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The South
Asian Life & Times - SALT |
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Cover
Story Adventure &
Sports
Environment
Vishnu - Hinduism's
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2011 has been a busy year in space. The Space
Shuttle Programme came to an end with its 135th flight. The focus
is gradually now shifting to inter-planetary exploration – to Mars, where
water has now been discovered, and to Jupiter – the largest planet in our
solar system. In early December 2011, came the news that an Earth-like
planet had been discovered. Astronomers have confirmed the existence of
Kepler 22-b, an Earth-like planet in the "habitable zone" around a star not
unlike our own. On July 8, 2011 the engines of the space shuttle
Atlantis roared as it rose off the launching pad and disappeared into the
clouds on a 12-day mission carrying 8,000 pounds of supplies and spare parts
to the International Space Station. The space shuttle programme officially
came to an end a couple of weeks later when the wheels of Atlantis rolled to
a halt on the runway – on July 21, 2011 at Kennedy Space Center.
Evidence of
possible water on Mars On August 5, NASA announced that its Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter had captured photographic evidence of possible liquid
water on Mars during warm seasons. (SALT ran a feature on Mars in the
October-December 2011 issue).
The Juno spacecraft will make the five-year, 400-million-mile voyage to
Jupiter and orbit the planet, collecting data for more than one Earth year. Juno, the first solar-powered spacecraft on a mission to Jupiter, was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 5, 2011. The 4-ton spacecraft is on a five-year, 400-million-mile journey to the largest planet in the solar system.
Curiosity - a historic voyage to
Mars
NASA began a historic voyage to Mars with the Nov.
26, 2011 launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which carries a
car-sized rover named
Curiosity.
(Read October-December 2011 issue of SALT)
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