GPS on Tankers to Check Water Theft

Posted on April 27, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

RAJKOT, India: Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) has decided to fit GPS on water tankers that supply drinking water to the city. This has been done to check rampant water theft. Officials of RMC said that in many areas of the city, drinking water is still provided through tankers but before the water can reach its destination, some people take it out and sell it at a premium. This has been going on for a long time. A Pune-based agency has shown its willingness to make the GPS systems at a low cost . Dinesh Brahambhatt, municipal commissioner of the city, said, “Every system costs Rs 20,000 but the Pune company will make it at Rs 6,000 for RMC. We will buy 50 such systems initially.” Once this system is fitted on a tanker, it will be possible to track the route, amount of water filled and water supplied at a particular place. If the tanker goes on an unassigned route, then it will immediately give out a signal and beep.

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Posted in GPS, water | 1 Comment

Man is Going to Sun: ESA’s Solar Orbiter

Posted on April 27, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

This is man’s innate nature to overstep his limits . This overstepping brings all the progress. We are again going to try to overstep over limits again. ESA’ Solar Orbiter will do it for us.

To perform close-up, high-resolution studies of our Sun and inner heliosphere, ESA‘s Solar Orbiter is intended to brave the fierce heat and carry its telescopes to just one-fifth of Earth’s distance from our nearest star.ESA’s Solar Orbiter mission is conceived to perform a close-up study of our Sun and inner heliosphere – the uncharted innermost regions of our Solar System- to better understand, and even predict, the unruly behaviour of the star on which our lives depend. At its closest point, the spacecraft will be closer to the Sun than any previous spacecraft, braving the fierce heat and will carry its telescopes to almost one-fifth of Earth’s distance from our nearest star. It will provide unique data and imagery of the Sun.

Solar Orbiter will be the first satellite to provide close-up views of the Sun’s polar regions, which are very difficult to see from Earth, providing images from latitudes higher than 30 degrees. It will be able to tune to the Sun’s rotation around its axis for several days, and so it will be able for the first time to see solar storms building up over an extended period from the same viewpoint. It will also deliver data of the side of the Sun not visible from Earth.

At nearly one-fifth of Earth’s distance from the Sun, Solar Orbiter will be exposed to sunlight 20 times more intense than what we feel on Earth. The spacecraft must also endure powerful bursts of atomic particles from explosions in the solar atmosphere.

To withstand the harsh environment and extreme temperatures, Solar Orbiter must be well equipped. It will exploit new technologies being developed by ESA for the mission BepiColombo to Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun. This includes high-temperature solar arrays and a high-temperature high-gain antenna.

When travelling at its fastest along its orbit around the Sun, Solar Orbiter will be able to remain positioned over approximately the same region of the solar atmosphere, as the Sun rotates on its axis. It will be the first time in the history of solar exploration that this will be achieved by a solar spacecraft. Just as geostationary weather and telecommunications satellites are stationed over particular spots above Earth’s surface, so the spacecraft will seem to ‘hover’ for a while over the Sun. Solar Orbiter will therefore be able to watch storms building up in the atmosphere over several days.
Solar Orbiter is specially designed to always point to the Sun, and so, its Sun-facing side is protected by a sunshield. The spacecraft will also be kept cool by the positioning of special radiators, which will dissipate excess heat into space. The solar arrays and the communications system are inherited from the design of ESA’s BepiColombo mission to Mercury.

Following launch, currently foreseen for 2015, Solar Orbiter will begin its journey to the Sun. This will require a cruise phase lasting approximately 3.4 years. During this time, the instruments will be commissioned, and some in-situ data will be acquired. During the cruise, Solar Orbiter will use gravity assists from Venus and the Earth. These swing-bys will put Solar Orbiter into a 150-day-long orbit around the Sun from which the spacecraft will begin its scientific mission.

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Posted in Solar System | 1 Comment

Zenith and Nadir

Posted on April 26, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

The zenith is the direction pointing directly above a particular location (perpendicular, orthogonal). Since the concept of being above is itself somewhat vague, scientists define the zenith in more rigorous terms. Specifically, in astronomy, geophysics and related sciences (e.g., meteorology), the zenith at a given point is the local vertical direction pointing away from the direction of the force of gravity at that location.Zenith is also used for the highest point reached by a celestial body during its apparent orbit around a given point of observation.  Often used in this sense about the Sun, it only corresponds to the first concept of zenith for one latitude at a time, and never at all for latitudes outside the tropics.

The nadir is the direction pointing directly below a particular location (perpendicular, orthogonal). Since the concept of being below is itself somewhat vague, scientists define the nadir in more rigorous terms. Specifically, in astronomy, geophysics and related sciences (e.g., meteorology), the nadir at a given point is the local vertical direction pointing in the direction of the force of gravity at that location. The direction opposite of the nadir is the zenith.

Nadir also refers to a downward-facing viewing angle of an orbiting satellite such as is employed during remote sensing of the atmosphere, as well as when an astronaut faces the Earth while performing an EVA.

The word is also used figuratively to mean the lowest point of a person’s spirits.

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Posted in Class Notes, Geography Practicals/Lab and Statistical Techniques, Solar System | 3 Comments

Celestial coordinate system

Posted on April 26, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

Celestial coordinate system is a coordinate system for mapping positions on the celestial sphere. There are different celestial coordinate systems each using a system of spherical coordinates projected on the celestial sphere, in analogy to the geographic coordinate system used on the surface of the Earth. The coordinate systems differ only in their choice of the fundamental plane, which divides the sky into two equal hemispheres along a great circle. For example, the fundamental plane of the geographic system is the Earth’s equator. Each coordinate system is named for its choice of fundamental plane.

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Posted in Solar System | 2 Comments