THE HIMALAYAN UNIVERSE

NASA Satellite Detects large scale forest fires in Nepal On March 12, 2009, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite caught a glimpse of a relatively rare event: large–scale forest fires in the Himalaya Mountains of Nepal. Places where the sensor detected active fires are outlined in red. The numerous small fires in southern Nepal may not be wildfires, but rather agricultural or other land-management fires. The image is centered on Nepal, and it shows the towering Himalaya Mountains arcing through the small country. Many national parks and conservation areas are located along the northern border of the country, and the fires appear to be burning in or very near some of them. Five people were killed by the forest fire southwest of Annapurna in early March; according to a news report they were overtaken while in the forest gathering firewood. According to that report, Nepal commonly experiences some small forest fires each spring, which is the en...

Satellite built by Indian university to be launched in ISRO’s next flight Anna University becomes first Indian university to send satellite onboard ISRO PSLV Bibhu Ranjan Mishra / Bangalore February 17, 2009, 12:35 IST For the first time in the history of Indian space research, a satellite developed by a university in India will be launched by Indian Space Research Institute (ISRO) during the next flight of the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV). The launch vehicle tentatively scheduled for launch in March-April this year, will carry a small remote sensing satellite completely developed and fabricated by Chennai-based Anna University, sources in ISRO said. Christened Anusat, the 35-kg micro satellite developed by the students and researchers of Anna University with some hand-holding from ISRO satellite centre in Bangalore, will be an additional payload in the PSLV flight which will launch Risat, a radar imaging satellite from the Sriharikota spaceport. The high-resolution pictures ...