainly by the carbon loads of fossil fuel and Coal burning. The other factors that will make our planet uninhabitable is the nuclear explosions that only needs a trigger by any of the rogue nations possessing it. Surely a chain of retaliatory explosions will follow. There are stockpiles of thousands of nuclear bombs that can destroy our planet or at least make it uninhabitable. There is a need for Climate Activists to visualise the greater picture to preserve our precious environment so that we and our next generations could live safely, breathing healthy air.

In the last 12-15 yrs, there have been rapid strides. Modi govt brought the vision of self-reliance but it was the spark of Indo-China clash at Galwan that made the DRDO to take unprecedented lead in making India self-reliant in missile technologies…almost at par with the best in the world.

Most if not all, Specialists in Aerospace Medicine are imparted flying training as supernumerary aircrew so as to fully appreciate the complexities of tasks that their clientele are expected to perform. This is why they are also known as Flight Surgeons.

As and when Skyroot and the similar private firms fully operationalise their products and services, it will surely be a boost for India in space technologies

India under Modi Govt has taken recourse to Atmnirbhar plans in which Vande Bharat surely has a bright future. It serves the imaginations of the people, reduces travel time by half, cuts the import cost, boosts the Indian economy and takes the nation to a new age.

The stage is nearly set for realising ‘Gaganyaan’ mission. Although the launch was not possible before 75th Independence Day, corners must not be cut that may jeopardise the safety of operations. As far as realising fully indigenous technologies are concerned, there will surely be Gaganyaan 2, 3, 4 and more.

ATAGS being an indigenous development has the added benefit of value additions, upgradations in addition to having capability to fire greater calibre ammunition further away. This is a fully electrical system with power back-up hence, having lesser mechanical wear and tear.

Sanket missed out his gold medal by a whisker while he got injured too. The article scientifically analyses the probable reasons.

the options for utilising the ISS for tourism have challenges but is certainly feasible. Will Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson or Elon Musk utilize the concept of ‘Star Hotel in Heaven’, remains to be seen. If not, they may have to modify their crafts for better comfort and luxury, for prolonged durations of ventures to orbital flights or longer flights of one or more circles of the Earth, for the tourists to be able to view Sunset/Sunrise, changing perspective of the Earth for lasting memories.

Govt of India's effort in upgrading the Naval shipbuilding capabilities will go a long way in making it a force to reckon with. A number of Naval ships being manufactured and commissioned in the last 4 yrs is highly laudable.

Hypersonic missiles travel at speeds >5 Mach. At such speeds, it provides a very short reaction time to the adversaries. Further, any conventional or advanced air defence systems are incapable to catch these missiles thus making their strike a sure shot.

Having suffered lack of credible modernisation bid of military hardware for more than 3 decades, Indian Armed Forces has received a substantial face-lift with well-planed procurement policies heading towards self-reliant capabilities for all its 3 services. Modi Govt has put the Indian Defence manufacturers on a path of making India a global military power. India is readying itself to meet the current challenges not only on its two frontiers with hostile neighbours but also across its vast coastal lines and changing global power-equations with emerging new situations. The advanced military hardware will also find many buyers.

Any new spacecraft or satellite launched in to the LEO takes just few minutes. However, sending the spacecraft for docking to the ISS hakes many hours to even couple of days. This article examines as to what should be a shortest time for the spacecrsft to dock with the ISS.

Of late, there are increasing interests of re-usable technologies in the space ventures. There are reusable launch vehicles, China has already developed a reusable spacecraft and Indian interests are also working in that direction.

Chinese unmanned Lunar Mission Cheng'e 5 landed at moon surface and came back with lunar samples.

The article elaborates the landing of Chinese Tianwen craft at Mars, the Development of a Covid cough scanner and 2-Deoxy D Glucose by DRDO.

This is a new technology N-capable missile with 1000-2000 Km range

A panoramic photographic collection made in to a Selfie

Any Adventure activity does have some inherent risks but certainly not at the cost of anyone’s life. Any Space Tourist will have some minimum expectations as mentioned in the article. The companies offering Space Adventure at the prohibitive costs equivalent to fortunes in the present times, must be safe and fulfilling their expectations. Whether Virgin Galactic fulfils all those obligations, they and their passengers will decide. This article only aims at bringing out a third party of view point.

It could be said with fair confidence that while the Modi govt has tried to manage Covid19 to the best of abilities, there were events that did create repeated confusion. Many of these were of a nature seen only in the hindsight. The second wave of the Covid took everyone by surprise. The extent of the pandemic was such that no govt could have managed. This however, does not absolve either the State Govts (under whom comes the public Health) or the Union Govt who are supposed to be coordinating with them for better response. While the populace in general stood firm by the honesty Modi govt displayed in meeting various challenges on several fronts simultaneously, the opposition politicians esp the Congress & Communists, left no stone unturned in maligning the govt. The many reasons of Confusion and secrecies shrouding the Covid outbreak and govt response is discussed here.

From July 2021, people will be able to make adventure trips to sub-orbital flights...of course at a price.

While environmentalists the world over are rightly concerned about the climate changes, very few are aware of the multiple holes that the heavier and mightier rockets and missiles are drilling in our atmosphere as explained above. All super-powers and space agencies involved with space explorations would like to see these issues be swept under the carpet for as long as possible. Time has come when all activists of environment must come together and take effective steps unitedly so as to make our Earth, the only inhabitable planet to the best of our knowledge in the cosmos, a safer place to live. None should be allowed to damage the atmospheric cover of the Earth.

Space Tourism has now come to stay. Different agencies would offer different numbers of experiences…mostly offering sub-orbital flights of few minutes but some offering varying orbiting experiences too. Although the costs of the flights will vary with varying agencies offering it, it is going to be fortunes for many but some may not mind spending.