Shanghai crowd crush spotlights China’s growing pains

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5YZsD3T_AxQLRFfY7oOO-ymP4UTlSEAFTwGa3vHQhkdK5VEVuBh1E6wF6hbepW6WpcHW0AzBAfqJlyOEv5NueHqnk197sDvAa-FUqAgq7ePynMei11hMQ0uX5eilcXgoDlpuIl5x4lRs/s1600/china.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5YZsD3T_AxQLRFfY7oOO-ymP4UTlSEAFTwGa3vHQhkdK5VEVuBh1E6wF6hbepW6WpcHW0AzBAfqJlyOEv5NueHqnk197sDvAa-FUqAgq7ePynMei11hMQ0uX5eilcXgoDlpuIl5x4lRs/s1600/china.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> SHANGHAI – Dozens of deaths from the New Year’s Eve crush in Shanghai highlight China’s enduring vulnerabilities even as it races ahead economically, commentators say, with municipal management outpaced by new buildings and advanced transport.<br /> <br /> A celebration on the Bund, Shanghai’s signature waterfront, turned deadly on New Year’s Eve, killing 36 people, most of them young women, in the same city that hosted the World Expo in 2010 and saw its stock market surge by more than 50 percent last year.<br /> <br /> Shanghai has been at the forefront of China’s decades of rapid development and now boasts the world’s second-tallest building and its first commercial magnetically levitated, or maglev, train, part of the biggest high-speed rail network on Earth.<br /> <br /> It is the location of China’s first free trade zone and has stated its intention of becoming an “international city” and a global center for finance, trade and shipping, echoing its history before the Communists took power in 1949.<br /> <br /> But despite those major achievements and tall ambitions, residents question how police nevertheless failed to control the crowds that led to the crush, which also injured 49.<br /> <br /> Chinese police are not accustomed to handling spontaneous large groups in a country where the communist authorities normally keep strict control of major gatherings.<br /> <br /> A comment by a police officer that fewer personnel were dispatched to the Bund for new year than China’s National Day celebration last year has only stoked the controversy.<br /> <br /> “I believe this is a major case of negligence by government safety agencies,” said a microblogger using the handle Shenshan Laohan 96886. “Because they made this wrong judgment call, didn’t take measures at the scene, it led to the tragedy.”<br /> <br /> Police have said through state media that a more-than-normal 700 officers in the area responded quickly to the incident, despite witnesses who said emergency vehicles had trouble gaining access due to the crowds.<br /> <br /> In an unusually critical commentary, Xinhua, China’s own official news agency, said the Shanghai crush was a “wake-up call” about the nation’s push for economic growth at the expense of the people.<br /> <br /> “The world’s second-largest economy is still a developing country which has fragile social management,” it said.<br /> <br /> “Similar incidents causing heavy casualties are rare in developed countries,” it added, citing mine disasters and industrial accidents as other symbols of the hazards of rapid growth.<br /> <br /> But while China is “working on achieving its dream of rejuvenation,” Xinhua said, it remains “no stranger to such incidents.”<br /> <br /> The country’s coal mines are among the world’s most dangerous, while factory accidents often occur as owners evade regulations or bribe officials to ignore safety violations.<br /> <br /> “Improving people’s lives should become a yardstick against which national development is measured,” Xinhua said. “There is no development worth people’s lives.”<br /> <br /> The Shanghai crush was centered on a wide stairway linking a raised riverfront promenade with a plaza below, part of a major urban reconstruction project in the 1990s that transformed the Bund, which began as a muddy towpath in the 19th century.<br /> <br /> The changes expanded the area, moved traffic underground and created a tourist attraction.<br /> <br /> Peter Hibbard, author of “The Bund Shanghai: China Faces West,” praised the creation of the public space and said it had “caught people’s imagination as a place to go.”<br /> <br /> But he added: “The Bund never had the capability of accommodating so many people before.”<br /> <br /> The Bund is now packed with high-end restaurants and expensive boutiques, and Shanghai residents traditionally flock there for new year celebrations, with nearly 300,000 packing the area last New Year’s Eve.<br /> <br /> More recently, the district government had begun staging official celebrations, and this year’s “countdown” included a light show, performances and fireworks.<br /> <br /> But the crush highlighted the mismatch between the city’s growth and its public services. Shanghai’s official population is 24 million, but the number of unregistered migrant workers — who, despite being encouraged to move into the cities are shut out of social services such as health care and education — boost the total.<br /> <br /> “There’s a management issue,” said Andy Xie, an independent economist and a Shanghai native. “There are social issues about all of these people flocking to the city.”<br /> <br /> “It’s not easy to manage Shanghai . . . There’s nothing like this elsewhere in the world.”<br /> <br /> With authorities identifying 35 of the deceased by name, hundreds of family members mourned. On social media and TV, many Chinese were asking how such a tragedy could have happened in the heart of the country’s financial hub.<br /> <br /> “I blame myself for it. I did not protect her,” said Zhao Weiwei, the boyfriend of 24-year-old real estate professional Pan Haiqin, his eyes welling with tears. “She was a cheerful woman who worked so hard in this city.”<br /> <br /> Her parents and friends identified her trampled body in a city morgue nearly 20 hours later after she died.<br /> <br /> Zhao said the crowd descending from the platform crashed into him and his girlfriend and others at the bottom of the 17 steps as they were trying to inch up.<br /> <br /> “We were holding hands then, but no way could we resist the force coming down,” he said. “We were separated, and people fell down backward with their faces up, piling on each other. When we were able to pull them out, many were already unconscious.”<br /> <br /> Grieving family members and friends say they were kept in the dark about rescue efforts and post-mortem arrangements. They said they had yet to meet or talk with senior city officials. On Friday, many were forced inside a district government compound, with reporters kept out.<br /> <br /> “We are basically placed under house arrest,” Cai Jinjin, whose cousin Qi Xiaoyan was killed in the stampede, said before an Associated Press reporter was asked by Shanghai police to leave the compound.

Asia Shanghai crowd crush spotlights China’s growing pains

SHANGHAI – Dozens of deaths from the New Year’s Eve crush in Shanghai highlight China’s enduring vulnerabilities even as it races ahead ...

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A man body was found in forest in Stung Treng

<b><span style="font-size: large;">A man body was found in forest left skull and bones in Stung Treng Province</span></b><br /> <b><br /></b> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC9qet1RbapLutKqH16NXSO1MmwJ_Pjz0fVcc-HvOVtlPnboj0ZQV8spvAksfymCb5dUOLA3ihr5lSD5R4YW3N4L4p-YjDhCCJ9WCXauyZ7XsL7ZjK2FuP96j1sT8cI4M5qAHttzBZGQc/s1600/a+man+body.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC9qet1RbapLutKqH16NXSO1MmwJ_Pjz0fVcc-HvOVtlPnboj0ZQV8spvAksfymCb5dUOLA3ihr5lSD5R4YW3N4L4p-YjDhCCJ9WCXauyZ7XsL7ZjK2FuP96j1sT8cI4M5qAHttzBZGQc/s1600/a+man+body.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74I7xmW6nyDZUum9w3rFqWfeKyOguy8pLbo07Rik7FOqF6mWyQrfEzC9WKJvRJS9c039g4ENCWqgbs-cCnX-o0wxQscnzruDpCXDGUdTyHjpYU1CJVPSUy6NgLEF9RJoMSDzaSlxXdrY/s1600/body.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="516" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74I7xmW6nyDZUum9w3rFqWfeKyOguy8pLbo07Rik7FOqF6mWyQrfEzC9WKJvRJS9c039g4ENCWqgbs-cCnX-o0wxQscnzruDpCXDGUdTyHjpYU1CJVPSUy6NgLEF9RJoMSDzaSlxXdrY/s1600/body.gif" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <br /> <b> Stung Treng Province:</b> One residents found a man body in the forest witch left only skull bones  while walking out of the forest close to the National Road No. 7, causing surprise and he has reported to authorities polices in  the morning of 02 January 2015, This man body located about 300 metres from Dung kralor of Phan kat village Stung  Treng Province.<br /> This body may died between 05 to 08 December , 2014.

Local News A man body was found in forest in Stung Treng

A man body was found in forest left skull and bones in Stung Treng Province  Stung Treng Province:  One residents found a man ...

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Angkor Half Marathon Siem Reap Angkor

Angkor Half Marathon Siem Reap Angkor <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder=" 0 " height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BNukce7m3cQ" width="100%"> <!-- iframe--> <img border="0" height=" 0 " src=" http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/BNukce7m3cQ/ 0.jpg " width=" 0 "/><br /><br /> </iframe>

Sport Video Angkor Half Marathon Siem Reap Angkor

Angkor Half Marathon Siem Reap Angkor

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AirAsia Flight 8501: Indonesia jet recovery; 7 bodies were found

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqKd8B4Gg6jUs_-HQdyFFceBbBz6xNARoYY6n5fIam6GcHpaQfiWGRAdyYE4Q-9bLU4m-zXGvqsofJrLRCyYM1Cvnn7sDAJhVekCtMW7Q4fVvVDf8pJgb1pRS07hDnavvWehJP4AoeYVI/s1600/airasia-victims-l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqKd8B4Gg6jUs_-HQdyFFceBbBz6xNARoYY6n5fIam6GcHpaQfiWGRAdyYE4Q-9bLU4m-zXGvqsofJrLRCyYM1Cvnn7sDAJhVekCtMW7Q4fVvVDf8pJgb1pRS07hDnavvWehJP4AoeYVI/s1600/airasia-victims-l.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span> <span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><b>AirAsia Flight 8501: Indonesia jet recovery; 7 bodies were found</b></span><br /> <span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span> Bad weather hindered efforts to recover victims of AirAsia Flight 8501 Wednesday, and sent wreckage drifting far from the crash site, as grieving relatives “surrounded in darkness” gathered in an airport and prayed for the strength to move forward.<br /> <br /> SEE PICS: AirAsia QZ8501 plane’s mystery ends with grief and distress for relatives<br /> The massive hunt for 162 people who vanished Sunday aboard the Airbus A320 from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore, was severely limited due to heavy rain, wind and thick clouds. Seven bodies, including a flight attendant still wearing her red AirAsia uniform, have been recovered, said Indonesia’s Search and Rescue Agency chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo.<br /> <br /> The weather prevented divers from retrieving bodies in the Java Sea on Wednesday, and helicopters were largely grounded, but ships were still scouring the area. Sonar images identified what appeared to be large parts of the plane, but strong currents were moving the wreckage. “It seems all the wreckage found has drifted more than 50 kilometers from yesterday’s location,” said Vice Air Marshal Sunarbowo Sandi, search and rescue coordinator in Pangkalan Bun on Borneo island, the closest town to the site. “We are expecting those bodies will end up on beaches.” The airliner’s disappearance halfway through the two-hour flight triggered an international search for the aircraft involving dozens of planes, ships and helicopters from numerous countries. It is still unclear what brought the plane down.<br /> <br /> Recovering bodies was expected to remain difficult for the near future. Indonesia’s meteorology and geophysics agency predicted that the conditions would worsen, with more intense rains, through Friday. The aircraft’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders, or black boxes, must be recovered before officials can start determining what caused the crash. Items recovered so far include a life jacket, an emergency window, children’s shoes, a blue suitcase and backpacks filled with food. Simple wooden boxes containing bodies, with signs numbered 001 and 002, were unloaded in Pangkalan Bun, with flowers placed on top. Nearly all the passengers were Indonesian. The country is predominantly Muslim, but most of those aboard were Christians of Chinese descent.<br /> <div> <br /></div>

Asia International AirAsia Flight 8501: Indonesia jet recovery; 7 bodies were found

AirAsia Flight 8501: Indonesia jet recovery; 7 bodies were found Bad weather hindered efforts to recover victims of AirAsia Flight 8501...

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A ape-like robot was designed by NASA for disasters

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTIU5U_4XQtzdGuLibQMu9xLTBME3nlKKQOAUGs69vLWkW5yhc0AaQzO518bQ-aa8vUuZyqaYL1FAth3nsuCMPicagbzxy6TPCkizH-4fdzy7zUJFo4eWzCMIbfBL4g2KI_s2BFY9qSps/s1600/nasa+robot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The RoboSimian disaster-response robot has four limbs, seven cameras and a LiDAR system." border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTIU5U_4XQtzdGuLibQMu9xLTBME3nlKKQOAUGs69vLWkW5yhc0AaQzO518bQ-aa8vUuZyqaYL1FAth3nsuCMPicagbzxy6TPCkizH-4fdzy7zUJFo4eWzCMIbfBL4g2KI_s2BFY9qSps/s1600/nasa+robot.jpg" title="The RoboSimian disaster-response robot has four limbs, seven cameras and a LiDAR system." width="400" /></a></div> <br /> <b><span style="font-size: large;"> A ape-like robot was designed by NASA for disasters</span></b><br /> <br /> When we imagine the robots of the future, they often look and move like humans, standing up on two legs and using a pair of arms to grab and move objects. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is working on a different kind of robot for disaster response that's designed to move like an ape.<br /> Headless but covered with seven cameras that act as "eyes," the RobotSimian has four identical limbs that do double duty as arms and legs. Together, they ably move the robot across rough terrain and rubble but can also pick up and manipulate objects. It has wheels it can coast on if the surface is smooth enough.<br /> The RoboSimian is JPL's final entry into the DARPA Robotics Challenge, a 27-month-long competition among some of the world's top robotic talent to create an emergency response robot. In situations such as a nuclear disaster, one of these robots could go into environments too dangerous for human rescue workers and execute simple tasks such as lifting debris off survivors or turning off a valve.<br /> In June, RoboSimian and up to 18 other finalists will have to make their way through an obstacle course that simulates eight common scenarios. Each robot will attempt to drive a car, move across rubble, use a tool and climb stairs, all without a human controlling it. DARPA says the final competitors should be as competent as a 2-year-old child. The winning team will receive a $2 million prize.<br /> JPL used leftover parts from RoboSimian to create another robot called Surrogate. The more traditional upright robot has a flexible spine, head and two arms. While better at manipulating objects, Surrogate ran on tracks and wasn't as adept at traversing the complicated terrain that is common in a disaster. After considering both candidates, the team decided to take RoboSimian to the finals.<br /> One trade-off is that RoboSiman is slower than many other competitors. JPL's team is working with the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Caltech to increase the robot's walking speed.<br /> "It is intentionally the tortoise relative to the other hares in the competition. We feel that a very stable and deliberate approach suites our technical strengths and provides a model for one vital element of the 'ecosystem' of robots that we expect to be deployed to disaster scenarios in the future," said JPL's Brett Kennedy, who is supervisor of the Robotic Vehicles and Manipulators Group.<br /> The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is most known for designing robotics for space exploration, such as the Mars rovers. But the DARPA competition was an opportunity for the JPL group to take its existing robotics research and compare approaches directly to other talented teams.<br /> NASA also has a long history of taking technology developed for space exploration and using it here on Earth.<br /> RoboSimian software was influenced by programs used to control the Mars rovers. In both cases, the system is designed to let the robots work as autonomously as possible when communication with a human operator is dropped. Spotty communications are common in disaster scenarios (and on Mars).<br /> The team has thought hard about all aspects of RoboSimian's design, even making sure it has the right look.<br /> "We included industrial designers in the team in an effort to create a robot that looked professional rather than either threatening or overly cute," said Kennedy. "Basically, we wanted the perceptual equivalent of a St. Bernard."<br /> While JPL is focused on perfecting the ape-like design for Earth-bound applications for now, this is just one stop in the circular life of NASA technology.<br /> "We intend to spin the technologies developed for the terrestrial RoboSimian back out to applications in space," said Kennedy.<br /> "These tasks include assembly and maintenance of orbital structures; exploration of low-gravity bodies like asteroids, comets, and moons; exploration of caves and cliffs on Mars or our moon; and even preconstruction of habitats wherever humans care to venture in the solar system."

Technology A ape-like robot was designed by NASA for disasters

 A ape-like robot was designed by NASA for disasters When we imagine the robots of the future, they often look and move like humans, st...

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AirAsia: Bodies were found for Missing Flight QZ8501

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXoHKWdDWA5cvYP3ObJjRsJr2-xpqjO0pdZSxPoe3fJm0-rbWVjB9wQojtL_IB0S8m61lRS67Z1T6pv2Ph8vwNuZng65P7wxzxW7KnEManMHGJpQNCmN1Wbssjc6NG2sHJ9AIDO7uIKng/s1600/airasia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXoHKWdDWA5cvYP3ObJjRsJr2-xpqjO0pdZSxPoe3fJm0-rbWVjB9wQojtL_IB0S8m61lRS67Z1T6pv2Ph8vwNuZng65P7wxzxW7KnEManMHGJpQNCmN1Wbssjc6NG2sHJ9AIDO7uIKng/s1600/airasia.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <br /> <b><span style="font-size: large;">Air Asia Flight QZ8501</span></b><br /> Wreckage was found floating in Indonesian waters today that belongs to missing Air Asia which crashed in the  Sea on Sunday with 162 passengers aboard, according to airline.<br /> <br /> The National Search and Rescue Agency Republic of Indonesia (BASARNAS) today confirmed that the debris found earlier today is indeed from QZ8501, flight had lost contact with air traffic control on 28th December 2014, according to airline's statement.<br /> <br /> Indonesian officials have downgraded the number of bodies they say have been retrieved -- from six to three -- belonging to two women and one man.<br /> <br />  The head of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency, Bambang Soelistyo, said retrieval efforts were slowed by weather conditions and will continue through the night and into Wednesday.<br /> <br />  A shadow in the shape of a plane had also been spotted in the water, Soelistyo said.<br /> <br />  The water is less than 100 feet deep in the area where the objects were found.The items were spotted near the site where air traffic control lost contact with the plane. officials said.<br /> <br /> The recovered bodies were not wearing life jackets, officials said.<br /> <br /> Relatives of the plane passengers cried and wailed upon hearing the news, with one man fainting while gathered at Indonesia's Surabaya Airport .<br /> <br /> Soelistyo said "I put myself in the shoes of the families who have lost loved ones,”<br /> <br /> AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes expressed sorrow, saying, "My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ8501. Words cannot express how sorry I am."<br /> <br /> Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said in a Facebook post that within the past few hours, three of the country's ships "have been asked to proceed towards the area where bodies and debris were found" and that an additional ship will "set sail this evening to join the operation."<br /> <br /> Today's search included 12 helicopter units, 11 fixed-wing units and 32 ship units with assistance from neighboring countries Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.<br /> <br /> Flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320-200, lost contact with air traffic control over the Java Sea during a flight to Singapore Sunday morning, shortly after the pilots requested a change of flight plan because of weather.<br /> <br /> There were 155 passengers on board, with 137 adults, 17 children and 1 infant. Also on board were 2 pilots, 4 cabin crews and one engineer, according to the airline.

Asia AirAsia: Bodies were found for Missing Flight QZ8501

Air Asia Flight QZ8501 Wreckage was found floating in Indonesian waters today that belongs to missing Air Asia which crashed in the  S...

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One shopping mall in Pakistan fired: 13 people were died

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKTyJxPzEkL_pQ0_a62xGPfnaCd1cGrqWuX80a546DPnJZIcPsR1z6UDrO5GsQ53Hx3TfeySUKpHSQawM7-WX0AXuPDOqQkXd1mHKjpdJz72RWomBT-hzm4l9Aa-OxX_8y0yeGX3htYak/s1600/fire_pakistan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKTyJxPzEkL_pQ0_a62xGPfnaCd1cGrqWuX80a546DPnJZIcPsR1z6UDrO5GsQ53Hx3TfeySUKpHSQawM7-WX0AXuPDOqQkXd1mHKjpdJz72RWomBT-hzm4l9Aa-OxX_8y0yeGX3htYak/s1600/fire_pakistan.jpg" width="360" /></a></div> <br /> Pakistan :<br /> One of shopping mall in Pakistani city of Lahore fired and there were 13 people were died, a local media reported Thusday.<br /> <br /> The fire broke out at the oldest shopping center in the eastern city, which is considered Pakistan’s cultural center.<br /> Video footage shows rescuers escorting the wounded into ambulances Monday as firefighters struggled to beat back the blaze with extinguishers.<br /> Mohammed Usman, a city government official on the scene of the blaze, said the victims died of suffocation and burns. They included a woman and a child.<br /> Usman said the fire burned the main gate of the shopping center, where mostly watches and clothes are sold. He said there was no exit in the back part of the mall. Usman said the fire was caused by a short circuit in one of the shops.<br /> Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed his grief over the deadly blaze, and directed the government to accelerate the rescue and relief efforts.<br /> <br />

Asia One shopping mall in Pakistan fired: 13 people were died

Pakistan : One of shopping mall in Pakistani city of Lahore fired and there were 13 people were died, a local media reported Thusday. ...

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India creates history in 2014 with space odyssey

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5jqx4V5LjKwUj0NofcKHma1nL9klwx3mElN6RGqrgXYx_f65xUT6Zl3BhITxKmZqLQkqk3Kr3a4EK3NRvrSYwkpYjLjXVG871N0goQTZ_OT5DbodnXhmvG_SOAg1gUqZJOLCE7KE30ss/s1600/isro-main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5jqx4V5LjKwUj0NofcKHma1nL9klwx3mElN6RGqrgXYx_f65xUT6Zl3BhITxKmZqLQkqk3Kr3a4EK3NRvrSYwkpYjLjXVG871N0goQTZ_OT5DbodnXhmvG_SOAg1gUqZJOLCE7KE30ss/s1600/isro-main.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> With IRSO succeeding in its first inter-planetary Mars Orbiter Mission making India the only country to achieve this feat in its maiden attempt, 2014 was not only momentous but a very busy year for the space sector.<br /> <br /> The year saw two successful launches of GSLVs and five foreign satellites in the orbit. The country’s space agency also tested the atmospheric re-entry of a crew module towards realising its ambition to send humans into space.<br /> At the start of the year, ISRO launched GSLV-D5 through use of indigenous cryogenic technology and injected GSAT-14 communication satellite into the intended orbit, announcing India’s entry into the heavy satellite launch market.<br /> <br /> Launching a GSLV with an indigenous cryogenic engine has been a major challenge for ISRO since 2001 after multiple unsuccessful attempts. Only two of a total of seven attempts succeeded, four were a failure and another a partial success. In April, it successfully launched its IRNSS 1B, its second navigational satellite, onboard PSLV-C24 from Sriharikota.<br /> IRNSS-1B, the second of the seven satellites planned under the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).<br /> <br /> In June, ISRO launched five foreign satellites for four countries on board PSLV-C23 rocket which placed them in orbit, an achievement described by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an ‘endorsement’ of the country’s space capabilities.<br /> Besides its primary payload of 714 kg French Earth Observation Satellite SPOT-7, the rocket carried and placed in orbit 14 kg AISAT of Germany, NLS7.1 (CAN-X4) and NLS7.2 (CAN-X5) of Canada, each weighing 15 kg, and the 7 kg VELOX-1 of Singapore.<br /> <br /> However, its biggest feat came in September when the Mars Orbiter Mission was successfully inserted in the red planet’s orbit. ISRO not only received accolades nationally, but also on global platform.<br /> The space agency also launched communications satellite GSAT-16 by the European launcher Ariane 5 VA221, from the Kourou space port in French Guiana.<br /> <br /> GSAT-16’s 48 transponders – 12 in the C band, 12 in the extended C and 24 in the Ku band – cover the entire country and the Andaman & Nicobar islands.<br /> On December 18, taking its baby steps towards realising India’s ambition to send humans into space, the Department of Space tested the atmospheric reentry of a crew module after its heaviest launch vehicle GSLV Mk-III capable of carrying heavier payloads up to four tonnes- blasted off from Sriharikota.<br /> Weighing over three tonnes, the 2.7-metre tall cup cake shaped crew module with a diameter of 3.1 metres, which features aluminium alloy internal structure with composite panels and ablative thermal protection systems, was made to safely drop down into the sea by specially-made parachutes.<br /> The experiment also witnessed the largest parachute in action ever made in the country. The main parachute, which helped the crew module touch the waters at around 7 metre/second speed, was 31 metres in diameter.<br /> <br /> At the international level, India and China agreed to cooperate on research and development of scientific experiment, remote sensing satellites and communication satellites.<br /> In October, India and Mexico formally agreed on a cooperation in areas related to the peaceful use of the outer space, such as remote sensing and satellite communication.<br /> <div> <br /></div>

Asia Culture Economy entertainment Europe International national Sport Technology Tourism TV Video India creates history in 2014 with space odyssey

With IRSO succeeding in its first inter-planetary Mars Orbiter Mission making India the only country to achieve this feat in its maiden a...

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The New technology year 2015

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigljp-2V_IVynOpeE8S8Q3-s8gwAhWpLN-S9K8ckpXod0oF92a5idg1pChDPAydZw_FXZmzq5d9JgjJ37M63oAU4x9FrAzcbyrsQpZvB4zcwv9IHQ8x3M09PvQRqBtWjpI6Q41RPNM4F4/s1600/science.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigljp-2V_IVynOpeE8S8Q3-s8gwAhWpLN-S9K8ckpXod0oF92a5idg1pChDPAydZw_FXZmzq5d9JgjJ37M63oAU4x9FrAzcbyrsQpZvB4zcwv9IHQ8x3M09PvQRqBtWjpI6Q41RPNM4F4/s1600/science.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> In July, the hunt for gravitational waves will heat up with the launch of a detector called Lisa Pathfinder, which will test technology for a gravitational wave observatory in space. Two earthbound experiments which should be able to pick up gravitational disturbances from exploding stars will also be brought online in 2015.<br /> <br /> <b>Pluto-bound</b><br /> This month, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft awoke from a long slumber. The probe, which has been travelling for nearly nine years over 3 billion miles, will be the first spacecraft to reach the discredited planet Pluto. As it gets closer from January through July, it will begin taking hyper-detailed images.<br /> Ceres<br /> <br /> In March, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft will begin orbiting Ceres, an anomaly within the asteroid belt. The planet measures about 590 miles across and weighs a third of all other asteroids in the belt combined. It appears to be a survivor from the time the solar system was formed 4.6 billion years ago.<br /> <br /> <b>LHC restart</b><br /> Next spring, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, will power up after two years of repairs. This time, the LHC will be back at energies nearly twice as high as in the first run.<br /> 3D printing<br /> Worldwide shipments of 3D printers are expected to grow 98 per cent in 2015. By 2020, according to research firm IDC, 10 per cent of consumer products will be available through “produce on demand” via 3D printing.<br /> <br /> <b>Competing on cloud</b><br /> Cloud computing will be one of the 10 technology trends in 2015, according to IT analysis firm Gartner. The focus will be on promoting centrally-coordinated applications that can port across multiple devices and generate revenue streams. Cloud computing will generate some 14 million new jobs worldwide by 2015.<br /> Fighting Ebola<br /> Scientists say 2015 will represent a turning point in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus, which has now killed over 7,500 people. Two vaccines could reach West Africa by January — one from pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline and the other, from Iowa company NewLink Genetics.<br /> <br /> <b>Data highway</b><br /> Two weeks ago, a European satellite beamed images to Earth using new laser-based communications technology. The images were a test of a $562 million data highway being constructed, called the European Data Relay Satellite, which will allow faster transmission of large amounts of data.<br /> Rise of drones<br /> Thousands of drones are expected to take flight in the coming months, serving a variety of purposes — warfare, delivery, surveillance, wildlife documentation and agriculture, among others. GoPro Inc is developing its own line of consumer drones and Facebook has acquired Titan Aerospace, a maker of solar-powered drones.<br /> <br /> <b>Immunotherapy</b><br /> Cancer immunotherapy, Science’s breakthrough of 2013, continues to surge as researchers amass evidence that the immune system can be a powerful ally against tumours. Dozens of clinical trials are under way.

Technology The New technology year 2015

In July, the hunt for gravitational waves will heat up with the launch of a detector called Lisa Pathfinder, which will test technology f...

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