Nasa-Isro $1.2-bn project: Suspense on joint satellite as Modi meets Trump

Space scientists in India and America are on tenterhooks as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald J Trump meet for the first bilateral in Washington on Monday.

At stake is the world's most expensive Earth-imaging satellite till date being jointly made by the Nasa and the Isro.

Climate change seems to be a red rag for the current American administration.

If there is one thing that divides India and America big-time today, it is climate change. In all likelihood, climate change would be a point that would figure in the Trump-Modi discussions.

Trump calls climate change a hoax created by China by adhering to his views that "the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive".

On the other hand, Modi has penned a pictorial book — "Convenient Action: Continuity for Change" — that compiles his actions and beliefs on climate change.

Recently, the US walked out of the Paris Climate Change Treaty while India continues to honour its commitments.

Trump said, "India makes its participation contingent on receiving billions and billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid from developed countries", while Modi said failing to act on climate change would be "a morally criminal act".
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Isro to launch new 'eye in the sky'

Remember the ‘eye in the sky’ that helped soldiers to successfully carry out the ‘surgical strike’ against terrorist posts on the Jammu & Kashmir border last September?

Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is strengthening this eye by launching a satellite in the Cartosat-2 series later this month.

The primary mission objective is providing high-resolution scenes of spot imagery.

It will be launched via Isro’s trusted PSLV workhorse, PSLV-C38 in this case, from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, to an altitude of 500 km. It will be  seventh Cartosat satellite from the space body.

The project has been allocated Rs 160 crore; the satellite is expected to help preparation of high-resolution maps, with a Panchromatic camera. Apart from pictures, it can also record videos.

Military use apart, it would be useful for urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, utility management and various related applications.

The future Earth Observation programme envisages continuity of a thematic series of satellites — Resourcesat, Cartosat, Oceansat, RISAT, INSAT —  for land, water and meteorological applications.

A Geo Imaging Satellite  is also envisaged in geostationary orbit, to enable real-time imaging.

Cartosat-1, first in the series of Cartosat earth observation satellites, was launched in May 2005, in the PSLV-C6 launch vehicle, followed by Cartosat-2 in January 2007.
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Tap property tax potential at city level, suggests Economic Survey

Latest News - With rapid urbanisation posing tremendous challenges in delivery of services, the Economic Survey on Tuesday suggested that municipalities should tap the potential of "property tax" to generate additional revenues at the city level.

The survey found through a study that bengaluru and Jaipur are currently collecting no more than 5-20 per cent of their respective potential for property tax. It suggested that "satellite imagery" should be used for improving urban governance by facilitating better property tax compliance.

"Urbanisation will pose considerable challenges for municipalities over the (Read More)