Apollo 13 could have become a space tomb

We are celebrating the 40th anniversary of Apollo 13 mission . As we know that Apollo 13 was the third Apollo mission which was supposed to land on the Moon but unfortuntely a mid oxygen tank rupture caused sufficient damage to force the landing to be aborted .

According to the new study if the NASA's rescue plan had not succeeded in bringing the capsule back to Earth in 1970 then sadly Apollo 13 would have got drifted on a never- ending journey billions of miles in space as a tomb, carrying frozen bodies of the crew members.

Computer simulations by a team of software experts in Philadelphia have shown that lunar gravity would have sent the spacecraft and its astronauts to a creamation in the Earth's atmosphere after only five weeks.

Has your HiWish come true ?

Has your HiWish come true ?
Yes, the first eight pics chosen by public and imaged as a part of the HiWish project using the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), has been released . It consists of collapsing volcanoes, boulder strewn plains and dune-filled valleys on the red planet.
Only 1% of Mars has been imaged by HiRISE and there is whole planet to be discovered. Near about 1000 suggestions have been received and you can still log in and add your suggestions.

First 8 images which have been imaged are of Samara valles which extends in total over 1,000 kilometres across the southern highlands

gently sloping towards Mars’ northern lowlands in Chryse Basin , thousands of boulders lining the rim of an ancient crater in the region Utopia Planitia ,


northern lowlands and the southern highland lobate debris apron in Deuteronilus Mensae is full of pure ice ,


Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the Solar System, a seven kilometre high cliff is crumbling underneath the weight of the volcano, bumpy, eroded terrain found on the floor of Palos Crater,



weathered by water erosion from a time long ago when the a river running in the 180-kilometre long valley Tinto Vallis breached the walls of Palos Crate ,dust concealed in a hill outside a 30-kilometre wide crater in Zephyria Tholus which is a hill which has uncertain origin ,


icy layers at Mar's north pole
and region filled with plateaus and mesas called Aureum Chaos reveals volcanic and sedimentary deposits stacked up in layers along cliff faces .



Enjoy these amazing pics of Mars !

Extraterrestrial : anybody out there ?

Are we alone in the Universe ?? This question has always intrigued us and since last 50 years or so mankind is looking for scientific and search evidence for the same.

Many institutions , groups , individual amateurs all are watching Universe for evidence of extraterrestrials or UFOs through electromagnetic radiations.
There are substantial number of evidence of UFO cases which has been backed by thousands of credible witnesses.

There are many photos, videos, radar tracking, satellite sensor reports, landing traces including depressions and anomalous residual radiation, electromagnetic interference, and confirmed physiological effects and personal observation has been made both in day and night regarding these so called extraterrestrial.



I stumbled a recent case in sighting of UFO in the year 2008 and is as follows :
Dozens in Stephenville and Dublin, Texas report seeing large UFO
Date January 8, 2008 Location
Stephenville, Texas, United States

Several dozen people — including a pilot, county constable and business owners — insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it. Locals swear that it was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They also said the object's lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane. People in several towns who reported seeing it over several weeks have offered similar descriptions of the object .

It is being believed that extraterrestrial life in Universe may have effect on religious ideology so the governments always try to cover up the cases of UFO sighting. A question comes to mind that if there is a mass landing of UFO on Earth then would the priests , pastors and other religious heads would address the event to their congregation ? What will happen if we found out these extraterrestrials are more advanced technologically to us or they are atheist ?

There are many who believe that the human race has evolved from aliens and they will come back again to us and these beliefs are based on religious dogma , ancient prophecies , alien among some.

However, the extraterrestrial or UFO still remains a mystery to be unveiled !

Ancient India and Astronomy

This post is about the astronomy in ancient India. We all are aware of the fact that ancient India has contributed a lot in the field of astronomy.
The earliest references to astronomy are found in the Rig Veda (a religious text), which are dated 2000 BC. By the year 500 AD astronomy emerged as an important part of study in our ancient India. During that period astronomy was used with astrology for casting of horoscope. Astronomy also developed as an independent subject and their was some independent findings like :

1.The calculation of occurrences of eclipses
2.Determination of Earth's circumference
3.Theorizing about the theory of gravitation
4.Determining that sun was a star and determination of number of planets under our solar system .

In the year 500 AD Aryabhat one of the known historical astronomers from ancient India presented a mathematical system that took the Earth to spin on its axis and considered the motions of the planets with respect to the sun .His book, the Aryabhat, presented astronomical and mathematical theories in which the Earth was taken to be spinning on its axis and the periods of the planets were given with respect to the sun.

Jantar Mantar in Jaipur not only follows the movements of the sun and the moon to help determine auspicious dates for events, it also helps map out the position of the stars in the sky. Although no telescopic instruments were available at the time, the precise observation of the stars was greatly facilitated by observatories such as Jantar Mantar.



How can we forget that On April 19, 1975, India sent into orbit its first satellite Aryabhatta. In 1984, Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to go to outer space. Kalpana Chawla, later a US citizen, became the first woman of Indian origin to go to space.

Does Moon water comes in three flavours ?

There has been surprise discovery of water in Moon . Now the scientists are saying that the water present in Moon's surface comes in three flavours !
According to the findings of Chandrayaan -1 , NASA's Mini-SAR team has found 40 craters which has water ice which is expected to be 2 m deep. If the scientists are to be believed and the water from these craters are converted into rocket fuel , we will have enough fuel to to launch the equivalent of one space shuttle per day for more than 2000 years. Isn't it a great news ?
The three flavours of water are - Mini -SAR's thick lenses of nearly pure water ice , LCROSS's mix of ice crystal and dirt and M -cube's thin layer which is across the surface of the Moon.
It is believed that pure water has deposited on the surface of Moon most probably by the passing comets.Whereas , some have formed under the surface mixing with lunar material and the rest of water is supposed to be formed on the surface through interactions with the solar wind.
Scientists are now seriously thinking about a Lunar Hydrosphere !

Hubble Space Telescope got Red Carpet treatment

Hubble Space Telescope was orbiting Earth and it missed its new film "Hubble 3D" at the movie's world premiere at Smithsoman National Air & Space Museum , Washington on 9.3.10.
The film's co-starring astronauts walked the red carpet to see the telescopes " life story " first time.
The movie has Hollywood movie stars and it featured the NASA astronaut crew of space shuttle servicing mission who in May 2009 repaired and upgraded the telescope and also filmed their work using an IMAX 3D camera.
Altman mission commander of STS-125, space walkers John Grunsfeld and Mike Massimino , pilot Greg C. Johnson and mission specialist Megan Mc Arthur attended the premiere and they also shot the scenes inside the telescope using HD camera.
The movie changes our view of the Universe. The premiere of "Hubble 3D " was concluded with a cocktail party under a full -scale engineering model of the Hubble telescope.
"Hubble 3D" is open to public in IMAX and IMAX 3D theaters worldwide on 19th March which is narrated by Hollywood actor Leonardo Caprio.

Earth under attack from Nemesis

Scientists have claimed that an invisible star which is supposed to be 5 times the size of Jupiter is kicking some deadly comets towards Earth.

They believe that the invisible which is nicknamed as " Nemesis" or " The DeathStar" could be responsible for mass extinction on Earth which occurs every 26 million years.

The stars spins through the galaxy and its gravitational pull drags a vast sphere of rock called Oort Cloud and dust twice as far as Nemesis. They are thrown towards Earth as comets which is causing destruction .

NASA scientists believe that they will be able to find about Nemesis using a new heat-seeking telescope that began scanning the skies in January. Researchers have come to know about the existence of Nemesis from orbit of a dwarf planet called Sedna.

The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer which has found a thousand brown dwarf stars within 25 light years of the Sun has sent a photo of a comet disloged from the Oort Cloud.

Space Tourism

Insurance has been the most prominent hurdle in space tourism. A legislation has been signed into law in New Mexico that reduces the risk that space tourism operators will face crippling lawsuits brought by surviving family members of a participant injured or killed during flight which has been applauded by the President of Virgin Galactic who develops space tourism.
In this the participants will have to sign a waiver before boarding the flight to space.
The law stipulates that spaceflight operators cannot be held liable for the "death of a participant resulting from the inherent risks of space flight activities" so long as participants sign a waiver before the flight.
The waiver reads in part: "I understand and acknowledge that under New Mexico law, there is no liability for injury to or death sustained by a participant in a space flight activity provided by a space flight entity if the injury or death results from the inherent risks of the space flight activity. Injuries caused by the inherent risks of space flight activities may include, among others, death, bodily injury, emotional injury or property damage. I assume all risk of participating in this space flight activity."
It is said that near about 330 people have deposited money about $45 million to reserve flights with Virgin Galactic. People have asked to fly on the demonstration flights, displaying an appetite for risk that was not shared by the insurance underwriters, satellite builders, satellite operators and others attending the space-risk forum here. SpaceShip Two vehicle designed by Scaled Composites LLC of Mojave, Calif., is nearing completion of ground tests and it will go more tests like drop and glide tests before powered flight tests began in 2011.
There are still a lot of hicupps as participants are reluctant to sign the waiver before some successful flights were undertaken ......... we will have to wait and watch till then !

A Gorilla on Mars - Another Myth

I was surfing web when i stumbled upon this news Gorilla seen in Mars . But guys hold on........ it can't be true as there have been various rumors Face on Mars .
Gorilla on Red Planet seems just to be an optical illussion , yup it is an image taken from zoomed in image from Mars Rover.

Have a look at the pic yourself and see if it is really a GORILLA or a ROCK !

A Giant leap In Moon mission

Chandrayaan-1 has achieved a new milestone as it discovered 600 million metric tons ice on the Moon's North Pole.

The announcement was made at the 41st Lunar and Planetary Science Congress , organised by Houston- based Lunar and Planetary Institute. The discovery was made by a NASA payload on board Chandrayaan-1 called Mini - Sar a light weight intrument that weighs 10 Kg . It found more than 40 small craters with water ice , the size of craters ranging between one and nine miles in Moon.

Scientists say that the discovery of water ice in Moon is important as it can serve as as a natural resource on future missions . The ice can be melted into drinking water or separated into its component of oxygen and hydrogen to provide breathing air and and rocked fuelfor launching interplanetary missions from Moon.