ISRO to launch 3 satellites in 18 months for high-speed internet-physicsknow

ISRO to launch 3 satellites in 18 months for high-speed internet: GSAT-19 launch in June

The GSAT-19 satellite is scheduled to take off in early June onboard GSLV-Mk III, ISRO's heaviest rocket, from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota. 

 Space Research Organisation (ISRO)  -physicsknowNew Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will send a series of three communication satellites - GSAT-19, GSAT-11 and GSAT-20 – into the orbit in the next 18 months to increase internet speed across the nation, as per a report in Indian Express.

The GSAT satellites are India's indigenously developed technologies of communications satellites, with an objective to make the country self-reliant in broadcasting services.

The GSAT-19 satellite is scheduled to take off in early June onboard GSLV-Mk III, ISRO's heaviest rocket, from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.

This would be the maiden flight for GSLV-Mk III, the next generation launch vehicle of ISRO capable of launching 4 ton class of satellites to Geosynchronous Transfer orbit (GTO).

“The next big launch will be GSAT-19 in June. With this launch, we will begin a new age of communication satellites. It is also the beginning of high-throughput satellites (in India),” Tapan Misra, director of Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre (SAC), an arm of ISRO that develops satellite payloads, was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.

“While the world is already witnessing a change in the communication technology where voice and video communications are taking place through Internet, with future launches, television will be viewed through Internet using wireless Technology,” Misra added.

These launches will not only revolutionise the way we use televisions and smart-phones, but will also drive the future communication needs of smart cities, the report added.

ISRO said the satellite will carry Ka-band and Ku-band payload along with a Geostationary Radiation Spectrometer (GRASP) payload to monitor and study the nature of the charged particles and influence of space radiation on spacecraft and electronic components.

GSAT-19 satellite will employ advanced spacecraft technologies including bus subsystem, indigenous Li ion battery, indigenous Bus bars for power distribution, etc, the Indian space agency added.

Earlier this month on the 5th May, ISRO successfully launched the Geostationary communication satellite-9 (GSAT-9) – India's gift to South Asia - into a Geostationary orbit.

The GSAT-9 is meant for providing communication and disaster support and connectivity among the countries of South Asia region, with the mission life of about 12 years.

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NASA probes detect man-made bubble around Earth-physicsknow

The impact of such communications extend out beyond our atmosphere, creating a bubble surrounding Earth, NASA`s Van Allen Probes, which study electrons and ions in the near-Earth environment, have revealed. 

Washington: Humans have long been shaping Earth`s landscape, but now scientists know that we also can shape our near-space environment with radio communications.

The impact of such communications extend out beyond our atmosphere, creating a bubble surrounding Earth, NASA`s Van Allen Probes, which study electrons and ions in the near-Earth environment, have revealed. 

A certain type of communications -- very low frequency, or VLF, radio communications -- were found to interact with particles in space, affecting how and where they move. 

At times, these interactions can create a barrier around Earth against natural high energy particle radiation in space, showed the results of a study published in the journal Space Science Reviews.

"A number of experiments and observations have figured out that, under the right conditions, radio communications signals in the VLF frequency range can in fact affect the properties of the high-energy radiation environment around the Earth," said Phil Erickson, Assistant Director at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Haystack Observatory, Westford, Massachusetts.

VLF signals are transmitted from ground stations at huge powers to communicate with submarines deep in the ocean. 

While these waves are intended for communications below the surface, they also extend out beyond our atmosphere, shrouding Earth in a VLF bubble. 

This bubble is even seen by spacecraft high above Earth`s surface, such as NASA`s Van Allen Probes.

The probes noticed an interesting coincidence ? the outward extent of the VLF bubble corresponds almost exactly to the inner edge of the Van Allen radiation belts, a layer of charged particles held in place by Earth`s magnetic fields. 

With further study, VLF transmissions may serve as a way to remove excess radiation from the near-Earth environment. 

Plans are already underway to test VLF transmissions in the upper atmosphere to see if they could remove excess charged particles ? which can appear during periods of intense space weather, such as when the sun erupts with giant clouds of particles and energy, NASA said.

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physicsknow - Earth 2.0 has water, supports alien life?

Earth 2.0 has water, supports alien life?

Proxima B was discovered last August

An ‘Earth-like’ planet orbiting our closest neighbouring star, Proxima Centauri, about 4.2 light years away may have water and the potential to support alien life, a new study has found.

The planet Proxima B was discovered in August last year, and is thought to be of similar size to Earth, creating the possibility that it could have an ‘Earth-like’ atmosphere.

Scientists from the University of Exeter in the U.K. have embarked on their first, tentative steps to explore the potential climate of the exoplanet.

Early studies have suggested that the planet is in the habitable zone of its star Proxima Centauri — the region where, given an Earth-like atmosphere and suitable structure, it would receive the right amount of light to sustain liquid water on its surface.

Now, experts have undertaken new research to explore the potential climate of the planet, towards the longer term goal of revealing whether it has the potential to support life.

Researchers simulated the climate of Proxima B if it were to have a similar atmospheric composition to our own Earth.

The team also explored a much simpler atmosphere, comprising of nitrogen with traces of carbon dioxide, as well as variations of the planets orbit. This allowed them to both compare with, and extend beyond, previous studies.

However, much more work must be done to truly understand whether this planet can support, or indeed does support life of some form, researchers said.

“Our research team looked at a number of different scenarios for the planet’s likely orbital configuration using a set of simulations,” said Ian Boutle, lead author of the study published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

“One of the main features that distinguishes this planet from Earth is that the light from its star is mostly in the near infra-red,” said James Manners, from University of Exeter.

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physicsknow - Mark Elliot Zuckerberg computer programmer who was co founder and CEO of Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg -physicsknow
Born May 14, 1984

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg computer programmer who was cofounder and CEO of Facebook, a social networking Web site.

After attending Phillips Exeter Academy, Zuckerberg enrolled at Harvard University in 2002. On February 4, 2004, he launched thefacebook.com(renamed Facebook in 2005), a directory in which fellow Harvard students entered their own information and photos into a template that he had devised. Within two weeks half of the student body had signed up. Zuckerberg’s roommates, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, helped him add features and make the site available to other campuses across the country. Facebook quickly became popular as registered users could create profiles, upload photos and other media, and keep in touch with friends. It differed from other social networking sites, however, in its emphasis on real names (and e-mail addresses), or “trusted connections.” It also laid particular emphasis on networking, with information disseminated not only to each individual’s network of friends but also to friends of friends—what Zuckerberg called the “social graph.”

In the summer of 2004 the trio moved their headquarters to Palo Alto, California, where Zuckerberg talked venture capitalist Peter Thiel into giving them seed money. Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to concentrate on the fledgling company, of which he became CEO and president. In May 2005 Facebook received its first major infusion of venture capital ($12.7 million). Four months later Facebook opened to registration by high-school students. Meanwhile, foreign colleges and universities also began to sign up, and by September 2006 anyone with an e-mail address could join a regional network based on where he or she lived. About that time Zuckerberg turned down a $1 billion buyout offer from Yahoo!, but in 2007 Facebook struck a deal with Microsoft in which the software company paid $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook; two years later Digital Sky Technologies purchased a 1.96 percent share for $200 million. In 2008 Zuckerberg’s new worth was estimated at about $1.5 billion. After Facebook’s initial public offering (IPO) of stock in 2012, Zuckerberg’s net worth was estimated at more than $19 billion. In April 2017 his net worth is 59.4 billion. Now monthly Facebook has 1 billion active users.

Nevertheless, Zuckerberg has remained true to his initial vision – to create a website that the entire world can use to communicate openly and easily with one another. Hes turned down opportunities to sell the site, often for multi-billion dollar sums. Hes even turned down chances to increase the sites income from ad revenue, instead preferring to keep the user experience clean and pure.The end result is one of the worlds biggest online businesses, and an icon of the tech renaissance thats occurred recently.Although its true value is debatable, its safe to say that Facebook, and its creator Mark Zuckerberg, are two of the twenty-first centurys most influential, controversial, and potentially powerful figures.

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