SHEMBLOG

Indian’s maiden unmanned spacecraft — Chandrayaan-1 is expected to touch upon the Moon’s surface anytime on Friday, 14^th November, 2008. The mission is bound to make a detailed study about the minerals present in the Moon’s crust. The Moon Impact Probe — MIP is supposed to land on the Moon anytime on Friday, 14^th November 2008. It is equipped with a lander and rover, making it easier to collect samples to be sent back.

All the top officials of the Indian Space Research Organisation — ISRO are keeping their fingers crossed as everyone wants the Chandrayaan-1 to complete its mission and bring glory to the nation. Even as the nation awaits the reports forwarded by the nation’s most progressive lunar expedition spacecraft, already there are reports of Chandrayaan-2 being launched in 2012.

The Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, sent a message from Tokyo and Indians around the world felt proud when the nation’s maiden mission to moon, the launch of Chandrayan I was accomplished. This is considered as India’s first foray into a mission solely centred around the Moon. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C11 helped to successfully launch the Chandrayan 1 satellite. India can now boast of technology good enough to enter the sphere of outer space exploration and the people working at ISRO should feel proud of their efforts.

It is believed that the launch of Chandrayan 1 would lay the foundation for better cooperation between USA and India. America too has contributed to this successful launch as the Raytheon Technology being used in Chandrayan 1 is being supported by NASA.

The Indian Institute of Science, IISc, Bangalore is planning to set-up a new centre which will be called the Tata Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, TCIR. The Institute plans to set-up the new centre within the existing IISc campus by 2009. The cost of this new R&D centre has been approximated at Rs.2000 crores.

The proposal would most probably receive nearly Rs.400 to 500 crores from Sir Ratan Tata Trust. The new centre would be spread on nearly 300,000 square feet. The emphasis would lie in creating services for emergency diagnosis including services for the elderly and the disabled and research on bio-molecular engineering.