Science Frontiers

SCIENCE FRONTIERS

THE SECOND SPACE RACE

Man last walked on the moon was in 1972. The United States of America

and the Sov iet Union at that time were emb roiled in a v ery b itter and v iciou s cold

war. B oth su p er p owers in their sp irit of su rp assing the other had g one on in a sp ace race that had ex p anded the frontiers of the sp ace technolog y

and

astronomy . This had thu s tu rned ou t to b e an adv antag e to the scientific world.

This fig ht for su p eriority b etween the United States and the Sov iet Union in

the field of sp ace research like in many other fields help ed man in the conq u est

of the sp ace and ou ter sp ace. R u ssian sp ace ship , Sp u tnik took man to the ou ter

sp ace arou nd the E arth. Soon, the United States of America p rov ed its mig ht b y

landing on the Moon. L ater, the interest in the sp ace research died down and

b oth the su p er p owers cooled down in their enthu siasm for fu nding

the sp ace

race. Soon, other cou ntries took initiativ e in sp ace research. E u rop ean cou ntries

comb ined their efforts for j oint sp ace research. O nce dev elop ing cou ntries like

C hina and I ndia are now b eg inning

to show interest in sp ace research and

indu lg ing in a mini sp ace race reminiscent of the USA-USSR

sp ace race of the

195 0 s and 196 0 s. B oth cou ntries are now looking to land on the Moon. C hina

sent a man to sp ace in 20 0 3 . The United States of America is p lanning to send a

manned p rob e to the moon b y 20 20 and a manned p rob e to Mars b y 20 3 0 .

The Sov iet Union sent a man, Y u ri G arg arin, to the sp ace in 196 1, cap p ing

its lead of sending of dog L aika to sp ace in 195 7 in su ccession to lau nching of the

world’ s first artificial satellite, Sp u tnik-1 in the same y ear. The world was deep ly

imp ressed b y the technolog ical su p eriority of the Sov iet Union ov er that of the

United States of America. The P resident of the United States at that time, J ohn F .

K ennedy , was determined to do some thing in time and in the famou s sp eech in

May 196 1 b efore a sp ecial j oint session of the United States C ong ress p romised

that the United States wou ld land a man on the moon and retu rn him safely within

a decade. I t was ab le to accomp lish this within eig ht y ears in 196 9. A few day s

b efore the United States sent the astronau ts, N eil Armstrong and “ B u z z ” Aldrin to

the moon b y Ap ollo 11, the Sov iet Union sent a sp acecraft L u na-15 to the moon

on a failed mission. That was the last heard of attemp t of the Sov iet Union to

challeng e the su p eriority of the United States of America.

W hy the Sov iet Union that had a clear lead in the sp ace race in 196 1 ov er

the United States of America, su rrendered to the latter so easily and comp letely ?

The answer as N ASA rev ealed is that the Sov iet Union was nev er on sp ace race,

and whatev er stu p endou s accomp lishments it had till 196 1 were p art and

ex tensions of its p assion for missiles researches in su p p ort of its war indu stry .

The indifference of the Sov iet au thorities to the sp ace race in contrast to the

interest and g enu ine p rog ress made b y the Sov iet Union scientists du lled the

edg e of the Sov iet Union su p eriority in sp ace technolog y ov er time. O n the other

hand, the United States took the 196 1 accomp lishments of the Sov iet Union as a

challeng e and sp ared no attemp ts to ex cel in the area to p rov e its mettle and

world leadership . N ASA was formed and all financial constraints were waiv ed for

adv ancement in the area. The United States made g reat strides since then. I n

contrast, the sp ace scientists of the Sov iet Union faced hu rdles of all kinds

inclu ding financial constraints and lack of p olitical b acking . The b eg inning

of the 21st centu ry marks the start of the second Sp ace

race in the world. This time arou nd, this sp ace race is likely to b e b etween the

United States and C hina as R u ssia is y et to wake u p from its sp ace slu mb er, and

drawing

larg e amou nt of attention throu g hou t the world. C hina, as the United

States of America has g ot q u ite a b ig b u ffer b etween thinking and acting in the

form of democratic g ov ernance and C ong ress, has an edg e in mov ing with the req u isite sp ace p rog rammes. P erhap s, C hina may

su ccessfu lly

United States p lans for the 20 20

land a man on the moon b efore the

landing . I ndia too is not far b ehind. I t has

howev er g ot to sp eed u p its sp ace p rog rammes. I ndia needs to p u ll u p its socks

to do q u ite an imp ressiv e j ob in the race. SPACE SHUTTLE PROBES

Since the b eg inning of mankind, man has alway s wanted to find ou t the

tru th of the world arou nd. As he discov ered more and more tru ths, the horiz ons of

his activ ities ex p anded ex p onentially and he encou ntered more p rob lems and

riddles along the p ath.

H e tried to solv e them and has alway s su cceeded in

doing so. H is u nq u enchab le cu riosity was his forte. N ot that those tru ths were

rev ealed to him all of su dden. H e discov ered them in stag es, often ru nning for centu ries or millenniu ms to arriv e at the final tru th.

F or ex amp le, his first

p ercep tion ab ou t the world he liv es in was that the Su n, moon and stars rev olv ed

arou nd the E arth and the E arth was the centre of the Univ erse. H e continu ed with

this b elief for centu ries till he discov ered that the E arth rev olv es arou nd the Su n.

I n the p rocess of his endeav ou rs to discov er the tru th of the world, he

inv ented u mp teen tools like telescop es and sp acecrafts to help him in his p rob es.

Sp acecrafts take him to ou ter sp ace to collect data. Sp ace Shu ttles are the latest

v ersion of the sp acecrafts dev ised b y the United States. They ap art from carry ing

astronau ts and scientists to the ou ter sp ace eng ag e them in difficu lt manoeu v res

there and b ring them b ack to the E arth. Another imp ortant featu re of these sp ace

shu ttles is that they can b e reu sed once they retu rns to the E arth like any other

transp ort facility . N ot that mankind has reached p erfection in this wonderfu l

technolog y . Sometimes b ack, the United States of America lau nched a Sp ace

Shu ttle to the ou ter sp ace with astronau ts on scientific assig nments. The Sp ace

Shu ttle disinteg rated on the way down while entering the E arth’ s atmosp here and

all the astronau ts were killed. Su ch terrib le losses are p arts of the p rog ress and

man has lots to cov er in the p rocess of discov ering the tru ths arou nd him.

COSMIC COLLISION

O n the fou rth of J u ly in 20 0 5 , while the United States of America was

celeb rating its N ational D ay , D eep in sp ace, the comet, N ASA targ eted a comet

known asTemp el-1 with a man made ob j ect as p art of its D eep I mp act Sp ace

Mission to stu dy the comp osition and orig in of comets as well as of the Univ erse.

The imp act was p hotog rap hed from the sp acecraft that was on the mission and

ob serv ed throu g h sp ace telescop es as well as from the ob serv atories on the

E arth, and rev ealed b rig ht sp ray of fine du sts from the site of the imp act on the

comet. The crater formed b y the imp act was arou nd 20 0 meters in diameter and 4 0 meters deep and contained fine du st p articles of carb onates, silicates, su lfides

and hy drocarb ons.

The comet, Temp el-1, which was discov ered on Ap ril 3 , 18 6 7 b y W ilhelm

Temp el, an astronomer working in Marseille was fou nd orb iting arou nd the Su n once ev ery

fiv e and a half y ears. This collision was desig ned to stu dy

the

comp osition of comets and how the world came into ex istence. Also in issu e in the ob j ectiv es of the D eep I mp act P rob e was whether the B ig B ang theory really

holds g ood or not. The P rob e sends b ack reading s and other data b ack to the E arth for the analy sis of scientists.

Temp el 1 will come to v iew ag ain in 20 11. N ASA p lans to v isit and imp act

the comet ag ain then b y its Stardu st sp acecraft as an ex tended mission of the

D eep

I mp act P rob e to stu dy chang es in the crater created in 20 0 5

and make

fu rther detailed and deep er stu dies of the crater for b etter u nderstanding of the

Univ erse.

PLANETS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Mankind has b een on this earth for a v ery long time and has alway s b een

cu riou s. P eop le hav e died ex p loring

new areas and ideas. The resu lt is the

p resence of man in all continents and in all corners on the su rface of the E arth.

N o area on the E arth remains u nknown or u nfamiliar any more. N atu rally , cu riou s

as he is alway s, he started looking b ey ond the E arth towards the sp ace. P lanets

and stars attracted his attention. H e trav eled in the sp ace in 195 0 s and landed on

the Moon in 196 0 s. P lanets of the Solar sy stem that he ob serv ed with naked ey es

and b y telescop es from centu ries are p rimed as the nex t targ et of man and his

u nab ated cu riosity . H e wants to land there and coloniz e them for his b enefits if he

can. The effort warrants detailed information the p lanets and the sp ace he is to

cov er reach there and the hu rdles and p rob lems to b e encou ntered du ring the

endeav or.

I n sp ite of tremendou s p rog ress made b y the commu nity of scientists in

this direction, lots need to b e done and req u ire time, fu nds and sy nerg y among

top scientists and ex p erts in v ariou s fields of science. They mu st fu rther stu dy

and analy z e and learn ab ou t v ariou s env ironment featu res of the ou ter sp ace that

y et remain incomp rehensib le to them. This will take a v ery long time.

The Solar Sy stem was traditionally held to contain nine p lanets namely

Mercu ry , V enu s, E arth, Mars, J u p iter, Satu rn, Uranu s, N ep tu ne and P lu to. Many

more b odies in the Solar Sy stem were discov ered and classified as non-p lanets

and a traditional p lanet of the Solar Sy stem namely P lu to was remov ed from the

p lanetary honou r and releg ated to the g rou p

of non-p lanet land masses since

then as many of the newly discov ered land masses that were classified as non-

p lanets were fou nd to b e larg er than P lu to, the smallest traditional p lanet of the

Solar Sy stem. There is tremendou s confu sion among

astronomers ab ou t the

concep t and definition of p lanets as different from non-p lanets and P lu to was

alway s in the ey e of the storm for a long time. SOLAR ENERGY FROM SPACE

The world faces a v ery larg e energ y p rob lem. This is some thing that I ndia

esp ecially

faces. The solu tion lies in u nconv entional sou rces of energ y ,

p articu larly harnessing energ y from the su n. This is a renewab le form of energ y ,

is nearly limitless and also is not p ollu ting at all and is the cau se of all forms of energ y on the earth ap art from the nu clear energ y .

Solar E nerg y is taken for g ranted b y man b ecau se of its ab u ndance and

easy av ailab ility . The world u ses it in the form of solar cells p op u larly u sed in

traffic lig hts, for home u ses for heating p u rp oses, and in satellites as sou rces of

energ y . I n this, man is harnessing

energ y

only a minu te fraction of the endless solar

at his disp osal. R easons are many . D ay

and nig ht cy cles, seasons,

g eog rap hical areas and clou ds make the av ailab ility of the solar energ y a time dep endent p henomenon. I t cannot b e harnessed steadily and u niformly at all

hou rs at all p laces at the will of the u ser. This leads to the p rob lems of storag e of

the solar energ y . C omb ined with the low-intensity energ y p atterns of the solar

energ y , the p rob lems of the storag e render solar energ y

economically

inconv enient enterp rise. I t is in this situ ation scientists thou g ht of harnessing

solar energ y from the ou ter sp ace.

C ontinu ou s and u ninterru p ted av ailab ility of the solar energ y in the ou ter

sp ace makes it ideal location for harnessing

b enefits of the solar energ y

the solar energ y . Already , the

in the ou ter sp ace are deriv ed for the energ y

req u irements of the sp ace ship s and satellites. H owev er, the p rob lem here is

reg arding transmission of the energ y so collected to the su rface of the E arth for

the hu man u se. R ig ht technolog ies are y et to b e dev ised for the p u rp ose and

scientists are on the j ob

to b ring

energ y req u irements of man.

a rev olu tion in meeting

the ev er-increasing

A NEW COUSIN

The world was created with the B ig B ang ab ou t fou rteen b illions of y ears

b ack. After b illions of y ears of cooling from the B ig B ang , the Su n of ou r solar

sy stem came into b eing leading to the b irth of the E arth and other p lanets of the

solar sy stem. F or ap p rox imately fou r b illion y ears, the E arth remained withou t life

on the p lanet. The E arth was too hot and cooled down v ery slowly . L ife started on

the E arth with the sing le cell creatu res and ov er b illions of y ears ev olv ed to

comp licated p atterns of life cu lminating

p resent form.

in the b irth of hu man b eing s in their

The first liv es on the E arth were water-b orn and aq u atic in natu re.

G radu ally , as the cells ev olv ed to comp licated p atterns on the comp u lsions of the

su rv iv al instincts and the needs of the adap tation to the env ironment, liv es

cap ab le of liv ing on land came into ex istence leading u ltimately to the b irth of

H omo sap iens.

H ome Sap iens is p rov ed to b e a v ery cu riou s sp ecies, eag er to discov er

and know ev ery thing

discov er ev ery thing

arou nd it. C u riosity is its hallmark. This natu re led it to

ab ou t the E arth it liv es on, the sp ace arou nd it and ev en

ab ou t the ou ter sp ace and p lanets and stars and the worlds b ey ond it.

H e

b ecame cu riou s to know whether life like his own ex ists any where else ou tside in

worlds inv isib le to him. H e was cu riou s to know ab ou t his hu man cou sins and

how they

liv e if they

ex ist any where in any

corner of the endless Univ erse.

Thou g h theories su rmise the p ossib ility of life and hu manlike sp ecies somewhere

in this endless Univ erse b ey ond hu man comp rehension, no emp irical ev idences

are av ailab le to p rov e or disp rov e it, and no su ch ev idences can b e accessed in

near fu tu re with the limits of the p resent scientific adv ancements in the

p ersp ectiv e of the hu man limits.

W hile man is looking to the O u ter Sp ace to trace his cou sins on the illu sion

that he has already conq u ered the E arth he liv es on in his thirst for knowing it

fu lly , he was in for a shock while he discov ered the ex istence of a new sp ecies,

H omo F loresiences, a cou sin of H ome Sap iens, in the island of R amp asasa in

I ndonesia, u ntil a few y ears b ack. L ocals of R amp asasa recall the H omo

F loresiences as short in heig ht. H owev er, the attention of the world is y et to focu s

on this interesting discov ery and scientists and archaeolog ists are y et to p u rsu e

this matter to know b etter ab ou t their cou sins on this v ery E arth on which they liv e

on.

STEM CELLS

Stem cells are the b asic cells. They are the cells from what ev ery p art of

the b ody dev elop s after g oing throu g h sev eral stag es. They are p resent in almost

all liv ing b odies in the stag e of the initial g rowth. They form all cells of the b ody

inclu ding the mu scle cells, the nerv e cells, and the b one cells. These stem cells if

p rop erly manip u lated are p otential of cu ring all g enetic diseases and chang ing

p ersonal traits and character in liv ing b eing s inclu ding man.

There are differences of op inions reg arding fu rther ex p eriments in the field

of the stem cells that hav e the p otential to chang e the v ery

natu re of man.

B ecau se, su ch p otentialities inv olv e moral q u estions. Many cou ntries like N orth K orea and E ng land hav e made considerab le p rog ress in the field of stem cells. Mr. G eorg e B u sh, as the P resident of the United States of America strong ly

op p osed stem cell ex p eriments and ev en threatened that he wou ld v eto any b ill

on this field if the C ong ress p assed it. The p resent P resident of the United States

of America has different v iew in this issu e and the world may witness stem cell

rev olu tion for the b etterment of the hu man kind. CLONING OF ANIMALS

These day s, hu man kind has adv anced so mu ch that many thing s that he

does wou ld certainly su rp rises the creator himself if he comes down to v isit the

hu man kind he created. H u man kind has b een ab le to work wonders wherev er he

has g one to work in. H e is now try ing to cop y the work of the creator himself. The

endeav ou r is p rog ressing

withou t the b arriers of the national b orders. The

p resent efforts are towards cloning

of animals throu g h the D N A techniq u e to

create stu rdy and strong er sp ecies. Scientists created D olly , a sheep that died of

disease. Thereafter, the scientists p rodu ced a cloned cat that tu rned ou t to b e a

carb on cop y of the cat from which the D N A was ex tracted and u sed. I t was a

maj or step for the science and mankind in their p rog ress towards rep licating the

works of the creator in creating

liv ing

sp ecies. Then, the nex t su ccessfu l

endeav ou r was in creating a mu le, which was a cross b etween a donkey and a horse. L ater, they

su cceeded in p rodu cing

a cloned dog

called as Snu p p y .

Attemp ts will continu e in the cloning techniq u es till scientists create healthy and

strong cloned hu man sp ecies. Already they hav e su cceeded in p rodu cing hu man

semen in lab oratory conditions and this itself is a rev olu tionary step forward to the

field of the creator. NEWTONIAN LAWS

N ewton was a g reat p hy sicist, mathematician, astronomer and natu ral

p hilosop her that liv ed ab ou t three hu ndred y ears b ack from 16 4 3 to 1727. H e was

a p erson who is well known throu g hou t the world today for his p ath b reaking

influ ence on the history of science. H is fu ll name is I saac N ewton. I saac N ewton

was a p hy sicist and a mathematician with a flair for astronomy

and natu ral

p hilosop hy . H e is easily the g reatest p hy sicist in the world till Alb ert E instein

p ostu lated the Theory of R elativ ity that rev olu tioniz ed the field of science. I n an

op inion p oll held at B ritain’ s R oy al Society in 20 0 5 , he was v oted as hav ing larg er

influ ence on the history of science than Alb ert E instein.

I saac N ewton was b orn and liv ed in E ng land that has p rodu ced g ems

like W illiam Shakesp eare, and J ohn K eats. Sir I saac N ewton is the father of the

three N ewton’ s L aws. N ewton’ s first law say s that if a b ody

is at rest, it will

continu e to b e at rest and a b ody , which is in motion, will continu e to b e in motion

and will continu e mov ing in the same direction with the same v elocity u ntil an

ex ternal force is ap p lied on it. N ewton’ s second law say s that the rate of chang e

of momentu m of a b ody

is eq u al to the p rodu ct b etween the mass and the

acceleration of the b ody and the chang e of momentu m is in the direction of the force. N ewton’ s third law say s that for ev ery

action, there is an eq u al and

op p osite reaction. These three laws rev olu tioniz ed the concep ts of science of the

time and laid fou ndations for rap id g rowth of science in the nex t centu ries. All

later rev olu tions in P hy sics and classical mechanics like the Theory of R elativ ity

and the Q u antu m Theory owe their orig in to the concep ts conceiv ed and the

p aths laid b y

Sir I saac N ewton in his P hilosop hiæ

Mathematica, p u b lished in 16 8 7.

N atu ralis P rincip ia

CONGRUENCY OF TRIANGLES

Triang les are three sided fig u res that are p resent in the world of G eometry

They are said to b e one of the most comp lex fig u res in g eometry . Triang les can

b e of three ty p es: E q u ilateral, I sosceles and Scalene. C ong ru ency of triang les

means that the triang les are eq u al and same in all resp ects. There are many

kinds of triang les in G eometry . C ong ru ency is one of them. There are some

conditions for a triang le to b e a cong ru ent triang le. The triang le mu st b e eq u al to

the triang le in all resp ects - that is in three ang les and in three sides. H owev er,

creating a cong ru ent triang le b eing a difficu lt and tediou s work, fou r op tions are

av ailab le to p erform the j ob : the S.S.S cong ru ency , the S.A.S cong ru ency , the

A.S.A cong ru ency and the R .H .S cong ru ency . The S.S.S cong ru ency refers to

the cong ru ency which can b e determined if the three sides of the triang les are g iv en and b oth are eq u al. The S.A.S cong ru ency refers to the cong ru ency which

can b e determined if the two sides and one ang le of the triang les are g iv en and

b oth are eq u al. The A.S.A cong ru ency refers to the cong ru ency which can b e

determined if the two ang les and one side of the triang les are g iv en and b oth are

eq u al. The R .H .S cong ru ency refers to the cong ru ency which can b e determined

if the hy p otenu se, the rig ht ang le and one of the triang les are g iv en and all are

eq u al. The R .H .S cong ru ency can b e u sed only in a rig ht-ang le triang le.