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Indian Space Centres and Units

By
Syskool
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isro space centers

Research and development activities under the space program are carried out in various centres/units of ISRO/DOS. The major projects of ISRO are executed by identified lead centres depending upon the technology base established in them.

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre

The VSSCC is located at Thumba in Thiruvananthapuram. It has establishments at Valiamala for major facilities of PSLV project and Vottiyookavu for development of composites. And Ammonium perchlorate experiment plant is located at Alwaye. VSSC is the largest ISRO Centre. It provides the technology base for the country’s indigenous satellite launch vehicle development efforts. The centre is also responsible for the development of several spacecraft subsystems. Supporting these products are specialised R&D groups in avionics and mission dynamics, solid propulsion, propellants and chemicals, materials and mechanical systems, etc. VSSC also supports Rohini Sounding Rocket (RSR) Program. The Space Physics Laboratory (SPL) is also located in VSSC.

ISRO satellite Centre

The ISAC at Bangalore is the lead Centre for satellite project of ISRO. The Centre is responsible for design, fabrication, testing, and management of satellite systems for scientific, technological and application missions. Aryabhata, Bhaskara, Apple and IRS-1A satellite with built here. At present IRS and INSAT series of satellites are being built in this centre.

SHAR Centre

The center is located in Sriharikota island on the east coast of Andhra Pradesh. It is the main launch base of satellite launch vehicle and sounding Rockets full stop the launch center was named as Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in 2002 in memory of Professor Dhawan, who was chairman of ISRO from 1972 to 1984. The country’s largest, Solid Propellants Space Booster Plant (SPROB) is located here. The center also has Static Test and Evaluation Complex (STEX) and computerized data processing facility to support indigenous launch vehicle missions.  The main facility in the centre include those of production of solid propellant rocket boosters, ground and environmental qualification of rocket motors and their subsystems, integration check out and launch of satellite launch vehicles, liquid propellants, and cryogenic propellants storage and servicing facilities, tracking and telecommand stations, real time data processing, and range and flight safety. Liquid propulsion systems Centre

Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre

The LPSC has facilities for development of spacecraft propulsion system at Bengaluru and for the launch vehicle liquid propulsion system at Valiamala near Thiruvananthapuram. The major test facilities are located at Mahendragiri Tamil Nadu. The Centre also manufactures Precision transducers at Bengaluru.

Space Applications Centre

Space Applications Centre at Ahmedabad is involved in research and development in space applications. It has the primary responsibility to conceptualize, plan and execute projects and research program leading to practical use of space technology. The activities include satellite-based telecommunications and television, and Remote Sensing for natural resources survey and management, environmental monitoring, Meteorological, and geodesy. The center is organized functionally into satellite communications, remote sensing and microwave remote sensing.  Support services provided by Technical Services Group consisting of environmental test facilities, electronics and mechanical fabrication facilities and reliability and quality assurance group. SAC also operates Delhi East Station (DES) for satellite communication.

Development and Educational Communication Unit

That DECU at Ahmedabad is involved in various areas of software research such as television program production, policy studies and research in society-technology interaction. The major activities being carried out at DECU is at present include Training and Development Communication Channels (TDCC), GRAMSAT Program including pilot projects for the states, telemedicine, EDUSAT pilot projects and new satellite communication applications.

ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network

ISTRAC, with its headquarter at Bengaluru, operates a network of ground stations at Bengaluru, Lucknow, Sriharikota, Port Blair and Thiruvananthapuram in India as well as some outside stations; to provide tracking, telemetry and Command (TTC) support for the launch vehicle and satellite missions of ISRO. Development of software packages and operation of network stations at present and future missions are the responsibilities of ISTRAC. It has a multi mission spacecraft control center at Bengaluru. The unit has established S-band receiver only station in Mauritius to support the IRS mission. The ISTRAC also operate the satellite tracking and ranging station STARS at Kavalur in Tamil Nadu and the Local User Terminal (LUT)/Mission Control Centre(MCC) under the international program for satellite aided search and rescue.

ISRO Inertial System Unit

The IISU, which is located at Thiruvananthapuram is responsible for design and development of inertial systems both for satellite and launch vehicle such as Momentum/reaction wheels, solar array drives, rate gyro packages, etc.

National Remote Sensing Agency

The NRSA at Hyderabad is an autonomous institution supported by the DOS. The agency has facilities of surveying, identifying, classify and monitoring earth resources using aerial and satellite data. The analysis, computation, and interpretation facilities are located in Hyderabad, and satellite reception station is located in Shadnagar, near Hyderabad. The earth station has facilities to receive data from Remote Sensing Satellite such as LANDSAT and NOAA USA, SPOT of France, the European Union’s ERS. NRSA also operates the Indian Institute of Remote sensing (IIRS) at Dehradun.

Physical Research Laboratory

The PRL at Ahmedabad is the premier National Centre for Research in space and allied Sciences. It is an autonomous institution supported mainly by the DOS. The PRL is also entrusted with the management of the Udaipur Solar Observatory. Its main research programs are thus in the Solar planetary physics, infrared astronomy, geo-cosmo physics, theoretical physical including climatology, plasma physics and laboratory astrophysics, archaeology and hydrology. Its 1.2 meters reflecting IR telescope is installed at Gurushikhar near Mount Abu in the largest of it’s all kind in the country.

Master Control Facility

The MCF is located in Hassan in Karnataka and is responsible for initial orbit raising, payload testing and in-orbit operations of all geostationary satellite.

The MCF has integrated facilities comprising satellite control Earth stations with associated electronics. The Satellite Control Center (SCC) is the nerve center of satellite control operations. A backup of MCF (MCF-B) with an essential facility to manage the satellite operations is being established in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

National Mesosphere-stratosphere-troposphere Radar Facility

The NMRF is a national facility set up at Gadanki near Tirupati, in Andhra Pradesh. It is an autonomous society supported largely by the DOS.  the facility is available for National and international scientists to conduct atmospheric research. In addition to MST radar, facilities such as Rayleigh/Mie Lidar, lower atmospheric wind profiler, disdrometer, optical rain gauge and automatic weather station have also been set up.

North Eastern Space Application Centre

The NE-SAC, located at Shillong, was set up as an autonomous society in December 200  jointly with North Eastern Council to promote a space technology and to ensure its benefit to the population in the North Eastern region. NE-SAC addresses areas in natural resource management and developmental communications, besides encouraging Space Science research in the reason.

The Antrix Corporation Limited

The Antrix Corporation Limited, Bengaluru, is the apex marketing agency under the DOS with access to the resource of DOS as well as Indian Space Industries. Antrix markets of systems and components for satellites, undertakes contracts for satellites to user specification, provides launch services and tracking facilities and organizes training of Manpower and software development.

Topper’s Story – Vandana IAS – Ranked 8th with Hindi Medium

By
Syskool
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63
vandana

Vandana has proved that where there is a will there is a way at the age of 24. She secured 8th rank in UPSC Civil Services Examination 2012 and not only earned a place among the top 10 in the merit list but also ranked top  among the students of Hindi medium. Vandana amazed everyone by her exceptional performance at the Civil Services Examination 2012. It is heartening to find a Hindi medium candidate with single-digit rank.

Marks Obtained by Vandana

 Total Marks  Marks Obtained
Total (Written)  2000 960
 Interview 300  144
 Total  2300  1104 (48.00%)

Family Background

Vandana was born in a very traditional family, a resident of Nasrullagarh, Saharanpur in Haryana that does not have a history of getting their girls educated. But Vandana made an exception, she often coaxed her father to allow her pursue education outside her village.

Vandana’s father Mahipal Singh Chauhan said school in the village was not good, so he sent his elder son out for higher studies. Simply repeating the same since that day was the hymn. However, Vandana defied all odds and proved all her opponents wrong when she secured the coveted seat in Indian Administrative Services (IAS) examination.

Must Read: Inspirational Story of Sandeep Kaur IAS – Retired Peon’s Daughter

Educational Background

Vandana’s early studies was done in a government school in the village itself. She found a mentor in her father who not only encouraged her but also showed the guts to send her to Kanya Gurukul, Chotipur (near Muradabad) for schooling. She has done graduation in Sanskrit (Honours) from Kanya Gurukul and LL.B. from BR Ambedkar University, Agra. Vandana cherished the dream of becoming an IAS officer from a very early age. She had fixed her goal very early in her life when she was in 10th standard.

After studying in Gurukul XII Vandana studied law at home. She had never been to college. Vandana’s father used to take her with him to give test or exams. In Gurukul, Vandana utilised her time judicially. She devoted hours to study, followed a strict disciplined scheduled, washed her own clothes and focused her entire attention on studies.

Most of the decisions she took, she kept in her mind. In fact, LL.B. was a part of her preparation­ strategy for Civil Services Examination

Optional Paper

Vandana opted for Law and  Literature of Sanskrit Language as her optional subject. Both the optional subjects were her own subjects as she have done graduation in both the subjects, so she was comfortable in managing these two.

Vandana just relied on her books that she read earlier. For her, it was sort of revision. For optional subject Law, she got immense help from her elder brother who is a lawyer. Hindi medium draw attention again with success of her (AIR 8, CSE 2012).

Attempts

Vandana gave this outstanding result in Hindi medium and also in her first attempt that also did her all her studies without any coaching.

Read Also: Topper’s Story of IAS Sanskriti Jain

Preparation Strategy

Preparation for Civil Services Examination was like worship for Vandana. When she started serious preparation after completing her LL.B., she looked at the syllabus and just believed in what UPSC has mentioned in that. She had no one in her surroundings who could guide her or tell her how to plan for UPSC Exam. She didn’t have any role model.

Vandana took the safest route by covering all topics covered in the syllabus and relied on most of the books and study­ material that she had used in her graduation and LL.B. Be it Preliminary or Mains Examination, she faced all with full confidence and after her Mains Examination, for the first time, she realized that she had performed well and the final result should be good. She did a lot of answer writing practice just keeping in mind the importance of time­ management for the examination.

Vandana had done her schooling from UP Board and had not read NCERT Books. So she needed to lay a solid foundation with basics and that really helped her a lot.

Vandana used to shut herself in her room  and used to study 20 hours in a day. She shunned all luxuries, even air cooler, as she feared that comfort of the cooler may prove to be a distraction for her.

Secret of success

There is nothing hidden – only hard work, support from her family and self ­belief. The mantra that worked for her success was dedication and focus.

Advice for Young Aspirants

  • One should care for negative marking and the Preliminary Examination should be attempted with
    alertness and care.
  • Do not follow herd­ mentality; have faith on your capabilities. There is no substitute to hard work.
  • Positive Attitude is important while preparing for Civil Services Exam.

Don’t Miss: UPSC Board Interview of IAS Topper Chanchal Rana, Rank 7

Astronomy Terms

By
Syskool
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3
Astronomy Terms

Astronomy Terms

Asteroid – An asteroid is a celestial body made of rock and metal that orbits the Sun. Asteroids can vary in size from a few feet across to hundreds of miles.

Asteroid belt – An area between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter where a million asteroids orbit the Sun.

Astronaut – A person who is specially trained to travel into outer space.

Astronomical Unit (AU) – A measure of distance used for outer space. One AU is equal to 149.6 million kilometres which is the mean distance from the centre of the Sun to the centre of the Earth.

Astronomy – The branch of science that studies outer space, celestial bodies, and the universe.

Atmosphere – An envelope of gases that surround a planet.

Black hole – An area in space with gravity so intense even light cannot escape its pull. Black holes are formed when massive stars collapse.

Celestial body – A natural object that exists outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Examples include stars, planets, asteroids, comets, and meteoroids.

Constellation – A grouping of stars that form a pattern in the sky when viewed from Earth.

Coma – The area of gases and dust that form around a comet as it passes by the Sun.

Comet – A celestial body made of ice and rock that orbits the Sun. When a comet nears the Sun a coma and tail of gases and dust can be seen.

Cosmology – The branch of science that studies the origin and nature of the universe.

Dwarf planet – A celestial body that is large enough to become rounded from its own gravity, but has not cleared its orbital region of other objects.

Eclipse – When one celestial body blocks the light of the Sun from another. In a solar eclipse, the Moon blocks the light of the Sun from the Earth. In a lunar eclipse, the Earth blocks the light of the Sun from the Moon.

Galaxy – A system consisting of a large number of stars bound together by gravity.

Gas giant – A large planet that is not composed mostly of rock, but primarily of gas. There are four gas giants in the Solar System including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Kuiper belt – A large ring of millions of icy objects that exists outside the orbit of Neptune.

Light year – A measure of length that equals the distance light travels one year in a vacuum. It is about 5.8 trillion miles.

Meteor – A meteoroid that has entered the Earth’s atmosphere is called a meteor.

Meteorite – A meteor becomes a meteorite when it reaches the ground.

Meteoroid – A small rocky object that orbits the Sun that has broken off from a comet or asteroid.

Milky Way – The galaxy that contains the Solar System.

Nebula – A large cloud of dust in space. The dust in nebulae often forms stars and planets.

Nuclear fusion – The process by which two or more atoms are joined together to form a larger atom. This process occurs inside stars and produces huge amounts of energy.

Oort cloud – A band of billions of icy objects that exists at the edge of the Solar System.

Orbit – The path a celestial object takes around a star or planet.

Planet – A large celestial object that has become rounded due to its gravity and has cleared is a nearby region of other smaller objects. Planets in the solar system include Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Satellite – A natural or artificial object that is in orbit around a planet.

Solar System – The Solar System consists of the Sun and all the objects that orbit around it including the planets, asteroids, comets, and other objects.

Solar Wind – A stream of charged particles that is constantly flowing from the Sun.

Star – A giant ball of hot gas and plasma that generates huge amounts of energy through nuclear fusion.

Sunspot – A dark area on the Sun caused by cooling from electromagnetic activity within the Sun.

Supernova – A huge explosion caused when a star collapses on itself.

Telescope – An instrument used to view objects in outer space.

Universe – The universe is everything that exists including the stars, planets, matter, energy and time.

Must Read:

Facts about Constellations

General Geography Compendium – Earth for Competitive Exams

General Knowledge Facts File – Important

 

Concepts To Learn in Life

By
Syskool
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0
Concepts To Learn in Life

Being a likable person will help you out in this globalizing world – help you find your ideal job, start your own business, find yourself a good relationship, and help you out in life. All of the concepts are simple, yet many of us lose sight of the simple things – things that not only make us human but can actually help us be more successful. Everyone can achieve greatness, but it takes strength and endurance to do it.

Listening

Listening is the foundation of any good relationship. Great leaders and outstanding businessmen listen to what their customers and prospects say and need and listen to the challenges their customers face. It’s ultimately the customer’s needs that need to be met. If a leader cannot understand or is not willing to listen, he will not succeed in his endeavors.

Read Also: Important Life Lessons You Learn in the First Year of Employment.

Storytelling

After listening, it is important for leaders to tell or retell great stories in order for them to sell their products, but more important, in order to market across their ideas. Storytelling is what captivates people and drives them to act. Whether you’re telling a story to one prospect over lunch, a boardroom full of people, or hundreds of people in a conference room – storytelling wins over your followers and customers.

Authenticity

Great leaders are who they say they are, and they have integrity beyond compare. Vulnerability and humility are hallmarks of the authentic leader and create a positive, attractive energy. Customers, employees, and media all want to help an authentic person to succeed. Tomorrow’s leaders are transparent about who they are online, merging their personal and professional lives together.

Empowerment

The project leaders should think of the strategies as a learning process; with an understanding of what they can do best.  It is as important to invite others into the strategy process too. To empower people, the leader has to touch the positive side of people’s emotional energy. He/she should be clear about his/her goals but will also be willing to allow the development of other people around him.

Team Work

No matter how small your business is, you interact with others every day. Letting others shine, encouraging others to bring in innovative ideas, practicing humility, and following other rules for working in teams will help you become a better and more likable leader – charisma all the way.

Don’t Miss: Life Lessons from Steve Jobs

Honesty

When you are responsible for a team of people, it’s imperative that you raise the bar even higher. Your business and its employees are a reflection of you and your role model skills, and if you make an honest and ethical behavior a key value, your team will honorably follow suit.

Adaptability

There has never been a faster-changing market place than the one we live in today. Leaders must be flexible in managing changing opportunities and challenges and nimble enough to pivot at the right moment. Stubbornness is no longer desirable to most organizations. Instead, humility and the willingness to adapt mark a great leader.

Confidence:

There may be days where your brand is worrisome and things are not exactly going as planned. This is true with any business, large or small, and the most important thing is not to panic. Part of your job as a leader is to put out fires and attain and maintain the team morale. Keep up your confidence level, and assure everyone that setbacks are a natural part of life and the important thing is to focus on the larger goal: success. As the leader, by staying calm and confident, you will help keep the team feeling the same.

Charisma

You have some influence on your employees. In other words, you have to find an indeterminacy between Donald Trump and Steve Jobs. You need to be blunt, at times, like Trump, but you need to be at the same time likable as Steve Jobs was. It’s hard, but it can be easily done.

Ignite Passion

Passionate leaders spread passion to others through their love of life, doing new things, taking risks, being motivated, having a sense of urgency, and reinventing self. Passionate people are optimistic, have a great story to tell and involve others in their decision making, and have a simple, recharge strategy that anyone can follow.

Also, Read:

Most Interesting facts about Life

Life Changing Lessons to Learn

Water Pollution

By
Syskool
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1
Water Pollution

Water, the basic necessity of life, has its use in agriculture, household and industry; however due to disposal of domestic wastes and industrial effluents  and use of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture the problem of water pollution is now getting the much needed attention from the governments across the world.

The most common purposes of using water are for drinking, washing, cooking etc, for which pure and clean water is required. But the natural water we got through rain, snow, hail, etc gets polluted by natural processes like washing away of the decomposed vegetable and animal of water gas in the main stream of water and as well as by human activity.

Also Read: Startling Facts about Pollution

Types of Water Pollution

Polluted water contain various signs like it may have a bad taste or offensive smell, may have oil or grease floating on the surface or has an unpleasant colour that depends on the place of storage of storages, water pollution can be divided into five different types:

(i)                Ground Water Pollution

Major percentage of water, that is (> 90 %), is available in the form of ground water, means below the surface of the earth. The remaining is available in lakes, streams, rivers, ponds, etc. Only 2 % water is available as soil moisture that is essential for the plants to grow. The pores of the earthy materials acts as a filter for the water which collects on the surface and make it pure ground water. For this, well water is used for various domestic purposes in rural households.

This ground water is polluted due to the disposal of domestic and also the use of fertilizers and pesticides in farming techniques. Various harmful substances dissolve in rain water and pass through soil to enter the ground water and contaminate it.

(ii)             Surface Water Pollution

Any form of water present on the surface of earth is called the surface water. The surface water is in direct contact with the gases found in atmosphere of earth like CO2, CO, SO2, NOx, H2S etc. which acts like pollutant and pollutes surface water by dissolving in it. The surface water also gets polluted by industrial, municipal, agricultural and household wastes including decomposed plants and animal matter and radioactive materials.

(iii)           Lake Water Pollution

Lakes contain a large part of the water area on earth that can get contaminated in a number of ways. Organic wastes from hills and toxic effluents from urban areas flow into the lakes. Industries throw their wastes into the lakes nearby which polluted the lake water. Sewerage treatments plants discharge toxic organic matter into the lake. Also, dumping of huge amount of sediments and inorganic agricultural nutrients also pollutes the lake water.

(iv)            River Water Pollution

River water is polluted with industrial discharges such as that of paper, textile, rayon, fertilizers, pesticides, detergents, drug industries and refineries. People also through domestic sewages in the river that contaminates the river water. Polluted water-borne diseases such as dysentery, cholera, typhoid, jaundice, etc.

(v)              Sea Water Pollution

Sea Water is polluted through the discharge of urban sewage, split, plastics, flow of pesticides and toxic chemicals, radioactive wastes, sanitary and kitchen waste etc. Apart from these, the main cause of  the sea water pollution has been the spreading of oil which is called oil spill or oil slick. This happens when oil tankers open accidently in the sea, oil leakages from pipelines, or by discharge of oily wastes from tank washings.

In India, oil spill, means spreading of oil into sea, occurred in Bombay on 17th May, 1992 due to rupture of pipeline which damaged the marine life and ecosystem that surrounded it. It damaged fishery by making the fishes unable to respire by clogging their grill slits.

Must Read: Pollution- Definition, Aspects and Solution

Sources of Water Pollution

  1. Sewage and domestic wastes – These are human excreta, sewage slued, soaps and detergents, untreated municipal sewages, etc.
  2. Industrial effluents – They contain toxic and hazardous chemicals such as aldehydes, phenols, oils, greases, dyes, kerosene, acids, toxic metals such as Cd, Pb, Hg, etc. Chemicals like cadmium and mercury damages the kidneys and lead damages liver, kidneys, brains and nervous system. The polluted water with a PH level lower than 3 in dangerous for the aquatic life.
  3. Agricultural discharges – They include fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides etc.
  4. Siltation – The process of mixing soil or rock particles into water is called the siltation. The soil particles produce turbidity in water by mixing with it and hinders the free movement of growth and productivity. This problem is very common in hilly areas.
  5. Thermal pollutants – The thermal pollutants are sources that results in the increase of temperature of the flowing water and then adversely affects the aquatic life. The thermal power plants, nuclear plants and industries having cooling requirements contains the thermal pollutants. Municipal sewage also contain thermal units causing water pollution.
  6. Radioactive discharge – They include nuclear reactor wastages which enter into water through different sources like nuclear power plants, nuclear tests, nuclear wastes etc which emits the radiation that cause various water hazards.
  7. Polychlorinated biphenyis (PCBs) – these compounds are used as fluids in transformers and capacitors which cause skin diseases when come into the contact of atmosphere as they are resistant to oxidation. They have been recently added into the list of water pollutants.

Don’t Miss: Types of Pollution

Classification of Water Pollutants

Synthetic detergents: The are used in almost every household and form a major source of water pollution. Synthethic detergents that are used as cleaning agent consist of a surface active agent, technically called surfactant, that is usually sodium phosphate (polyphosphate) that is added to remove hardness.

Water polluted with surfactants create a number of problems; some important ones as follows:

  • They stabilize the colloidal impurities that do not heap to settle down.
  • They do not undergo biodegradation.
  • They prevent oxidation of organic compounds like phenol because they create an envelope around them, therefore, they create obstacles in treatment of waste water.
  • They generate stable foams in rivers.

Must Read: Solid Waste Management (SWM) : Growing for Solutions

Pesticides

These organic compounds are used, as generally understood, to protect plants from pests. These organic compounds, Pesticides, flow into lakes and rivers along with the rain water and create serious problems to aquatic as well as human life.

It is important to know that apart from being used in saving plants from pests, pesticides are also used to prevent the growth of weeds – Unwanted plants which grow along with the main plant.

Pesticides, in fact, are mild poisons. They are better called herbicides because weeds are a kind of plants and not pests and these chemicals are used to remove pests. Biocide is the general term used for pesticides and herbicides. Therefore, pesticides include herbicides (to kill weeds), insecticides (to kill insects), rodenticides (to kill rats), fungicides (for fungi or mould), etc.

Infectious agents/Disease Causing agents

The municipals waste water and the municipal sewage contain bacteria (pathogenic microbes) of micro- organisms that cause diseases. These bacteria contaminate the potable water and cause diseases in human and animals.

The sources of the municipal sewage and the municipal waste water are: hotels, restaurants, residential areas, slums and continuing faeces and urine of infected patients.

Don’t Miss: Iron Deficiency Diseases

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