Category: Space

  • India’s first military satellite and my thoughts

    Note: I wrote this on my earlier blog hosted as https://blogs.seds.org/pradeep. I recovered the text from the WayBack Machine. This post appeared on June 29, 2007 as per the timestamp. I’m trying to collect here again all my old writings spread on various blogs.

    I am not a big fan of the militarization of space and also can’t get to spell it properly. So, I was not too happy when I read this.

    India’s first military satellite – CARTOSAT-2A is going to be launched on the PSLV sometime in August.

    I was so happy that India has been using space for peaceful purposes for so long and despite so many roadblocks put in by the US and Europe. So, it seemed like this was a bit odd. But, not really. What dictates this is basically geo-politics and not the people of our country.

    China and Pakistan seems to be what this satellite would be looking at. Basically. And they’re watching them for our own protection. So, doesn’t really make sense to rant about that.

    The launch of CARTOSAT 2A has been timed to coincide with the scheduled delivery of the country’s first airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft by Israel. So, basically we get the whole range from the ground to the stratosphere. It’s good to keep all the bases covered. Just in case.

  • SEDSAT-2 Update

    Note: I wrote this on my earlier blog hosted as https://blogs.seds.org/pradeep. I recovered the text from the WayBack Machine. This post appeared on June 26, 2007 as per the timestamp. I’m trying to collect here again all my old writings spread on various blogs.

    I thought now that I don’t have to submit a darn long essay to ISRO since I’m out, I can settle down and think about what has happened with SEDSAT2 all this time. These are my personal opinions..and all that.

    SEDSAT2 started out in mid-November about two weeks before my semester exams. Cool no?

    Before I could even decide whether I should participate in the project, the wiki page, the mailing list and all were setup. So, all I had to do was join in. We had a very small but great team of people who came together to begin thinking on this project – Chris, Kirk, Tom, Geoff, Michael, ME and Lavina. It was we who finally (after many delays) finally put our heads together and wrote the paper which basically said – yes, this crazy idea is possible.

    To describe this crazy idea – we are thinking of designing and building a cubesat (a 10×10 cms 1 kg satellite orignially designed by CalPoly) but not in one university but by linking through a string of universities all throughout the world. The major aim of the project was also to take a look at how international collaboration projects in space look like at the student level of things. The idea, as I have mentioned above was crazy to say the least.

    But the more we thought about it, the more we believed that it could be done.

    So, we invited people via mailing lists to submit their applications to become members of the team and boy, did we have a great response – 30 people from 12 countries.

    In between all of the babble, we finally defined our goal –

    to build a cubesat using international collaboration

    small and sweet, no?

    Also, we got a lot of support from SEDS alumni like Chris, Aaron and Kirk. Aaron gave us a software that he’s being putting together which he calls ProtoForge. Protoforge is sort of like a check list which helps us with our thinking and also makes sure we are following logically and helps us manage our “huge” team. It’s great thing to have on a satellite project.

    Fast forward to the present, I’m now looking after the structures team on SEDSAT2. I’ve brushed up on all the basics that I might get hit by and hope that I’m now prepared to read more complicated stuff. Hmm..I think that’s it for now…

  • Communicating my ideas

    Note: I wrote this on my earlier blog hosted as https://blogs.seds.org/pradeep. I recovered the text from the WayBack Machine. This post appeared on June 25, 2007 as per the timestamp. I’m trying to collect here again all my old writings spread on various blogs.

    One of the things that I learnt at the meeting at ISRO Bangalore is how I lack the idea of communicating what I am doing to a group of people who may or may not know about space. In the end, it all comes down to communication.

    The bad part is I get only one chance.

    A guy to whom I tried to explain what being in SEDS entailed and who was not interested in it is not likely to listen to me a second time when I know a bit more and have a clearer picture of what I am saying than when I said it before. He’s already created a block against space thinking of it as very murky water. All thanks to me =(

    That has not happened yet and I hope it never will. It is one of the worries that a person who is trying to start a SEDS chapter might face. Startup fear?

    I am thinking about this and I am also simultaneously trying to solve this problem. But, my solving this problem won’t help others besides people in India since every country has a different outlook on space. India uses space as a means of self-reliance and telecommunications. We don’t want to rely on NASA pictures all the time :).

  • Return trip from ISRO

    Note: I wrote this on my earlier blog hosted as https://blogs.seds.org/pradeep. I recovered the text from the WayBack Machine. This post appeared on June 18, 2007 as per the timestamp. I’m trying to collect here again all my old writings spread on various blogs.

    Returning in the evening from ISRO Headquarters to a quarter of Bangalore called Majestic, we found our way out of maze of criss-crossing exits and finally pinned down a hotel where we could eat something light. As we settled down in the hotel, my mom called me asking if I was boarding my train.

    The re-booking that I talked about caused this confusion. I thought my train was at night and so decided to print my ticket only in the evening.

    I was now running across the crowded streets of Bangalore trying to find an internet cafe. Nagappan accompanied me and helped me in locating a cafe. Thanks a lot, Nagappan. In the run, we finally found a cafe where I got my tickets printed.
    Didn’t have the time to bid all the people there good-bye, but I hope that they’ll forgive me for that short-coming.

    Lo and behold. My train is in the next 45 minutes. I had to travel atleast 1 hour for getting to the station which I thought I should go to. But luckily my father booked the wrong station and that ended up being 15 minutes away. I have to say that Bangalore Station is a very confusing maze and more confusing when you’re confused.

    Finally jumped onto the train and I slept all the way to my hometown.

    I woke up realizing my station had come. I got up and ran to get down. I realized the train was moving and waited until it stopped but when I looked ahead I noticed that the train was moving out and not in. Luckily, it hadn’t gathered speed and so I just closed my eyes and jumped out.

    My dad, who had come to pick me up at the station had surmised that I might get out at the next station, but I managed to catch up with him. Most of that was a dream. All in all, a fun trip. Hope I was able to contribute something positive to the discussion we had at Bangalore.

    I’ve just returned from a month’s worth of vacation. Have lots to catch up on. Will reply to all emails and requests soon. Hang on!!

     

  • Frozen Sun musings 1

    This is what I have been trying to think while I am organising this event. So, all posts related to this can come under this category. (Creating categories on Roller is a pain).

    Anyways, I have been having a tough time at school with everyone going all serious on me. So, I decided that if I take the same dour attitude towards students whom we are trying to reach out to it won’t help. Just won’t!

    Imagine three scientists walking into the room at the same time when you’re supposed to be going out and playing! Except one sex-education talk( hey, I was 15 then!! ), I have never enjoyed any other talk and have come to hate some of the subjects discussed at the time – spirituality, craft etc.

    So, I thought instead of asking children to listen to intellectual stuff that go way over their head, let’s ask scientists how they live, what they do in their spare time, what part of the work they enjoy doing and then write a small description of their actual work. Although this is what I think the post should be about, I would have them write from their heart, which might turn out to be difficult for scientists.

    So, the IHY/IPY 2007 which I asked Kirk to hand over to me, has got this new dimensional push. Ha! and I have my exams on 24 and 26th so that makes it even worse for me to handle this!

    Now, my only problem is whom to contact in NASA/ESA. The trouble is that all of them are so open you don’t know whom to approach. In India, since the website has only one name, the decision is easier. Which reminds me I have written to the person in charge of IHY 2007 asking for help and also some help from IIAp ( Indian Institute of Astrophysics). I have yet to ask some one from ISRO about their plans. Well, let’s see what happens.

  • S Chandrashekhar

    This is the man you read about if you are into the field of black holes. He’s the man who found out the Chandrashekhar limit, beyond which the star’s mass causes it to collapse into a black hole.

    I found a really interesting snippet on Chandrashekhar‘s life at a place where I wouldn’t think of. Dilip D’Souza has a write-up on Chanrashekhar’s life. His work with Sir Eddington, his quarrels with him over the black hole, why he thought scientists were not productive beyond their 30s.

    But, the best part (and, I liked this especially because I finished reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence) was this wonderful quote:

    “Nature has shown over and over again that the kinds of truth which underlie nature transcend the most powerful minds.”

  • Space Weblog

    I’ve decided to not post my space posts here. Half of the reason is because I am lazy and the second reason is so as not  to confuse people.

    You can find all my space posts here.

  • March 26, 2007

    It’s been a long time sine I’ve been thinking about joining HBCSE library to get more books to refer for the SEDSAT 2 Project. I haven’t gotten around to doing it yet.

    I am thinking about starting the next big start up. No, not on the Internet, though it can have a website. I am just not getting around to thinking about it since I am doing some crazy thinking for SEDSAT 2.

    I want to make my team enjoy the stuff that they’re doing. Make them innovate a few things that would help in mass budgeting. The thing looks so un-do-able (is there a word like that?) that my resolve for doing it is just sky-rocketing (what a word to use!)

    I am thinking several things together but doing nothing, or so I feel.

    I used Google Co-op search to build my “Outer Space Search” engine.

  • GIS in India

    Note: I wrote this on my earlier blog hosted as https://blogs.seds.org/pradeep. I recovered the text from the WayBack Machine. This post appeared on February 20, 2007 as per the timestamp. I’m trying to collect here again all my old writings spread on various blogs.

    The NSDI has been trying for a long time to implement GIS in India with the aims of “to ensure that departments open their trove of information maps and data on forests, minerals, town planning, rainfall, archaeology for being placed on a proposed Geospatial Information System (GIS) backbone”.Yesterday, they must have had the happiest day of their life (I’m just thinking here) when they read this half-page report.

    The Indian Government has finally decided to release data stored in files, cans and what not to the modern GIS. This comes as a surprise even for the NSDI. GIS will also provide imagery.

    As the report goes on: “The NSDI web-user interface will provide open access of the information processed by the project. But further access to its metadata, data about data or a cataloguing system, will be secure. The metadata server will be the brain of the system and guide access and use of the NSDI agency server which contains the spatial data.”

    There are also talks of releasing .8 m resolution satellite images available thanks to CartoSat 2. Let’s see how thinks go. The Defence establishment has already given the green signal.

  • Mirror Blog

    This blog will have a mirror blog setup by me on Blogger: http://paraspaces.blogspot.com. This is where I used to blog about a year or so ago. I’ve cleaned that up to put more space blog posts. I was considering removing this blog, but later decided to just mirror this blog in that one.