Decatur twins win award from governor

Spend a couple of minutes with paternal twins Tyler and Trevor Parrish and you forget both are in wheelchairs.

Tyler and Trevor Parrish are the 2013 Students of the Year as named by the Alabama Governors Committee on Employment of People With Disabilities. They earned the honor through their work with NASA in the HUNCH program. This is the triple axis motion sensor the brothers created.





Tyler Parrish, right, and twin brother Trevor Parrish are the 2013 Students of the Year as named by the Alabama Governors Committee on Employment of People With Disabilities. They earned the honor through their work with NASA in the HUNCH program. Tyler and Trevor show the device they created, a motion sensor that detects movement along three axis. The brothers were photographed in their home in Decatur, Ala., Dec. 16, 2013.


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They don't refer to their muscular dystrophy as a disability, and the wheelchairs that have become their legs are just "the hand we have been dealt," Trevor said.

Pointing to his brain, Tyler said: "Nothing is wrong with this."

The 2013 graduates of Austin High School created a mock-up for the space station and earned the pair the state's Disability Students of the Year award. Gov. Robert Bentley honored the brothers, 19, during a ceremony in Montgomery last week.

The Alabama Governor's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities has recognized students with disabilities since 1947. The committee is a branch of the Department of Rehabilitation Services, and its primary goals are to educate the public about the benefits of hiring people with disabilities and to promote independence for people with disabilities.

"It came as a surprise and I'm so proud of them," the twins' mother, Rhonda Parrish, said of the award.

The part the twins designed and milled at Austin High is a sensor they said can track movement on the space station. It took Tyler and Trevor three months to conceive and complete the project while they were students in the engineering program.

Family friend and engineer Robert Leke nominated the part for a regional award, which it won. The family thought that was the last recognition it would earn until the governor's office called.

"I was excited," Rhonda Parrish said. "It's just an honor to be recognized by the governor's office."

The road from St. Louis, Mo., where the twins were born, to Montgomery, where they received the award from Bentley, hasn't always been a smooth ride.

They moved to Decatur 15 years ago when their father, Mark, was transferred by Boeing.

Rhonda said the twins showed no sign of muscular dystrophy when they enrolled in the school system. Tyler, the oldest by a minute, was in third grade when he began using a wheelchair regularly. Two years later, MD stripped Trevor of his ability to walk.

They didn't complain then, and they still do not today.

"This does not bother me because I have found my purpose," Tyler said. "I'm here to be an encouragement to others. God has assured me, and I see this as a blessing."

Trevor shared his sentiment.

Muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder that weakens the muscles that help the body move, according to the Mayo Clinic. Sufferers have incorrect or missing information in their genes, preventing them from making proteins needed for healthy muscles.

Despite the disease, Tyler and Trevor are not letting go of their dream of following in their father's footsteps.

Mark Parrish works at AAR SUMMA Technology in Huntsville as a computer numerical control programmer. He writes programs that mill parts for aircraft, they said.

The twins said they are looking for a company that might let them work from home or under the guidance of another programmer, preferably their father.

"We want to contribute and not have society think we are a burden," Tyler said.

Source : Beaumont Enterprise,19th December 2013

IIT-Kharagpur on Nasa radar

Expertise in radar technology and its successful association with the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) over the years may soon make the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, eligible for a partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) for a collaborative research. The presence of two scientists from the premier space research agency in Kharagpur on Monday fanned speculations that IIT-Kharagpur has evolved as the front-runner for the coveted tie-up.

After the success of Chandrayaan, Mangalayaan and the four-year partnership for an oceanic wind measuring radar - Scatterometer - the next most talked about futuristic collaborative project would be the NI-SAR, or the Nasa-Isro radar mission. The radar, which is yet to receive final clearance from the respective governments, is one of the most discussed scientific projects in the country at present, specially because of the precision with which it promises to pre-empt natural calamities.

IIT Kharagpur's aerospace engineering department, through its high-profile Kalpana Chawla Space Research Centre, is already spearheading crucial radar-related research along with Isro. "Such radar technology inputs can be utilized successfully for NI-SAR related research as well," said Alok Chatterjee, a Nasa scientist who is also a 1973 batch alumnus of the institute. He was accompanied by Paul Rosen, his colleague at Nasa.

The duo on Monday discussed with PP Chakraborty, the director of the institute, the possibilities of the institute starting a NI-SAR oriented collaboration with Isro soon. "This will automatically link up the institute with Nasa. In the NI-SAR research, there will be a radar that will collect data through two bands - the 'L' band that will be managed by Isro and the 'S' band to be handled by Nasa. The data will then be shared for final computations to determine tectonic movements of the earth that lead to earthquakes, tidal wave surge, melting of glaciers and rise in sea level," Rosen explained. "Such research will help in managing disaster to a large extent," he added.

"Since Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan is an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus, it will give added impetus to the collaboration," Chakraborty said.

NI-SAR is a multi-million dollar project that will be partially funded by Nasa and Isro. "If $73 and $83 million were spent on the Chandrayaan and the Mangalayaan projects, respectively, NI-SAR should cost around $100 million," Chatterjee explained.

 

 

 

Source : TOI , 26th Nov 2013 

NASA Delivers Precipitation Satellite to Japan for 2014 Launch : Washington

An international satellite that will set a new standard for global precipitation measurements from space has completed a 7,300-mile journey from the United States to Japan, where it now will undergo launch preparations.

 

A U.S. Air Force C-5 transport aircraft carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory landed at Kitakyushu Airport, about 600 miles southwest of Tokyo, at approximately 10:30 p.m. EST Saturday, Nov. 23.

The spacecraft, the size of a small private jet, is the largest satellite ever built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. It left Goddard inside a large shipping container Nov. 19 and began its journey across the Pacific Ocean Nov. 21 from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, with a refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska. 

From Kitakyushu Airport, the spacecraft was loaded onto a barge heading to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA's) Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima Island in southern Japan, where it will be prepared for launch in early 2014 on an H-IIA rocket.

"We have been building GPM hardware at Goddard for over four years," said Art Azarbarzin, GPM project manager, who traveled with the spacecraft on its flight to Japan. "We are excited now to get the spacecraft to Tanegashima and looking forward to the launch."

The satellite is designed to pool together precipitation measurements taken by a constellation of orbiting U.S. and international partner satellites, resulting in a single and comprehensive dataset of global precipitation every three hours.

The satellite will measure rain and snow using two science instruments: the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and theDual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR). The GMI captures precipitation intensities and horizontal patterns, while the DPR provides insights into the three-dimensional structure of rain, snow and other precipitation particles. Together, these two instruments provide a database of measurements against which other partner satellites' microwave observations can be meaningfully compared and combined to make a global precipitation dataset.

The GPM mission is a partnership led by NASA and JAXA. Goddard built and assembled the satellite. JAXA provided the DPR instrument and launch services. The Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo., built the GMI under contract to Goddard.

The GPM constellation is a network of satellites from multiple U.S. and international space agencies, including NASA, JAXA, the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Japan; the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales in France; the Indian Space Research Organisation; and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites.

For more information about the GPM mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/gpm

Source : EIN Newsdesk , 25th Nov 2013

ISRO to launch French, German satellites : Chennai

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The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), that got global recognition for its successful launch of a mission to Mars, will now launch German, French, British and Canadaian satellites, a top official said.

"We will be launching EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Programme) satellite belonging to Germany. The satellite will weigh around 800 kg," ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan told IANS in an interview.

The EnMAP is a hyperspectral satellite that would provide images of the Earth at regular intervals. This apart, ISRO will be launching French satellite SPOT-7 during the first quarter of 2014, Radhakrishnan said.

"There will be four more small foreign satellites that would go along with SPOT-7," he added.

ISRO had launched the SPOT-6 satellite in 2012.

Radhakrishnan said discussions were held with British agencies for launching three satellites each weighing around 300 kg and also to launch a set of Canadian satellites. The idea is to have at least one commercial launch every year using the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the ISRO chairman said.

According to him, the PSLV rocket's reliability has been underlined once again with the launch of Mars Orbiter in a precise manner despite the challenges.

Queried about the status of Mars Orbiter, he said: "The Orbiter has been raised to around 193,000 km apogee (farthest point from Earth). We are all gearing up for the dawn of Dec 1 when the Orbiter will be injected in trans-Martian orbit."

ISRO has been switching on the various systems and payloads of the Orbiter to check their functionalities and health.

"All the instruments are working normal. The satellite's health is good," Radhakrishnan said.

India launched Nov 5 its first inter-planetary mission to Mars with a two-fold objective - technological and scientific. The project outlay was around Rs.450 crore.

The technological objectives include design and realisation of Mars orbiter with a capability to survive and perform Earth-bound manoeuvres, cruise phase of 300 days, Mars orbit insertion/capture, and on-orbit phase around Mars.

It will also enable deep space communication, navigation, mission planning and management and incorporate autonomous features to handle contingency situations.

The scientific mission will be to explore the Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and Martian atmosphere by indigenous scientific instruments.

Radhakrishnan said the Orbiter will be using around 365 kg on board fuel in the orbit raising activities out of around 850 kg fuel on board.

Comparing the latest Mars mission MAVEN of the US, Radhakrishnan said the American Atlas V rocket has a payload capacity of 13 tonnes to GTO (geo-transfer orbit) while the PSLV-XL capacity is only around 1,300 kg.

"The American satellite, weighing around 2,500 kg, carries payload weighing around 65 kg and around 1,600 kg fuel. Our Orbiter weighing 1,350 kg carries a payload of just 15 kg and fuel of around 850 kg," he added.

What he did not compare is the cost incurred in the both the missions. While India will be spending around $72 million the US mission is budgeted at $671 million.

Radhakrishnan reiterated that the Mars mission proves India's capability to undertake such complex tasks.

Source : IANS , 25th Nov 2013 

Giant solar hope for Ladakh

The Union ministry of new and renewable energy plans a 5,000MW solar power plant in Ladakh which, if approved, could become the world’s largest solar project.

The project, planned in the Changthang area of Leh near the China border, will have a capacity more than three times the country’s installed solar capacity, a ministry official said.

Leh district commissioner Simrandeep Singh said the ministry had approached the administration to identify land for the project.

“It is only a proposal so far. We have been asked to work out the pre-requisites… to identify 20,000 acres of land and work out the technical feasibility and the means of transmitting power from the region,” he said.

Singh said the project required enormous tracts of land. “Changthang is the probable area because it is the only place in Leh where land is available while other areas are occupied.”

If the project comes up, it would be another feather in Changthang’s cap. The Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics is building the world’s largest solar telescope — the National Large Solar Telescope — in the area. The Rs 150-crore project will be commissioned in 2016.

The ministry of new and renewable energy has also approached officials in Kargil district to ascertain the availability of land for another 2,000MW solar project.

Farooq Abdullah, who heads the ministry, has taken the matter up with his son and chief minister Omar Abdullah, an official said.

Ashwini Kumar, director of the Solar Energy Corporation of India, said that if the Changthang project became reality, it would be the world’s biggest solar energy project.

“There is a plan (to build the project in Leh). We had a meeting recently in which the chief executive councillor in Leh also participated. They have said that land is available,” Kumar said.

If the project gets the Centre’s nod, the ministry will have to construct a power transmission line as well.

The Centre recently initiated the process of building a 4,000MW solar power project in Rajasthan on around 10,000 acres.

Source : The Telegraph , 22nd Nov 2013