Every 4 minutes, one commits suicide in India

Every four minute, one person takes his or her life in the country and one in each three of victims is a youth below the age of 30 years, the latest report of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has revealed.

According to the ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides 2009′ released recently, 68.7 per cent of a total of 1,27,151 people who committed suicide across the country in 2009 were in the age group of 15-44 years.

More than 55 per cent of the suicide victims in Arunachal Pradesh and Delhi were in the age group of 15-29 years — 56.42 per cent (62 out of 110) of victims in Arunachal Pradesh and 55.3 per cent (817 out of 1,477) in Delhi were in this age group.
“34.5 per cent of the suicide victims were in the age group of 15-29 years and 34.2 per cent were in the middle aged group of 30-44 years,” the report said.

“223 males commit suicides per day in the country while the number for women is 125 out of which 69 are house wives. 73 people commit suicide on a single day due to illness while 10 are driven to suicide due to love affairs,” it said.
The country witnessed a 1.7 per cent increase in suicide cases in 2009 compared to the previous when it recorded 1,27,151 cases as against 1,22,902, the report said.

West Bengal topped the list with 14,648 cases followed by Andhra Pradesh (14,500), Tamil Nadu (14,424), Maharashtra (14,300) and Karnataka (12,195).

These five states together accounted for 55.1 per cent of the total suicides.

NASA announced new moon found orbiting Pluto

Astronomers have discovered a fourth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto, the NASA has announced.

P4 was first seen in a photo taken with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 June 28. It was confirmed in subsequent Hubble pictures taken July 3 and July 18.

It is the smallest moon discovered orbiting Pluto. It has an estimated diameter of 13 to 34 km. By comparison, Charon — Pluto’s largest moon — is 1,043 km across, and the other moons, Nix and Hydra, are in the range of 32 to 113 km in diameter.

Atlantis makes last journey home

The Atlantis returned to Earth early Thursday, marking the end of the space shuttle era when its wheels touched down for the last time at the Kennedy Space Centre.

The shuttle’s parachute slowed it to a stop on an illuminated runway before dawn as hundreds of NASA employees and guests gathered at the space centre and at mission control in Houston to witness the historic moment. They were greeted by a sonic boom as Atlantis flew overhead.

After serving the world for over 30 years, the space shuttle has earned its place in history. It’s come to a final stop.

ISRO – Antenna of GSAT-12 deployed

The antenna of communications satellite GSAT-12 was deployed on July 21 afternoon, to much applause from the Indian Space Research Organisation‘s Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka.

The satellite, launched on July 15, will now reach its final orbital destination, at 83 degrees east and pointing at India, on August 6.

GSAT 12 will facilitate telemedicine, tele-education and village resource centres. The 1.2-metre reflector antenna was the final deployment of the satellite, which is now in the final configuration of 36,000-km circular orbit. It will be co-located with INSAT-2E and INSAT-4A.

NASA plans most ambitious mission to the asteroids

NASA will have to accomplish its most ambitious mission — landing on an asteriod within 15 years, after a presidential directive.
The challenges are manifold, but NASA nerds are delirious at tackling the nitty gritty of such an inconceivably challenging project — though Hollywood has already done it in “Armadeddon” 13 years ago.
An asteroid is a gigantic rock orbiting the sun, like Earth. One of them, just 16 km across, devastated the earth and wiped out dinosaurs 60 million years ago. Another, a much smaller one, exploded over Siberia in 1908, wiping out vegetation over 108 square km.

NASA warns of global catastrophe post upcoming space storm

NASA has warned of a once-in-a-lifetime ‘space storm’ after the sun wakes ‘from a deep slumber’ sometime around 2013, causing ‘20 times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina’.
Senior space agency scientists believe that the super storm would hit like ‘a bolt of lightning’ and damage everything from emergency services’ systems, hospital equipment, banking systems and air traffic control devices, through to “everyday” items such as home computers, iPods and Sat Navs.
And unless precautions are taken, it could cause catastrophic consequences for the world’s health, emergency services and national security.

China successfully launches new satellite to reduce dependence on GPS

China on July 27 successfully launched an orbiter into space which is a part of its indigenous satellite navigation and positioning network known as Beidou, aimed at reducing the dependence on U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS).
The orbiter, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern Sichuan Province, was boosted by a Long March-3A carrier rocket into a geostationary orbit.
China started to build up its own satellite navigation system to break its dependence on the GPS since 2000.