Mars mission: Isro performs last orbit-raising manoeuvre

CHENNAI: The Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) on Saturday performed the last of the five orbit-raising manoeuvre on its Mars Orbiter in the early hours, raising the apogee (farthest point from Earth) of the spacecraft to over 1.92 lakh km.

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"The fifth orbit-raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, starting at 01:27am (IST).. with a burn time of 243.5 seconds has been successfully completed. The observed change in apogee is from 1,18,642 km to 1,92,874 km," Isro said.
In the series of five orbit-raising manoeuvre with a supplementary operation after the fourth one, the space agency had raised the apogee of the spacecraft to over 1.92 lakh km.
After the successful completion of these operations, the Mars Orbiter Mission is expected to take on the "crucial event" of the trans-Mars injection around 12.42am on December 1. It will reach the orbit of the red planet by September 24, 2014 after taking on a voyage of over 10 months.
Isro's PSLV-C25 successfully injected the 1,350-kg 'Mangalyaan' Orbiter (Mars craft) into the orbit around the earth some 44 minutes after a text book launch at 2.38pm from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on November 5, marking the successful completion of the first stage of the Rs 450 crore mission.

India win Sachin's farewell Test, beat West Indies

India on Saturday beat West Indies by an innings and 126 runs at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, sweeping the two-Test series. It was Sachin Tendulkar's last game.

 

West Indies were 43 for three on Friday as they took to the field at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Saturday. Day three of the second Test match will see the Indian team playing with Sachin Tendulkar one last time.

The man who dominated the cricket scene in India and the world over has played his knock and will be missed sorely.
It was amply demonstrated by fans at the Wankhede, on the streets and on Twitter and Facebook that the Master Blaster was like no other.
India is at the verge of a clean sweep in the two-match Test series, but this time it's not about winning or losing. It's about one man.
Fans will line up again on Saturday to get one final glimpse of their idol.
He may not wield the willow again, but the crowds will not want to miss watching the 40-year-old Tendulkar on the field.
Fans would like to see Tendulkar bat for a second time in his 200th and final Test, but only a batting miracle by the Windies will turn this one-sided contest around to let the Master Blaster take to the pitch again.w3softpro

ABB bets big on solar energy in India

ABB India is looking at significantly increasing its presence in the solar energy space as the Union and several State governments have lined up mega expansion of solar energy capacity. As prices of oil and coal go up steadily, experts feel, solar power could become an affordable and sustainable source of energy.

According to the National Solar Mission, India is projected to have solar energy capacity of 10,000 MW by 2017. And by 2022, the country will have 20,000 MW. India already has solar power generating capacity of 2,100 MW. Another 4,000 MW are in the pipeline, according to Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secretary, Ministry of New And Renewable Energy. 

“Solar energy is getting more acceptability and the growth has been very high since the past three years. There is huge opportunity ahead, and we are poised to leverage that opportunity. We are gearing up to provide turnkey solutions for our clients in India,” Ajay Kawdikar, Vice-President, Country Solar, ABB India, told The Hindu.

“We are very committed to solar energy, and this is evident from the fact that ABB recently invested $1 billion to acquire U.S.-based Power-One Inc. which has enormous capability in the solar power domain,” he said. 

Mr. Kawdikar was here to attend Intersolar 2013, a trade show. “We are quite upbeat about the potential of solar energy in India, and our order book position is healthy. We have cumulative orders of 500 MW and we are looking for more,” he said.

He said that ABB had many loyal customers who were now venturing into solar segment and were opting for ABB’s solutions. “We are operating in India for the last five decades, and we have the best of technology available. Most of our solar customers are existing customers,” he added.

 

w3softproNew units

ABB, on Wednesday, announced the inauguration of two new facilities to produce power products in India.

The new units were built in 18 months at an investment of Rs.250 crore and are located in Savli, close to the Vadodara facility. The new units will produce high-voltage switchgear and distribution transformers.

Rahul Gandhi, Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan cheer Sachin Tendulkar at Wankhede

The only place to be on November 15, 2013 was Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, the site of Sachin Tendulkar's 200th and final test match, against West Indies. On day 2 of the match, the VIP crowd had swelled considerably.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi interrupted electioneering duties to fly in from New Delhi. He watched the match accompanied by Prithviraj Chavan, chief minister of Maharashtra.

 

Actor Aamir Khan and his Lagaan director Ashutosh Gowariker returned for day 2. They were in the stands on day 1 as well, with Aamir delaying an official Dhoom: 3 event so he could watch Sachin bat. On day 2, he brought along wife Kiran Rao

 

On day 1, Aamir had visited Ravi Shastri and Harsha Bhogle in the commentary box, where he proclaimed himself "a big Sachin fan."

Also watching the match was Krrish 3 star Hrithik Roshan, and Sachin's wife Anjali Tendulkar with their son Arjun. "Sachin is a superhero of the human spirit," said Hrithik.

Hrithik shared a candid moment with Sachin's mother Rajni Tendulkarw3softpro