Skip to main content

India's New Satellite To Boost Armed Forces, Help Moon Mission: 10 Facts




India's very powerful, home-made communications satellite shot off into the blue sky today, leaving a smoky trail, on the back of the heavyweight GSLV rocket. The successful launch by the scientists of space agency ISRO drew praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The 2066-ton satellite, built at a cost of Rs. 270 crore, will be able to send and receive signals from hand-held devices. It is expected to be particularly useful for security forces stationed in the remotest corners of the country. The rocket also has a special feature -- a new engine, which, if successful, will be crucial for India's second Moon mission.

Here are the top 10 updates in the GSAT-6A launch:

  1. Congratulating the scientists, PM Narendra Modi tweeted, "GSAT-6A, a communication satellite, will provide new possibilities for mobile applications. Proud of @isro for taking the nation towards new heights and a brighter future".
  2. The GSAT-6A carries one of the largest antennas that has been built by ISRO, said its former chairman Kiran Kumar. The antenna, which has a diameter of 6 meters, will open up like an umbrella once the satellite is in orbit.

  4. The huge size of the antenna gives it more power, which ensures that a two-way exchange of data, voice or video, can be carried out through small hand-held devices from any corner of the country.
  5. The hand-held devices are still being fine-tuned by the defence development agency DRDO. The DRDO hopes to manufacture a number of such devices, which will be given to security personnel deployed in remote areas.

  7. Around 400 scientists and engineers were called in to help with the launch, which took place from Sriharikota's Satish Dhawan Space Center, located on the coast near Chennai.
  8. The GSLV rocket, which will carry up the communications satellite, was dubbed the "Naughty Boy" by ISRO scientists. The 416-plus ton rocket has had a patchy record, with four of its 12 flights ending in failure.
  10. The Vikas engine, for which scientists have high hopes, was named after Vikram Sarabhai, who was considered the father of India's space programme. Vikas is an acronym for Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai.

  12. For this journey, the engine, which works on liquid propellants, was used in the second stage to give the rocket a higher thrust.
  13. This was the first time all three operational rockets of ISRO were on the launch pad in a state of readiness. In the middle of April, ISRO hopes to launch a PSLV with a navigation satellite.

  15. In future, the Vikas engine may become the mainstay of Indian rockets. Depending on its performance, it could even be deployed when India hoists the Chandrayaan-2 mission.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cannot Wait for Dark Mode on WhatsApp? Here is How to Enable it on Android and iOS

What good is an app that doesn’t do a Dark Mode these days? Facebook Messenger does it, Amazon Kindle app has it and even the next iterations of the iOS and Android operating systems are focusing extensively on the darker side of things. That does make us wonder why the details about the final release of the much-awaited Dark Mode on WhatsApp for Android and iOS devices is still not confirmed. The most popular instant messaging app in the world may be rolling out a stream of updates and new features with very beta and final release over the past few month, but it could just be that it is waiting for the final release of iOS 13 and Android Q to roll out the Dark Mode goodness. However, if you really don’t want to wait, there are workarounds to get Dark Mode working on WhatsApp on your Android phone or iPhone, right away. If you are using an Android phone, you will need to be running a beta version of Android Q to enable the Dark Mode for WhatsApp. A lot of Android phones...
Post a Comment
Read more

WhatsApp Business Account Features Officially Revealed

    WhatsApp Business Account     Features Officially Revealed             New FAQ listing shows WhatsApp Business app is in development WhatsApp earlier said to extend its app for businesses The WhatsApp Business will have a redesigned app icon WhatsApp seems set to launch a standalone app for businesses, which will feature both verified and non-verified profiles. In a new FAQ published on its website, WhatsApp has detailed the Business accounts, including key features and how to distinguish between verified and non-verified profiles. In Asia, organisations have been using WhatsApp as an informal means of coordinating with their clients and customers for the past few years due to the massive popularity of the app. Earlier this year, the business-focused Verified Profiles was officially rolled out, allowing companies (with accounts featuring a tick mark as a sign of authentication) to communicate with users. The Facebook-owned com...
Post a Comment
Read more

Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S9 next month

Samsung will unveil its next flagship handset, the Galaxy S9, next month at Mobile World Congress (MWC). The company’s smartphone chief, DJ Koh, confirmed the launch to  ZDNet  at CES yesterday. Koh didn’t offer a specific date, but MWC will run from February 26th to March 1st this year, so expect the unveiling to fall somewhere in that time frame. The S9 (and, presumably, an S9 Plus) will be the successors to the S8 and S8 Plus, which launched at a Samsung event in New York last March before going on sale in April. The S8 and its bigger brother were a hit with critics, who praised the phones’ gorgeous design and brilliant cameras. The phones were even good enough to make consumers forget about the disaster of the Galaxy Note 7 and its exploding batteries. Not much is known about the Galaxy S9 at this point, though we’re not expecting any radical departures from the S8. A handful of leaked renders suggest it will look near-identical to its predecessor, with a sl...
Post a Comment
Read more