A portrait of esteemed Indian space scientist Nambi Narayanan has come to light. The 1994 espionage case in which Narayanan was falsely implicated has been revealed by the CBI to be the work of a Kerala police officer. The officer framed Narayanan to justify the illegal detention of a Maldivian woman who had rejected his advances. Narayanan was accused of selling space technology secrets to the Maldivian woman with support from Pakistan. This led to Narayanan's arrest, torture, and a tarnished reputation, highlighting a severe abuse of law and authority. Now retired, Narayanan was a rocket scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), mentored by Vikram Sarabhai in the 1960s. He was instrumental in introducing liquid propulsion technology in India during the early 1970s, developing the Viking engine that remains a crucial component in ISRO's launches.
On July 3, 2024, school students attended an inaugural workshop on planetary defense at the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru, hosted by Chairman S Somanath. With recent successes like Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1, India aims to play a significant role in planetary defense, contributing to global efforts to develop technologies to detect and shield Earth from asteroids.
The return capsule of China's Chang'e 6 probe landed on June 25, 2024, in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia, bringing back the first samples collected from the moon's far side. This marks another milestone in China's space exploration achievements.
On July 2, 2024, NASA released a handout picture of Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams inside the vestibule between the ISS's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. Despite being delayed due to issues with Starliner's propulsion system, NASA assured that the astronauts are not "stranded" at the ISS, although their return timeframe remains unclear.
The world premiere of the Space Aerostatic Capsule, a closed and pressurized cabin designed to fly at 20,000 meters altitude, took place at The European Balloon Festival in Igualada, Spain, on July 11, 2024. Developed by Zero 2 Infinity and Ultramagic, this experimental project was inspired by music producer Burak Yeter, who plans to perform DJ sets at high altitudes, bringing the space experience closer to humans.
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