IIT AND KOTA

ISRO ignoring rover built by IIT-K ISRO had given a project to IIT Kanpur to develop a rover to be launched with Chandrayaan-II, which the university's scientists completed in 2010, but the space agency was yet to pick it up and make part payment to the institute, according to its professor.  When contacted, an Indian Space Research Organisation official said in Bangalore that they will take some time to respond. "In 2009, ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram had given a project to IIT Kanpur's mechanical engineering and electrical engineering departments to build a rover that would be launched along with Chandrayaan-II," Prof K S Venkatesh of IIT Kanpur's electrical engineering department said.  "ISRO had promised to give us Rs 7.5 lakh for the project, of which Rs 3.75 lakh was paid up front," he said.  The IIT-K professor said scientists at the institute had completed building the rover, weighing 100 kgs, in O...

India's space ambition will make another giant leap at 2.38pm on Tuesday - mangalvaar, the day of planet Mars. The country's first mission to the red planet will lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh with the Mars Orbiter on board, along with other scientific equipment. If all goes according to plan, this will also push India into a very small club of nations with interplanetary travel capabilities. The nine-month long journey, after the Orbiter goes around Earth for 22-25 days, is scheduled to enter Mars' orbit on September 24, 2014. The Mars Orbiter will observe the physical features of Mars and conduct limited study of the Martian atmosphere as finalised by the Advisory Committee on Space Sciences. The pay loads include Lyman Lpha Photometer to measure the relative abundance of deuterium and hydrogen from Lyman-alpha emission; Methane Sensor for Mars to measure methane in the Martian atmosphere, and thus determine past existence...