This NASA handout image captured by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Staion(ISS) on April 1, 2013, shows that even in space the astronauts have a sense of humor on April Fool’s Day. This image shows a ‘Flying Saucer’ making a ‘visit’ to the Space StationPicture: NASA
SOURCE::::The Telegraph UK
Natarajan
Indonesian rescue workers help remove a section of a Lion Air Boeing 737 four days after it crashed into the sea near Bali
For all the headline-grabbing stories about security breaches, intoxicated pilots and faulty equipment, sometimes a commercial plane’s worst enemy is Mother Nature.
That appears to be the case for a new Boeing 737, operated by Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air, that crashed into the shallow waters off the coast of Bali on 13 April, just short of the runway at Ngurah Rai Airport. At the helm was an experienced pilot who managed to save all 108 passengers and crew, but told Reuters it felt like his aircraft was “dragged” down by wind as he fought to regain control. The crash – and the pilot’s alarming comments – are renewing fears about the chilling phenomenon known as windshear.
A windshear or “microburst” is a sudden change in wind speed and direction that can cause planes to rapidly lose altitude. They are often caused by storms creating strong downdrafts of wind.
Airplanes rely on wind speed and direction to control takeoff and landing, typically doing so in the direction of the wind. But sudden shifts in wind speed and direction can cause planes to lose control, especially during takeoff and landing, when they are low to the ground and have reduced engine power and little room to manoeuvre.
How likely is it that Lion Air’s crash was caused by a windshear? Officials from a bevy of agencies – including Indonesian state officials, the US National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), theMeteorological and Geophysics Agency and Boeing – are investigating the incident and expect to release their findings within a month. But initial tests show that the pilot was experienced, was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and the plane, a brand new Boeing 737, had no technical issues, all of which rules out pilot or plane error.
What’s more, weather reports indicate a strong storm and driving rains were developing as the plane attempted to land, which lends support to the idea of windshear as the culprit.
But the surprising – and unnerving – point is that aviation officials consider windshear to be a problem that was solved long ago. Between 1964 and 1985 windshear was responsible for some 26 civil aircraft crashes in the US, leaving about 500 fatalities and about 200 injuries, according to NASA. The most famous incident involved a Delta Airlines Lockheed Tristar, which crashed in 1985, killing 134 passengers and crew near the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.
Since then, windshear-related incidents have dropped considerably, thanks to FAA- and NASA-developed technology that warns pilots of oncoming storms. The Predictive Windshear System, available below 700m, warns pilots some 10 to 40 seconds ahead of windshear to go around the bursts.
But for now, a lot of unknowns remain, including whether the Lion Air crash was caused by windshear, whether the windshear warning system was functioning on the aircraft and perhaps the biggest question for the airline industry – whether windshear may again become a serious concern.
An F-16 Fighting Falcon refuels from a KC-10 Extender
Two Soviet MiG-29 aircraft en route to an air show are intercepted by F-15 Eagle aircraft.
North American P-51D Mustang
US Navy F-14D Tomcat Refueling
Admiring the Noctilucent clouds from Boeing 767 Flightdeck, which sit at an altitude of around 50 mi up (mesosphere).
Noctilucent clouds are not fully understood as a meteorological phenomenon. Clouds generally are not able to reach such high altitudes with such thin air pressures.
Cockpit of Airbus A320-211
C-17 Globemaster III, having just released a series of flares over the Atlantic Ocean.
The Space Shuttle Atlantis atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) returns to the Kennedy Space Center after a 10 month refurbishment.
Departing Boeing 757-23A (R/W 26L) four minutes after sunrise.
Shot of a EK/Atlas Air 747, being “chased” by EK B777-200..Photo actually taken from the cockpit of another EK B777!
A F-16C refuels from a KC-135 Stratotanker, as another F-16 stands by during Operation Desert Storm.
SOURCE:::web valuer.org
Natarajan
source::::babamailnet
Natarajan
The first 747 rolled out of the Everett assembly building in Washington State on September 30, 1968. A special hangar was built for its construction. By volume, it remains the biggest building ever made.
The plane was set to re-define air travel, with its ability to carry more people than previous aircraft, and played a major part in making long-haul journeys more affordable….
Pan Am was the first airline to receive a 747, and Pat Nixon, the First Lady of the United States, christened the aircraft Clipper Vector. The 747 entered service on January 22, 1970, on Pan Am’s scheduled flight from New York to London.
It also shared some historic highs. The 747 was often used to transport space shuttles, and here it is seen in 1978 giving the Enterprise a piggyback.
In 1984 a youthful Richard Branson launched his airline with a 747 flight from Gatwick to Newark.
The aircraft has been redesigned several times. Variants were launched in 1979 (747-100B), 1982 (747SP), 1983 (747-300), 1989 (747-400), 2006 (747 LCF), and 2011 (747-8, pictured).
The Boeing 747, launched more than 40 years ago, is one of the most influential and admired passenger aircraft ever to be built.
However the original “jumbo jet”, which has flown many millions of people in its decades of service, may finally be falling from favour. British Airways will take delivery of its first Airbus A380 “superjumbo” in July, and this week announced plans to buy 18 Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Both aircraft are quieter and more fuel efficient than the 747, which BA is now looking to phase out over the next few years.
source::::The Telegraph UK…
Natarajan
INTERNET giant Google its taking its search function to new heights: Finding new planets, no less.
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will be launched in 2017 and will see Google join NASA to send a set of specialist cameras in to space to scan the skies for planets orbiting bright nearby stars.
NASA has said the satellite will focus upon stars likely to have Earth-like planets.
It will use a technique to analyse starlight to find planets as they swing around their stars, similar to that used by the Kepler telescope which has already found some 2700 orbiting bodies.
“TESS will carry out the first space-borne all-sky transit survey, covering 400 times as much sky as any previous mission,” George Ricker, TESS’ principle investigator, said in a statement.
“It will identify thousands of new planets in the solar neighbourhood, with a special focus on planets comparable in size to the Earth.”
This artist rendering shows the different types of planets in our Milky Way galaxy detected by NASAs Kepler spacecraft.
Google’s role so far extends back to 2008 when it provided initial funding for the development of the telescope’s sensors and optical cameras.
Are there plans to launch a Google Space View to join its terrestrial equivalent?
Google has not said.
The launch is one of two projects slated by NASA to be launched in 2017.
The second involves a neutron star scanner to be fitted to the International Space Station.
This illustration provided by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows artist’s renderings of planets Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f compared with Venus and the Earth. Scientists have found the two Earth-sized planets orbiting a distant star, an encouraging sign for prospects of finding life elsewhere.
SOURCE::::news.com.au
Natarajan
Who were the persons who initially claimed that the earth was flat?
Westerners.Who were the intelligent ones who again proved that the world is round?
Westerners, the same people who claimed otherwise.Who were the intelligent ones who proved that the galaxy is elliptical?
Westerners, the same ones who knew nothing about it before the discovery.Who invented the number system?
Egyptians? Mayans? Arabs? At least that’s what books say!When was the atom discovered?
18th/19th centuries earliest. As per our Intermediate chemistry books ain’t it?The list goes on. There is nothing in the world that is newly invented by the people of the west. What was here in India, the knowledge and wealth of the Vedas was taken to the lands of Egypt and the rest of the west. The Indians of the recent centuries abandoned Vedic study while in the mean time people of the west were busy claiming scientific inventions and discoveries for what was told to them by their elders. What irony! What a turn of events!
Sanskrit is the oldest language in the world.
Sanatana Dharma was the oldest religion in the world.Vedas were an ocean of knowledge containing the most ancient and esoteric secret sciences about Human life, existence and God.
Max Muller, a person from the west claims that the Vedic hymns could have existed at least since 15000 BCE.
Even wikipedia (based on facts available) mentions that Sanskrit existed at least since 1500 BC which was much much before the time any of these inventions about atoms or theories came into light.
Take a look at these Sanskrit words! These were not invented. They existed in Vedic hymns and verses much before times known.
Bhoogola – Bhoo meaning earth. Gola meaning that which is spherical.
Brahmandam – Meaning galaxy, andam – meaning that which is like an egg i.e elliptical/oval in shape.
Anuvu : Atomic particle
Paramanuvu : Sub atomic particleIt is foolish to think that these words were invented or added in the recent past. Here is a quintessential example depicting the knowledge of the Vedas.
An excerpt from Rudra Namakam Chamakam of the Yajur Veda, the vedic hymns used in the ritual of rudrabhishekam. This ritual cannot be dated, for it existed in the Indian culture since times immemorial.
Dhyana Sloka of Shiva : (Use of the word Brahmanda that depicts that the galaxy is oval in shape like an egg)
Brahmanda vyaapta deha bhasitha himaruja bhaasamaana bhujangaihi.
which starts off saying that He is that, which pervades the whole galaxy.Further more, if you take a look at this excerpt from Chamakam of the Rudra Namaka Chamaka, you will get to know the mathematical genius in the Vedas.
Verse :
Eka cha me, thisra chame, panchas chame, saptha chame,
Ekadasa chame, tryodasa chame, pancha dasa chame, saptha dasa chame,
Nava dasa chame, eka trimsathis chame, tryovimsathis chame,
Pancha vimsathis chame,
and it goes on.Mathematical genius behind it
Eka cha me 01 + 000 = 001 square root is 01
thisra chame 03 + 001 = 004 square root is 02
panchas chame 05 + 004 = 009 square root is 03
saptha chame 07 + 009 = 016 square root is 04
nava chame 09 + 016 = 025 square root is 02
Ekadasa chame 11 + 025 = 036 square root is 05
tryodasa chame 13 + 035 = 049 square root is 06
pancha dasa chame 15 + 049 = 064 square root is 07
saptha dasa chame 17 + 063 = 081 square root is 08
Nava dasa chame 19 + 081 = 100 square root is 09
eka ving satis chame 21 + 100 = 121 square root is 10
tryo ving satis chame 23 + 121 = 144 square root is 11
Pancha ving satis chame 25 + 144 = 169 square root is 13
Sapta ving satis chame 27 + 169 = 196 square root is 14
Nava ving satis chame 29 + 196 = 225 square root is 15
Eka Triyam ving satis chame 31 + 225 = 256 square root is 16A vedic hymn from rudram rings a bell, doesn’t it? Aren’t they a part of the classic mathematical progressions? Don’t they remind you of the Number theory problems you’ve prepared for your IIT coaching?
The most important part is that the vedic hymn is not about mathematics. The maths part of it is just an extra add-on to a deeper meaning. The hymn describes how Lord Shiva has created the universe. It talks about birth and death associated with the mystery of atoms. If you observe the sequence,
1 grows to 3 and then becomes 2 (the square root). Likewise, the sequence increases first and decreases again. This rise or increase is related to the growth of atoms which we called birth and the sudden decrease is related to the decay of atoms which we called death. An ancient sage Kaanaada extolled the hidden mathematical meanings of these verses w.r.t spirituality.
This simple verse is an example to depict the ancient Indian mind. As said before, the math part of it is an add on to the mystical meaning which is the core of the verse. The mystical hidden meaning is spiritual, the mathematical meaning is merely that which surrounds the core. The ancient Indian mind had always laid emphasis on subject (God) and the inner meanings related to it but not the objects that surround the subject.
And who do we Indians account all the greatness to? To the people of the west who learnt everything from the ancient Indians. Every Indian should respect the vedas and the ancient Hindu Sanatana Dharma.
Respect and follow the customs and rituals laid down in the Vedas, well of course if you are fortunate enough to be born and raised in a family that has respects Indian traditions. for they have inner meanings behind them. If the mind cannot comprehend them practically, it is the mind that is at fault, not the practice, custom or ritual. If the puny mind of a kindergarten student doesn’t understand Engineering Calculus, does it mean that Calculus is worthless? It is exactly the same way with Vedas and their practices and rituals.
Remember the wisdom of your ancestors. It is right within our genes, for they are so full of genius. Understand that you are born in the holy land of Gods where people brought rains from the sky not using some scientific process but by chanting hymns or even by singing music.
source:::::unknown….input from a friend of mine…
Natarajan
Flying formation……. Part 1……. Two parrots captured in flight in Madrid
Flying formation……Part 2…..An Emirates A380 aircraft (L) and Qantas A380 aircraft (R) fly over Sydney Harbour to mark the official launch of a partnership between the two carriers.
SOURCE:::::bbc.com .news
Natarajan
GOOGLE LUNAR X PRIZE | MOON | SPACE | TEAM INDUS
Rahul Narayan, who describes himself as a serial entrepreneur, is the founder of Team Indus. It is the only Indian team in a race to the moon by privately funded groups competing for the largest international incentive prize of all time – the Google Lunar X Prize.
Google is offering $30 million in prizes to the first privately funded teams to safely land a robot on the Moon, including a grand prize and other bonus prizes.
With a purse of $30 million, the competition will reward the first privately funded team to softland on the moon, travel 500 metres and transmit back to earth, at a distance of nearly 4 lakh km.!!!!!!
In a conversation with Reuters, Narayan talks about Team Indus’ prospects, timing, his struggle to be taken seriously by investors and why he would not be too disappointed if someone else wins.
Q: What is the biggest challenge in this mission?
A: Everything is a challenge – money, finding advisers, being taken seriously, reaching out to people.
Almost all of it is uncharted territory. Nobody’s done a (privately funded) mission before, definitely not from India.
Q: How was Team Indus formed?
A: I had gotten in touch with them (organizers) saying, if there was an Indian team, please let me know, I’d like to work with them. They got back to me saying there was no Indian team, and if you want to set up a team, we can give you a bit of expert help. That’s when I got out of whatever startups I was doing.
Q: How did you recruit people for this project?
A: Almost our entire team right now is people who came to our website and said they wanted to work.
Q: When is your planned launch date?
A: We plan to launch sometime in 2015.
Q: How much have you spent so far? What is the projected total cost?
A: We’ve spent about one crore rupees (10 million rupees, or about $185,200), including for registration, a little bit of prototype being done, operational expenses and salaries. It’s a design effort and we are not doing any hardware yet. Total spend, we expect it to be $15 million.
Q: Where do you see yourself among the 23 active teams?
A: We believe we are in the top five. We believe the moment we sign up with ISRO, we will be in the top two. Signing up with ISRO is the one big event that changes a lot of things for us. It has not happened yet, but we’ve started talking to them. (The Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO, is the primary space agency of the Indian government. Team Indus plans to use ISRO’s PSLV satellite launch vehicle for its moon mission)
Q: The competition rules state that the project must be 90 percent privately funded. So how are you managing?
A: Right now it is founder-funded. We’ve divided the cost into three different parts. One is cost of design, second is the cost of building it and the third is the cost of launching it. We have separate strategies for each one of them. For designing, we will be looking for investments. Building it is where we are looking at partnerships (aerospace companies, IITs or government agencies). We are looking at these people to partner with us and potentially contribute, if not money, then equipment. The last part, we are going to do crowdfunding.
Q: Why would investors be interested?
A: I started by saying we are an aerospace company. So we see this as a company which is doing a project, and it will continue doing other aerospace projects or derived technologies or IPR, or licensing rights from what we’re going to do here (moon mission).
We are a for-profit company. It’s not just this mission, we will continue building beyond it.
Q: What if somebody else beats you to the prizes?
A: We’re definitely aiming for the first prize. We’ve got one bonus prize built into it. But, if all the prizes go away in 2014 and I’ve booked my launch with ISRO, that doesn’t mean I stop. I have to go because I’ve already done my engineering, I’ve already spent the money and probably just a residual amount is left. So you’d see that differently as then maybe it converts from a Google Lunar X Prize mission to simply a India’s mission. It’s a people mission, people have contributed to it, people have worked in it, and people have a part in it.
Q: What would losing mean for your team?
A: Even if we lose, we’ll still accomplish a fantastic engineering feat. Prize money is just one component of it, so I’m talking about a company which is going to continue after the prize money….
source:::: David Lalmalsawma in Reuters US
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