1. ISRO, NCES and Andhra University to set up equipment along beaches to predict rip currents and prevent drowning at sea
Tags: place in news Science and Technology State News
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with National Centre for Earth Sciences (NCES), Thiruvananthapuram and Andhra University will jointly set up equipment to forecast rip currents at Rushikonda and RK beach of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
According to the state government over 200 people have drowned in sea at various beaches in and around Visakhapatnam during 2012 to 2022 and of these, RK beach in the city accounted for 60 percent of deaths. Majority of the death has been due to the presence of rip currents.
The equipment will be used to inform the local marine and local police to alert visitors in the coastal areas.
Rip currents are powerful, narrow channels of fast-moving water which moves from shore towards sea. The rip currents are so powerful that they pull people away from the shorelines towards sea. The majority of people who are pulled away by the rip currents die when they are unable to keep themselves afloat and swim to the shore.
Rip currents are found in almost all the beaches of the world.
2. ISRO to carry US instrument on board the forthcoming Chandrayaan 3 mission
Tags: National Science and Technology
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) forthcoming Chandrayaan 3 mission will carry scientific instruments of the United States of America. The Chandrayaan mission 2 also carried American scientific instruments .This information was given by the Union Minister of state (Independent charge )Science & Technology, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in the Rajya Sabha on 22 December 2022.
He said that India has signed 4 cooperative documents specifically to collaborate in space exploration in the last five years.
Apart from the United States of America, India has also signed an agreement with Japan to conduct a feasibility study for a joint lunar polar exploration mission, while with the United Kingdom it has an agreement for conducting a feasibility study for collaboration in future space science missions.
He said, India and Bhutan collaborated on the development of INDIA-BHUTANSAT Satellite carrying into payloads NanoMX, an optical imaging payload developed by ISRO and APRS-Digipeater. The satellite was successfully placed in orbit on 26.11.2022.
A communication satellite ‘South Asia Satellite’ was dedicated by India to South Asian Countries in 2017.
ISRO mission to Moon or Chandrayaan
ISRO launched Chandrayaan mission to study the moon. The Chandrayaan 1 mission was launched on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space center, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. It launched a Moon Impact Probe that crashed on the moon surface and discovered a small amount of water on the Moon's surface.
Chandrayaan 2 was launched on 2 July 2019.The mission aimed to land a rover on the moon's South Pole. However the lunar lander Vikram crashed on the moon surface on 7 September 2019 and prevented rover Pragyaan from successfully travelling on the surface of the moon.
Chandrayaan 3
According to the ISRO chairman S.Somanath Chandrayaan 3 is scheduled to be launched in June 2023. It will only consist of a rover and lander and will communicate with the earth via an orbiter from Chandrayaan 2.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
It was set up on 15 August 1969
It is India's national space agency.
Headquarters: Bengaluru
Chairman: S.Somanath
