India will undertake another lunar expedition in early 2018 by sending a lander and a rover to explore the Moon to unravel its origin and present conditions, a top space official said. The second Moon mission — Chandrayaan-2 — comes nearly a decade after India’s maiden lunar odessey in November 8, 2008, through a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket, which was launched on October 22 that year.

For launching Chandrayaan-1, the ISRO used PSLV rocket as the spacecraft carried only an impact probe vehicle to crash land on the Moon surface from its orbit.

“We are working towards putting an orbiter, lander, and the whole system in the lunar orbit in the first quarter of 2018,” state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar told reporters. “The orbiter is getting ready and integrated,” he said. “The lander and rover are undergoing tests. Some more tests are planned for December,” the ISRO chief said.

The lunar spacecraft will be launched onboard the space agency’s heavy rocket — Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark II — from the second launch pad of the space port, located at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. As part of integration, the lander and rover would be configured for soft landing at a designated spot on the Moon and to conduct scientific experiments.

The rover will emerge from the lander to observe the lunar terrain and relay the data along with images through radio links.

India would launch its latest remote sensing satellite in Cartosat-2 series along with 28 foreign satellites riding piggy-back in December, a top space official said.

“In the next launch, we have a Cartosat along with 28 international commercial satellites, which we will launch in the second half of December,” said S. Rakesh, the Chairman and Managing Director of Antrix Corporation Ltd, the commercial arm of state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

There will be 25 nanosatellites and three microsatellites from the US and other countries as co-passengers along the space firm’s own satellite of the Cartosat-2 series, he said. The satellites will be launched into the orbit onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), Rakesh added.

The next launch will be keenly watched as it comes after ISRO’s PSLV rocket failed to deploy a spare navigation satellite on August 31. The rocket’s heat shield had failed to separate leaving the satellite inside the shield. The Cartosat-2 is an earth observation satellite that is capable of providing high-quality images.

Imageries from Cartosat-2 series are used for cartographic, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, utility management like road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps, change detection to bring out geographical and man-made features and other Land Information System (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications.

The previous satellite (Cartosat-2E) in the series was launched on February 15 this year from the spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 90km northeast of Chennai.

India will host its very-own mobile congress between September 27 and 29 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. In its first edition, the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2017 will feature a three-day exhibition where prominent mobile manufacturers, internet solution providers, and telecom operators will showcase their technologies and products. With as many as 300 exhibitors lined up for the IMC, here’s a look at the top expected things.

Akin to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona edition, the India Mobile Congress is also expected to see Nokia as one of the key exhibitors. At the preview conference, Nokia’s Head of Marketing and Communication (CMO) Amit Marwah said that there will be up to 20 technology demonstrations at the event. This will also include the company’s OZO 360-degree virtual reality camera. In addition to the tech demos, all of Nokia’s latest phones will be on display. While Marwah did not explicitly mention, but we can expect the Nokia 8 to make its presence felt, along with the Nokia 5, Nokia 6, and Nokia 3.

Nokia won’t be the only brand at IMC 2017. A range of other manufacturers – local and foreign – will also be present at the event. These include Micromax, Lava, and LG among others. 

India is rapidly pacing towards the adoption of 4G services, and now the time befits to start the chatter around the next-gen 5G services. IMC is said to be the platform facilitating talks, and showcasing of 5G solutions for consumers and enterprises. Recently, Airtel partnered South Korea’s SK Telecom to build 5G network for India. As Airtel is also one of the exhibitors at the event, we might see how the alliance is shaping up.

In line with Make in India, ISRO’s indigenous navigation satellite is under development. At IMC, the space agency will showcase the technology and detail the working of NavIC. The ‘desi’ navigation system is poised to compete with other navigation systems, including GPS (Global Positioning System), which is built by the US.

Among telecom operators, the PSU telecom operator will showcase its network services at the event. BSNL is also likely to detail its plans for 5G deployment in the country. VK Sharma at the preview conference said that by end of 2018, BSNL will also provide 5G services in the country. Idea Cellular, on the other hand, will be showcasing enterprise solutions that are built for India. 

Other than Nokia’s OZO, Qualcomm will also focus on the emerging virtual reality technology. The chipmaker, one of the key exhibitors at IMC, is likely to showcase technology or solutions built to accelerate the development, and adoption of VR in the consumer space.

Artificial intelligence, another technology which is fast expanding, will be demonstrated by IBM. The company is expected to detail its work in the field, and demo solutions for consumers and enterprises.

As COAI Chairman Rajan Mathews pointed during the media briefing, IoT is one of the immediate technological needs for India. At IMC, Internet of Things or IoT is said to hog plenty of limelight driven by the need and interest in the Indian context. From industry automation to consumer space, we might be able to witness companies showcasing their internet connected products and services. Some of these solutions will be targeted at the agricultural space in the country, and how to better it.

{BGR}