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"You are not born for yourself but for the world."

Out of this World - Olympic Story...

India has successfully launched a spacecraft to Mars, aiming to be the fourth space agency to arrive at the red planet!

 

On NOV 05 2013 at 2:38 p.m. Indian local time, India’s very first mission, the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), launched from the Indian Space Research Organisation's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The main aim of the mission is to reach Mars and perform various tasks once the spacecraft has arrived at its destination. The most important task is to look for methane: an indicator of life.  The spacecraft will reach the orbit of Mars around SEP 2014, taking an extraordinary 300-day journey and covering a 780-million-mile voyage. If everything goes as planned, India will be the fourth county and the first Asian nation to deliver a spacecraft to Mars.

 

Applause thundered as the rocket lofted MOM into orbit, bringing smiles to the nation’s faces through this time of economic struggle. “The journey has just begun,” stated Koppillil Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The MOM mission will bring technological recognition for the country by putting India ahead of its competitors, China and Japan. The live broadcast was watched passionately across India and wonderful remarks have been made, saying that this mission is a ‘historical event’ that has put India at the top of the Asian space race.

 

However, ISRO’s annual budget is 1.1 billion USD, which several people believe should have been used to fix the country’s financial issues and provide the necessities that the country seems to lack, such as good education.  On the other hand, the MOM mission required approximately 73 million USD, which some claim is a ‘bargain’. Supporters of the mission say that the MOM will help the country in other ways, such as reduce poverty. "We are not really one country but two in one. And we need to do both things: contribute to global knowledge as well as take care of poor people at home," said Koppillil Radhakrishnan, setting a great start to the mission.

 

We wish the MOM mission good luck on its 300-day journey to the red planet and a successful operation!

 

 

With the days slowly approaching to the Winter Olympics on 7 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia what better time to start the relay of the Olympic torch?

 

The relay of the Olympic torch is a great sports celebration with thousand of torchbearers who, over the course of several months, carry the Olympic torch to the host country symbolising the approaching Olympics. This Winter Olympic torch relay started on the 7th of October, in Moscow Russia and began its triumphant march across Russia. This relay will take 123 days, and the length of its distance will be more than 56 thousand kilometres. But this year the start of the relay has been being anything but ordinary.

 

On November 6 a Soyuz rocket blasted from Baikonur, Kazakhstan carrying the Expedition 38 crew, Koichi Wakata, Richard Mastracchio and Mikhail Tyurin to the International Space Station (ISS) and with it the Olympic torch. The Olympic torch was scheduled for a hand-off in space during a spacewalk on Saturday 9th November. The torch along with the 3 crew members docked the ISS on Thursday 7th November.

 

The Olympic torch has been carried into space twice before - in 1996 and 2000 - but it had never previously left a spaceship making this a remarkable event in the Olympic history. On Saturday, Cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy performed an out-of-this-world relay hand off of the unlit red and silver Olympic torch. With Kotov passing it to Ryazanskiy, they both waved the torch in triumph and had a couple of good photo opportunities. The first Olympic torch in space spent about 1 hour in open space and later had to be situated back inside the ISS and the astronauts continued with their duties.

 

Two days later, the torch came back down on Earth in a Soyuz capsule along with Expedition 37 crew members, Karen Nyberg, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Luca Parmitano after completing their mission staying aboard the ISS for 166 days and spanning more than 2,600 orbits of the Earth. Slowed by parachutes, the Soyuz capsule landed on the Kazakh steppe on schedule at 11th of November 8:49, local time, after a descent lasting about three and a half hours. Yurchikhin was the first one to be removed from the capsule, 10 minutes after touchdown. The torch, in a protective bag, was then brought out of the capsule, unwrapped and given to him to hold. After being greatly congratulated, the three astronauts posed for a picture with the touch while adjusting to the Earth’s gravity.

 

The Olympic torch has returned safely back on Earth after a four-day unforgettable journey all intact. Its great success is the precursor of an amazing Winter Olympics in Sochi, Feb 2014. We will enjoy seeing it light up the flame in the games and let’s have a spectacular Olympics.

by Anastasia Padazopolous on 17/11/2013

Mystery Mars Mock...

by Anastasia Padazopolous on 23/02/2014

Is it a donut?

 

Is it an alien?

 

No, it the Mars mystery rock!

 

After 10 years of roving around Mars, the Opportunity rover was thought to have seen it all! This was until a mysterious donut -sized rock suddenly appeared in front of the rover, leaving scientists stunned.

 

On DEC 26 2014, the rover took a picture of a patch of ground along the wall of Endeavour Crater, where the rover spent Martian winter. 13 days later, on JAN 8, Opportunity took a picture of the same patch of ground. ‘Before’ and ‘after’ pictures indicated the appearance of a white rock with a red centre, the size of a donut.

 

Scientists call it the “jelly donut” rock because of its appearance. Using Opportunity's robotic arm-mounted instruments, the rover detected substances that have never been seen in a rock on Mars before. It included very high levels of sulphur and magnesium. Double the amount of anything ever seen on Mars!

 

The donut rock couldn’t have broken off from a larger boulder. Mars has no atmosphere; therefore, anything on its surface has been untouched for years. So, how did the “donut” rock end up there?

 

There are two theories that scientists have as to how the rock got there. The first theory suggests that the rover flipped or moved the rock with its wheels. The second theory states that it could have landed in front of the rover after a meteorite impact nearby. The first theory is more plausible, as Opportunity's front right steering actuator is broken, which might be the reason behind this mystery. Scientists think that the rock shows how Mars’ atmosphere was in the presence of pH neutral water many years ago.

 

So that’s all that meets the public eye. NASA acknowledged it as it “may have been flipped upside down when a wheel dislodged it,” But is that all? Is there another secret reason to the rock’s current position?

 

So far, nothing is sure about the Mars Mystery Rock. All we know is that it wasn’t there before but it’s there now. Are aliens behind this? Mars throws new surprises our way every day but let’s hope we get to the bottom of the Mars Mystery Rock!

by Anastasia Padazopolous on 13/01/2014

India out of this world... and into the Space Race!

"We are not born for ourselves but for the world."

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