Interesting Facts about ISRO’s Largest Rocket…GSLV Mark III…!!!

December 19, 2014December 19, 2014NatarajanLeave a comment

Image: GSLV Mark III on the night ahead of its launch at Sriharikota, near Chennai. Photograph: ISRO/Twitter

The successful launch of GSLV Mark III makes ISRO self reliant in launching heavier communication satellites

The Indian Space Research Organisation on Thursday launched its first experimental suborbital flight.

This was the test launch for ISRO heaviest and upgraded rocket, the GSLV Mark III, which is carrying the Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE).

The flight took off from ISRO’s space station Sriharikota, near Chennai. Here are five things you need to know about the GSLV Mark III mission.

1) After its successful Mars mission, this is ISRO’s next step to put a man in space.

2) The Rs 155 crore mission has twin purposes — the main purpose is to test the rocket’s atmospheric flight stability with around 4-tonne luggage. The second is to study the re-entry characteristics of the crew module called Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment.

3) Other critical technologies are also to be developed for ISRO’s manned mission. These are being developed parallelly at other centres. But recovery of the capsule from out of atmosphere will be the first to be tested.

4) GSLV Mark III is the heaviest next generation rocket, conceived and designed to make ISRO self reliant in launching heavier communication satellites of INSAT-4 class, which weigh 4,500 to 5,000 kg. Once operational, this rocket will have the capability to ferry four-tonne class of Insat series of communication satellites, which are currently being launched through Arianespace.

5) This is the second mission of the GSLV rocket during the last four years after two such launches failed in 2010.

SOURCE::::www.rediff.com

Natarajan

A Millionaire With a Different Mindset !!!

December 3, 2014NatarajanLeave a comment

The Millionaire Who Rebuilt a Village

Have you ever fantasized about becoming a millionaire and surprising all the people that were there for you along the way? Well this is the recent story of a man who did just that, and in a splendid way.

54-year-old Xiong Shuihua was born in a little village called Xiongkeng, in Southern China. Many times during his childhood, he recalls, the kind villagers helped him and his family, when they were going through hard times. In time, he grew to become a successful businessman who made millions in the steel industry.

The business tycoon recently headed back to his home village. These were the huts and dirty houses the poor villagers had to live in.

They only had dirt, muddy roads and old detritus was everywhere.

Xiong saw this and decided to change the lives of these kind villagers forever.

“I earned more money than I knew what to do with, and I didn’t want to forget my roots. I always pay my debts, and wanted to make sure the people who helped me when I was younger and my family were paid back.” He said.

He had all the huts torn down and instead built luxury apartments and villas for all the villagers.

He then replaced the muddy dirt roads with nicely paved streets.

And just like that, this poor village became a completely different place

The kind millionaire even promised that any elderly or low income families who need it will get 3 meals a day free of charge.

Thanks to him, 72 families are living in luxury apartments and another 18, who have been especially kind to his family, got their own villas. This is after living in wooden huts for decades.

A local man by the name of Qiong Chu, age 75, said:

‘I remember his parents. They were kind-hearted people who cared very much for others, and it’s great that their son has inherited that kindness.’

I can’t think of a better use of a fortune that this, can you?

Photos credit: Dailymail

SOURCE:::: ba-bamail site

Natarajan

” Astronaut Chris Hadfield Explains The Big Problem With The Mars One Mission”

December 2, 2014NatarajanLeave a comment

If you haven’t heard, there’s a plan to start up a colony of humans living on Mars in the near future.

If the next decade goes as planned, the not-for-profit organization, Mars One, will launch a manned mission to Mars that will land the first human colony on the red planet in 2025.

Here’s the catch: Those who leave Earth for the 7-month-long ride in space will never return.

The four-member crew will learn to call Mars – a freezing, barren, lifeless planet – home. Forever.

That may sound great to the tens of thousands of people who applied, but Mars One is going about their grandiose plans all wrong according to retired Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield.

Right now, Mars One is focused more on raising funds and selecting crew members than developing the technology needed for the trip. And the technology, Hadfield told Elmo Keep, writing in Medium, is the most basic starting point for any space mission.

“There’s a great, I don’t know, self-defeating optimism in the way that this project has been set up,” Hadfield told Keep. “I fear that it’s going to be a little disillusioning for people, because it’s presented as if for sure it’s going to happen.”

Flickr/Benjamin

So far, the company claims they’ve had more than 200,000 people apply, and are about to start interviews with 663 final candidates. Mars One says that they will gather the majority of money for the trip through crowd funding from a global reality television event.

The company anticipates that the trip to Mars will cost approximately $6 billion (that’s shockingly low compared to NASA estimates for a two-way trip to Mars and back costing roughly $100 billion.)

Although Mars One has visions of partnering with companies like SpaceX to procure the proper technology, so far its only contract is with Paragon Space Development Corporation to study initial life support systems.

Hadfield isn’t the only one doubting this project. Doubters at MIT have calculated that “living on Mars” will last only about 68 days before the colonists die.

In particular, Hadfield said, if you don’t have the specifications of the spacecraft, you can’t begin to select the people who will live and work in it.

“I want to see the technical specifications of the vehicle that is orbiting Earth,” Hadfield said. “I want to know: How does a space suit on Mars work? Show me how it is pressurized, and how it is cooled. What’s the glove design?”

NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University

What’s more, Mars should not even be a target for colonization at this point, according to Hadfield. Our sites should be set on a place much closer.

“We absolutely need to do it on the moon for a few generations,” Hadfield told Keep.

On average, the moon is about 600 times closer to Earth than Mars. That means if something goes wrong with a colony, we can dispatch help from Earth that will reach the Moon in a matter of hours instead of months. Developing a working moon colony would be an important first step to living on Mars.

NASA

Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan of Apollo 17 tests the Lunar Roving Vehicle on the moon.

Here’s a short list of what Hadfield told Keep we need to know before living on Mars:

How do you completely recycle your water?
How do you completely recycle your oxygen system?
How do you protect yourselves from radiation?
How do you not go crazy?
How do you set up the politics of the place and the command structure, so that when we get it wrong we won’t all die?

While the Mars One desire to get people excited about space travel again is noble – it has been more than 42 years since we last landed a human on anything in space besides the International Space Station. There’s a right way and a wrong way to go about landing people on other satellites throughout the solar system.

“It’s not a race, it’s not an entertainment event. We didn’t explore the world to entertain other people. We did it as a natural extension of human curiosity and matching capability,” Hadfield told Keep. “And that’s what will continue to drive us.”

SOURCE::::Jessica Orwig in http://www.businessinsider.in

Natarajan

” தொகை ரொம்ப பெரிசு …நீ எப்பிடி பண்ணுவே…” ?

November 30, 2014NatarajanLeave a comment

பகவானே தன் பக்தர்களோட நேர்லவந்து பேசின சம்பவம் எல்லாம் புராண காலத்துல நிறைய நடந்திருக்கு.
மகாபெரியவாளோட வாழ்க்கைலயும் அப்படி எத்தனையோ சம்பவங்கள் நடந்திருக்கு. அதுல ஒரு ஆச்சர்யமான சம்பவத்தையும், ஸ்ரீரங்கம் கோயிலைப் பத்தி பலருக்கும் தெரியாத ஒரு விஷயத்தையும் இப்போ சொல்றேன்.

1983ம் வருஷம் வாக்குல நடந்த சம்பவம் இது. அப்போ மகாராஷ்ட்ரா மாநிலத்துல இருக்கற சதாராவுக்கு விஜயம் பண்ணியிருந்த மகாபெரியவா, அங்கே மஹாகாவ் என்கிற கிராமத்துல தங்கியிருந்தார்.
ரொம்ப எளிமையான இடத்துல ஒரு சின்ன அறை பெரியவா நித்யபடி பூஜை. அனுஷ்டானங்களை செய்யறதுக்கு ஒதுக்கப்பட்டிருந்துது. அதுக்கு கதவுகூடக் கிடையாது. ஒரே ஒரு ஜன்னல் மாத்திரம் இருந்தது. மத்தபடி எல்லாருக்கும் தரிசனம் தரவும் மத்தவா தங்கிக்கவும் மாட்டுக் கொட்டகை ஒண்ணுதான் சுத்தப்படுத்தி ஒதுக்கப்பட்டிருந்தது.
அங்கே ஒருநாள் மகாபெரியவா தினசரி அனுஷ்டான பூஜையை ஆரம்பிச்ச சமயத்துல எங்கே இருந்தோ ஒரு பெரிய கருநாகம் வேகவேகமா வந்து, பெரியவா தங்கியிருந்த அறை வாசலை மறைச்சமாதிரி படத்தை விரிச்சுகிட்டு நின்னு ஆட ஆரம்பிச்சது. எல்லாருக்கும் ஒரே அதிர்ச்சி! கூடவே பயம்!
உள்ளே பெரியவா மெய்மறந்து பூஜை பண்ணின்டு இருக்கார். கூப்பிட்டுச் சொல்லவும் முடியாது. பாம்பை விரட்டலாம்னா, அதோட உருவமே கிட்டே நெருங்க முடியாத அளவுக்கு பயங்கரமா இருந்துது. என்ன பண்றதுன்னு புரியாம எல்லாரும் தவிச்சுண்டு இருந்த சமயத்துல அந்த பாம்பு மெல்ல நகர்ந்து ஜன்னல்ல ஏறி உள்ளே நுழைங்சு பூஜை பண்ணின்டு இருந்த பெரியவா பக்கத்துல போய் கொஞ்ச நேரம் அப்படியே ஆடாம அசையாம நின்னுது. “புஸ்.. புஸ்’னு அது எழுப்பின் சத்தம் எதிரொலி மாதிரி கேட்டுது. சுத்தி நின்னவாளோட இதயம் லப்டப்னு அதுக்கு ஈக்வலா அதிர்ந்துது. இத்தனை ஆரவாரத்துலயும் பெரியவா முகத்துல துளி சலனம் இல்லை. கருமமே கண்ணா, பூஜை பண்ணிண்டு இருந்தார் அவர்.
எல்லாம் ஒரு சில நிமிடங்கள்தான். வந்த வேலை முடிஞ்சுதுங்கற மாதிரி அந்தப் பாம்பு சரசரன்னு வெளியில வந்து சட்டுன்னு எங்கேயோ போய் மறைஞ்சுடுத்து.
அதுக்கு அப்புறம் ரொம்பநேரம் கழிச்சு, பூஜையை முடிச்சுட்டு எழுந்தார் ஆச்சார்யா. எல்லாரும் பதட்டமும் பரபரப்புமா பாம்பு வந்துட்டு போன விஷயத்தை அவர்கிட்ட சொன்னாங்க. ஆனா, கொஞ்சம்கூட ஆச்சர்யமோ, அதிர்ச்சியோ இல்லாம எல்லாம் தெரியும்கிற மாதிரி அமைதியா கேட்டுண்டு ஒரு புன்னகை மட்டும் செஞ்சார் பெரியவா.
அவரோட அந்த தெய்வீகச் சிரிப்புக்கு என்ன காரணம்னு அடுத்த நாள் தெரியவந்துது. அன்னிக்கு மத்தியானம் பெரியவாளை தரிசிக்க வந்தவாள்ல இருந்த ரெண்டுபேர் ரொம்பவே பரபரப்பா இருந்தாங்க. அந்த ரெண்டுபேர்ல ஒருத்தர், ரொம்ப பிரபலமான இசையமைப்பாளர், இன்னொருத்தர் தெய்வீக ஓவியர். இசையமைப்பாளர், ஓவியர்கிட்டே பேசறச்சே, பரமாசார்யார்கிட்டே இருந்து ஏதோ உத்தரவு கிடைச்சிருக்கிறதாகவும், அதை நிறைவேத்தறதா வாக்குறுதி தரவே வந்திருக்கிறதாகவும் சொல்லிண்டு இருந்தார். யார் அவங்க, என்ன வாக்குறுதின்னு சொல்றதுக்கு முன்னால ஒரு முக்கியமான விஷயத்தை சொல்லிடறேன்.
ஸ்ரீரங்கத்துக்கு ராஜகோபுரத் திருப்பணி நடந்துண்டிருந்த காலகட்டம் அது. பதிமூணு நிலைகளோட கம்பீரமா அமைக்கத் திட்டமிட்டிருந்தாங்க. ஆனா, அதுக்கான செலவு ரொம்பவே அதிகமா இருந்துது. ஒவவொரு நிலையையும் கட்ட ஒவ்வொருத்தர் பொறுப்பு ஏற்றுக்கிட்டு இருந்தாங்க. அந்த சமயத்துல ஒர நிலைக்கான செலவை ஏத்துண்டிருந்தவர்கஙளால தவிர்க்க முடியாத காரணத்தால அதை செய்ய முடியாத சூழல் ஏற்பட்டுது. அதனால, அந்தப் பொறுப்பை வேறயாருக்காவது தரவேண்டிய கட்டாயம் வந்துது. இதையெல்லாம் விளக்கி அப்போ இருந்த ஜீயர் சுவாமிகள் மகாபெரியவாளுக்கு கடிதம் எழுதியிருந்தார். லெட்டர் வந்ததுமே, அந்தப் பொறுப்பை யார்கிட்டே ஒப்படைக்கிறதுன்னு யோசிச்சார் மகாபெரியவா. மடத்துல இருந்தவங்க ஆளுக்கு ஒரு பெரிய மனுஷா பெயரைச் சொன்னாங்க. ஆனா, பெரியவா சினிமாவுல இசைத்துறையில பிரபலமான ஒருத்தர் பேரைத்தான் தேர்ந்தெடுத்தார்.
சரி, ஆளை தேர்ந்தெடுத்தாச்சு, அவர்கிட்டே எப்படிச் சொல்றது? அவர் சம்மதிப்பாரா மாட்டாரா? இப்படி எதுவுமே தெரியாத நிலையில தான், எங்கேயோ ஒரு கிராமத்துல போக்குவரத்துக்கே கஷ்டமான பகுதியில தங்கியிருந்த பெரியவளை தரிசிக்க வந்திருந்தார் மகாபெரியவா தேர்ந்தெடுத்த அதே பிரபலமான இசையமைப்பாளர். வரிசையில் வந்த அவர், பெரியவாளை தரிசிச்சு, நமஸ்காரம் பண்ணினார். எதுவும் சொல்லாம அவரை ஆசிர்வதிச்ச ஆசார்யா, “ராத்திரி நேரமாகப் போறது, இன்னிக்கு இங்கேயே தங்கிட்டு நாளைக்குப் புறப்படுங்கோ!’ அப்படின்னு சொன்னார்.
அன்னிக்கு ராத்திரி வழக்கமான தரிசனமெல்லாம் முடிங்சப்புறம் பெரியவா அந்த ரெண்டு பேரோடயும் பேசிண்டு இருந்தார். அப்போ இசைத்துறை சம்பந்தமா, ஓவியம் சார்ந்ததா, வானத்துல இருக்கிற நட்சத்திரங்களை பத்தின்னு ஏராளமான விஷயங்களை அவாகூட பேசிண்டு இருந்தார் ஆசார்யா. ஆனா, கோபுரம் கட்டவேண்டிய விஷயத்தைப்பத்தி பெரியவா எதுவமே அப்போ சொல்லலை.
மறுநாள், நித்யகர்மா எல்லாம் முடிங்சுது. அந்த ரெண்டுபேரும் பெரியவாளை தரிசிக்க வந்தாங்க. “பெரியவா, என்னை நம்பி பெரிய பொறுப்பை ஒப்படைக்கப்போறதா ஒரு தகவல் கிடைச்சது. இது என்னோட பாரம் இல்லை. உங்க பாரம்! இதை எப்படி நடத்திக்கணுமோ, அப்படி நீங்களாவே நடத்திப்பீங்கன்னு தெரியும். உங்க கட்டளையை நான் ஏத்துக்கறேன்’ அப்படின்னார், இசையமைப்பாளர்.
“கிட்டத்தட்ட எட்டுலட்சம் ஆகும்கறா. தொகை ரொம்ப பெரிசு. நீ எப்படிப் பண்ணுவே?’ கேட்டரா ஆசார்யா.
“இதுக்குன்னே தனியா ரெண்டு இசை நிகழ்ச்சி நடத்தலாம்னு இருக்கேன். வர்றதை அப்படியே குடுத்துடறேன். நிச்சயமா முடியும்?’
சொன்ன இசையமைப்பாளருக்கு ஆசிர்வாதம் பண்ணி ஒரு மாம்பழத்தைப் பிரசாதமா குடுத்துனுப்பினார் ஆசார்யா.
ரொம்ப சந்தோஷமா புறப்பட்டாங்க அவங்க ரெண்டு பேரும். சொன்னபடியே செஞ்சு முடிச்சார். அந்த இசையமைப்பாளர். ஸ்ரீரங்கம் கோபுரத்தோட ஆறாவது நிலை, அவரோட கைங்கரியமா கட்டப்பட்டுது.
எல்லாம் முடிஞ்சு ஸ்ரீரங்கம் கோபுரம் கட்டி முடிச்சு கும்பாபிஷேகம் நடந்த சமயத்துல மடத்துக்கு பிரசாதம் வந்துது. அன்னிக்கும் ஒரு பாம்போட நடமாட்டம் கண்ணுல பட்டதா எல்லாரும் சொல்லிண்டாங்க. அப்போதான் புரிஞ்சுது, மஹாகாவ்ல பெரியவா பூஜை பண்ணின சமயத்துல பெரிய பாம்பு வந்தது. ஸ்ரீரங்கத்துல இருக்கற அரங்கநாதரே தன்னோட அணையாக இருந்த ஆதிசேஷனை அனுப்பி, தனக்கு வேண்டியதை தானே கேட்டு வாங்கிக்க பெரியவாகிட்டே பேசியிருக்கலாங்கறது.
எல்லாம் சரி, ஸ்ரீரங்கம் கோபுரத்துல ஒரு நிலையை மகாபெரியவா ஆணைப்படி கட்டித்தந்த அந்த இசையமைப்பாளர் யார்? அவர்கூட சேர்ந்து பெரியவாளை தரிசிக்க வந்த ஓவியர் யாருன்னு சொல்லவே இல்லையேன்னுதானே கேட்கறீங்க?
இசைஞானி இளையராஜாவும், தெய்வீக ஓவியர் சில்பியும்தான் அவங்க.

– பி. ராமகிருஷ்ணன் in Kumudam Bhakthi

Natarajan

Dubai to invest $32-billion to build world’s largest airport…

November 30, 2014NatarajanLeave a comment

APFile photo of Dubai Airport

To further secure its position as the world’s aviation hub, Dubai Airports is building a whopping USD 32—billion greenfield airport at the upcoming Dubai World Central, 30 km off the present international airport which already is the second busiest in the world.

The proposed new airport will become the world’s largest aviation facility on completion and will have five runways which all will be simultaneously operational, all A380-compatible with a length of 4.5 km each.

“We are planning a USD 32—billion brand new airport at the Dubai World Central at Al Maktoum, 30 km off the present Dubai facility. In the first phase, the new airport will be able to handle 120 million passengers, which will go up to 200 million by 2020, when the project is completed,” Dubai Airports Corporate Communications Head Julius Baumann told PTI.

“On completion, the new airport will be the world’s largest airport, with each concourse the size of seven football fields and have five runways which all will be simultaneously operational, all A380-compatible,” Mr. Baumann said.

The other features include 200 aircraft stands for wide bodied aircraft, four concourses connected via six airport trains to two terminals, which in turn will be linked to the city’s metro network. When complete, the mega-hub will have total annual capacity exceeding 200 million passengers and 12 million tonne of freight.

The existing Al Maktoum International opened its doors to passengers on October 27, 2013 and three airlines are operating from here. It has one A380 capable runway, 64 remote stands, one cargo terminal with annual capacity for 250,000 tonne and a fully operational passenger terminal building designed to accommodate 5 million passengers annually.

The Dubai International Airport is the world’s second busiest airport after the London Heathrow and is on course to become the global aviation hub, thanks to its geographical location and the availability of cheap fuel.

The first phase of the new airport includes a single A380 compatible runway, a passenger terminal with capacity of 5 million passengers which is expandable to 7 million; a cargo terminal with a capacity of 250,000 tonne per annum and expandable to 600,000 tonne and a 92-metre air traffic control tower.

The state-owned Dubai Airports already operates the Dubai International Airport in the heart of the Arabian megapolis and the Al Maktoum International Airport at the upcoming Dubai World Central (DWC).

The DWC is a 140 sq km new international city being built to de-congest the present city, Dubai Airports’ Marketing & Corporate Communications Manager Zaigham Ali said, adding the work on new airport will begin early next year.

Apart from the new airport plan, the Emirate is also expanding the Dubai International Airport with a USD 7.8 billion investment to take the capacity to 100 million by 2020. This project was started in 2011 and will be completed by 2016.

The expansion of the Dubai International include a new concourse (Concourse D), expansion of Terminal 2 to twice its current capacity, refurbishment of Terminal 1, and additional aircraft stands, taxiways and aprons among others.

Dubai International, Mr. Baumann said handled 66.43 million passengers in 2013, and has being growing 15.5 per cent per annum since its launch in 1960. In 2013, it was named the second busiest airport in the world after the London Heathrow.

Mr. Ali said India is the largest source market for the airport, with an airline network that connects Dubai with 18 cities in the country.

In 2013, the airport saw a 14.3 percent increase in passenger numbers from India at 8.5 million and in the first 9 months of this year, the number has already crossed 7 million.

Mr. Ali added the company is confident of crossing the last year’s mark this year.

Explaining the rationale for a gigantic new airport, Mr. Baumann said the airport’s forecast figures for unconstrained passenger traffic show 126 million passengers by 2020, and 300 million passengers by 2050.

Additionally, the Terminal 2 will double in capacity by 2015. Concourse D of the airport, slated to open by mid 2015, will provide for 100 more aircraft and taking the figure up to 80 million passengers.

In all, the expansion projects will take the airport’s passenger capacity to a little over 100 million passengers, Mr. Ali said.

With a built-up area of 1,972,474 sqm, the Dubai International Airport comprises three terminals and ranks among the world’s top two busiest airports for international passengers, serving over 125 airlines flying to over 260 destinations, as per the Airports Council International.

On the economic impact of the aviation sector in Baumann, quoting an Oxford Economics report said, aviation will contribute USD 53.1 billion to Dubai’s economy, which is 37.5 per cent to its GDP and will support over 750,000 jobs by the turn of 2020.

The aviation sector as a whole contributed USD 26.7 billion to the Dubai economy in 2013, which was almost 27 per cent of the national GDP and supported 416,500 jobs accounting for 21 per cent of the Emirates’ total employment.

Passenger traffic in September totalled 5,942,628 compared to 5,407,326 recorded in the same month last year, an increase of 9.9 per cent. January—September rose 6.2 per cent to 52,422,547, up from 49,379,165, while in 2013, the passenger traffic stood 66,431,533, up 15.2 per cent from 2012.

Keywords: Dubai airport, Dubai World Central

SOURCE:::: http://www.the hindu.com

Natarajan

Airports Remain… No Flights … A Precarious Situation … What Next ?

November 30, 2014NatarajanLeave a comment

Representative Image (Photo: AP/File)

Eight non-metro airports modernised using public money have no scheduled flights operating there, leading them to incur a total loss of about Rs 82 crore in the last three years.

As government pushes for air connectivity in remote areas, official figures show that these eight airports have jointly incurred a total loss of over Rs 25 crore in 2011-12, over 27 crore in 2012-13 and almost Rs 30 crore in 2013-14, official sources said.

Reacting sharply to the “precarious” situation prevailing at these airports, aviation industry experts said only market conditions and operational viability and “not political compulsions” should determine developing airports or creating new ones.

The airports, which were modernised and upgraded by state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) but have no scheduled flights, are at Akola (Maharashtra), Bikaner and Jaisalmer (Rajasthan), Coochbehar (West Bengal), Cuddapah (Andhra Pradesh), Pathankot and Ludhiana (Punjab) and Puducherry.

Details regarding the cost of modernising these airports were not immediately available. Similarly, the figures on losses of Bhatinda and Jalgaon airports, also modernised by AAI with no scheduled flights operating from there, were also not available.

Asked why airlines were not flying to these places, official sources said it was up to the airline operators to provide air services to such places “depending on the traffic demand and commercial viability”, apart from the route dispersal guidelines.

However, industry experts disagreed saying airlines should be consulted first before investments are made for developing airports.

“It is a precarious situation. Airports should not be developed merely because of political compulsions, but only on the basis of operational feasibility and market conditions. Airports do not just mean plush terminal buildings like shopping malls. The apron and the runway are crucial for flight operations,” said Debashis Saha, senior executive of professional aviation body Aeronautical Society of India.

Therefore, detailed feasibility studies for short, medium and long term flight operations should be carried out, both for passenger and cargo operations, “before any decision is taken to upgrade an airport or create a new one,” he said.

Giving examples of other countries, he said airport operators like Changi in Singapore “attract airlines by offering special schemes including no or low charges and marketing budget”.

“Government should make available some funds to attract airlines to Tier-II and III cities at least for three years so as to enable airlines to achieve market capitalisation and help air traffic in these sectors grow,” Saha said.

Airlines should be consulted and asked to study the market potential of an airport in a remote or a non-metro city so that they can sustain day-to-day operations, Saha said, adding the airlines should also be asked to commit to launch operations if found viable.

Cost of day-to-day operations include those for maintenance of all technical equipment, the terminal, payment for staff, location of fire and security services.

Saha said the costs incurred in these areas have led to the eight airports to run into losses without having even a single scheduled flight. Though AAI was providing incentives like no landing or parking charges and priority of slots to flights between Tier -II and Tier-III cities, he said unless the airlines were consulted beforehand, these incentives would not work and “the AAI would continue to incur heavy losses”.

SOURCE:::: http://www.deccanchronicle.com

Natarajan

Picture Of the Day… A Concrete Jungle !!!

November 29, 2014NatarajanLeave a comment

THE CONCRETE JUNGLE

Photograph by Edward Burtynsky

The Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange is a stack interchange near the Athens and Watts communities of Los Angeles, California. Though the interchange permits traffic entering the interchange in all directions to exit in all directions (cf. Hollywood Split, East Los Angeles Interchange), the interchange also consists of direct HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) connectors, Metro Green Line tracks, and the Harbor Transitway, all of which contribute to the towering, imposing structure for which the interchange is known.

Opened with Interstate 105 in 1993, the interchange is named for Harry Pregerson, a longtime federal judge who presided over the lawsuit concerning the I-105 freeway’s construction. Shortly before the interchange opened, filmmakers had access to use it for the 1994 motion picture Speed. In one of the movie’s best-known scenes, the bus must jump across an unfinished construction gap in an uncompleted elevated freeway-to-freeway ramp while still under construction.

In 1996, the U.S. Federal Highway Administration recognized the Interstate 105/Interstate 110 interchange with an Award of Merit in the Urban Highways category of its biennial Excellence in Highway Design awards. The award recognized the interchange’s design which sought to improve traffic congestion, safety, and air quality. [Source: Wikipedia]

Source::::www.twistedsifter.com

Natarajan

Vertical Farming @ Singapore !!!

November 29, 2014Natarajan1 Comment

According to most scientists, we are fast approaching a global food shortage. The amount of land used for agriculture is just not enough to meet the food demands of the global urban population. That is why creative means must be found to grow food in limited spaces. Nowhere is that problem more profound and noticeable than places like Singapore, where very little land is available. What did they do? They started farming UPWARDS…

SOURCE:::You Tube and Ba-bamail.com

Natarajan

Runway with Pillars!!!….An Unique Airport !!!

November 27, 2014NatarajanLeave a comment

A special airport

In Madeira, Portugal, a unique airport with a runway length of 2781 meters, the entire length supported by 180 pillars, each pillar 50 meters high (equivalent to 17 floors).

More surprisingly, the runway design is for the B-747!

Look at the cars parked below the elevated runway!!

SOURCE::::www.binscorner.com

Natarajan

The Most Expensive Book In the World !!!

November 25, 2014November 25, 2014Natarajan1 Comment

A copy of John James Audubon’s Birds of America was sold at an auction in London for £7.3 million ($11.5 million), and thus became the most expensive book ever sold. The auction was a rare chance to own one of the best-preserved editions of the 19th- century masterpiece, with its 435 hand-colored illustrations. The winning bid was placed by London-based art dealer Michael Tollemache, who outbid three others during the auction.Don’t miss the video of the book at the bottom!

Only 120 complete sets of Audubon’s 435 hand-colored, life-sized engravings of America’s birds are believed to exist today, with the majority (107) owned by institutions. The last full edition of The Birds of America, which went up for auction in 2010, sold for £7.3m at Sotheby’s, breaking the world record for a single book.

“Birds of America is most significant for its sheer beauty. It’s a masterpiece of illustration,” the words of Richard Davies, a rare and used books specialist. “Aside from being famous in the rare book world, Birds of America also has immense historical and ornithological importance. Some of the birds John James Audubon painted are extinct, and he also discovered new species.”

Measuring over three feet in height and running to four volumes, The Birds of America was created by Audubon between 1827 and 1838. Son of a French sea captain , Audubon was an itinerant artist who traveled America’s wilderness drawing the birds he loved. He was insistent that The Birds of America was made up of life-size illustrations and that it showed all the known species of north America, making the finished volume

Each of the printed books were colored by hand, and it was an extremely laborious process. Even by today’s standards, the vividness of its illustrations of birds is extraordinary but when it was being released in the 1830s it was mindboggling. Audubon employed a rather shocking technique to produce the book. He hunted the birds down and shot them before propping them up on wires to paint. Each drawing would take about 60 hours to complete. Ironically, many of his beautifully rendered subjects are now extinct, such as the Carolina Parakeet, Passenger Pigeon, Labrador Duck, Great Auk, Esquimaux Curlew, and Pinnated Grouse.

Picking up a copy of the “book” is a two-person job, said the dealer, who examined an edition at Sotheby’s once prior to the auction. “The (very nervous) resident expert and I (gingerly) turned the pages together, him at the top and me at the bottom, and peeled them back (respectfully) into just the right conjunction with the rest of the plates,” said Gekoski. “You have to be careful how you handle a gargantuan book worth more than 10 million dollars.”