ISRO’S RECORD 104 STEALS A MARCH IN SPACE
SPACE// Indian space agency, ISRO made history last month by blasting 100+ satellites into space, all aboard one of its rockets. On February 15, ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C37, carried into space a weather satellite for India (Cartosat-2 Series satellite) as well as 103 nano satellites, including 96 from the US. The PSLV rocket lifted off from ISRO’s launch centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. This is three times the previous record of 37 satellite launches in a single day (held by Russia)
It was a high risk launch for ISRO as numerous satellites had to be released by the PSLV rocket in rapid-fire fashion within seconds of each other. One mistake would have sent satellites dashing into each other. But it was all done in 11 minutes, with each satellite placed into its precise orbit. It was a flawless performance from ISRO, which has been much praised all over the world.
The successful launch of so many satellites gives ISRO a stellar ranking among the space agencies of the world. Plus, the fact that ISRO’s satellite launches are much cheaper than those done by European agencies has given the Indian space agency a real edge. Bengaluru-based ISRO is now regarded as one of the best space research agencies in the world. Later this year, ISRO will launch the GSLV Mark III, its biggest ever launch vehicle that can carry extremely heavy satellites into space.
IPL: BIG STOKES FOR ENGLISH BLOKES
CRICKET// The recently held Indian Premier League auction witnessed several record buys, some strange omissions and some surprises. Over 350 players went under the hammer as teams tried to sort out their composition. A total pool of 358 players, out of which 66 was the total number of players that were bought by the franchises during the IPL auction. The teams did not pursue an aggressive buying strategy as they had retained most of the players. were considered for the auction. Regardless of the fact that the English team lost badly to India in the three series’ played recently, English players were snapped up by Indian Premier League teams at the player auction held on Monday. During the auction, IPL teams bid for players and the team willing to pay the highest for a player gets him. For in-form players, severe competition can drive prices very high indeed. At this auction, the English players got such high bids. Meanwhile old timers such as pace bowler Ishant Sharma remained unsold
Much of the action centered around bowlers who attracted the highest bids. For the first time, players from Afghanistan also participated in the auction and were selected by teams. Relatively less known players from India, some of whom have never played for major Indian teams, also made it big in the auction, including T Natarajan from Tamil Nadu. The pace bowler, who belongs to a poor family but came up due to talent for the game, was snapped up by Kings XI Punjab
EPS WINS TAMIL NADU DANGAL WITH OPS
APPOINTMENT// Amidst much chaos, Tamil Nadu got a new Chief Minister in the form of Edappadi K Palaniswami. Palaniswami is the candidate put forth by Sasikala Natarajan, the close friend of former CM J Jayalalithaa who died recently. Sasikala was hoping to become the CM herself, however her conviction in a corruption case meant she could hold office. The Supreme Court sent her to jail for wrong-doing. In a vote that was held at the Tamil Nadu assembly, Palaniswami managed to show that he had the support of the majority of the MLAs. However other political parties such as the DMK said that the vote was not valid as many MLAs had probably been forced by Sasikala to vote for her group. In the fight that followed between the DMK and AIADMK, papers were torn up and thrown around, chairs toppled and microphones uprooted!
BUDGET FOR THE COMMON MAN
BUDGET// On February 1, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rose to present the budget in Parliament. The early presentation of the budget was a change in tradition but there no surprises in the budget speech itself. The budget made no massive changes but instead tried to help middle class people such as office-goers, farmers and factory workers. Income tax is a percentage of income that we give the government. The government uses it to pay salaries of government workers, and build facilities like roads and hospitals. Those who earn between Rs.2.5 lakh and Rs. 5 lakh a year will now have to share just 5% of their income as tax with the government. This was earlier 10%.
The government wants us to use cash as little as possible. That’s because cash transfers between people can’t be tracked and people may be using money on which they haven’t paid income tax. As a result, there is now a new rule in India under which you can’t pay more than Rs.3 lakh in cash for anything. The government already runs a programme under which people in rural areas get jobs for a certain number of days in a year. This year the government will spend a lot of money on that programme to ensure that more Indians have a steady job for at least some part of the year. It also expects to spend more on infrastructure-that means on roads, bridges, railway tracks, power stations and other facilities during the 12 months between April 2017 and march 2018. These two months mark the budgetary year in India
THE GLITTER OF OLD
TENNIS// At the Australian Open 2017, it was all about the stars of old. Roger Federer and Serena Williams, both of who have been around for many years, were the winners of the men’s and women’s trophies respectively. The men’s singles final turned out to be a classic match with Federer going up against old rival Rafael Nadal. It was the first time since 2011 that the old rivals were meeting at a Grand Slam final. Interestingly Federer had mnever beaten Nadal in a Grand Slam final before. The match stretched to five sets before Federer managed to win the final set. This was Federer’s 18th Grand Slam trophy. He has become the first player to win three of the Grand Slams five times. Although Nadal lost, there was much for him to celebrate. Nadalm, has been struggling to make a comeback after an injury so winning the runner-up trophy was special for him.
The women’s singles final was also a historic match, for Serena Williams was playing against her own sister Venus Williams. The Williams sisters have been among the game’s top players for more than 10 years but it was the first time since 2009 that they were meeting in a Grand Slam final. Serena eventually won in two sets. It was her 23rd Grand Slam title, making her the most successful tennis player in the open era of tennis. The Open era began in 1968 when professional tennis players, who earn prize money at events, were allowed to compete. She has crossed Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam wins with the victory in the Australian Open and is just one win short of Margaret Court’s all time record (includes wins before the open era) of 25 Grand Slam victories.
SASI: WITH POWER COMES JAIL
VERDICT// The Supreme Court of Indiahanded down a four-year prison sentence to the incoming chief minister of Tamil Nadu for corruption in a ruling that prevents her from taking up the post of Chief Minister. VK Sasikala was found guilty of possessing “disproportionate assets” in a long-running case that also involved her mentor Jayalalithaa Jayaram, the state’s former chief minister who died in December last year. Sasikala was not present at the hearing in New Delhi but the court ordered that she immediately surrender to police to begin serving her sentence. The panel also sentenced her nephew and niece to four years in prison after a lower court had earlier acquitted them of any wrongdoing.The verdict means the 59-year-old Sasikala is barred from running for any public office for a decade. The corruption case dates back to the late-1990s when Jayalalithaa and Sasikala were accused of profiting from the chief minister's office and amassing wealth beyond their income
LIFE BEYOND STARS: NASA FINDS EARTH-LIKE PLANETS
DISCOVERY// NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed the first known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single star. Three of these planets are firmly located in the habitable zone, the area around the parent star where a rocky planet is most likely to have liquid water.
The discovery sets a new record for greatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system. All of these seven planets could have liquid water – key to life as we know it – under the right atmospheric conditions, but the chances are highest with the three in the habitable zone.
This discovery could be a significant piece in the puzzle of finding habitable environments, places that are conducive to life,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “Answering the question ‘are we alone’ is a top science priority and finding so many planets like these for the first time in the habitable zone is a remarkable step forward toward that goal.”
At about 40 light-years (235 trillion miles) from Earth, the system of planets is relatively close to us, in the constellation Aquarius. Because they are located outside of our solar system, these planets are scientifically known as exoplanets.
This exoplanet system is called TRAPPIST-1, named for The Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) in Chile. In May 2016, researchers using TRAPPIST announced they had discovered three planets in the system. Assisted by several ground-based telescopes, including the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, Spitzer confirmed the existence of two of these planets and discovered five additional ones, increasing the number of known planets in the system to seven. The new results were published last month in the journal Nature, and announced at a news briefing at NASA Headquarters in Washington.