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Chandrayaan-1, the unmanned lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO).
Useful Information:
1. It is India's first mission to the moon.
2. Includes a lunar orbiter and an impactor.
3. Launched by a modified version of the PSLV-C11
4. Launched On 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
5. It is a remote sensing satellite
6. Weight: 1,308 kilograms (590 kilograms initial orbit mass and 504 kilograms dry mass)
7. Mission Period: Over a two-years
8. Mission Cost: The estimated cost for the project is Rs. 3.86 billion.
9. Aim: Survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3dimensional topography. The polar regions are of special interest, as they might contain ice.
10. Payloads: The mission includes five ISRO payloads and six payloads from other international space
agencies including NASA, ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency, which are being carried free of cost.
With the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1, India became the sixth nation to send a mission to the moon.
According to the chairman of ISRO, G Madhavan Nair the launch of India's lunar spacecraft was prefect
and precise. The spacecraft is reported to have carried an Indian flag which will be place on moon surface
when it will land on moon during its operation.
India Also plans to Launch Chandrayaan-II by 2010.
Questions:
1. What is Chandrayaan-1?
Chandrayaan-1 is a scientific investigation by spacecraft of the Moon. The name Chandrayaan means
Chandra- Moon , Yaan-vehicle, in Indian languages (Sanskrit and Hindi) , the lunar spacecraft.
Chandrayaan-1 is the first Indian planetary science and exploration mission.
2. When, and from where, Chandrayaan-1 will be launched?
Chandrayaan-1 will be launched in 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota (SHAR), India.
3. How long Chandrayaan-1 will take to reach the Moon?
Depending upon the mission strategy, it may vary from 5 days to 20 days.
4. How close to Moon will Chandrayaan-1 come while orbiting the Moon?
Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft will be in a 100 km polar orbit around the Moon.
5. What are Chandrayaan's scientific goals?
The Chandrayaan-1 mission is aimed at high-resolution remote sensing of the Lunar surface in visible, near
Infrared, low energy X-rays and high-energy X-ray regions. Specific scientific goals are:
To prepare a three-dimensional atlas (with a high spatial and altitude resolution of 5-10 m) of both near
and far side of the moon.
To conduct chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface for distribution of mineral
and chemical elements such as Magnesium, Aluminum, Silicon, Calcium, Iron and Titanium as well as
high atomic number elements such as Radon, Uranium & Thorium with high spatial resolution.
By simultaneous photo geological and chemical mapping, we will be able to identify different geological
units, which will test the hypothesis for the origin and early evolutionary history of the moon and help in
determining the nature of the lunar crust.
6. What are the basic components of the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft?
The basic components of the chandrayaan-1 spacecraft are
The scientific payloads: the instruments that will gather science data.
The solar array that provides power to the spacecraft. Chandrayaan also carries a battery that stores the
power generated by the solar array and feeds it to other systems.
The thrusters perform fuel burns to change the spacecrafts trajectory and attitude.
The various functional requirements of the spacecraft such as Attitude and Orbit Control, Command
processing, House keeping telemetry, Sensor data processing, Thermal management, payload data
handling operation, dual gimbaled data transmission antenna pointing , onboard mission management
etc would be taken care by the Bus Management Unit (BMU).
The spacecraft also carries two star sensors and inertial reference unit based on miniaturised gyros
providing absolute attitude.
7. What are the scientific instruments onboard Chandrayaan-1?
There are altogether eleven scientific instruments onboard Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. Five of them are
Indian and other six are from ESA (3), NASA (2) and Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1) selected through
ISRO Announcement of Opportunity (AO). Two of the ESA instruments have Indian collaboration.
8. What type of propulsion system will Chandrayaan-1 use? How much propellant will it carry?
Chandrayaan-1 will use bipropellant integrated propulsion system for orbit raising and attitude control. It
consists of one 440N engine and eight numbers of 22N thrusters, mounted on the negative roll face of the
spacecraft. Two tanks each with a capacity of 390 litres are used for storing fuel and oxidizer.
9. How will mission controllers communicate with the spacecraft?
If the spacecraft encounters a problem, it can establish contact with controllers on Earth through the Deep
Space Network.
10. Can the team fix the spacecraft from Earth?
If a component on the spacecraft fails, controllers on Earth can instruct Chandrayaan-1 to bring a backup
online. If the spacecraft points in the wrong direction, its attitude can be corrected. If the spacecraft
deviates from the desired trajectory, a controlled burn (thruster firing) can be performed to put it back on
Man Booker Prize for the year 2008
It was another proud moment for India when Aravind Adiga won Man Booker Prize for the year 2008 for his
book "The White Tiger".
Some Facts:
This was Aravind Adiga's first novel.
He won the prize for Fiction Category.
He is the second youngest after Ben Okri, who won in 1991 aged 32.
His book is a "story of two Indias" revolving around the character named "Balram Halwai".
Aravind is former correspondent for TIME magazine in India.
Prize Amount: 50,000-pound awarded at Guildhall in London.
The White Tiger has been published by Atlantic Books
The other authors in the shortlist were Amitav Ghosh for "Sea of Poppies", Steve Toltz for "A Fraction of the
Whole", Linda Grant for "The Clothes on Their Backs", Sebastian Barry for "The Secret Scripture" and
Philip Hensher for "The Northern Clemency".
About the Award:
Man Booker is awarded annually for the best novel in the British Commonwealth and the Republic of
Ireland.
Previous debutants who won Man Booker Prize:
Keri Hulme in 1985 (Book: The Bone People)
Arundhati Roy in 1997 (Book: God of Small Things)
DBC Pierre in 2003 (Book: Vernon God Little)
Other winners from India:
V S Naipaul (1971) - Indian Origin
Salman Rushdie (1981)
Arundhati Roy (1997)
Kiran Desai (2006)
General Knowledge Update 2 - October 2008
New RBI Governor:
Finance Secretary Duvvuri Subbarao has been named the 22nd Governor of Reserve Bank of India. Present
Governor Y V Reddy retires on September 5, 2008.
Sixth Pay Commission for Armed Forces.
The Ministry of Defence has notified the new allowances on the basis of the recommendations of the Sixth
Central Pay Commission for officers of the Armed Forces.
54th National Film Awards
Presented by: President Pratibha Patil
Dilip Kumar (Bollywood Actor), Lata Mangeshkar (Singer), Saroja Devi (South Indian Actress) Lifetime
Achievement Award
Konkona Sen Sharma Best supporting actress award.
Tapan Sinha Dadasheb Phalke Award
Lage Raho Munna Bhai Best entertainment film
Soumitra Chatterjee Best actor award for the Bengali film Podokkhep
Madhur Bhandarkar Best director award (Traffic Signal)
People In News:
Amartya Sen is part of committee appointed by International Monetary Fund to advise on governance
reform.
Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has been conferred the third Malcom S Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award,
which honours heroes of entrepreneurial capitalism and free enterprise.
Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal arrived on September 14, 2005 on his first visit to India.
Bhupen Hazarika is conferred the 'Asom Ratna' on his 83rd birthday.
Former Punjab Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh unseated from Punjab Assembly and disqualified
for the remaining tenure of the 13th Vidhan Sabha for his alleged involvement in corruption.
News in India:
Agreement between India and Colombia
For exploration and production of oil and gas, exchange of training and human resource development,
exchange of visits of professionals and technicians.
India became the only nuclear weapons power to be allowed global nuclear commerce without signing either
the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) or Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), when 45-member
Nuclear Suppliers Group lifts its 16 year old embargo on nuclear commerce with India in Vienna.
Meghalaya becomes the first state to allow Muslim women to offer Ramzan prayer in mosque alongside
men.
China opens Consulate General's office in Kolkata
Economic News:
Finance Minister P Chidambaram inaugurates the Universal Arogya Medical Insurance Scheme for persons
belonging to below poverty line category.
Awards Presented in 2008
Arjuna Awards, 2007 (For Players)
Sr. NoAwardee
Game/Sports
1.
Chitra Soman
Athletics
2.
Anup Sridhar
Badminton
3.
Johnson Varghese Boxing
4.
Harika Dron-avalli Chess
5.
Arjun Atwal
Golf
6.
Prabhjot Singh
Hockey
7.
Tombi Devi
Judo
8.
Bajranglal Takhar Rowing
9.
Avneet Kaur SidhuShooting
10. Alka Tomar
Wrestling
11.
Farman Basha
Power-Lifting
Dhyan Chand Award, 2007 (Life Time Achievement in Sports and Games)
Sr. NoName
Game/Sports
1.
Hakam Singh Athletics
2.
Mukhbain SinghHockey
3.
Gian Singh
Wrestling
Dronacharya award, 2007 (For Coaches)
Sr. No.Name
Game/Sports
1.
Sanjeev Kumar SinghArchery
2.
Jagdish Singh
Boxing
3.
G.E. Sridharan
Volleyball
4.
Jagminder Singh
Wrestling
Rajiv Award Sadbhavana Award, 2007
Social worker and Gandhian N. Radhakrishnan
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, 2007 (India's highest sports award):
Mahender Singh Dhoni
Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award (at par with the Arjuna Awards)
Neel Chand
Mohinder Singh
Tushar Kanti Rath
Captain M.S. Kohli
ICC Cricket Awards, 2008
Sr. No.Awardee
Country
Award
1.
Shivnarine ChanderpaulWest Indies Cricketer of the Year
2.
Dale Steyn
South Africa Test Player of the Year
3.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni India
ODI Player of the Year
4.
Charlotte Edwards
England
Women's Cricketer of the Year
5.
Ajantha Mendis
Sri Lanka Emerging Player of the Year
6.
Ryan ten Doeschate
New ZealandAssociate ODI Player of the Year
7.
Yuvraj Singh
India
Twenty20 International Performance of the Year
8.
Simon Taufel
Umpire of the Year
9.
Sri Lanka
Spirit of Cricket Award
ICC World Test Team of 2008
Name
Graeme Smith (captain)
Virender Sehwag
Mahela Jayawardena
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Kevin Pietersen
Jacques Kallis
Kumar Sangakkara (wicketkeeper)
Brett Lee
Ryan Sidebottom
Dale Steyn
Muttiah Muralidaran
12th man: Stuart Clark
Country
South Africa
India
Sri Lanka
West Indies
England
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Australia
England
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Australia
ICC World One Day Team of 2008
Herschelle Gibbs
South Africa
Sachin Tendulkar
India
Ricky Ponting (captain)
Australia
Yunus Khan
Pakistan
Andrew Symonds
Australia
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper)India
Farveez Maha-roof
Sri Lanka
Daniel Vettori
New Zealand
Brett Lee
Australia
Mitchell Johnson
Australia
Nathan Bracken
Australia
12th man: Salman Butt
Pakistan
Popular Indian classical vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has been nominated for the coveted Bharat Ratna,
Indias highest civilian award.
Rastrapati Bhavan anoounced this on November 04, 2008.
Bharat Ratna was last awarded in the year 2001
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has won many awards for his contribution to Indian classical music.
Padma Vibhushan - 1999
Padma Bhushan - 1985
Padma Shri - 1972
Karnataka Samman - 2005 (by Karnataka Government)
Personal Details:
Born: February 04, 1922
Born at: Gadag, Karnataka
Check out the list of awardees at: Bharat Ratna Awards - General Knowledge
This is a great news as it has been a long time since these awards were last presented. We hope that the trend
will end here and we will see more people like Pandit Bhimsen being awarded the National Highest Award.
