NEW HORIZONS

Key words: New Horizons, Alan Stern

The NASA page of New Horizons says.... 10-Years..,5- Billion kms; truly the human aspirations are racing towards the edge of solar system with an astounding speeds of 80,000 km/hour. To be able to reach Pluto, the New Horizons space craft has to take a slingshot from the giant planet Jupiter. The scientists are going to peek into the new frozen world of Pluto on 14th July 2015 at a distance of just around 12,500 kms having to view football size images with 48-meter resolution. Where as, after its discovery in 1930, Pluto has just been a dot to the best possible astronomical observations from earth, except for few (10-12) pixel across image appearing in the Hubble Space Telescope in 90s. Why are the scientists so excited???  they say.... they have no idea.. may be it is the thickest atmosphere or gaseous jets streaming out.... anything.... so little is known.

New Horizons, Credit : NASA, 

New Horizons (NH).. an unique attempt?
Voyager-1 (Sept-1977) which has crossed the solar system now, had opted for Titan (Saturn's moon) as a compromise to bypass Pluto's flyby. Voyager-2 (Aug-1977) never had a trajectory to flyby Pluto. Then comes... New Horizons (2006)... fully geared to explore this dark world at its gory details. NH got the best opportunity to catch up with the celestial windows to be able to sling shot towards Pluto before the planet drifts further away and the atmosphere it holds getting frozen. As per the inspirational posts from Alan Stern, PI, that every care has been taken to avoid any collision the space craft may suffer due to the un known world around Pluto. "It was a relentless effort of around 2,500 NASA employees's effort that is going take us into these unknown worlds" says Alan Stern.

The Space craft:

To quote NASA, the piano sized space craft weighs 478 kilograms, with the lead role taken by the Southwest Research Institute, APL-JHU and contributions coming from (GSFC, JPL, KSFC, UC, Stanford...) many other institutions, to say a typical American heritage. Its a technological marvel running on a single radio-isotope thermoelectric generator of 200W capacity provided by a 11-kg Plutonium dioxide. Most of the instruments working at an average power of 5W (~ night lamp) and with the data being transmitted via 2.1-m antenna, a must for an object 5-billion kms away and the communication taking almost 9+ hours both ways. 

Instruments, Credit: NASA

Instruments:
The 7-instruments are like gems, hand picked with 10s of deliberations carried to get the maximum from the un-known worlds. In my priority list:
1. LORRI, the telescope/camera comes first. Dubbed as the hawk eyes of New Horizons, it is basically a black and white digital camera with a 20-cm telescope, but built to work in a hostile cold environment. On 14th July, LORRI will be beaming football size images with an unprecedented 50-meter resolution, a life time opportunity for all the planetary scientists. 
2. RALPH, though called as the "main eye", but a complex mixture of instruments comprising of three panchromatic imagers, four color imagers and a spectrograph. It will offer an abundance information on surface geology, morphology and thermal features.
3. ALICE is an imaging UV spectrometer to study the composition of Pluto's atmosphere. A smart baby with a built-in telescope and a huge spectral coverage to study ionic to neutral species.
4. REX, a smart idea of employing occultation technique (looking down to earth's DSN signals via the target atmospheres) to measure pressure, temperature of atmospheres of Pluot and Charon.
5. SWAP, to measure solar wind around Pluto, 6. PEPSSI to look for energetic particles, last but not the least 7. SDC a student dust counter, developed by the students to measure microscopic dust grains produced by the collision among asteroids, comets and KBOs.

Pluto Picture of the Day..... (updated daily...)

Mountain range discovered by NH on 14th July in the Tombough region from a distance of 77,000 km Credit: NASA.

Another secret of Pluto revealed, as NH was moving past Pluto, it captured the haze around Pluto extending to 130 km. Credit: NASA.

Philae vs. MIP (Moon Impact Probe)

Key words: Philae, Rosetta, Moon Impact Probe, Chandrayaan-I

Today (14th Nov., 2014), exactly six years ago "the messenger from India" (as president Kalam called it) Moon Impact Probe had crash landed near Shackleton crater, very close to the south pole of the moon. While 2-days ago we hear about Philae probe of Rosetta space craft of ESA landing on the Comet P67 and hence the title of this post; by no mean there could be any other analogy in these missions. Let me narrate few amazing facts about Philae then will switch over to my own personal experiences as a core-science team member of Moon Impact Probe mission in Chandrayaan-I.

Philae:

Credit : ESA

The team of Rosetta waited for almost 10-years in chasing the P67 comet before they could send 100-kg Philae to set its foot on the tiny nucleus which was measuring just around 4-km. The mind boggling numbers of 500-million km journey lasting 10-years and sailing along side the elusive comet's nucleus at a distance of few-100s of kms  with a speed of 64,000 km/hr were all truly hair raising statements.

On 12th Novemeber, 2014, the time had just been ripe for the team Rosetta to fire the Philae weighing 100-kgs and would take around 8-hours to be ready to land on the nucleus. As it reaches the nucleus of the Comet, Philae would fire 2-harpoons and would tag itself onto the soft surface. The press reports (from ESA officials) confirm that the Philae has in fact bounced twice and later got settled at location which is not known for sure as of today (14th Nov., 2014); however finds itself in a shadow of a cliff shown below.

Credit: ESA

Though the fully charged battery of Philae would permit its 9-instruments to operate for 56-hours; but the recharging would take much longer than the expected time as the present location would offer only an hour of sunlight for the solar panels to charge the battery; this is certainly not the dead end, as the comet itself would offer its "seasons" where the same location could hope to get much more sun exposure in the future. It is indeed a moment of pride for the entire humanity that the ESA has achieved for the first time on being on a comet. The scientists are upbeat about Philae (though landing on 2-legs, out of three) being very healthy as far as running of their proposed battery of experiments are concerned. Any further manoeuvrability need to be done with extreme care as this may lead to dislodging of the probe from the surface itself. Why... because the the 100-kg Philae would weigh just around 1-gram due to a reduction of gravitational pull of P67 of the order of 100000 less as compared to earth.


Moon Impact Probe (MIP):

Mission: While Phiale's mission is just like a scene picked from a Hollywood movie; Moon Impact Probe was a hard work of a small group of scientists from southern tip of India and their aim was ONLY to drop a 30-kg mass on the southern tip of moon. The mother space craft (red), Chandrayaan-I would re-orient to accommodate MIP separation. During this time the MIP (green) would be detached and in a "pre-programmed" sequence would fire de-orbit motor to reduce the forward velocity component while a set of thrusters fitted on the side would spin-up the probe to attain a stable descent journey. The selected target was close to the Malapert Mountain near the south pole of the moon.

MIP mission; Credit: ISRO

The MIP mission as it was called in the Chandrayaan-I project was the brain child of President Kalam, as per his vision "let there be a messenger reaching moon from the Indian soil". This idea was to be realised at ISRO's Vikram Sarabha Space Center, VSSC. Traditionally at ISRO's VSSC; it has been the hub of developing and realising the rockets, while the idea of MIP which comprises of an autonomous power, communication and instruments can almost be treated as a stand alone space craft. This was a unique experience for the entire group of MIP developers. The objective of MIP was a "Technology Demonstration" which means all other issues (science) would take a back seat; however, the development of a science instrument (CHACE) in this mission with its members having least amount of experience were entertained by the core group of scientists; which allowed us to pull-off one of the most sensitive instrument (CHACE) to study the nearest heavenly body. The plan: the MIP a cuboid of 1/2-meter size weighing around 30-kg would be detached from the mother space craft in the very first opportunity of Chandrayaan-I achieving its 100-km polar orbit.

Moon Impact Probe; Credit : VSSC-ISRO

The MIP would carry 3-experiments during its approximate 22-minutes descend journey. 1. CHACE, (link) the mass spectrometer would sample the nearby ambiance in 1-100 atomic mass range, 2. Color Camera would take pictures and 3. Radar altimeter would measure the distance from the lunar ground. Details of CHACE are narrated here.

It was on 14th November, 2008 around 8.22 pm IST that we were all waiting for the confirmatory signal from MIP which would actually cease to exist (meaning "die down"). It indeed happened and the sacrifice of MIP (that is crash landing) has brought immense wealth of data. The color camera sent stunning pictures as MIP was descending; while CHACE spectrometer measured almost a dozen gaseous species with the peak at 18 representing water standing very very tall indicating the presence of water unambiguously.

MIP landing; Credit : SAC, ISRO

It was no ordinary feat for the MIP team members to design and develop a probe from scratch in a span of just around 4-years and achieve an amazing piece of success in the form of landing the probe within 2-kms of intended location.

Comet Siding Spring visit of Mars

The space enthusiasts around the globe were preparing for an exciting moment: on how the two visitors from earth would be able to make it to planet Mars in the 3rd week of September. The team at NASA was quite confident on their 485 million dollars worth baby, MAVEN; while the Indian-MOM ($ 75-millions) was carrying ONE billion hopes to be able become the FIRST country to make it on their first attempt to planet Mars. Suddenly the focus has shifted to an event which would occur a month later, truely a Cosmic Spectacle which is going to take place if you were to be on Mars on Oct.19th. The comet Siding Spring will be zipping past almost at a distance of 1/3rd of that of earth-moon.

Comet on MARS (artist's view)
Credit : Viral Global news 

When the Indian Mars Orbiter Mission, MOM was getting ready; there were few whispers around on the suspected visit of an intruder on Mars (indicating whether the mission should go ahead ???) ; credit to the think tank of ISRO that they went on record to announce that the mission is ON. In one of my earlier posts (link), on my personal behalf I had predicted that even if the comet were to make it; this would offer a life time opportunity to study this event. This is precisely what has been the mood all around the globe today.

What is the fuss all about this event:

Orbiters, Rovers of NASA on MARS
Credit : NASA

It is a rare among rare opportunity that the space scientists would be getting to study a comet at such a close range. Siding Spring, a long period comet making its visit for the first time to the solar system has stirred huge interest among scientists and a common man. The good news: as per recently carried out modelling study (JPL and few other university teams) on comet's path around the solar system, the comet's nucleus with a size of around 2-kms will be moving within a distance of 132,000 kms from the planet; even then it is 17-times closer than the nearest recorded comet (L1 Lexell, 1780) in history. At this distance both the ion-tail and the dust tail is going to miss the Mars. The bad news: is all due to a trail of dust particles which would be moving at a very high relative speed of around 57-kms per second during the closest visit of this comet; this would start 90-minutes before and would be lasting for another 20-minutes of actual passing time. As per the estimate of scientists, at these speeds even a tiny dust particle of half millimeter size could cause appreciable damage; "essentially they pierce the skin of any satellite; they would be like bullets, out there" quoted by Rich Zurek of JPL. Presently there are two orbiters: Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and two rovers: Opportunity, Curiosity of NASA while one orbiter from ESA: Mars Express. The fuss is all due to the devastating effects this unexpected visitor to Mars would be causing; but... hey.. hang on.. this has now become a talking point on every possible popular scientific forum... because the fear of damage to the probes is turning into excitement of observing this unique phenomenon.

Ducking behind Mars:

Credit: NASA

The scientists at NASA have already come up with a plan of taking their orbiters behind the Mars planet during the passing-by phase of the trail of cometry particles. Both the orbiters of NASA have gone through the first level of orbit correction; they have also indicated that the newly arriving MAVEN would also be placed in an appropriate orbit to be placed itself behind the planet during the comet's transit. While the Indian team at ISRO is yet to make an official announcement to this effect.  However, the scientists at NASA believe that the rovers on the ground will be under least amount of facing any kind of hazard and hence have not opted any protective measures.

Observations for the spectacle:

Comet tails: explained
Credit : NASA

Though this may lead to a technical discussion (and hence elaborations are avoided); the indications leading us to believe that the NASA team has made elaborate arrangements in terms of preparing the suitable instruments on their orbiters and rovers to be ready for the cosmic spectacle to study the : comet/coma as such, coma-mars atmosphere interaction and also formation of Martian Aurora which may occur due to the interaction of coma and higher part of Martian atmosphere, as pointed out by David Brian, LASP, Univ of Colorado. Last but not the least, we, here in India will also be cheering for the MOM to catch up with the huge amount of opportunities which are thrown open during the nature's display of fire show.

Curious observation (Author's take) :

DEIMOS: images taken by MRO
Credit : NASA

The object which is furthermost away to planet Mars and still part of it is Deimos, the second moon, is going to take a heavy beating on October the 19th. Poor Deimos with a diameter of around 13-km which has been spending very quite time all around, but situated around 23,000 km from Mars would be awake to a violent shower of particles (bullets) both neutral and ions. It will be interesting to note the fate of this object which is having a porous regolith (1.47 gm/cm3) .

Indian Universities - Rankings

Just like the status of India in the world of football (SOCCER, yet to fly their flag @FIFA); the Indian universities are yet to make any mark in the academic world. Why.. why.. why is it that none of the Indian academic institutes have made it to appear in world's top 200 rankings; consistently in the past 3-years. The idea of this post is to bring out the bare facts and also to offer my own personal views for this pathetic show in the academic arena. Arena???, is it a good word, are we saying that the academicians need to be in a race; while many people shrug aside this topic calling it to be a meager "rat race". No, its a measure of where does the institution stands in imparting education and performing research, in a way it reflects on the worthiness of everything; YES, it is indeed to make one realize whether the students one trains, after all have to enter the ARENA and hence the correct word.

Ranking: Weightage Factors
Credit : TIMES higher education rankings

As we wind up the year 2013 (today being the last day); we learned 2-reports, first, the Indian Universities faring badly among the BRICS countries; next, a miserable performance among the World Rankings. Lets analyze the first work done by the TIMES higher education UK group in gauging the academic institutions among the FIVE (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) major emerging national economies. The assessment seems to have been based on four major issues (complete details):  While 1. teaching (30%), 2. research (30%), 3. citations (30%) carry a large chunk, the remaining 10% is calculated upon the industry income and international outlook. In addition, there were 13-carefully calibrated performance indicators; trusted by students, academicians and industry and governments. There is a minimum bar of around 200-published papers an year starting from 2007 and the institutions must teach undergraduate programs; with few exceptions permitted.

Coming back to what Indian universities have done among BRICS: while China grabbed 4-slots among the top-10 (including 1st, 2nd); Punjab University was placed at rank-13 (we are NOT averse to this number!!). The other institute to represent India is IIT-Khargapur standing long long away at 30. There are 6-more institutes (so, 8-among 50) within the 50-bracket; the notable one being Jadavpur university at 47 and Aligarh at 50.

What can we say about this performance:
Lets get some opinion from Phil Batey, editor, Times Education Higher Rankings, UK; as per his interview appearing in the Hindu, he attributes the no.1 slot for Peiking university is primarily due to research impact and industry income along with an excellent teaching credentials. As per Batey, the Chinese government made a significant effort starting from 1990 and pushed for a few number of highly specialized universities into world class level by pouring a significant amount of grants in developing infrastructure and research facilities (Is anybody listening ???). The decision, a political, but very aggressively followed in attracting the reverse brain drain by offering a variety of incentives to the students, faculty coming back to their motherland. While the Punjab university seems to have done exceptionally well due to their research program; which is "globally potential". Commenting on the poor performance of IITs, Batey says IITs lag on research front. He also mentions very categorically that the funds flow towards education is poor in India and hence a poor set of infrastructure in all the educational institutes. Some other good universities were not appearing in the list as they had not participated in their ranking procedures (e.g. Delhi University).

My views:
The simple logic of "what you sow is what you reap" is applicable. As Mr. Batey pointed out, the other developing countries who have made it big are the ones who have spent an enormous amount. It is interesting to come up with the actual numbers spend based on GDP among the BRICS. Though the recruitment procedures are very fair at the central universities and at the IITs in attracting bright researchers from abroad and within the country; what has been noticed is that of terrible deterioration in the research performance of these young faculty after joining. It is absolutely clear that the major reason behind this phenomenon is due to poor infrastructure on pursuing research mixed with many other non-academic reasons which will kill the remaining enthusiasm. While, the lack of funding is playing a detrimental role in the fall of quality research in India, the drying up of faculty strength is another crucial factor in the dwindling scenario of university output. There is a huge uncertainty in the governments to last their 5-year terms; and hence very few long term plans are envisaged in setting up of a esteemed places of higher education.

Can we not identify universities of excellence which can offer world class teaching along with cutting edge research, the ISERS is a good move in this direction. Let us reinforce IITs on their research front; let there be few faculty who are taking less burden of teaching, but performing research alone (assessed by an independent body). No point in spending a fortune on attracting one type of fellowship (calling noble laureates); instead we can call many without the tag. Let there not be an aversion on PRIVATE universities (they are the ones who sent the first probe into the space), if they are bringing competitiveness let us have them into the foray; after all the new entrants need to be wary; not the other way round.

On the occasion of 60th formation day of UGC, Prof. C. Raj Kumar, vice chancellor of  O.P. Jindal Global university has come with a good discussion (the Hindu) on "Building better Universities". While very first table showcases a pathetic show of Indian universities NOT appearing in the top-200 ranks all along the the years 2011, 2012 and 2013; at the same time China, Japan and South Korea taking 4-5 slots on an average among the lists of various bench markings. Raj Kumar has gone in greater depth of the working model of UGC; his comment " The current framework that require universities to be constantly regulated by laws, rules, regulations, guidelines and policies set by the government and the regulatory bodies have not produced the best results".  He emphasized on the issues of quality and accountability which need to be ensured by the regulating body (read UGC). As per this article; India in the pursuit of enhancing the education base (Gross Enrollment Ratio) has some how lost in spending on the research and scholarships.

Bottom line,   Issues to be debated: 

• How can we enhance investment in Higher education
• Better ways and means to attract the reverse brain drain
• Opening the gates for the foreign players (less averse to Private parties)
• With the given situation; how to improve the standards (lessons from Punjab Univ.)
• Where should the buck be stopping?? ... Student - Faculty - VC- UGC...........
• Lack of Industry participation in research
• ----------
• ----

N.B.: Here is the: Indian Universities World Rankings 


Another blow to the Indian Educational system; Sept-2014
Here is another news appearing just now : LINK, that the findings of QS-World University Ranking system finds IIT-Bombay holding the best representation from India.... at 222; while few universities (Delhi Univ., Calcutta Univ.) managing to be in the 420-440 range.

Times Ranking-2015... India improves; Dec-2014
India does well... on the expected lines; their top research institute, IISc (Indian Institute of Science) grabs 25th rank into the BRICS league... here are the other Indian institutes....

Credit : Times of India

QS Rankings -2015 by subject:
Indian universities stood up in the subject-wise rankings brought out by the same agency (reference: QS Rankings) where Indian institutions failed miserably as a whole.

Listed here are the 9-institutions from India, which grabbed under-100 rankings subject wise..

1. IIT Bombay:  Art & design, computer science, & information systems, engineering-chemical, civin & structural, electrical & electronic, mechanical, aeronautical & manufacturing, materials science, statistcs & operational research  

2. IIT Delhi:  Computer science & information systems, engineering-chemical, civil stuctural, electrical & electronic, mechanical, aeronautical & manufacturing  

3. IIT Kharagpur:  Engineering-civil & structural, mechanical, aeronautical & manufacturing, material science

4. IIT Madras:  Engineering-civil &structural, electrical & electronic, mechanical, aeronautical & manufacturing  

5. Indian Institute of Science:  Electrical & electronic, materials science  

6. IIT Kanpur:  Statistics & operational research  

7. Jawaharlal Nehru University:  Sociology  

8.Shanmugha Arts Science Technology:  Art & design 

9. University of Delhi:  Development studies

Heavy Metals (??) on Moon by CHACE (Chandrayaan-I)

Have we found heavy metals on Moon ??

With an introduction to the present post, lets start with LADEE, then we will move over to the topic of identification of heavy metals (?) on the moon; the observations made by CHACE ( CHandra's Altitudinal Composition Explorer, a quadrupole spectrometer) during the Moon Impact Probe Mission  (MIP) of Chandrayaan-I (Ch-I). The sole purpose of this blog is to highlight a recent note published in Current Science; on the observation of two prominent amu (atomic mass unit) peaks at 80 and 94.

The CHACE observations were made during the very first phase of actions taken having got the Chandrayaan-I (Ch-I)  into 100 X 100 km polar orbit on 14th November, 2008. In a way, these were the very first set of experiments performed during the Ch-I project; while all the other payloads (instruments) were kept in hibernation. The Moon Impact Probe (MIP)  got separated from the mother space craft, Ch-I near the northern pole of the moon and had a 22-minute descend journey before having an impact near the south pole at Shackleton crater. The CHACE, a most ambitious and carefully planned scientific instrument worked exactly, may be a less justified word, and collected around 300-mass spectra covering 1-100 amu (atomic mass unit). The peak at amu-18 (water), standing tall like the Statue of Liberty in front of NY city was mark of jubilation to the CHACE team on 14th Nov.-2008. The present post is to bring in some light on the fag end of 60-100 amu CHACE observations in view of LADEE being sent to the Moon by NASA.

As NASA calls it Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, LADEE, pronounced like "laddie"  (taken from NASA site). LADEE was launched on 6th September, 2013; a robotic mission to study the lunar atmosphere; and/or environmental influence on the lunar dust. Strange, but true; the dream of a group of scientists (the author was one among them) at ISRO was also  the same while the Moon Impact Probe mission was getting conceptualized (2003); to sample the lunar "environment" during the descend mission of MIP in Ch-I. The three instruments of LADEE are: 1. UV/Visible Light Spectrometer, 2. Neutral Mass Spectrometer and 3. Lunar Dust Experiment, the LADEE hopes to study the density, composition of lunar environment. A 100-day science mission is anticipated in an orbit ranging between 20-60 kms. 

As mentioned in the introduction;  CHACE had acquired 1-100 amu range spectra sampling the lunar ambiance during the 22-minutes of MIP descend till it had an impact near the lunar southern pole. We succeeded in our first publication on discovery of water with a laborious period of convincing the international scientific community for ONE year and 4-months (March-2010); the second paper describing a large chunk of data appeared in August-2010. 

We have just got a paper published in Indian journal Current Science on the heavy species observed by CHACE in 60-100 amu. The CHACE spectra also had shown some striking features on appearance of high mass peaks at 77, 78, 79; however the species at amu=80 and 94 were very pronounced. A sample spectrum at an altitude of 100 km in the 60-100 amu range is shown here.

CHACE Spectra; 60-100 amu
(Credit: Current Science, 1470, 105, 2013)

Unlike earth, any particle in the lunar ambiance is known to have the surface boundary exosphere (SBE); meaning that the particles may not be having any collisions and each species is characterized by its own SBE. So, in a way, any identification of sampled species during the descent journey of MIP reflects the elemental presence of those species on the ground.

What are amu nos. 80, 94 ??
Since these are FIRST of its kind measurements; it is very interesting to get an answer for this question. THESE COULD BE ELEMENTS OR COMPLEX MOLECULES. Elemental because the path traversed by MIP was over the KREEP region and hence could be of rare earth category. However, we all look forward to LADEE picking up these and many more species upto 150 amu.  


N.B.:
I like to draw your attention to my blog on the Indian instrument, CHACE, which has observed for the FIRST TIME EVER the lunar daytime composition

 YES, Moon does have an "atmosphere"