Cases of Swine Flu Grow in US, Internationally

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

The US Center for Disease Control has issued an update on the Swine Flu outbreak.The CDC reports additional cases of confirmed swine influenza and a number of hospitalizations of swine flu patients. Internationally, the situation is more serious too, with additional countries reporting confirmed cases of swine flu. In response to the intensifying outbreak, the World Health Organization raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 4.

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Major Emitters’ Meet To Tackle Climate Change

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

Sixteen nations are responsible for 80 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Now those nations, dubbed the “major emitters,” are sending representatives to a conference beginning Monday in Washington, D.C., to see if they can work together to slow the pace of climate change. The Obama administration has moved quickly to deal with climate change in the international arena. It has joined the United Nations talks that will take place in Copenhagen later this year and are aimed at developing a climate-change treaty. It is working one-on-one with China — which recently surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest carbon emitter.

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China launches Yaogan VI

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

TAIYUAN, CHINA — China launched the sixth remote-sensing satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north Shanxi Province on 22nd of April. The satellite, ‘Yaogan VI,’ was successfully launched into the space on a Long March 2C carrier rocket at 10:55 a.m.

It will be mainly used for land resources survey, environmental surveillance and protection, urban planning, crop yield estimates, disaster prevention and reduction, and space science experiments, according to the center.

China has so far launched five remote-sensing satellites. The first Chinese remote-sensing satellite blasted off in April 2006, and four more were launched in 2007 and 2008.

With the successful launch of “Yaogan-VI” it is presumed that China has established a new real-time data transmission spy-star constellation, which consists of 3 SAR satellite (Yaogan-I Yaogan-III and Yaogan-V) and 3 imaging satellites (Yaogan-II, Yoagan-IV and Yaogan VI), replacing previous satellites.

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RazakSAT’s launch postponed

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia: The April 21 scheduled launch of RazakSAT, Malaysia’s second remote sensing satellite, has been postponed due to technical problems with the launch vehicle Falcon 1. RazakSAT was scheduled to be launched from Omelek island, part of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, at 6am Malaysian time on April 21.

However, Space Exploration Technology (Space X), the company set to launch the satellite, detected vibration at unsafe level on the launch vehicle, said Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry secretary-general Datuk Abdul Hanan Alang Endut in a statement. He said work to fix the problem would take about six weeks to be completed.

The new launch date will be announced as soon as Falcon 1 is ready for the launch.

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