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Dear Student,

SPOT Assessment is purely based on the science aptitude of

the learner. The textual portion, the learner studies in the
respective class need to be reaffirmed. You can do careful
reading of any materials in science which can improve your
knowledge horizons. This booklet will help you to identify
the other topics that are broadly covered for this year’s
SPOT PRELIMS & SPOT 100’S

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 INDEX
Sr. No Contents Page No

1. BRANCHES OF SCIENCE 4

2. GREAT SCIENTISTS 19

3. INDIA IN SPACE 34

4. ARTIFICIAL SATELLITES 41

5. FACTS ABOUT ROCKETS 47

6. WORLD SPACE WEEK 54

7. OZONE LAYER 57

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 BRANCHES OF SCIENCE

SCIENCE is a concerted Human effort to understand, or to understand

better, the history of how the natural world works, with observable physical
evidence as the basis of that understanding. It is done through observation
of natural phenomena, and or through experimentation that tries to
stimulate natural processes under controlled conditions.
The Major Branches of Science

Science is a systematic study of the nature and manners of an object and the
natural universe that is established around measurement, experiment,
observation and formulation of laws. There are four major branches of
science; each branch is categorized in differenttype of subjects that covers
different areas of studies such us chemistry, physics, mathematics,
astronomy etc.

The four major branches of science are Mathematics and logic, natural
science, physical science and social science.

Physical Science is classified into three:

Physics - A natural science that involves the study of matter,

motion, energy, force, objects, etc. related to universe and its
function

Chemistry – The study and analysis of various elements,

composition, structure, chemical process, etc.

Astronomy – The study of objects beyond theatmosphere of the

earth
Earth Science is a branch of Physical science

Classified into five:

Ecology - The study of environment, relation ofl living

organisms in the environment and ecosystem

Oceanology –Otherwise known as Marine Science

Geology – The study about various aspects of earth,
an interesting branch that deals with digging the past
Paleontology – Similar to Geology, which deals withthe study of
various objects that existed in the prehistoric period

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Life Science or Biological science

Biology – Natural science and in-depth study of living

organisms, from evolution to destruction.

Botany – A known branch of science, studying about plant

kingdom
Zoology – The twin branch of botany, study of animal kingdom

Human Biology– The study about human beings, nutrition,diseases,

medicine, etc.

Genetic Science – The study about genes, genetic facts,diseases of

genes, etc.

Medicine – The study, diagnosis, research, etc. of variousdiseases

and treatments
SOCIAL SCIENCE

A branch of science that deals with the society and human behavior in
it, including anthropology, communication studies, criminology,
economics, geography, history, political science, psychology, social
studies, and sociology.

Applications of some important branches of science and the scope of

learning
PHYSICS

Physics is the study of energy and matter with respect to space and
time. Physics is used heavily in engineering. For example, statics, a
subfield of mechanics, is used in the building of bridges and other static
structures. The understanding and use of acoustics results in sound
control and construction of better concert halls; similarly, the use of
optics creates better optical devices. An understanding of physics
makes for more realistic flight simulators, video games, and movies,
and is often critical in forensic investigations. With the standard
consensus that the laws of physics are universal and do notchange with
time, physics can be used to study things that would ordinarily be
mired in uncertainty. For example, in the study of the origin of the earth,
one can reasonably model earth’s mass, temperature, and rate of
rotation, as a function of time allowing one to extrapolate forward or
backward in time and so predict future or prior events. It also allowsfor
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simulations in engineering which drastically speeds up the development
of new technologies.

BOTANY

The study of plants is vital because they underpin almost all animal life
on Earth by generating a large proportion of the oxygen and foodthat
provide humans and other organisms with aerobic respiration with the
chemical energy they need to exist. Plants, algae and cyanobacteria are
the major groups of organisms that carry out photosynthesis, a process
that uses the energy of sunlight to convertwater and carbon dioxide into
sugars that can be used both as a source of chemical energy and of
organic molecules that are used inthe structural components of cells. As
a by-product of photosynthesis, plants release oxygen into the
atmosphere, a gas that is required by nearly all living things to carry out
cellular respiration. In addition, they are influential in the global carbon
and water cycles and plant roots bind and stabilize soil, preventing soil
erosion. Plants are crucialto the future of human society as they provide
food, oxygen,medicine, and products for people, as well as creating and
preservingsoil.

ZOOLOGY

Study of Zoology is great importance to man. It has helped man to

recognize the living things and to adapt himself according to the
environment. The students of Zoology can learn about animals and
Zoological principles which may help them for proper maintenance oflife.
Zoologist acquires the power to evaluate the nature which is notpossible
by the other means. The scope of applied Zoology is innumerable. It
provides the knowledge of medicine, dentistry, Veterinary medicine,
medical technology, nursing, Museum Work, zoological teaching,
zoological research, agriculture, environmental science, and
conservation. Genetics is another branch of zoology. Itsknowledge has
brought revolution in plant and animal breeding. There is every
possibility that our non-renewable natural resources will be exhausted
in near future. The conservation of these natural resources may be
possible through zoological knowledge.

ASTRONOMY

Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can still play an
active role, especially in the discovery and observation of transient
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phenomena. Amateur astronomers have made and contributed to many
important astronomical discoveries, such as finding new comets.

ECOLOGY

The scope of ecology contains a wide array of interacting levels of

organization spanning micro-level (e.g., cells) to a planetary scale (e.g.,
biosphere) phenomena. Ecosystems, for example, contain abiotic
resources and interacting life forms (i.e., individual organisms that
aggregate into populations which aggregate into distinct ecological
communities). Ecosystems are dynamic, they do not always follow a
linear successional path, but they are always changing, sometimes
rapidly and sometimes so slowly that it can takethousands of years for
ecological processes to bring about certain successional stages of a
forest. An ecosystem’s area can vary greatly,from tiny to vast. A single
tree is of little consequence to the classification of a forest ecosystem,
but critically relevant to organisms living in and on it.
GEOLOGY

Geology (in Greek, Geo means Earth, Logos means Science) is a branch
of science dealing with the study of the Earth. It is also knownas earth
science. Geology provides a systematic knowledge of construction
materials, their structure and properties. The knowledge of Erosion,
Transportation and Deposition (ETD) by surface water helps in soil
conservation, river control, coastal and harbor works.
CHEMISTRY

Chemistry is more specialized, being concerned by the composition,

behavior (or reaction), structure, and properties of matter, as well asthe
changes it undergoes during chemical reactions. It is a physical
Science which studies various substances, atoms,molecules and matter

Biochemistry, the study of substances found in biological organisms;

physical chemistry, the study of chemical processes using physical
concepts such as thermodynamics and quantum mechanics; and
analytical chemistry, the analysis of material samples to gain an
understanding of their chemical composition and structure. Many
more specialized disciplines have emerged in recent years,

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e.g. neurochemistry the chemical study of the nervous system.

LIFE SCIENCE

Life science comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific
study of living organisms, like plants, animals, and human beings.
However, the study of behavior of organisms, such as practiced in
ethology and psychology, is only included in as much as it involves in a
clearly biological aspect. While biology remains the centerpiece of life
science, technological advances in molecularbiology and biotechnology
have led to a burgeoning of specializations and new, often
interdisciplinary, fields.

HUMAN BIOLOGY
Human biology is an interdisciplinary academic field of biology, biological
anthropology, nutrition and medicine which focuses on humans; it is
closely related to primate biology, and a number of other fields. Some
branches of biology include microbiology, anatomy, neurology and
neuroscience, immunology, genetics, physiology, pathology, biophysics,
and ophthalmology.

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 BRANCHES OF SCIENCE AND ITS DEFINITION

Aerodynamics : the study of the motion of gas on objects

and the forces created
Anatomy : the study of the structure
and organization of living
things
Anthropology : the study of human cultures both
past and present
Archaeology : the study of the material remains
of cultures
Astronomy : the study of celestial objects in
the universe
Astrophysics : the study of the physics of the
universe Bacteriology: the study of bacteria in relation to
disease
Biochemistry : the study of the organic chemistry of
compounds and processes occurring
in organisms

Biophysics : the application of theories and methods

of the physical sciences to questions of
biology
Biology : the science that studies living organisms
Botany : the scientific study of plant life
Chemical Engineering: the application of science, mathematics,
and economics to the process of
converting raw materials or chemicals
into more useful or valuable forms
Chemistry : the science of matter and its
interactions with energy and
itself

Climatology : the study of climates and

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 investigations
of its phenomena and causes.

Ecology : the study of how organisms

interact with each other and to their
environment
Electronics : science and technology of electronic
phenomena
Entomology : the study of insects
Environmental Science : the science of the interactions between
the physical, chemical, and biological
components of the environment
Genetics : the science of genes, heredity, and the
variation of organisms
Geology : the science of the Earth, its
structure, and history
Marine Biology : the study of animal and plant life within
Saltwater ecosystems
Medicine : the science concerned with maintaining
health and restoring it by
treating disease
Meteorology : study of the atmosphere that focuses on
weather processes and forecasting
Microbiology : the study of microorganisms, including
viruses, prokaryotes and simple
eukaryotes

Mineralogy : the study of the chemistry, crystal

structure, and physical (including
optical) properties of minerals
Molecular Biology : the study of biology at molecular level
Nuclear Physics : the branch of physics which deals with
the structure of atomic nucleus and the
nuclear radiation.

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Neurology : the branch of medicine dealing with the
nervous system and its disorders
Oceanography : study of the earth’s oceans,
their Inter linked ecosystems
and chemical and physical
processes
Ornithology : the study of birds
Paleontology : the study of life-forms existing in former
geological time periods
Physics : the study of the behavior and
properties of matter
Physiology : the study of the mechanical, physical,
and biochemical functions of living
organisms
Radiology : the branch of medicine dealing with the
applications of radiant energy in
imaging technology, which includes x-
rays and radioisotopes
Seismology : A branch of geophysics which deals
with the study of earthquakes and
the movement of waves within the
Earth
Taxonomy : the science of classification of animals
and plants
Thermodynamics : the physics of energy, heat, work,
entropy and the spontaneity
of processes
Zoology : the study of animals

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 GREAT INDIAN SCIENTISTS
Sir. Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858-1937)

Jagadish Chandra Bose was born on 30

November 1858, in Myemsingh, Faridpur, a
part of the Dhaka District now in
Bangladesh.He attended the village school
till he was 11. He then moved to Kolkata
where he enrolled in St. Xavier’s. He was
very much interested in Biology. However,
Father Lafont, a famous Professor of
Physics, inspired Bose, a great interest in
Physics. Having obtained his B.A. in
physical sciences, twenty-two-year-old
Bose left forLondon, to obtain a medical
degree. However, he kept falling ill andhad to discontinue his plans to
be a doctor. He then obtained his B.A. degree from Christ College,
Cambridge. He returned to India in 1885and joined Presidency College,
Kolkata as an Assistant Professor of Physics, were he remained till 1915.

During this period, Bose also started doing original scientific work inthe
area of microwaves, carrying out experiments involving refraction,
diffraction and polarization. He developed the use of galena crystals for
making receivers, both for short wavelength radiowaves and for white
and ultraviolet light. In 1895, two years before Marconi’s
demonstration, Bose demonstrated wirelesscommunication using radio
waves, to ring a bell remotely and to explode some gunpowder.

Many of the microwave components familiar today - waveguides, horn

antennas, polarizers, dielectric lenses and prisms, and even
semiconductor detectors of electromagnetic radiation - were invented
and used by Bose in the last decade of the nineteenth century. He also
suggested the existence of electromagnetic radiation from the Sun,
which was confirmed in 1944.

Bose then turned his attention to response phenomena in plants. He

showed that not only animal tissues, but vegetable tissues also produce
similar electric response under different kinds of stimuli likemechanical,
thermal, electrical and chemical. Bose was knighted in 1917 and soon
thereafter elected as Fellow of the Royal Society, London, (both as
physicist and biologist!).

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Bose had worked all along without the right kind of scientific
instruments and laboratory. For a long time, he had been
thinking ofbuilding a laboratory. The result was the
establishment of the Research Institute in Kolkata. It continues
to be a famouscenter of research in basic sciences.

Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920)

Ramanujan was born in Erode, a small

village in Tamil Nadu on 22 December
1887. When he was a year old his family
moved to the town of Kumbakonam,
where his father worked as a clerk in a
clothmerchant’s shop. When he was nearly
five years old, Ramanujan enrolled in the
primary school. In 1898 he joined the
Town High School in Kumbakonam. At the
Town High School, Ramanujan did well in
all subjects and proved himself an able all
round scholar. It was here that he came across the book Synopsis of
Elementary Results in Pure Mathematics by G. S. Carr. Influenced by
the book, he began working on mathematics on his own, summing
geometric and arithmetic series.

He was given a scholarship to the Government College in Kumbakonam.

However, his scholarship was not renewed because Ramanujan
neglected all subjects other than mathematics. In 1905 he appeared for
the First Arts examination which would have allowedhim to be admitted
to the University of Madras. Again, he failed in allsubjects other than
mathematics, a performance he repeated in 1906and 1907 too. In the
following years he worked on mathematics, withonly Carr’s book as a
guide, noting his results in what would becomethe famous Notebooks.
He continued to pursue mathematics and in 1913 he wrote to G. H.
Hardy in Cambridge, enclosing a long list of his own theorems. Hardy
immediately recognized Ramanujan’s mathematical ability.

On the basis of Hardy’s letters, Ramanujan was given a scholarship by the

University of Madras in 1913. In 1914, Hardy arranged for him to go to
Trinity College, Cambridge. Ramanujan’s work with Hardy produced
important results right from the beginning. In 1916 Ramanujan graduated
from Cambridge with a Bachelor of Science byResearch. In 1918, he was

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elected a Fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, a Fellow of the
Royal Society of London, and aFellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, all in
the same year! However,from 1917 onwards he was seriously ill and mostly
bedridden. In 1919 he returned to India, in very poor health. Ramanujan
made outstanding contributions to analytical number theory, elliptic
functions, continued fractions, and infinite series. His published and
unpublished works have kept some of the best mathematical brains in the
world busy to this day.

Sir C. V. Raman (1888-1970)

Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was
born at Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu on
7th November 1888. His father was a
lecturer in mathematics and physics so
from the very beginning he was
immersed in an academic atmosphere.
Raman’s academic brilliance was
established at a very young age. He
finished his secondary school education
at the tender age of thirteen and
entered the Mrs. A.V.N. College at
Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Two
years later he moved to the prestigious
Presidency College in Chennai.
When he was fifteen, he topped his class to receive his B.A. degree with
honours in Physics and English. Raman continued his studies at the
Presidency College and when he was barely eighteen, graduatedat the
top of his class and received his M.A. degree with honours.
In 1917, C V Raman gave up his government job to become the Sir
Taraknath Palit Professor of Physics at the Science College of University
of Calcutta (1917-33). He made enormous contributions toresearch in
the areas of vibration, sound, musical instruments, ultrasonics,
diffraction, photoelectricity, colloidal particles, X-ray diffraction,
magnetron, dielectrics, etc. In particular, his work on the scattering of
light during this period brought him world-wide recognition.

In 1924 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and a year

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later was honored with the prestigious Hughes medal from theRoyal Society.
Four years later, at the joint meeting of the South Indian Science
Association and the Science Club of Central College, Bangalore, he
announced his discovery of what is now known as the Raman Effect. He
was knighted in 1929, and in 1930, became the first Asian scientist to be
awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his discoveries relating to the
scattering of light (the Raman Effect). In 1934, he became the Director of
the newly established IndianInstitute of Science at Bangalore, where he
remained till his retirement. After retirement, he established the Raman
Research Institute at Bangalore, where he served as the Director. The
Government of India conferred upon him its highest award, the Bharat
Ratna in 1954.

Homi Jehangir Bhabha (1909-1966)

Homi Bhabha was born on 30 October 1909
in Mumbai. Son of a barrister, he grew up
in a privileged environment. In Mumbai he
attended the Cathedral & John Connon
School and then Elphinstone College,
followed by the Royal Institute of Science.
After passing the Senior Cambridge
Examination at the age of sixteen, he joined
the Gonvile and Caius College in Cambridge
with an intention to pursue mechanical
engineering. His mathematics tutor was
Paul Dirac, and Bhabha became fascinated
with mathematics and theoretical physics. He earned his engineering
degree in 1930 and Ph.D. in 1934.
In 1937, together with W. Heitler, a German physicist, Bhabha solvedthe
riddle about cosmic rays. Cosmic rays are fast moving, extremelysmall
particles coming from outer space. When these particles enter the
earth’s atmosphere, they collide with the atoms of air and create a
shower of electrons. Bhabha’s discovery of the presence of nuclear
particles (which he called mesons) in these showers was used to
validate Einstein’s theory of relativity making him world famous. In
1940, C.V. Raman, then head of the Physics Department, Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore, persuaded Bhabha to join the institute
as a Reader in Physics and Bhabha decided to stay back in India. In
1941, Homi Bhabha was elected Fellow of the Royal Society,London, in
recognition of his contributions to the field of cosmic rays,elementary
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particles and quantum mechanics. Bhabha soon realizedthe need for an
institute fully devoted to fundamental research and wrote to J.R.D. Tata
for funding.
This resulted in the establishment of the Tata Institute of Fundamental
Research (TIFR) in Mumbai in 1945, with Bhabha as the Director, a
position he held until his death. In 1948, Homi Bhabha was appointed the
Chairman of the International Atomic Energy Commission. Under his
guidance, nuclear reactors like the Apsara, Cirus and Zerlina were built.
He gained international recognition for his excellent work and served
as the President of the first United Nations Conference on the Peaceful
Uses of Atomic Energy, which was held in Geneva in 1955. He was the
President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics from
1960 to 1963. He is the recipient of the Adam’s Award, Padma Bhushan,
an Honorary Fellowof the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and
Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences in the United
States.

Vikram Sarabhai (1919-1971)

Vikram Sarabhai was born on 12 August 1919
at Ahmedabad. He hadhis early education in
a private school, ‘Retreat’ run by his parents
on Montessori lines. This atmosphere injected
into the young boy the seeds of scientific
curiosity, ingenuity and creativity. With a
natural inclination towards physics and
mathematics, Vikram Sarabhai did notget into
his family business. After school and college
in Gujarat, he went to England and obtained
his tripos at St. John’s College in 1939. He
returned to India for a while and worked alongside Sir C.V. Ramanin the
field of cosmic rays, at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, after
which he returned to Cambridge, England for furtherresearch in the area
and completed his Ph.D. in 1947.
He established the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad in
1948, in a few rooms at the M.G. Science Institute with Professor
K.K. Ramanathan as Director. In April 1954, PRL moved into a new

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building and Dr. Sarabhai made it the cradle of the Indian Space
Programme. At the young age of 28, he was asked to organise and
create the ATIRA, the Ahmedabad Textile Industry’s Research
Association and was its Honorary Director during 1949-56. He also
helped build and direct the Indian Institute of Management,
Ahmedabad from 1962-1965.

Sarabhai pioneered India’s space age by expanding the Indian Space

Research Organization. India’s first satellite Aryabhata launched in
1975, was one of the many projects planned by him. Like Bhabha,
Sarabhai wanted the practical application of science to reach the
common man. Thus, he saw a golden opportunity to harness space
science to the development of the country in the fields of
communication, meteorology, remote sensing and education. The
Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) launched in 1975-
76, brought education to five million people in 2,400 Indian villages.
In 1965, he established the Community Science Centre in Ahmedabad
with a view to popularise science among children. His deep cultural
interests led him, along with his wife Mrinalini Sarabhai,to establish
Darpana Academy, an institution devoted to performingarts and
propagation of ancient culture of India. He was the recipientof the
Bhatnagar Memorial Award for Physics in 1962, the Padma Bhushan in
1966, and was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan. He was
the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1966, Vice-
President and Chairman of the UN Conference on peaceful uses of
outer space in 1968, and Presidentof the 14th General Conference of
the International Atomic EnergyAgency. The International
Astronomical Union named a crater in themoon (in the Sea of Serenity)
after him, in honour of his contributionsto science.

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DR. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM (1931 - 2015)

Dr. A.P.J .Abdul Kalam, the eleventh President

of India was born on15 October, 1931, in the
island town of Rameswaram, in Tamil Nadu.He
was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s
highest civilian honour in 1997 for his
contributions in the field of science and
engineering. Dr. APJ Kalam served in Indian
Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from
1963 to 1982. At Vikram Sarabhai Space
Centre, he developed the Satellite Launch
Vehicle (SLV 3), which put the satellite Rohini
into orbit. In 1982, as Director in Defense
Research Development Organisation (DRDO), he was given the
responsibility of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme
(IGMDP). He developed fiveprojects for defense services - Prithvi, Trishul,
Akash, Nag and Agni.He led India into an era of self-dependence. Agni,
which is a surface- to-surface missile, is a unique achievement. Its
successful launch made India a member of the club of highly developed
countries.

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 GREAT SCIENTISTS

GALIELO GALIELI
Galileo Galilei was a groundbreaking Italian
astronomer, physicist, mathematician,
philosopher and inventor. He opened the eyes of
the world to new way of thinking abouthow the
solar system work. For many years, scientists had
believed that the solar system revolved around
the Earth, and that the earth was the center of
the Universe. Galileo was the first scientist to
prove that this wasn’t correct. He stated that in fact, the solar system
revolved around the Sun. He also invented and improved telescope and
so that he could gaze far into space. Hewas the first to see Jupiter’s
moons, and the first to realise that our Moon was covered with craters.
Besides Scopes, he also invented the compass and the thermometer.
Galileo has played a major role in the scientific revolution of the 17th
Century.

BLAISE PASCAL
Blaise pascal was a 17th century French
philosopher and scientist who made important
contributions to math, science, and philosophy.
While he was still a teenager, Pascal became oneof
only two people who had developed and
constructed a working mechanical calculator.
As a mathematician, Pascal developed two
separate fields of math-projective geometry,
and probability theory. This Probability theory was born out Pascal’s
study of gambling problems and had an important development of the
impact on the modern-day economics.

In projective geometry, he developed that became known as Pascal’s

triangles, in which the sums of successive numbers built on themselves
to form the numbers built on themselves to form the numerical row
beneath.
Pascal ‘s scientific theories were important to understanding the
properties and volume of solids using cycloids. pascal was also an
expert in various languages, and a well – versed religious philosopher

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JOHANNES KEPLER

Johannes Kepler was a leading astronomer ofthe

scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution is the
term used to describe the emergence of modern
science that took placethroughout the 16th and 17th
centuries.
Before the scientific Revolution, astronomy was
closely tied to astrology, which is the belief that the
movement of the stars and planets can be interpreted to predict the
future.
As the scientific Revolution progressed, astrology increasingly came to
be replaced by astronomy as a modern, legitimate science.Johannes
Kepler is best known for his discovery that the orbits in which the Earth
and the other planets of the solar system travel around the sun are
elliptical or oval in shape.

He was also the first to explain correctly how human beings are ableto
see and demonstrated what happens to light when it enters a
telescope.
In addition, he designed an instrument that serves as the basis of the
modern refractive telescope. Since he was such a prominent figure in
the field of astronomy, a lot of spots on distant planets havebeen named
after him such as” Kepler’s Crater on Mars” and ‘The Kepler Crater’ on
the Moon.

ROBERT BOYLE
Robert Boyle was the famous Anglo-Irish
scientist who transformed chemistry in the
17thcentury, when chemistry was confined to
alchemy and mysticism.

Alchemy was the study of how to change the

basic substances such as metals into other
more valuable substance. Boyle made
chemistry a science based on measurement.

He defined elements, compounds and

mixtures and he coined the new term ‘Chemical analysis’ a field in which
20
he made several contribution. Robert Boyle is most famous for Boyle’s
Law. It was thefirst of the gas law linking the pressure of a gas to its
volume. He established that electrical forces are transmitted through a
vacuum, but not sound.

Boyle also stated that the movement of particles is responsible for heat.
He was the first person to write specific experimental guidancefor other
scientists, telling them the importance of achieving reliable results. He
was indeed a ‘mighty chemist’.
Robert Boyle is regarded as the first modern chemist and is referred to
as one of the founders of modern chemistry.

SIR ISSAC NEWTON

Sir Issac Newton, an Englishman who lived in

the 17th century, is a scientific legend. He came
up with numerous theories and contributed
ideas to many different fields including
physics, mathematics, and philosophy.

In 1687, Newton published his book

philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica.
In it, he describes universal gravitation, and
the three laws of motion. It is widely regarded
to be one of the mostimportant books in the history of science. It is well
known that his work on formulating a theory of gravitation was inspired
by watchingan apple falling from a tree.
During his lifetime, Newton developed a new type of mathematics
called calculus, and made breakthroughs in the area of optics such as
the reflecting telescope. He also discovered that white light is made up
of wide range of different colors.
Newton was a deep thinker with an insatiable curiosity to know
everything about everything he saw. His contributions are so
numerous, that he changed forever the way in which we look at the
world.

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EDMOND HALLEY
Edmond Halley was an English Scientist who
became very interested in a comet that he saw
in 1682. After being told that similar comet had
appeared in 1531 and 1607, he suspectedthat it
was the same comet that he had seen. By using
the laws of gravity discovered by his friend Sir
Issac Newton, Halley realized that he could
predict when it would return. Halley worked out
that the comet would appear in our skies every 75 to 76 years.
He was correct in his prediction, but sadly when the comet did
reappear, he was no more, and he could not witness the confirmationhe
had waited for so eagerly. In his honors
, the comet was named after him.
Though he is remembered foremost as an astronomer, Halley also
made significant discoveries in the fields of geography, mathematics,
meteorology, and Physics. Halley was very close to Newton.

HENRY CAVENDISH

The English scientist Henry Cavendish was an

experimental chemist and physicist par excellence.
Cavendish showed that hydrogen is much less dense
than air. In 1785, hepublished a paper showing the
Earth’s atmosphere consists of four parts nitrogen to
one-part oxygen.
In addition, to his achievements in chemistry,
Cavendish experiment. He was the first to measure
force of gravity between masses
in a laboratory, and to produce accurate value for Earth’s density.
Henry Cavendish also experimented with electricity, but much of his work
on the subject was only published after his death. He was renowned for the
great accuracy and precision of his scientific research.

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WILLIAM HERSCHEL

Willam Herschel was German – born British scientist

who became one of the most important astronomersof
the 18th century. He built his own telescopes. From the
garden of his house, Willam Herschelnoted, every star
in the heavenly space through a telescope that he had
constructed himself. He also manufactured over 400
telescope s that were in greatdemand worldwide. His
study of the heavenly bodies led him to the discovery
of a planet that would eventually be called Uranus.
Willam Herschel would also discover Titania and
Oberon, which werethe moons of Uranus as well as Enceladus and Mimas,
the moons Saturn.
Herschel maintained that the solar system is moving through space and
found out the direction of that movements. He also suggested that the
milky way was in the shape of disc. Herschel is considered to be the
founder of modern stellar astronomy.

Willam Herschel, the great scientist was a gifted musician too. He

played the oboe, violin, harpsichord, and organ.

JEAN LAMARCK
Jean Lamarck was one of the pioneers in the field of
biology. In fact, the very name ‘Biology’was coined
by this French naturalist.
He is best remembered for his theory of evolution.
According to this theory, the characteristics an
organism develops during itslifetime in response to
its environment are inherited by or passed on to its
offspring.
Lamarck was the first to use the term invertebrate
to describe animals without backbones. He began collecting fossils and
studying all sorts of simple species.
As a result of these studies, he was able to revise the classificationof lower
animals that had been unfinished by the Swedish biologistLinnaeus.
Lamarck’s study of invertebrates also led to the publication of his major
work ’The Natural History of Invertebrate Animals’ in 1815-22.

23
JOHN DALTON

John Dalton, a British Scientist, is probably best

known for his groundbreaking research and
contribution to two completely different fields-
atomic theory in chemistry. Theresearch had a
great impact on atomic theory. He created a
listing of atomic weight for six different
elements – hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon,
sulfur, and phosphorous.

Dalton’s interpretation of atomic theory

maintained that atoms are combined in chemical reactions, but also that
they can be separated and rearranged. Without doubt, it was John
Dalton’s atomic theory that laid the foundations of modern chemistry.

ANDREW MARIE AMPERE

Andrew Marie Ampere was a French Physicist

and mathematician, who made the
revolutionary discovery that a wire carrying
electric current can attract or repelanother wire
next to it , which also carries electric current.
The attraction with a magnet is necessary for
the effect to be seen. Ampere went on to
formulate Ampere’s Law of electromagnetism
and produced the best definition of electric
current of his time.
He also proposed the existence of a particle we now reorganize as
the electron, discovered the chemical element fluorine, and grouped
elements by their properties.

In recognition of Ampere’s contribution to modern electrical science, the

‘ampere’ was established as a standard unit of electrical measurement
,in 1881,forty-five years after his death.

24
MICHAEL FARADAY
Michael faraday was a 19 th century British
chemistand Physicist. He is often called the
father of electricity with good reason His
work on electrochemistry and
electromagnetism laid the foundation for
many areas of science. It was in 1831 that
Faraday discovered electromagnetic
induction, the principle behind the electric
transformer and generator.

This discovery was crucial in allowing electricity to be transformed froma

curiosity, into a powerful new technology. He was partly responsible for
coining many familiar words including ‘electrode’, ‘cathode’ and ‘ion’.
Faraday laid the basis of the electromagnetic field concept in physics,
discovered the laws of electrolysis, and invented electromagnetic rotary
device that were vital in the creation of electric motors. Faraday has thus
played a key role in the development of electricity for use in modern
technology

CHARLES DARWIN
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist who is best
known for his ideas on evolution. In 1831, Darwin
sailed on the HMS Beagle ,a naval survey ship.
Darwin’s job was to collect plant and animal
specimens from the countries the ship visited. The
voyage took five years.

For Charles Darwin, the most important part of the

journey was the time to spent in the Galapagos
islands which are the home to plants and animals
that can’t be found anywhere else in the world.

On his return to England, Darwin started to piece together his theory of

natural selection which explained how populations evolved. In 1859,
Charles Darwin published his book ‘On The Orgin Of Spices’.
According to this theory all species of life have evolved over
time from common ancestors. Charles Darwin changed the way humans
viewed themselves.

25
JAMES PRESCOT JOULE FRS

James Prescott Joule FRS (24 December 1818 –

11 October 1889) was an English physicist and
brewer,born in Salford, Lancashire. Joule studied
the natureof heat and discovered its relationship
to mechanicalwork (see energy). This led to the
law of conservation ofenergy, which led to the
development of the first law of thermodynamics.
The SI derived unit of energy, the joule, is
named after James Joule.
He worked with Lord Kelvin to develop the
absolute scale of temperaturethe Kelvin. Joule also made observations of
magnetostriction, and he found the relationship between the current
through a resistor and the heat dissipated, which is now called Joule’s first
law.
In his early years, Joule proved that heat produced in a small
electromagnet built by him was from electrical energy, which was in turn,
generated by mechanical energy which powered the dynamo. The
principle of conservation of energy became the first law of
thermodynamics, a field of physics that Joule is referred to as the chief
founder.
Joule was the first person to calculate the speed of a molecule of gas,
about 457 meters a second for oxygen at average temperatures which laid
the foundations for the kinetic theory of gases in the future. Joule
recognized the need for standard units of electricity. In fact, the units of
energy is named ‘Joule’ in recognition of his contribution.

GREGOR JOHANN MENDEL

Gregor Johann Mendel was a German-speaking

Moravian-Silesian scientist and Augustinian friar
and abbot of St. Thomas’ Abbey in Brno who
gained posthumous fame as the founder of the
modern science of genetics.

Though farmers had known for centuries that

crossbreeding of animals and plants could favor
certain desirable traits, Mendel’s pea plant
experiments conducted between 1856 and 1863
established many of the rules of heredity, now
26
referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance.

Mendel worked with seven characteristics of pea plants: plant height, pod
shape and color, seed shape and color, and flower position and color.
With seed color, he showed that when a yellow pea and a green pea were
bred together their offspring plant was always yellow. However, in the
next generation of plants, the green peas reappeared at a ratio of 1:3. To
explain this phenomenon, Mendel coined the terms “recessive” and
“dominant” in reference to certain traits. (In the preceding example, green
peas are recessive and yellow peas are dominant.) He published hiswork
in 1866, demonstrating the actions of invisible “factors”—now called
genes— in providing for visible traits in predictable ways. The profound
significance of Mendel’s work was not recognized until the turn of the 20th
century (more than three decades later) with the independent rediscovery
of these laws.[5] Erich von Tschermak, Hugo de Vries, Carl Correns, and
William Jasper Spillman independently verified several of Mendel’s
experimental findings, ushering in the modern age of genetics

DIMITRI MENDELEEV

Dmitri Mendeleev was a Russian chemist and

inventor who is best known for his discovery of
the periodic law, which he introduced in 1869
and for his formulation of the periodic table of
elements.As a professor, Mendeleev taught first
at the St. Petersburg Technological institute
and then at the University of St. Petersburg

Realizing he was in need of a quality textbook

to cover the subject of inorganic chemistry, he
put together one of his own, ‘The principles of
chemistry’. It was during this time that
Mendeleev made the discoverythat led to his most famous achievement.
He noticed certain recurringpatterns between different groups of elements
and using existing knowledge of the elements chemical and physical
properties, he was able to make further connections.
He systematically arranged the known elements by atomic
weight in a grid-like diagram. His diagram known as the periodic table of
elements is still used today. He wrote a book on the spectroscope.

27
 THOMAS EDISON

Thomas Edison’s story is truly an inspiring

one. Hestruggled at school but loved reading
and conducting experiments. The American
inventor began sending and receiving
messages via Morse code- electronically
conveyed alphabet using different clicks for
each letter at the age of 15. Later, he
invented a version of the telegraph that
could send four messages at once In 1877,
Edison invented the phonograph. The
phonograph was a machine that recorded
and played back sounds. He perfected the phonograph by recording ‘Mary
had a Little lamb’ on a piece of foil In 1878 Edison invented the light bulb,
as well as the power grid system which could generate electricity, and
deliver it to homes through a network of wires.
Edison registered 1093 patents in the US as he continues to invent
products. He made significant contributions to storage batteries and
motion pictures. His inventions changed the world forever, and Edison
remains a colossus in the field of science to day.

ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL

Alexander Graham Bell was an influential

scientist, engineer, and inventor who is
considered to be the inventor of the first
practical telephone. Bell’s mother and wife were
both deaf, and this motivated his research on
hearing and speech.

Bell experimented with sound, working with

devices such as ‘harmonic telegraph’, that is
used to send multiple messages over a single
wire.

While trying to discover the secret to

transmitting multiple messages on a single wire. Bell heard the sound of
plucked string alongsome of the electrical wire. This was caused because
one of Bell’s assistants. Thomas A Watson was trying to reactivate a
transmitter. It made Bell believe he could send the sound of a human voice

28
over the wire.

After receiving a patent on March 7th , 1876, for transmitting sound alonga
single wire, he successfully transmitted human speech on March 10.
Bells’ first words with the working telephone were spoken to his assistant
Watson. They were “Mr. Watson come here I want to see you”.

Bell also had a strong interest in other scientific fields, conducting medical
research, searching for alternative fuel sources, developing hydrofoil
watercraft and much more.

HENRI BECQEREL

Henri Becquerel was a French physicist who

discovered radio activity through his
investigationsof uranium and other substances.

Becquerel had become a highly respected

physicist by 1896. After the discovery of the X-
ray in 1895, Becquerel began to investigate
whether there was a fundamental connection
between thisform of invisible radiation and His
expertise with
phosphorescent materials, his familiarity with
uranium components, and his general skill in laboratory techniques,
including photography, all played a key role in his discovery of
radioactivity. Becquerel experimented by placing phosphorescent
crystals on a sealed photographic plate that had been wrapped in
opaque paper, and neverexposed to direct light.

After the plate was developed, images were visible on it. He passed the
results on to Madame Curie, who named this phenomenon radioactivity.
In 1903, Becquerel shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with the chemists
Pierre and Marie Curie.

29
 MAX PLANCK

Max Planck was a German theoretical

physicist, who made significant
contributions. He changed our
understanding of physics when he
discovered that hot object do not radiate a
smooth, continuous range of energies as
was earlier believed.

Instead, he found that the energies radiated

by hot objects have distinct values. His
discovery was the beginning of the Quantum
theory - an entirely new type of physics that revolutionized our
understanding of atomic and subatomic processes.

A quantum is the smallest possible amount of energy. Planck’s constant

a fixed number is used to calculate the energy of quanta. The theory
has been developed to explain the behavior of particles and the energy
they emit. Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1918.

JJ THOMPSON

JJ Thomson, an English physicist, took science

to new heights with his 1897 discovery of the
electron, the subatomic particle.

When Thomson began his research career, it

was thought that atoms were the smallest
particles. Nobody had a clear picture of how
atoms might look. It was already known that
atoms were associated in some way with
electric charges.
In 1897 aged 40, Thomson carried out a now famous experiment with
a cathode ray tube. His experiment proved the existence of a new
fundamental particle that was much smaller than the atom. It was
named the electron.

In discovering the electron, Thomson also moved towards theinvention

of an immensely important tool for chemical analysis the mass
spectrometer.
30
 Then in 1912 Thomson discovered that stable elements
could exists as isotopes are different forms of the same element that
exist with different atomic masses.
J J Thomson was awarded the Nobel prize for Physics in 1906.

MARIE CURIE
She was the first woman to win the Nobel prize
twice. Marie’s research was the field of
radioactivity.

With the help of her husband Pierre Curie, she

made numerous scientific discoveries; including
one showing that radiation did indeed come
from the atom itself.

The 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to

Marie and Pierre aswell as Henri Becquerel for
their work in radiation. In 1911, Marie Curie was awarded another
Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, for her discovery of radium and
polonium, and subsequent research.
Marie curie became internationally famous and scientists came from
around the world to study radioactivity with her. The Curie institute in
Paris founded by Marie in 1921 is still a major cancer research facility
to this day.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

Albert Einstein was an intellectual giant whose

scientific achievements influenced the philosophy
of science forever.
Born in Germany, he made some contributionsto the
field of theoretical physics, and 1921, won a Nobel
Prize for his work in this field.
In 1905 he began publishing the components of his
Special Theory of Relativity, in which he
demonstrated that time was relative to the speed at
which the observer was travelling.
The essence of Einstein’s Special Theory of relativity was that if matter

31
is converted into energy, then energy released can be shownin the simple
formula E= MC 2 where C represents the velocity of light,Ethe energy and M
the mass.
In 1915 Einstein rocked the world with his General Theory ofRelativity. It
explained a lot of how time and distance may change due to the ‘relative’
or different speed of the objects and the observer. Einstein became famous
overnight, and all of a sudden, hewas showered with honors from all over
the world!
Einstein’s vision and his theories of relativity and quantum physics
are with our doubt, the hallmarks of a scientific genius.

ALEXANDERF FLEMING
Alexander Fleming, a Scottish biologist,
pharmacologist, and botanist, made history with the
discovery of penicillin, the world’s first antibiotic
substance in 1928.
Fleming was studying deadly bacteria when hemade
his awesome discovery, quite by accident. He had
unintentionally left open thecover of bacteria culture
plate with which he was working when he went away
on a holiday.
When he returned, he noticed that a
mould had formed on the exposed culture. What interested him was the
fact that in the area surrounding the mould, the bacteria had disappeared.
He kept a strain of the mold alive and began testing it on laboratory
animals. With further experimentation, Fleming established that this
mould, that he named penicillin, could destroy many types of bacteria, such
as the ones responsible for scarlet fever,meningitis, and diphtheria. Fleming
published his research on penicillin, with two other scientists. However,
Florey and Ernst Boris Chain discovered how to isolate the penicillin and
increase its potential. These findings were used to mass-produce penicillin
in order to treat wounded soldiers during World War II, thus saving millions
of lives.

32
STEPHEN HAWKING
Stephen Hawking, theoretical physicist and
cosmologist, is remarkable in many ways.
Despite challenging physical impairments, he has
contributed hugely to the world of science.
Hawking suffers from a type of motor neuron
disease that has left him almost completely
paralyzed. This did not stop him from workingon
the subject of black holes and providing theories
for their behavior, including the idea that they emit radiation.

Hawking believed black holes to be celestial death traps that swallowed up

all energy. However, he determined there was room for this phenomenon,
through the merging of quantum theory, general relatively and
thermodynamics, distilling it all into one path in 1974.
Hawking wanted to write a book about the mysteries of the universethat
would connect with the public. This task seemed impossible afterhe lost the
abilities to write and speak. But Hawking did not give up,and his vision was
finally realized when his ‘A Brief History of Time’ became a best seller.

INDIAN ASTRONAUT (For detailed study)

Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, AC, Hero of the Soviet Union, (born
13 January 1949) is a former Indian Air Force test pilot who flew aboard
Soyuz T-11 as part of the Inter cosmos program. Sharmawas the first Indian
to travel in space.

Kalpana Chawla: Chawla was the first Indian-born woman and the
second Indian person to fly in space, She first flew on Space Shuttle
Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator.
She had travelled 10.67 million km, as many as 252 times around the Earth
logging more than 372 hours in space.

Sunita Williams: Sunita Williams Pandya (born September 19, 1965). She
holds the records for longest single space flight by a woman (195 days),
total spacewalks by a woman (seven), and most spacewalk time for a
woman (50 hours, 40 minutes). She was assigned as a backup crew
member for Expedition 30 to the International Space Station, was a crew
member of Expedition 32, which launched in July 2012, and then became
the Commander of Expedition 33, which began in September 2012.

33
 INDIA IN SPACE
The dream and realisation of spaceflight - For thousands of years, humans
have curiously gazed at the night sky and dreamt oftravelling to space and
explore the distant heavenly bodies there. But, that long cherished dream
became a reality only after they developed large rockets capable of carrying
satellites and humans tospace. After reaching space, those rockets were
powerful enough to make satellites, robotic spacecraft or spacecraft
carrying humans to either to circle the earth or proceed towards other
worlds of our solarsystem.
The uniqueness of the Indian space programme - India is one of thefew
countries that have taken up the challenge of exploring space and utilising
space for the benefits of common man. For this, the country has developed
various technologies which few other countries have done.

India’s achievements in space today are the result of the foresightedness

of Dr Vikram Sarabhai, one of the greatest sons of India. Sarabhai was a
great dreamer and showed the path to realise those dreams. He had firm
belief in the power of space technology to bring about rapid and overall
development of India.

Prof Satish Dhawan, who succeeded Dr Sarabhai as the head of the Indian
space programme, made immense contributions to Indian space
programme by assigning great importance to developing and mastering
space technologies through indigenous efforts. He also laidemphasis on the
involvement of the Indian industry to meet the needs of the country’s space
programme. Prof U R Rao, Dr K Kasturirangan, Dr. G Madhavan Nair and
Dr K Radhakrishnan, who succeeded Prof Dhawan, have made their own
unique contributions to the Indian space programme.

The beginning - Though India today is considered as one of the prominent

countries conducting many space activities, the Indian space programme
began in a modest way with the formation of the Indian National
Committee on Space Research by the Government of India in 1962. The
programme formally began on November 21, 1963with the launch of a 28
feet long American ‘Nike-Apache’ Sounding Rocket from Thumba, near
Thiruvananthapuram. It carried a small French payload (scientific
instrument) to study the winds in the upperatmosphere. Sounding rockets
are small research rockets that carry instruments to study upper
atmosphere and space. They cannot launch satellites.

34
India’s space capabilities- Indian space research organisation,
which is widely known as ‘ISRO’, is the agency which implements the
country’s space programme on behalf of the India’s Department of Space.
ISRO came into existence in 1969, the same year humans set foot on the
moon for the first time.

Various centres of ISRO are now spread all over India. They include Vikram
Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), situated in Thiruvananthapuram, which
designs huge rockets capable of launching large satellites. In the same city
is the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) that develops liquid rocket
engines and the more efficient and highly complex cryogenic rocket
engines. Bangalore can be called as the space city of India. It has got many
space related facilities including the ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), which
builds Indian satellites are launched into space with a firm purpose like
relaying the telephone calls, telecasting TV programs, taking weather
pictures of the Earth or observing distant heavenly bodies. Instruments in
a satellite which perform these useful tasks are called payloads. ISRO’s
Space Applications Centre at Ahmedabad develops such payloads for
satellites.

National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) is another important centre

of ISRO. It is situated in Hyderabad and performs the important task of
receiving the pictures sent by India’s remote sensing satellites in the form
of radio waves. NRSC also processes those pictures to make them accurate
and show details clearly. The centre also systematically stores those
pictures and distributes them in India.

The island of Sriharikota in the Bay of Bengal has ISRO’s Satish Dhawan
Space Centre and it is the spaceport of India. Sriharikota liesabout 80 km to
the North of Chennai and lies in the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh state.

This is the place from where 38 Indian built rockets have lifted off (as on
April 2013) and have travelled towards space. Some of them have launched
not one but many satellites during a single launch. Sriharikota has vast
facilities to manufacture large solid propellant (fuel-oxidiser combination)
rockets as well as to test them. It also has facilities to assemble huge
satellite launch vehicles as well as tolaunch and track them.

35
 LUNAR

Start End
Mission Name Details
date date
Chandrayaan-1 was India's
first lunar probe. It was launched by
the Indian Space Research
Organization on 22 October 2008, and
operated until August 2009. The
mission included a lunar orbiter and
22
28 an impactor. The mission was a major
Chandray aan-1 Oct
August boost to India's space program, as
2008
2009 India researched and developed its
own technology in order to explore
the Moon. The vehicle was
successfully inserted into lunar orbit
on 8 November 2008.[3][4]
Chandr
ayaan
progra Orbiter Chandrayaan-2 was launched from
mme functiona the second launch pad at Satish
l; the Dhawan Space
lander Centre on 22 July 2019 at 2.43 PM
crashed IST (09:13 UTC) to the Moon by a
onto Geosynchronous Satellite Launch
22 Moon's Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III). The
Chandray aan-2
July surface planned orbit has a perigee of 169.7
2019 due to km and an apogee of 45475 km. It
loss of consists of a lunar orbiter, lander and
control rover, all developed in India. The
during main scientific objective is to map the
the final location and abundance of lunar
phase of water.
descent.

36
INTER PLANNERY

Mission End
Start date Detail
Name date
s
Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called
Mangalyaan, is
a spacecraft orbiting Mars since 24
September 2014. It was launched on 5
November 2013 by the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO). It is
Mars Orbiter 5
India's first interplanetary mission and
Mission November Ongoing
ISRO has become the fourth space
2013
agency to reach Mars, after the Soviet
space program, NASA, and the European
Space Agency. India is the first Asian
nation to reach Mars orbit, and the first
nation in the world to do so in its first
attempt.

ASTRONOMY

Mission Start End

Details
Name date date

ASTROSAT is the first dedicated Indian

Astronomy satellite mission launched
by ISRO on 28 September 2015, which
enabled multi- wavelength
observations of the celestial bodies and
cosmic sources in X-ray and UV
28 spectral bands simultaneously. The
ASTROSAT September Ongoing scientific payloads cover the Visible
2015 (3500– 6000 Å...), UV (1300–op Å...),
soft
and hard X-ray regimes (0.5–8 keV; 3–
80 keV). The uniqueness of ASTROSAT
lies in its wide spectral coverage
extending over visible, UV, soft and
hard X-ray regions.

37
INTERNATIONAL SPACE AGENCIES
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) – USA

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is a space agency

of the United States of America . It was established in 1958.NASA has a
very important role in the exploration. NASA was the firstagency which sent
first manned mission on the moon (Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins,
Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. were the first to reach on the moon). Other
successful missions of NASA are:
Project Mercury (1959–63): The objective of Project Mercury was to
send man to space and during this Project first American named Alan
Shepard reached there and after that John Glenn became the first American
to orbit the Earth.
Project Gemini (1961–66): During this mission many manned flights
were flown to space .The first manned Gemini flight was flown by Gus
Grissom and John Young on March 23, 1965.
Project Apollo (1961–72): Project Apollo was among the most
noticeable missions in the history of space exploration. The

main objective of Project Apollo was to send first man to moon. In

1969 Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. became
the first to reach on the moon.

Skylab (1965–79):“The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn’t

have a space program. And if we become extinct because wedon’t have a
space program, it’ll serve us right!”[Larry Niven]

The objective of this mission was to make a space station. Skylab was the
first independent space station built by the USA. The Skylab program was
considered as greatest observatory of its time. The program included a
micro-gravity lab, a medical lab, an Earth- observing facility. New
technologies where also used in this program such as Special showers,
toilets, sleeping bags, exercise equipment and kitchen facilities were
designed to function in micro- gravity. If we talk about the main objective
of this program, it was to study the feasibility of long duration space
missions. For today’s students, Skylab is a part of history that took place
long before they were born.

38
Space Shuttle program (1972–2011): The objective of Space Shuttle
Program was to make reusable space vehicles. The first shuttle sent to
space was Columbia on 12th April, 1981.

International Space Station (1993–present) :The objective of this

program was to build and maintain Space Station in collaborationwith other
countries

Others and MAVEN: The sky is the limit only for those who aren’t

afraid to fly! [Bob Bello] MAVEN stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile
Evolution, it will be studying the atmosphere of Mars planet while orbiting
Mars. MAVEN was launched on 18th of November, 2013. MAVEN will study
Mars’ upper atmosphere and its interactionswith the solar wind. Beside
these program other mission were also organized by NASA like Beyond Low
Earth Orbit program , Commercial Crew Program etc.
Russian Federal Space Agency – Russia

The historic background of the Russian space programme wasconnected

with the necessity for the developments of the missiles to ensure the
countries defense capability in 1946 . The world history
was marked by the two most significant events concerned with
Russian cosmonautics. On October 4 th, 1957 the world’s firstartificial
satellite was launched.

ROSCOSMOS also known as Russian Federal Space Agency is amongthe top

space agencies of the world however it was established in 1992 after
dissolution of the Soviet Union. ROSCOSMOS haven’t worked that much as
Soviet Program did in its period. Some Projects that were successfully
completed by Soviet Space Program:

Sputnik 1: Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite that was sent tospace
on 4th Oct, 1957. This sphere-shaped satellite had a diameter of 58 cm with
four external radio antennae for radio broadcasting.

Sputnik 2: After the launch of Sputnik 1 . Sputnik 2 became the firstartificial

satellite to send any living thing in space which was a dog named Laika.
Luna Project: Luna 1,2 and 3 were among the first satellites to reach
near the moon, impact on moon and get pictures of moon surface.

Sputnik 5: Sputnik 5 was the first probe that bring back animals (dogs
39
named Belka and Strelka) sent to space alive back to earth.
Vostok Programme: Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel to
space in Vostok 1 and after that many other successful projects ofVostok
sent first women on space, first dual crew on space etc.
Salyut 1: Salyut 1 was the first space station built by Russia .

Mars Programme: The objective of making mars series of probes was to

explore mars . During this project many Mars 2 became the first probe to
impact on mars and Mars 3 became the first to land onmoon successfully.
European Space Agency (ESA)

European Space Agency is group of nations working together for space

exploration. The members of ESA are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, United Kingdom, Canada. It was established in 1975 and its
head quarter is in Paris, France. ESA has various launch vehicles to launch
their satellites in space. The highlight programs are :
Ariane 5: Arianne 5 is the main launch vehicle of ESA and
till now has launched 22 successful flights. It’s in service since 1997before
Ariane 5, Ariane 4,3,2,1 were used.
Vega: Vega is a small payload launcher of ESA which is used to sendsmall
satellites to space by ESA. Beside these launch vehicles
, ESA also uses Soyuz in collaboration with ROSCOSMOS.

40
 ARTIFICIAL SATELLITES
Any man – made object orbiting the earth is called the artificial satellite of
the earth. Moon is the natural satellite of the earth and therefore an
artificial satellite is sometimes called a man- made moon. Every satellite is
meant for a specific purpose or a mission; a satellite can also have a
multipurpose mission. Thus, every satellite mission is a complex system
comprising of three main elements 1) the rocket system for lunching the
satellite 2) the satellite in orbit around the earth and 3) the communication
system on the earth forkeeping radio contact with the satellite.
SATELLITE ORBITS

The orbit of the earth, moon and an artificial satellite follow Kepler’s law of
planetary motion. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), a German astronomer had
analyzed long series of data on planetary positions and found that the
orbits of planets around the sun follow the following three laws, which are
called Kepler’s law.
1. Each planet travels in an elliptical orbit, with the sun atone focus
of the ellipse.

2. The radius vector (that is, the imaginary line from sun to planet)
of a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal periods oftime.

3. Average distance of a planet from the sun uniquely determinesthe

length of time required for the planet to complete one orbital
revolution around the sun.

From the above laws, the following important deduction can be made. 1.
the speed of the planet in its orbit is maximum when it is nearest to the sun
and minimum when it is farthest from the sun.
2. the planet nearest to the sun has the shortest period and the planet
farthest from the sun has the longest period. This is indeed so.

Mercury, which is the nearest planet to the sun, has a

period of 88 days, while Pluto, the farthest planet has a period of 248years.

Kepler’s laws gave a good empirical description of planetary motions,but its

physical explanation had to wait until Newton (1642- 1727) formulated the
laws of motion and the laws of Universal gravitation. Newton’s law of
universal gravitation states that every object exerts a force of attraction on
every other object and the force between anytwo objects decreases as their
41
separation increases, varying inversely as the square of the distance
between the two objects. Further, the force is proportional to the product
of the masses of the objects. Orbital motion is achieved through a balance
of the tendency for anobject to keep moving in a straight line and the force
of gravity.
Based on the above idea, Newton had suggested that if a body werethrown
from the top of a high mountain in a direction parallel to earth’s surface
with sufficient speed, it would follow the curvature ofthe earth. In other
words, it would become a satellite of the earth.

Consider a satellite orbiting around the earth. At each point on the orbit,
the satellite is subjected to two equal and opposite forces. Thecentripetal
force directed towards the center of the earth keeps the satellite moving in
the orbit while the centrifugal force exactly equalto the centripetal force is
directed in the opposite direction. Since thetwo forces are exactly equal and
opposite, the satellite is in a weightless condition. This is also known as a
condition of “free fall”. Due to this unusual situation, astronauts in a
manned satellite experience a condition of weightlessness.
For planetary exploration, spacecrafts are first launched in earth orbitand
then imparted higher velocity required for escape from the gravitational
force of the earth. The gravitational forces of the sun, moon, and other
planets affects a spacecraft’s in an escape trajectory and therefore the
resultant path of the spacecraft can be calculated only through complex
mathematics of orbital mechanics’, which requires a high-speed powerful
computer.
For any satellite, its orbit can be expressed by the three main orbital
elements.1) the maximum distance from the earth (apogee). (2) the
minimum distance from the earth. (perigee) and (3) the inclination of the
orbit that is the angle between the orbital plane and the equatorial plane of
the earth, orbits of satellites are generally elliptical or at the most
approximately circular, with very smalldifference between the apogee and
perigee.

Design of a satellite.

Every satellite has a mission or a purpose to be fulfilled when it is launched

in its orbit. Based on the mission of the satellite the main payload and the
necessary sub-systems to fulfill the mission are kept in the satellite. Any
satellite system generally consists of the followingsub systems
Structure or housing
42
Thermal control sub-systemPower supply sub-system Communication
sub-systemOrientation sub-system

Orbit control and orbit transfer sub-system Payload

Structure or Housing: -The main purpose of the structure is to provide

support to everything that is kept on the satellite. The structure should be
strong enough to withstand the shocks and vibrations that occur during the
launching of the rocket and it shouldprotect the satellite from the harsh
conditions of space like hard vacuum, extreme temperatures and harmful
radiations. The shape and size of the structure should be such that the
satellite can be easily kept in the nose cone of the rocket. Finally, the
weight of the structure should be as low as possible.
Thermal control sub-system: With the help of this sub-system the
temperature at various parts of the satellite can be controlled within
specified limits. When a satellite is in its orbit in space, its outer surface
facing the sun becomes very hot (about 100 deg C) while theopposite
side in the shadow becomes as cold as -130 deg C. In spite of such large
and rapid temperature variations, the temperatures at various parts
within the structure are controlled within a narrow limitwith the help of
thermal control sub-system. Secondly various electronic instruments of
the satellite also become hot due to electrical currents flowing within
them. The thermal control system also helps to control these changes
in temperature.

A body gains or loses heat by three process-conduction,

convection and radiation in the first and second process, a medium
such as air is required around the body whereas in the third process of
radiation, presence of medium is not necessary, and it can take place in
vacuum.

Power supply sub-system: This sub-system provides electrical

power to different units of the various sub-systems and the payloads.The
electrical power is normally obtained through silicon solar cells, which
convert sunlight into electricity. In order to obtain sufficient power, a
large number of solar cells connected together have to be placed on
the outer surface of the satellite.

Communication sub-system: This sub-system provides the most

43
vital link between the satellite and the ground station. Its main
functions are

1. To transmit all information in the form of digitally coded radio

signals to the ground station about the functioning of thesatellite
and its payloads. In technical terms it is called telemetry.

2. To receive digitally coded radio signals or commands from the

ground for executing specific functions on the satellite, such as
switching on/off certain equipment, opening of solar panels etc.
This process is called Telecommand.

3. To support the tracking operations from the ground for the

determination of the orbit of the satellite. The communication
sub-system consists of a radio receiver, a radio transmitter and
antennas to receive and transmit radio signals.

Orientation sub-system: For some purposes, a satellite requires to

be oriented or stabilized in certain direction. For astronomical
observations, a telescope should be pointed towards certain directionin
the sky. A satellite which is stabilized by spinning, is called spin-
stabilized satellite. An important advantage of a spin stabilized satellite
is that its outer surface becomes evenly hot due to the solar heat
radiation. Another method is three-axis stabilization technique in which
three rotating wheels are kept along the three mutually perpendicular
axes of the satellite. This method gives a better precision in the pointing
capability of the satellite and therefore it is used in communication and
earth observation satellites. For such satellites, the solar cells are kept
on the panels which continuously track the sun.
Orbit control and orbit transfer sub-system: The

orbits of the satellites for certain specific purposes are required to be

controlled as precisely as possible. For making minute changes in the
orbit small rockets fixed on the satellite are used. These rockets canbe
activated through commands sent from the ground to make small
changes in the orbit. When the propellant of the rocket is exhausted,the
orbit of the satellite cannot be carried out and the satellite cannotbe used
for communication. Therefore, the amount of propellant decides the
useful life of the satellite.

Payload: The type of payload depends on the mission of the satellite. For
scientific satellite, the payload may consist of scientific instruments of
different types. The functioning of these instruments depends essentially
on the support provided by the different sub systems of the satellite. If
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everything goes well, a scientific satellite can work in space for a number
of years and can give a large amount of valuable data. Foran application
satellite, the payload would consist of a variety of communication
equipment and antennas.

Launching of a satellite: A satellite is launched in the orbit by a multi-

stage rocket. In the beginning, the rocket is fired in the verticaldirection.
After the rocket passes through the dense layer of the loweratmosphere
(~120km), the heat shield of the rocket is separated by sending a
command from the ground. The direction of the rocket is then turned
towards east in such a manner that at the desired heightof the orbit, the
direction of the rocket is parallel to the earth and its velocity is
appropriate for the desired orbit at that height. At that time, the rocket
motor/engine of the last stage of the rocket is switched off and the
satellite is separated from the rocket. The satellite then enters its orbit
with the appropriate velocity. The last stage of the rocket remains at
the same height and follows the satellite in the same orbit. If a satellite
is launched in the eastern direction, it gets the advantage of the earth’s
daily rotational speed from west to east.

Ground station: The main function of the ground station is to keep

the radio contact with the satellite in orbit. Every ground station consists
of large antennas, radio receivers, radio transmitters, tape recorders,
computers and other related equipment’s. The radiosignals received
from the satellite provide the telemetry data, which consists of two
parts. One part gives the observational data from thepayload and the
second part gives information on the performance of the sub-systems
such as temperature values at some specific points of the satellite,
electrical power available to different units of the sub-systems,
directions of the satellite etc. This type of information, known as the
house-keeping data, is useful to judge thelife of the satellite.
The ground station is also used for sending different types of radio
commands to the satellite. These commands are used to perform
various tasks on the satellite like switching on/off certain equipment,
firing certain rockets or the rocket motor for controlling or changing the
orbit of the satellite.

The third important function of the ground station is to track the

satellite to determine its orbit regularly. The orbit of a satellite can be
determined by obtaining the Doppler shift in the frequency of the radio
waves transmitted by the transmitter onboard the satellite.
45
Some General Aspects: After a satellite is put in its orbit, it is
generally not possible to make any repairs on it. It is therefore
necessary to ensure very high quality and reliability for all the
equipment’s, which are kept on the satellite. To achieve this goal all
equipment’s are first tested in different simulated environmental
conditions which occur during the launch phase and encountered in
space. The different environmental tests are as follows;
1. Shock and vibrational test (For launch phase conditions)
2. Vacuum test (For space condition) and
3. Temperature cycling test from high to low temperature
(Forin- orbit conditions)

After all equipment’s pass through the above tests successfully, theyare
certified worthy and are incorporated on the satellite.

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 FACTS ABOUT ROCKETS
Rockets are tall, thin, round vehicle with engines which is used to
transport, satellites and things to space. They think of a rocket that
launches into space. “Rocket” can mean a type of engine

It is important to design rockets with high specific impulse propellants

and light weight structural materials. Specific impulse is determined by
the nature and the quality of propellants.
making the rocket body lighter, one can increase the
weight payload (satellite) it can carry. To design a launch vehicle we
need scientists and engineers specialising in many different subjects
such as aeronautics, avionic, chemicals, composites, fabrication,
propellants, propulsion, softwares, structures etc.

Some rockets are huge and carry big and heavy payloads. The three
–stage Saturn V rocket was 110m tall (that is, taller than a 36
– story building).It could take 129 tonne to low earth orbit and 48 tons
to the moon. It had three million parts. Saturn rocket was usedin Apollo
programs which took humans to the moon.

Indian Rockets

India has designed and flown Geosynchronous Satellite LaunchVehicle

(GSLV). GSLV has put our communication satellite INSAT - 4CR into
orbit. GSLV is a big vehicle. It can take a 2000 – 2500 kg class
communication satellite to Orbit (GTO). Communication satellites are
positioned far away at 36000 km from earth. GSLV is a three-stage
vehicle: 49 metre tall, with 414 tonne lift-off weight. It has a maximum
diameter of 3.4 meter at the payload fairing (heat shield). GSLV uses a
cryogenic engine for the third stage. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle,
PSLV for short, is the star performer in ISRO rocket family. PSLV is
capable of launching 1600 kg satellites in 620 km sun- synchronous
polar orbit and 1050 kg satellite in geosynchronous transfer orbit. In
the standard configuration, it measures 44meter tall, with a lift-off
weight of 295 tonne. PSLV has four stages using solid and liquid
propulsion systems alternately. Thesuccess rate of PSLV has been very
47
good. PSLV has rightfully earnedthe status of workhorse launch vehicle
of ISRO.
The Launch Pads

Sriharikota is a barrier island off the Bay of Bengal coast located about 80
km (50 mi) north of Chennai in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh,
India. It houses the Satish Dhawan Space Centre First Launch Pad, one
of the two satellite launch centers in India with the other being the
Thumba Equatorial rocket launching station in Thiruvananthapuram.
Indian Space Research Organisation
launch satellites using multistage rockets such as the Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle from
Sriharikota Originally called Sriharikota High Altitude Range SHAR, (an
acronym ISRO have retained to the present day) and thenSriharikota
Launching Range, Satish Dhawan Space Centre the centrewas renamed
in 2002 after the death of ISRO’s former chairman Satish Dhawan.

Rumbling from Thumba

The rumbling from Thumba continues! At the dusk on November 21,in
1963 the first rocket took off from Thumba , marking the beginning of
‘modern rocket era’ in the country. That was a sounding rocket.
Sounding rockets are research rockets: instrument carrying rockets
designed to make measurements and perform scientific experimentsin
the upper atmosphere.

Launched into Space: Pride of Nation-SLV-3: SLV-3 is the pride of

the nation; We call it a launch vehicle. Rockets which launchsatellites
are called launch vehicles.SLV-3 is India’s first experimental satellite
launch vehicle and was successfully launched on July 18,1980 from
SHAR Centre.

Space Shuttle: Rockets are normally used only once; expended,

thrown away and lost after use. But, space shuttle is a craft that has
been designed to be used again and again like an airplane. It has huge
payload bay to ferry satellites and space station- parts to orbit.Special
tiles protect the shuttle as it re-enters the earth’s atmosphere. Space
Shuttles were used to carry people and cargo to the space station which
is orbiting at about 300 kilometer up in the sky.

48
Satellites: In astronomy, satellite is a body that orbits a planet. There
are natural satellites such as the moons and artificial (man- made)
satellites such as communication satellites and space stations.The first
artificial satellite was very simple but modern ones are much more
complicated and versatile. There are approximately3000 satellites
currently in earth’s orbits. Some of them are very small; some are dead,
some are discarded. The largest one now is the International Space
Station.

Space Race Begins: History was made on October 4, 1957, when the
Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik – 1, humanity’s first artificial
satellite on-board an R-7 Semyorka rocket. The small ball like satellite
was about 58 cm in diameter and weighed only 83.6kg,and took about
98 min to complete one earth orbit in its elliptical path. It was an
outstanding technological feat of the human race andit triggered new
scientific, technological, political and military developments, around the
world. This single event marked the dawnof the space age and the USA
– USSR space race.

Falling, falling and not reaching: What holds satellites in the sky?
Why are they not falling? Actually, a satellite in orbit is falling towardsthe
earth but continuously missing it !! The launch vehicle imparts such an
appropriately high velocity to the satellite that the Earth’s gravitational
pull is only just enough to bend the satellite’s path witha curvature
parallel to the earth! So the satellite can never hit the earth. This is an
oversimplified explanation for a circular orbit. By varying the injection
velocity, orientation and location, we can get a range of orbits viz.
Circular, elliptical or hyperbolic.

Commanding a Satellite: A satellite cannot be left free to do everything

on its own. We have to talk to and also hear from the satellite. Telemetry,
tracking and command (TTC) and communication systems take care of this
two way of communication and control. Commanding the satellite is the
function of TTC which can switch it ON/OFF and also receive housekeeping
data through the telemetry. In space a satellite experiences a range of
temperatures varying from 1300 C to 1500C. Thermal control systems
protect the satellite from the extreme temperature changes.

49
Where you Are? Satellites Find Our Way: Wherever we are,
navigational satellites allow us to use small electronic receivers to
determine our location (longitude, latitude, and altitude) to anaccuracy
within a few meters. The United States Global Positioning System (GPS)
consists of up to 32 satellites in six different orbital planes. Russian,
GLONASS was a fully functional navigation constellation which is being
restored. The Chinese system is calledBei Dou. Europe is introducing
its own version of GPS, called theGalileo Positioning System. Today,
cars, trucks and aircrafts are fittedwith satellite navigation equipments
that act as electronic maps androute finders. Navigational satellites have
many other applications aswell.

Orbiting Wealth: INSAT: The Indian national satellite (INSAT)

system which is the Geostationary orbit is one of the largest domestic
communication satellite systems in the Asia- Pacific region. Established
in 1983 with the commissioning of ISAT-IB, it initiated amajor revolution
in India’s telecommunications sector. INSAT space segment consists of
24 satellites out of which ten are in service now.

Blessing from the Heavens: INSAT Applications: INSAT has

many applications which we enjoy every day. Long distance telephone
connectivity, television and radio services , direct to home(DTH) services
etc. make our life more comfortable .20000 very smallaperture Terminals
(VSAT) have revolutionized the way we live and interact, say for e-
commerce and e- governance stock exchange, banking and many other
instant transactions.

India has an exclusive meteorological satellite Kalpana -1 EDUSAT

heralded new era in the field of distance education. Satellite based
telemedicine network has connected hospitals in its network.

Combining the services offered by INSAT and IRS satellites, Village

Resource Centres (VRC) have been established in the country.

Eye in the Sky: Remote Sensing: Remote sensing satellites are

the eyes in the sky. They see everything under their field of view.Indian
Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite system was commissioned withthe launch
of IRS -1A, in 1988. With ten satellites in operation , IRS is the largest
civilian remote sensing satellite constellation in the world providing
50
imageries in a variety of spatial resolutions , spectralbands and swaths.

Welfare from The Heavens: Remote Sensing

Applications:
Remote sensing data is used for several applications covering
agriculture, water resources, urban development, mineral prospecting,
environment, forestry, drought and flood forecasting, ocean resources
and disaster management.

Space Stations: Space Stations are large floating laboratories in

orbit. A space station contains accommodation for the crew, laboratory
space for doing work and a place for visiting spacecraft todock when
they receive astronauts or supplies. World’s first space station is Salyut
– 1, which was launched by the USSR in 1971. The largest of space
stations is the international Space Station, ISS, wheremen and women
astronauts carry out research in various disciplines.

Polluting Space: When a Satellite Falls Down: All good things

must come to an end. Satellites in high orbits become useless once their
power supplies get exhausted. But they keep orbiting, becomingwhat we
call the space debris.

Waste already has begun to pile up in low Earth orbit. This junk is
composed of dead satellites, spent rocket stages, and miscellaneous
items left behind by astronauts and cosmonauts. Garbage in orbit poses
no direct threat to people on earth but it can endanger any orbiting
satellite. Each time a space capsule goes on a mission, it runsone in a
million chance of being hit by a tractable piece of space debris. This is
true of any satellite in a low earth orbit. So far no a serious attempts
have been made to solve the problem of space debris. Satellites
intended for geostationary orbits are designed to boost themselves
through the trash belt into a higher orbit once theybecome junk.

INDIAN NOBEL LAUREATES

The Nobel Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed in a
number of categories by Swedish and Norwegian committees in
recognition of cultural and/or scientific advances. The will of the Swedish
inventor Alfred Nobel established the prizes in 1895. The prizes in
Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine Literature, and Peace were
51
first awarded in 1901. The related Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic
Sciences was created in 1968. The Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo,
Norway, while the other prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden. The
Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award available
in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, peace, and
economics. The various prizes are awarded yearly. Each recipient, or
laureate, receives a gold medal, a diploma and a sum of money, which
is decided by the Nobel Foundation. A prize may not be shared among
more than three people.

Year Laureates Subject Origin

1902 Ronald Ross Medicine for his work Foreign citizen
in Malaria born in India
1907 Rudyard Kipling Literature Foreign citizen
born in India
1913 Rabindranath Tagore Literature for his song Citizen of India
Offerings called Gitanjali
1930 C.V. Raman Physics for Raman Effect Citizen of India
1968 Har Gobind Khorana For Physiology - Medicine
“interpretation of the
Genetic code and itsfunction Foreign citizen

in protein synthesis” of Indian origin

1979 Mother Teresa Peace for her work in Foreign born
helping the suffering – citizen of India
The missionaries of
Charity
1979 Abdus Salam Physics Indian-born
Pakistani citizen
1983 Subrahmanyan Physics, for his theoretical Indian-born
Chandrasekhar studies of the physical American citizen
processes of importance to
the structure and evolution
of the stars.”
1998 Amartya Sen Economic Sciences , “for Citizen of India
his contributions to
welfare economics.

52
2001 V. S. Naipaul Literature Indian
descendant
UK citizen
2006 Muhammad Yunus Peace Indian-born
Bangladeshi
citizen
2009 Venkatraman Chemistry, for studies of Indian born
Ramakrishnan the structure and function Ame rican Citize n
of the ribosome”
2014 Kailash Satyarthi For Peace – For his Citizen of India
contribution towards child
welfare and education

53
 WORLD SPACE WEEK (WSW)

The United Nations General Assembly declared in 1999 that World

Space Week (WSW) will be held each year from October 4-10. World
Space Week is an international celebration of science and technology,and
their contribution to the betterment of the human condition. Thedates
were in recognition of the October 4, 1957 launch of the first human-
made Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, thus opening the way for space
exploration and the October 10, 1967 signing of the Treaty onPrinciples
Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses
of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other CelestialBodies.
World Space Week is an international celebration of science and
technology, and their contribution to the betterment of the human
condition. World Space Week aims to:
• Provide unique leverage in space outreach and education.
• Educate people around the world about the benefitsthat
they receive from space.
• Encourage greater use of space for sustainable economic
development.
• Demonstrate public support for space programs.
• Excite young people about science, technology,
engineering, and math.
• Foster international cooperation in space outreach and
education.
WHERE AND HOW IS WORLD SPACE WEEK CELEBRATED?

During World Space Week space education and outreach events are
organized by space agencies, aerospace companies, schools,
planetaria, museums, and astronomy clubs around the world.

SPUTNIK- :The first artificial satellite

The Sputnik 1 spacecraft was the first artificial satellite successfully

placed in orbit around the Earth and was launched from Baikonur
Cosmodrome at Tyuratam(370 km southwest of the small town of
Baikonur) in Kazakhstan, then part of the former Soviet Union. The

54
Russian word ”Sputnik” means ”companion” (“satellite” in the
astronomical sense).

In 1885 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky first described in his book, Dreams of

Earth and Sky, how such a satellite could be launched into a low
altitude orbit. It was the first of a series of four satellites as part of the
Sputnik program of the former Soviet Union and was planned as a
contribution to the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958). Three
of these satellites (Sputnik 1, 2, and 3) reached Earth orbit. The Sputnik
1 satellite was a 58.0 cm-diameter aluminum sphere thatcarried four
whip-like antennas that were 2.4-2.9 m long. Theantennas looked like
long “whiskers” pointing to one side. The spacecraft obtained data
pertaining to the density of the upper layersof the atmosphere and the
propagation of radio signals in the ionosphere. The instruments and
electric power sources were housed in a sealed capsule and included
transmitters operated at 20.005 and 40.002 MHz (about 15 and 7.5 m
in wavelength), the emissions taking place in alternating groups of 0.3
s in duration. Thedown link telemetry included data on temperatures
inside and on thesurface of the sphere. Since the sphere was filled with
nitrogen under pressure, Sputnik 1 provided the first opportunity for
meteoroid detection (no such events were reported), since losses in
internal pressure due to meteoroid penetration of the outer surface
would have been evident in the temperature data. The satellite
transmitters operated for three weeks, until the on-board chemical
batteries failed.
What is satellite remote sensing?

In satellite remote sensing of the earth, the sensors are looking through
a layer of atmosphere separating the sensors from the Earth’s surface
being observed.
Hence, it is essential to understand the effects of atmosphere
on the electromagnetic radiation travelling from theEarth to the
sensor through the atmosphere.

We perceive the surrounding world through our five senses. Some

senses (touch and taste) require contact of our sensing organs with the
objects. However, we acquire much information about oursurrounding
through the senses of sight and hearing which do not require close
contact between the sensing organs and the external objects. In
another word, we are performing Remote Sensing all thetime.

55
Uses of Remote Sensing
• Determining soil moisture content using active and passive
sensors from space.
• Mapping with laser precision using Light Detection and
Ranging technology.
• Spinning the globe with mapping services like Google Earth,
Bing Maps and Open Street Maps.
• Snapping aerial photos for military surveillance using
messenger pigeons in World War II.
• Doing the detective work for fraudulent crop insurance claims.
• Searching for aircrafts and saving lives after fatal crashes.
• Detecting oil spills for marine life and environmental
preservation.
• Identifying forest stands and tallying their area to
estimate forest supplies.
• Navigating ships safely with the most optimal route.
• Measuring wind speed and direction for wind farms,
weather forecasting and surfers.
• Spying on enemies with reconnaissance satellites.
• Delineating and assessing the health of riparian zones to
conserve lakes and rivers.
• Estimating surface elevation with the Shuttle Radar
Topography Mission.
• Extracting mineral deposits with hyper
spectral remote sensing.
• Watching algae growth as an indicator of
environmental health.
• Forecasting weather to warn about natural disasters.
• Detecting land cover/use types for decision making.
• Mapping soil types for agriculture planning.
• Preventing the spread of forest disease types.

56
 OZONE LAYER
The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth’s stratosphere that
absorbs most of the Sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation. It containshigh
concentrations of ozone (O3) in relation to other parts of the
atmosphere, although still small in relation to other gases in the
stratosphere.

All about Ozone:

Like other environmental problems, Ozone Depletion is one that is very
troubling, and rightly so, considered as a major environmental issue by
all nations on the earth.
What is Ozone?

Ozone is a natural gas composed of three atoms of oxygen. Its chemical

symbol is O3. It is blue in color and has a strong odor. Normal oxygen
(O2), which we breathe, has two oxygen atoms and is colorless and
odorless. Environmental scientists have classified O3 into two: Good
Ozone and Bad Ozone.
Good Ozone
Good ozone (also called Stratospheric Ozone) occurs naturally in the

57
upper Stratosphere. The stratosphere is the layer of space 6 to 30 miles
above the earth’s surface.
The good Ozone come from
The air is full of gases reacting with each other, even though our eyes
do not see. When UV light strikes (Oxygen) O2 molecules, theyare split
into two individual O atoms — O and O. When one of the O atoms
combine with O2 molecule, ozone (O3) is created.
Bad Ozone
Bad Ozone is also known as Tropospheric Ozone, or ground level
ozone. This gas is found in the troposphere, the layer that
forms the immediate atmosphere. Bad Ozone does not exist naturally.

Human actions cause chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen

(NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC).
The bad ozone comes from?

Each time there is a reaction of chemicals such as those found in cars,

power plants and factory emissions, in the presence of sunlight (UV
light), Bad Ozone is created. Bad ozone contaminates (dirties) the airand
contributes to what we typically experience as “smog” or haze.
Ozone Depletion
Ozone layer depletion is simply the wearing out (reduction) of the
amount of ozone in the stratosphere. Unlike pollution, which has many
types and causes, Ozone depletion has been pinned down to one major
human activity.
Industries that manufacture things like insulating foams, solvents,
soaps, cooling things like Air Conditioners, Refrigerators and ‘Take-
Away’ containers use something called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
These substances are heavier than air, but over time, (2-5years) theyare
carried high into the stratosphere by wind action.

How Ozone Depletion Affects UV Levels?

Depletion of the ozone layer has consequences on humans, animalsand
plants. This typically results from higher UV levels reaching us on earth.

58
Humans

Research confirms that high levels of UV Rays cause non- melanoma

skin cancer. Additionally, it plays a major role in malignant melanoma
development. UV is also linked to cataracts (a disease ofthe eye which
clouds the eye’s lens).

Plants
The damage that extreme UV levels have on plants is one that our eyes
do not see much, but humans can feel the impact. Plant growth,as well
as its physiological and developmental processes are all affected
negatively. These include the way plants form, timing of
development and growth, distribution of plant nutrients and
metabolism, etc. These changes can have important implications
for plant competitive balance, animals that feed on these plants,
plant diseases, and biogeochemical cycles.
Marine (or water) Ecosystems
Phytoplankton form the foundation of aquatic food webs. These usually
grow closer to the surface of water, where there is enough sunlight.
Changes in UV levels is known to affect the development and growth
of phytoplankton, and naturally, the fish that feed on them. UV radiation
is also known to have effect on the developmentstages of fish, shrimp,
crab, amphibians and other animals. When this happens, animals in the
upper food chain that feed on these tinyfishes are all affected.

Effects on Biogeochemical Cycles

The power of higher UL levels affects the natural balance of gases (and
greenhouse gases) in the biosphere e.g., carbon dioxide (CO2),carbon
monoxide (CO), carbonyl sulfide (COS) and ozone. Changes in UV levels
can cause biosphere-atmosphere feedback resulting from the
atmospheric buildup of these gases.
How to conserve Ozone Layer?
Ozone is a natural gas and is naturally replenished over time. This
means if we can do something to balance the natural production withits
depletion, then it should not be a problem. Unfortunately, it does not
work like that.
People ask if we cannot produce our own ozone gas to replenish what is

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lost in the stratosphere. That’s a good question. The sun naturally
produces ozone with immense energy and over time. To do the same, we
will be looking at using immense energy too, about twice the energy
used in the USA. That is just not practical.

The only way to do that is to remove the excess chlorine and bromine
from the stratosphere. And the only way to do that is to stop making
CFCs and several other chemicals. This is why in the 1990s a meetingof
the worlds big nations met and agreed to reduce the usage of CFCsand
also encouraged other nations to do the same. That was decidedin the
Montreal Protocol.

This is not enough, but at least it was a good starting point. It is always
best to talk and discuss problems than to do nothing at all. This is why
learning about Ozone depletion, like you are doing, is themost important
step towards a safe environment in future.

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