S P A C E N E W SISSUE 37, AUGUST 2014

Monthly Newsletter ofSPACE Group

Chief Editor : Sachin BahmbaEditors : Amit Verma & Divya

Kanchanbaras

Guest Article

Building a Wagon Trainto the Stars

By Alex Thatcher

Cover Story

Mars 2020 Rover Payload rolled out to Explore the Red

Planet

School In Focus : DPS, GURGAON

Astroinquisites

Why Are Planets

Coplaner ?

Astronomy At HomeGravity Well

BLOGPOST

Myth Around Full Moon

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

INDEX

S No Topic Page No.

1 Universe In The School 3

2 Blog : Myth Around Full Moon 7

3 Outreach Programmes 10

4 School In Focus : DPS Gurgaon 15

5 Astrophotography 20

6 Sky This Month : Constellations & Moon Phases For Aug’14 22

7 Cover Story : Mars 2020 Rover Payload rolled out to Explore the Red Planet

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8 Astroinquisites : Why Are Planets Coplanar ? 33

9 Guest Article : Building a Wagon Train to the Stars By Alex Thatcher

35

10 Astronomy at home : Gravity Well 38

11 SPACE India is hiring! 47

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SPACE EXPLORERS

I. Series of Astronomical Workshops held at Salwan Public School, Mayur Vihar in July’14

At Salwan Public School, a series ofworkshops were conducted on 16th July’14 ina single day for students of grade 1-9. Theworkshops conducted were as follows:

1. Discovering the Skies for grade 1-2,

2. What’s your Sun Sign? for grade 3-5,

3. Safe Solar Observation with safe

methods for grade 6-9.

1. Discovering the Skies

It is a fun filled workshop designed for theyoung minds to understand what lies aboveus and the far beyond. Students would beable to define the divisions in the skies,understand each level with its uniquenessand deducing what and where Space lies.

Grade 1-2 students of Salwan Public School showing their kit material during discovering the sky workshop

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Grade 1-2 students of Salwan Public School playing the game - different layers of sky during discovering the sky workshop

Learning Outcomes of the workshop

Students will learn to define the sky and its layers.

Students will learn to differentiate between atmosphere and space.

Students will learn about the various objects found at different layers.

Students understand why sun, moon and earth are called heavenly objects.

Students subconsciously realize that everything is a part of space.

I. Series of Astronomical Workshops held at Salwan Public School, Mayur Vihar in July’14 cont.

To Have Fun With Astronomy & For UITS Updates

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2 . What’s your Sun Sign?

A unique workshop to rationalize the difference in thestudy of astronomy and astrology. It encourages itsparticipants to use logic and reason about thingswhich leads to the preparation of a rational adult.They explore how the motion of our planet creates anew picture of sky that we see every day. The methodof hands on experimentation with models reveals howthings look different from various perspectives andcreates concept of three dimensional world aroundus.

Learning Outcomes of the workshop

Why few constellations are called zodiac

constellations?

How the motion of our planet earth brings change in

the every day sky we see?

Why do we see only one star in day time?

Why can’t all constellations be seen in one night?

Why few constellations are called summer and

winter constellations?

Logic and rationale to question, can their

personality be defined by their date of birth.

Grade 3-5 students of Salwan Public School showing their kit material during the workshop

Grade 3-5 students of Salwan Public School learning about sun signs during a workshop

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3 . Solar Observation with safe methods

In this workshop, students learnt about our star – SUNand the reasons to study it. They also learnt aboutdifferent solar features. Then they learnt the ways toobserve the Sun safely and realize the importance ofusing safe methods for solar observation.

Learning Outcomes of the workshop

Student learnt about necessity of solar observation.

Students understood why it is necessary to use safe

methods for solar observation and learnt about various

methods of safe solar observation.

Students learnt how to handle and align telescope for

solar observation.

Students understood the use of solar filter and learnt

how to make it for a telescope.

They got a firsthand experience on how use telescope

for solar observation through projection method and

using solar filter.

Students also observed the Sun through other

methods like ball projection pinhole projector and solar

view goggles.

Grade 8-9 students of Salwan Public School making solar filter during athe workshop

Grade 6-10 students of Salwan Public School observing SUN with solar view goggles during a workshop

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LUNA – our Moon, apparently largest and brightest object in the night sky, has long inspired curiosityand wonder. People of different civilisations all around the world have been observing it since ageswhile predicting many things about it. As these predictions were done people divided themselves intwo communities.

The first community is of astrologers and ancient civilisation believers have predicted many thingsabout the moon especially on FULL MOON and activities happened at that point of time. But, the othercommunity of scientists, astronomers and astronauts have always opposed such predictions as theyhave studied the Moon thoroughly through various missions.

Many of the predictions made by ancient civilisations related to Full Moon are as follows:

Many of the predictions made by ancient civilisations relatedto Full Moon are as follows:

Rahu eats Moon and causes Eclipse - According to theSanskrit epic poem, the Mahabharata, the Hindu gods decidedto mix up a batch of soma, the elixir of immortality. The godswere to drink the elixir to become immortal. The gods neededhelp from the demons to stir up the oceans to produce theelixir. Out of the churning oceans the Sun, Moon, manygoddess, and magic things were produced along with thesoma.

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Vishnu took charge of distributing the freshly made soma to the gods but while it was beingpassed out, the demons started battling with the gods for a taste of the elixir and in theconfusion one of the demons, Rahu, disguised himself as a god and drank some of the elixir.The Sun and Moon spotted the imposter, Rahu, and told Vishnu. Just as Rahu wasswallowing the soma, Vishnu sliced off his head with a sword. Since the soma had passedinto the throat the head had already become immortal and remained alive. Because the Sunand the Moon were responsible for reporting the misdeeds of Rahu, Rahu, the head, chasesthe Sun and Moon across the sky and tries to eat them. Occasionally he catches andswallows one of them, causing an eclipse. But the victim quickly falls out of Rahu's throatand the eclipse ends.

Full moons make you crazy - Since ancient times, full moons have been associated with oddor insane behavior, including sleepwalking, suicide, illegal activity, fits of violence and, ofcourse, transforming into werewolves. Indeed, the words “lunacy” and “lunatic” come fromthe Roman goddess of the moon, Luna, who was said to ride her silver chariot across thedark sky each night.

For thousands of years, doctors and mental health professionals believed in a strongconnection between mania and the moon. Some people, considered the father of modernmedicine, wrote in the fifth century B.C. that “one who is seized with terror, fright andmadness during the night is being visited by the goddess of the moon.” In 18th-centuryEngland, people on trial for murder could campaign for a lighter sentence on grounds oflunacy if the crime occurred under a full moon; meanwhile, psychiatric patients at London’sBethlehem Hospital were shackled and flogged as a preventive measure during certain lunarphases. Even today, despite studies discrediting the hypothesis, some people think fullmoons make everyone a little loony.

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A different Moon for every month - The FullMoon in January is called the Wolf Moon. It isnamed after the hungry packs of wolves thathowled at night. The Algonquian tribes of NativeAmericans had many different manes for the FullMoon through the year, reflecting theirconnection with nature, seasons, hunting,fishing and farming.

Maximum birth on Full Moon – Ix Chel, the “LadyRainbow”, was the goddess in Maya mythology.She was depicted as an old woman wearing askirt with crossed bones, and she had a serpentin her hand. She also had a kinder side and wasworshiped as the protector of weavers andwomen in childbirth. It was believed that sheused to protect the children on Full Moon andthus maximum numbers of children were born ondifferent dates of Full Moon

Like above mentioned predictions, there are more to study but Scientists and their community believe that all these are myths. These cannot be believed as such events are coincidental and can happen anytime.

Blog by : Aanchal Tandon, Educator I SPACE

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PAST

SALLY RIDE EARTHKAM

SPACE brought the enthralling experience of requesting images of the Earth from the International SpaceStation within the reach of its associated students through Sally Ride EarthKAM from 15 to 19 July, 2014.This is a NASA-sponsored educational programme that enables students to photograph and examine theEarth from the perspective of space.

There were more than 150 participants from 34 schools at the three-day workshop conducted by SPACEfrom 15 July to 17 July at ITL School, Dwarka and Amity International School, Vasundhara. Our Centre forStudent Excellence schools conducted the session at their individual premises with a participation of 923students in total - Step By Step, Noida, BBPS, Pitampura, GD Goenka, Gurgaon and Rohini, IndraprasthaSchool, Paschim Vihar and Dwarka.

ISS photo of the Mexico Usa Borderby Siddharth Wadhwa of RyanInternational School, Rohini

Mrs. Sudha Acharya, Principal, ITLpublic School, Dwarka addressingthe participants at the Sally RideEarthKAM workshop

Group photo of DPS Intl, Saket

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2. SUPERMOON WATCH

The full moon on 10 August presented the closest Supermoon of the year with a distance of 356,896kilometres from the Earth, appearing straight overhead in the sky above the Indian Ocean at 23:44 IST.

A Supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon with the closest approach the moon makes to theEarth on its elliptical orbit, making the moon look bigger and brighter from Earth, than on other days.The technical name is the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system. The next such occurrencewill be on 10 August, 2014, which will be the closest encounter in 2014.

While our associated schools decided hold an evening observation for students and parents with priortraining support by SPACE, it had to be cancelled in view of bad weather.

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ONGOING

ALL INDIA ASTEROID SEARCH CAMPAIGN - 2014

As part of the most popular programme of SPACE, All India Asteroid Search Campaign, participantsthis year made 270 NEO Observations, 13 NEO Confirmations and most importantly, 5 Preliminarydiscoveries. Following are the teams:

1. Dhairya Bhimwal and Ronaldo Laishram – Team Salonivia Conquerors2. Aryan Mishra & Keerti Vardhan from Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Vasant Vihar3. Akshat Sharma & Kshitij Jindal from Bal Bharati Public School, Pitampura4. Anushikha Chaudhuri & Tejasv Kalra from Delhi Public School, Sushant Lok, Gurgaon5. Tushar Goswamy & Atharva Sehgal are from Modern School, Barakhamba Road

If confirmed by IASC, these Preliminary discoveries would be upgraded to Provisional discovery,which will mean that a new asteroid has been discovered.

The programme, which is in its final phase at present, began on 29 April, 2014 and will end on 13August ‘14. This campaign is conducted in collaboration with International Astronomical SearchCollaboration (IASC, Hardin-Simmons University, Texas, USA). SPACE is the coordinator for thishighly recognized programme in India.

To know about past asteroid discoveries, please CLICK HERE

For other upcoming celestial occurrences follow

SPACE CALENDAR

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UPCOMING

2. ALL INDIA NEO SEARCH CAMPAIGN 2014 (AINSC)

After the overwhelming success of the All India Asteroid Search Campaign, SPACE will be launching anew campaign for its Centre of Student Excellence schools called All India NEO Search Campaign 2014(6 August to 10 September, 2014) in association with the International Astronomy Search Collaboration(Hardin-Simmons University, Texas, USA) yet again. This programme is intended for discovering Near-Earth objects and perhaps comets. Asteroids will not be a part of the discovery list. Under thiscampaign, the Astronomical Research Institute will introduce a new sky survey using the 30"telescope. This survey runs during the time period of 1 July - 10 September at the time that the skysurveys in the Southwestern United States are down for the summer. In the survey, the telescope willbe able to see down to the 20th magnitude.

During the month long campaign, participants will get exclusive access to images of the sky taken atobservatories and analyze the data with specialized software provided during training to look for NEOsand comets. Objects reported by students could be potential discoveries. All observations contribute tothe Near Earth Object (NEO) data compiled by NASA and Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL). All participants willbe given certificates at the end of the programme.

NEW EVENT

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SPACE IN

NEWS!

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DPS, Sector 45, Gurgaon is a bright and shining star in the galaxy of DPS schools. It was inaugurated on April29th 2002 by Mr. Salman Khurshid, President DPSS and Mr. Narendra Kumar, Chairman DPSS. DPS, Sector 45,Gurgaon is affiliated to C.B.S.E. and provides quality education to the students from class Nursery to XII. AtDPS, Sector 45, Gurgaon we aim at the 'Holistic Development' of each child by inculcating 'Core Values' at everystage through the right blend of academics, activities and sports. DPS, Sector 45, Gurgaon seeks to draw outmaximum benefits from education without missing out on the fun and sweetness of childhood. Learning atDPS, Sector 45, Gurgaon is interactive and tactile. DPS, Sector 45, Gurgaon believes in producing creativethinkers. We teach our children how to think and not what to think. All experiences are drawn from the realworld. Each precious individual will comfortably create his/her own niche, will discover talents, nurture skills,find his/her forte and most importantly will be groomed to become life long learner. The school has a capableand committed teaching staff that believes that effective learning can only take place if there is a harmoniouspartnership between the home and school.

The Mission to reach out...'Service before Self', the motto of DPS is a reflectionof its ethos and a desire to usher in a new era of knowledge with a belief thatevery child, however different has the right to education. A mission to give equalopportunities to each stakeholder for personal growth through 'value added'education. A mission to arm the students with special skills to enable them to besuccessful in every sphere of life. A mission to make each child into a wholesomehuman being, who will essentially believe and work towards 'Service beforeSelf'. A mission to be an integral part of the community - reaching out to everypart of it and enriching it in our own special way.

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Principal : Ms. Aditi Misra,DPS Gurgaon

From Principals Desk

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The association of DPS, Sec-45 Gurgaon with SPACE has made the night sky watching a fascination for allparticipating students. The exposure due to various activities carried out through Astronomy Club has helpedthe students comprehend the complex astronomical instruments and understand the wonderful celestialevents. At the same time the SPACE inputs have helped students in appreciating the grandeur of nature and itscreations and appreciating the human efforts that have gone into revealing the hidden spatial beauty andphenomenon. All this was made possible by multiple events organized for students in co-ordination withSPACE, which included:

1. Night sky observation camp at Sariska Observatory.2. Visit to the historic Jantar Mantar to understand the complex astrological tools and appreciate India’s

contribution to scientific observation.3. Participation in All India Asteroid Search Campaign and doing one Preliminary Discovery of Asteroid last

year and 4 NEO Observation(s) this year.4. Global Astronomy Month (GAM) celebration in school (Events like day time sky observation (viewing sun

spots), poetry competition and Astro-photography were held in school).

We hope that our association with SPACE will grow and our students will participate in more activities toappreciate celestial phenomenon.

With all the best wishes, Space Co-ordinatorsSunita Kandpal

Shikha BhardwajDelhi Public School, Sec-45, Gurgaon.

Club Coordinators

Speak

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Schools has completed Module 1 and 2for the academic year 2013-14.

Module 1 – 88 studentsModule 2 - 20 students

Workshop done in the Academic Year2013-14 for grade 3, 4 and 5

Class 3- 93 students – Workshops: LetsKnow About Earth, Pop Rocketry, MoonFace Off, Moon Watch

Class 4- 67 students – Workshops:Astronaut Can You be One ?, StompRocketry, ISS, Destination Moon andPlanet

Class 5- 78 students – Workshops:Interview With the Sun, Air Rocketry,Catch the Meteors and DestinationMoon and Planet

DPS, GurgaonAstronomy Club

Snapshot

Students marking shadowLaunch officers attach the rocket to the launcher

Astronomers use their Galilean Telescope to focus towards Venus and Moon

Students with their self made comet

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Young astronomers of DPS, Gurgaon

All India Asteroid Search Campaign 2013

Students are doing solar observation in school through telescope

Students are projecting sun image on the paper through telescope

Preliminary asteroid discoverers in 2013left to right- Ms. Sunita Kandpal, ClubCoordinator, Students- Chirag Bisht & JaySharma, Ms. Shikha Sabarwal, ClubCoordinator, DPS Gurgaon

DPS Discoverers & School Coordinators with Mr. Amit Verma, CEO SPACE

UNIVERSE

The teacher told me about the big bang,But then the bell rang.I kept on thinking and thinking,From where the stars come twinkling

The no. of planets is eight,They are great in size and weight.Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars,These are the planets near our star.

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune too,You are too far, we can’t see you.Round and round the sun they go,These are the eight planets that we know.

In the sky as a tiny dot,A glowing ball of gas, it’s very hot!Twinkle, twinkle little star,You are so bright, you are so far.

Round and round the earth it spins,Through the month the new shapes its in.Beaming and gleaming moon,It’s a giant white balloon.

On all the planets I’m going to take a trip,If you want one, climb aboard my rocketship.

From Earth to Venus to Mars,To the shiny moon and the bright starsTo the galaxies far way,I think I’ll visit the space one day.

Name - ChitralekhaClass - VII A.

Global Astronomy Month 2014

SUNDay

ASTROPOETRY

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Orion constellation seen from Inderpuri, New Delhi

Description: The Orion nebula can also be seen below the belt of Orion.

Photo by : Darpan Bansal ( Ex-SPACE Club Student )Ryan International School, Vasant Kunj

Twilight

Description: An early dawn picture of the eastern horizon of Astroport!!

Photo By : Abhinav Prakash Dubey, Educator | SPACE

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Guru Purnima

Desciption: This is the first of three super moons of the year 2014

Location: Noida, Delhi NCR

Photo by Rishabh Jain, Sr. Educator | SPACE

Iridium Flare seen in Vasant Kunj, Delhi

Description: 7 mag. Iridium flare seen through hi -tension wires from vasant kunj, new delhi‘

Photo By Darpan Bansal ( Ex-SPACE Club Student ) Ryan International School, Vasant Kunj

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Evening ConstellationsNorth - Ursa Major, CepheusEast - Lyra, Cygnus,West - Leo, Bootes, VirgoSouth - Scorpio, Libra , SagittariusZenith - Hercules

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Midnight ConstellationsNorth - Cassiopeia, Cepheus, LyraEast - Pisces, Andromeda, PegasusWest - Scorpio, Libra,BootesSouth - Capricornus, SaggitariusZenith -Cygnus

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Morning ( Dawn ) ConstellationsNorth - Cassiopeia, Cepheus, East - Gemini, Orion, Taurus, Auriga, PerseusWest - Pisces, AndromedaSouth - Pisces, AriesZenith -Pegasus

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MOON PHASES(Time in IST)

Moon Phases, August 2014First Quarter – August 4, 6:20Full Moon – August 10, 23:39

Last Quarter – August 17, 17:56New Moon – August 25, 19:43

FIRST QUARTER

FULL MOON

LAST QUARTER

NEW MOON

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On Thursday, July 31, NASA announced the instruments that will be carried aboard the agency's Mars 2020mission, a roving laboratory based on the highly successful Curiosity rover.

NASA will send the next rover to Mars in 2020. It will carry seven carefully-selected instruments to conductunprecedented science and exploration technology investigations on the Red Planet.

ABOUT MARS 2020 MISSION

The Mars 2020 mission will be based on the design of the highly successful Mars Science Laboratory rover,Curiosity, which landed almost two years ago, and currently is operating on Mars. The new rover will carry moresophisticated, upgraded hardware and new instruments to conduct geological assessments of the rover's landingsite, determine the potential habitability of the environment, and directly search for signs of ancient Martian life.

Scientists will use the Mars 2020 rover to identify and select a collection of rock and soil samples that will bestored for potential return to Earth by a future mission. The Mars 2020 mission is responsive to the scienceobjectives recommended by the National Research Council's 2011 Planetary Science Decadal Survey.

The Mars 2020 rover also will help advance our knowledge of how future human explorers could use naturalresources available on the surface of the Red Planet. An ability to live off the Martian land would transformfuture exploration of the planet. Designers of future human expeditions can use this mission to understand thehazards posed by Martian dust and demonstrate technology to process carbon dioxide from the atmosphere toproduce oxygen. These experiments will help engineers learn how to use Martian resources to produce oxygenfor human respiration and potentially for use as an oxidizer for rocket fuel.

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Planning for NASA's 2020 Mars rover envisions a basic structure that capitalizes on the design and engineering work done for the NASA rover Curiosity, which landed on Mars in 2012, but with new science instruments selected through competition for accomplishing different science objectives. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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THE SELECTED PAYLOAD PROPOSALS BY NASA FOR MARS 2020 ARE:

-Mastcam-Z, an advanced camera system with panoramic and stereoscopic imaging capability with the abilityto zoom. The instrument also will determine mineralogy of the Martian surface and assist with roveroperations. The principal investigator is James Bell, Arizona State University in Tempe.

-SuperCam, an instrument that can provide imaging, chemical composition analysis, and mineralogy. Theinstrument will also be able to detect the presence of organic compounds in rocks and regolith from a distance.The principal investigator is Roger Wiens, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico. Thisinstrument also has a significant contribution from the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales,Institut deRecherche en Astrophysique et Plane'tologie (CNES/IRAP) France.

-Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL), an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer that will also containan imager with high resolution to determine the fine scale elemental composition of Martian surfacematerials. PIXL will provide capabilities that permit more detailed detection and analysis of chemical elementsthan ever before. The principal investigator is Abigail Allwood, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) inPasadena, California.

-- Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC), aspectrometer that will provide fine-scale imaging and uses an ultraviolet (UV) laser to determine fine-scalemineralogy and detect organic compounds. SHERLOC will be the first UV Raman spectrometer to fly to thesurface of Mars and will provide complementary measurements with other instruments in the payload. Theprincipal investigator is Luther Beegle, JPL.

-- The Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE), an exploration technology investigation that will produceoxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide. The principal investigator is Michael Hecht, MassachusettsInstitute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Content Source : NASA

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- Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA), a set of sensors that will provide measurements oftemperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity and dust size and shape. The principalinvestigator is Jose Rodriguez-Manfredi, Centro de Astrobiologia, Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial,Spain.

-The Radar Imager for Mars' Subsurface Exploration (RIMFAX), a ground-penetrating radar that will providecentimeter-scale resolution of the geologic structure of the subsurface. The principal investigator is Svein-ErikHamran, Forsvarets Forskning Institute, Norway.

Instruments developed from the selected proposals will be placed on a rover similar to Curiosity, which hasbeen exploring Mars since 2012. Using a proven landing system and rover chassis design to deliver these newexperiments to Mars will ensure mission costs and risks are minimized as much as possible, while stilldelivering a highly capable rover.

CURIOSITY TURNS 2 YRS OLD!

Curiosity recently completed a Martian year on the surface -- 687 Earth days -- having accomplished themission's main goal of determining whether Mars once offered environmental conditions favorable formicrobial life.

CONCLUSION

The Mars 2020 rover is part the NASA's Mars Exploration Program, which includes the Opportunity andCuriosity rovers, the Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft currently orbiting the planet, andthe MAVEN orbiter, which is set to arrive at the Red Planet in September and will study the Martian upperatmosphere.

NASA's Mars Exploration Program seeks to characterize and understand Mars as a dynamic system, including itspresent and past environment, climate cycles, geology and biological potential. In parallel, NASA is developingthe human spaceflight capabilities needed for future round-trip missions to Mars.

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This diagram shows components of the investigations payload for NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission. Image credit NASAJPL

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WHY ARE PLANETS COPLANAR ?

Formation of solar system

Planets move around the Sun incoplanar circular orbits .Theinclinations of the orbits of theplanets are small (Mercury is 7degree, Venus 3 degree and theremainder are smaller). But why isit so? Why are planets in the sameplane orbiting the sun in concentriccircles? The answer to this lies inthe formation of the solar system .

• The current standard theory forSolar System formation, the nebularhypothesis, also known as theCondensation model , wasformulated by EmanuelSwedenborg, Immanuel Kant,and Pierre-Simon Laplace in the18th century.

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• The nebular hypothesis maintains that the SolarSystem formed from the gravitational collapse of afragment of a giant molecular cloud.

• Because of the conservation of angular momentum, thenebula spun faster as it collapsed. As the material withinthe nebula condensed, the atoms within it began to collidewith increasing frequency, converting their kineticenergy into heat.

• The centre, where most of the mass collected, becameincreasingly hotter than the surrounding disc.

• Over about 100,000 years, the competing forces ofgravity, gas pressure, magnetic fields, and rotation causedthe contracting nebula to flatten into aspinning protoplanetary disc with a diameter of~200 AU and form a hot, dense protostar (a star in whichhydrogen fusion has not yet begun) at the centre.

• Formation of planets took place in this protoplanetarydisc and these competing forces pushed them to alignthemselves in approximately the same plane.

New Words1. Molecular Cloud – A giant

cloud of dust and gases2. Angular Momentum - The

quantity of a rotation of a body due to its angular velocity ( angle covered in a period of time ) and mass concentration

3. Protoplanetary Disc – A flattened spinning mass around a star bound to form a planetary system

4. AU – Astronomical Unit –Distance between Sun and Earth ( 150 million Kms )

Artist conception of protoplanetary disc

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None of us is going to go into outer space. Space is an exclusive club. It has a huge price tag and everyone who goesuses technology, designed only for that purpose, for one time use. It is utter insanity and it is no wonder that manypeople suggest spending the money on fixing problems on Earth. Unless all of us can go, none of us will go …and wecan all go. There is no reason we cannot humanity’s history is rife with examples of how to achieve this.

A poignant and relatively recent example how to achieve this is the last 150 years of settlement in the United States.They called it the Wild West - the frontier. Society’s new frontier is Space and it will be like the Wild West, it must bein order for any true progress. How does this apply today? Understanding how the West was settled. By outlaws andcowboys as popularly romanticized? No. By people who packed up everything in a covered wagon.

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We need a new wagon. Bigelow Aerospace is the closest, but notclose enough. His inflatable modules will revolutionize many things,but this is not a wagon. It is merely a location. We need a transitionalmodel. In a brief definition what is a covered wagon? More or less itwas a mobile home - it was a house.

Currently, when you buy a house you do not own it - it owns you. Youspend the rest of your life working to pay for it and to maintain it, itshifts society’s focus and does not let them look to the stars. That is,if you can even afford to get a loan. The cost is unsustainable; in2008, it was, in part, responsible for the global financial crisis whenthe housing bubble in the United States burst (1). The BBC estimatesthat there is a shortage of around 27 million homes in the India alone(2).

I am working actively to change that. The plan? Take our houses withus - our new wagons. My team and I are developing modules that canfirst be used for homes, hotels and even mobile homes on Earth, easilyreconfigurable at anytime, with the ability to look like normal homes.As the tooling and production kicks up we can transition to space use,building first a space station with modules designed to fit within aFalcon Heavy, then expanding into the Solar System building anInterplanetary Transport Network (ITN).

Imagine a person comes home and decides they do not like wherethey live. They bring up a digital map, choose a new location, and takea nap. While sleeping, the habitat disconnects itself from its overallhub building and goes through a massive network in a Trans GlobalHighway. At the same moment, a hundred thousand other habitats areall doing the same, completely autonomous, some into an ITN. I wantthis future. I am working for this future.

(1) Shiller, R., “Irrational Exuberance (2ded.)”, Princeton University Press, Princeton,NJ USA (2005).(2) Vaidyanathan, R., “India Seeks HouseBuilding Boom”, BBC News TV, UK (April 82012).

Mr. Alex Thatcher is an engineer but aastronomer at heart! He is an avid scientificwriter.

Station Diagram

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1 - Roughing out the dimensions andthe shape with cardboard

2 - Completed outer skin 3 - Completed (basic - no facilities) interior

4 - Kit bashing pipes, electrical and plumbing 5 - Completed 118th scale model with tractor in same scale for comparison

Build Your Own Wagon Train To Stars!

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Have you ever wondered how planets take the paths that they do?

The likes of Johannes Kepler, Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein should be given the credit for ourunderstanding of this concept so well. The final breakthrough came with theory of relativity postulatedby Einstein. This theory states that a body which has mass, actually bends space, similar to how a hugecannon ball placed in the middle of a white bed sheet would form a funnel like structure. This is alsoknown as a gravity well.

You can make your own gravity well by using some simple everyday items and understand how thisworks. Here is what you need

1. Empty Cup noodles container

2. Marble

3. Pair of Scissors

4. Electrician's Tape

5. Ivory sheet

6. Thread

7. Pencil

8. Pen

9. Lots of coins / metal object

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Steps To Make A Gravity Well

STEP 1. Roll out the ivory sheet and join thepen and pencil with the thread

STEP 2. Keep the pen in the centre of the sheet to mark the central point. This will be used to sketch a circle.

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STEP 3. While holding the pen tightly, stretch the string and start sketching a circle with the help of the pencil

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STEP 4. Cut out the circle from the sheet and trim any unwanted edges

STEP 5. Draw two lines making a pie shape. We used the pen as a ruler just to make it a bit more

fun

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STEP 6. Cut out the triangle with the help of a pair of scissors

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STEP 7. Take help from a friend and join the two ends of the rest of the disc.

This will form a cone.

STEP 8. Stick it with electrician's tape. The tape length Should be equal to the radius of the

cone

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STEP 9. Make the joint firm by attaching tape onthe other side too.

STEP 10. Fill the empty noodle cup with at least 20 pebbles. This will make it stable. You can also use coins. They are denser, therefore take less space, making the setup more stable.

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STEP 11. Put some tape around the container edge and cut it from various places as shown to extend it out. This will be used to firmly stick the cone to the container so that it doesnt shake.

46

Submitted by: Rishabh Jain, Sr. Educator | SPACEMeenakshi Parmar, Educator | SPACE

STEP 12. Stick the extending edges of the tape to the pointed edge of the cone to make it look

like a funnel.

STEP 13. Push the marble gently along the edge of the cone and watch the marble

move like a planet around a star. You can experiment with bigger sheets and deeper

cones to see variation.

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