Parallel Spirals

Standing on the shores of space-time…

Blog

  • India’s Space Road Map up to 2047

    Reddit user u/Blazing_Phoenix_100 shared this screenshot of India’s space road map shared at the G20 summit. I plan on using this chart not to point out times where ISRO has fell behind this timeline. They have done that plenty of times but to understand the general direction they are headed in.

    In the absence of an official roadmap on the ISRO website, this becomes an important indicator of priorities until an official roadmap appears.

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  • Weekly Notes 32/2023

    Most of the week was spent in the hospital with my 7 m.o. who had a lower abdominal infection. I got little to no writing or reading done this week and all of my focus had been on my 7 m.o.

    Last week, everything was going smoothly at home and work. However, this week has been quite challenging due to the hospitalization. As a result, a lot of tasks have been left unfinished. Today, we focused on catching up with the undone tasks at home, and I’ll soon do the same at work.

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    • Heart of Stone (English)

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  • Weekly Notes 31/2023

    I missed writing the thirtieth Weekly Notes last week. Thejesh had shared in his Weekly Notes yesterday that he writes his notes throughout the week. This does not work for me. I complete a week and then look back at the long threads I worked on. I like to think in terms of spirals.

    Reading

    I am currently reading/listening to:

    1. The Beginning of the Infinity – David Deutsch (audible/physical book)
    2. Doing Great Work – Paul Graham (essay)
    3. Restaurant at the End of the Universe – Douglas Adams (audible)
    4. Passage Meditation – Eknath Easwaran (kindle)
    5. Karejwa (Hinglish) – Varun Grover, Ankit Kapoor, Sumit Kumar

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    • Maamannan (Tamil)
    • Marcella (English)

    Writing

    I wrote a few things this week

    On this blog:

    On Tumblr:

    https://www.tumblr.com/pradeep/724634655299633152/relevant-screenshots-in-case-x-implodes
    There’s been a Medium post on a chapter of a novel in the drafts that I’m working on. I need to publish that.

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  • Indofuturism

    Prateek Arora of BANG BANG MediaCorp, asked on X:

    Tweet from Prateek Arora: What does “Indofuturism” mean to you?

    I thought that since Indofuturism, seems inspired by Afrofuturism, I should look there for a definition. Wikipedia defines Afrofuturism as:

    Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, philosophy of science, and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technoculture and speculative fiction, encompassing a range of media and artists with a shared interest in envisioning black futures that stem from Afro-diasporic experiences.

    Wikipedia article in Afrofuturism

    I would define Indofuturism by replacing Afro with Indo:

    Indofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, philosophy of science, and history that explores the intersection of the Indian diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the Indian diaspora through technoculture and speculative fiction, encompassing a range of media and artists with a shared interest in envisioning black futures that stem from Indo-diasporic experiences.

    It seems to make sense to me as a first draft of a definition. I have not even touched what this means to me yet.

    In the meantime, you can follow some of the Indofuturism content that Prateek shares on Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram.

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  • The Last Debris from Mission Shakti

    Update: The actual re-entry date is 14 June 2022.

    Someone had a question about what happened to the debris related to India’s ASAT test, Mission Shakti in 2019.

    Joseph Remis is the person I look to for this information.

    Tweet from Joseph Remis: Another consequence of the electromagnetic storm is to bring the fall of the last remaining debris of the Indian ASAT closer.

    If you open the image on the tweet, you would see the decay date is 11 May 2022. When I opened the quote tweets on this post, I saw this post from Astro_Neel.

    Tweet from Astro_Neel: This piece was otherwise predicted to come down by Aug 2028 (six years later)

    Astro_Neel makes the point that the piece of debris was likely to re-enter only in August 2028 (quoting Joseph Remis again). An electromagnetic storm that hit Earth in February 2022, that knocked out 38 Starlink satellites of SpaceX.

    The geomagnetic storm also led to reducing the time needed to decay the last piece of debris related to the Mission Shakti from August 2028 to June 2022.

    Update

    I was remis to not check the r/ISRO sub-Reddit before writing here. When I shared the blog post on the Fediverse, Ohsin pointed to the thread on Microsat-R where he had also been tracking the debris.

    @pradx Last tracked piece from Microsat-R debris decayed in 14 June 2022. I was also keeping track of it in PSLV-C44/Microsat-R launch thread over at reddit!

    Ohsin on the Fediverse

    He also shared this image with the final decay date indicated.

    Final update from the Satellite Catalog. Image from Ohsin.

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  • Cory Doctrow’s book on technology silos

    https://www.tumblr.com/mostlysignssomeportents/724376507917664256/kickstarting-a-book-to-end-enshittification

    I’ve been looking at how walled off my content has been in the various silos of technology companies like Google, Amazon, etc. Lately, I’ve been feeling the same way about Automattic (the company which hosts this blog and Tumblr, a micro-blogging service that I use).

    I had shared a couple of videos about the IndieWeb in the fifteenth weekly notes in April 2023. This book seems to feed on this feeling of our content being locked in these silos.

    Derek Sivers also spoke about this (that he calls, technical independence) on episode 668 of The Tim Ferriss Show. He then fleshed it out in a blog post on his personal blog.

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  • Weekly Notes 29/2023

    I missed posting the weekly notes for the twenty eighth week. This update is also a good two to three days old.

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    • Ntikkakkakkoru Premondarnn (Malayalam)
    • Janaki Jaane (Malayalam)

    I was sorry to see the series, The Blacklist (English) end on Netflix.

    Writing

    I did no writing other than work-related writing over the last two weeks.

    Reading

    I was reading/listening to:

    • The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Audible, English)

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  • Weekly Notes 27/2023

    I missed posting the Weekly Notes for the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth Weekly Notes.

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    I’ve watched:

    • Trishanku (Malayalam)
    • Ayisha (Malayalam)
    • The Net (English)
    • The Vortex (French)
    • Live (Malayalam)
    • The Sinner (English)

    Writing

    I had a lot of end of the quarter deliverables at work that I completed. This was at the cost of some other thinking and writing. After a brief pause because of fever, I got back to writing excited by the Chandrayaan 3 launch date confirmation. I wrote:

    Information Consumption

    After Threads launched, I signed up immediately. I posted this:

    There is no sane way to process the amount of information that we are hit with every day. Trying to consume it all only left me with no time for family, friends, etc. So, I went back to digital subscriptions for The Hindu, Frontline, The Scroll, and The News Minute.

    I read The Hindu for a general awareness of stories. I read Frontline for some in-depth reading of certain stories. I read The News Minute for coverage related to Kerala. I read the Scroll for some of the book excerpts and investigative news coverage.

    For stuff related to work (technical writing) and interests (Space and Zettelkasten), I follow people on social media specific to these interests.

    I have been trying it out for a month and so far, it seems to be helping.

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  • What India must talk to France about Space?

    Suhasini Haidar, writing for The Hindu, talks about the upcoming visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to France. A key paragraph to highlight in the article:

    India and France are also hoping to strengthen ties over collaboration in space that dates back to the 1960s. Apart from collaborations in launching satellites, the two sides are also looking at training astronauts and partnerships in space industrial engineering, it is learnt.

    Haidar, Suhasini. “Co-Development Rather than Co-Production Will Be Focus of India-France Ties, Sources Say.” The Hindu, 6 July 2023

    France provided inputs on solid fuel technology to ISRO with the Centaures rocket in the 1970s. Working together on the Viking liquid engine, under an arrangement with the European Society for Propulsion (SEP), provided valuable inputs to develop India’s workhorse Vikas engine in the 1980s. The French helped in setting up the Liquid Propulsion Systems Center (LPSC) at Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu.

    Arianespace has provided launch service for various Indian communication satellites, as India struggled with mastering cryogenic technology. ISRO and CNES has worked together on two satellites related to climate studies, Megha-Tropiques and SARAL. A future collaborative mission, Trishna, is slated for launch in 2024.

    India and France can play an important role in space science. I would love to see a continuation of co-operation of Earth observation satellites that are built to study Earth’s climatic systems. I believe that collaboration with France particularly with the mission to Venus would be a shot in the arm for the Indian Venus Mission, called Shukrayaan. France has experience with working on the Vega missions with the Soviet Union.

    The study of Mars is a rosy colonization dream today. The study of Venus provides an understanding of where the Earth could be headed because of global warming and climate change. I think there must be as many if not more missions to Venus as there are missions to Mars today.

    France is also a signatory of the Artemis Accords, and along with Australia is trying to look for an international arrangements to govern access to and resources on the Moon. This is an essential middle path that India must try to support. Global supply chains are important to keep mission costs low.

    India must try to book cheaper slots on the Ariane 6. There is a 6 ton and higher category of satellites that Indian launch vehicles can currently not support. India must also try to get more French companies to try to fly on Indian launch vehicles. There could be an opportunity coming up during the period of transition between Ariane V and Ariane 6.

    At the industry level, I believe there are opportunities to collaborate in data sharing and data analysis. Indian space startups could try to provide satellite, satellite sub-systems, and propulsion systems to French startups.

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  • Poetry of the Maharashtrian Saints

    The wari passed through Pune last week, just like it did every month. As always, it disrupted life in the city but people have been used to it for centuries. The wari reminds me to look up about the lives and teachings of the saints of Maharashtra.

    A surprisingly large number of these saints had their samadhi in places close to Pune. This added to my fascination to learn about them and to understand their teachings. When we had visited our pediatrician last week, he had mentioned that my daughter’s school name was a name for Sant Tukaram, part of the Warkari tradition. We get similar reminders about the existence of these saints in various parts of Pune.

    Mani Rao wrote in Scroll about a chat that she had with Priya Sarukkai Chabria, the editor of the e-journal, Poetry at Sangam, which was going to shut after beginning in 2013. Among the various questions was about the fact that the e-journal contained English translations present in the e-journal from various Indian languages, besides poetry in the English language.

    I did not find mention of poems in Malayalam but did find poems in Marathi. Poetry at Sangam had English translations of poetry in Marathi by Anjali Purohit, Jerry Pinto, and Neela Bhagwat. The translation of a riddle in the Bharoods of Sant Eknath (1533-1599) specifically caught my eye. And thereafter, I read each one of them.

    Contradiction is the sign of Natha’s home
    Where the water is parched with thirst.

    The pot goes in, surrounded by water
    Water submerges in water.

    Today I saw the strangest sight:
    Water flowing backwards from the eves to the ridge.
    The farmer sowed the field and
    The field swallowed up the guard.

    The cooking pot was eaten and the rice thrown away
    God slaughtered in sacrifice before the goat.

    Says Eka, Janardan’s path is antithetical
    He that understands this is a true follower.

    Codey/Riddles, Sant Eknath, translated into English by Anjali Purohit

    I am also trying to place them in my understanding of Indian philosophy and the various philosophical darsanas. As I understand them, these are songs called abhangs which explain Vedantic philosophy in the format of songs made famous by the bhakti saints. Vedanta seems to have moved from explanations through debate with other philosophical systems to explanations in terms of analogies to this form.

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