Udupi: Shiroor Mutt seer Lakshmivara Tirtha Swamiji passed away on Thursday morning at Manipal KMC Hospital. He was 66.

KMC doctors announced that the Swamiji, who was admitted to Manipal’s KMC Hospital following a brief illness on Wednesday, did not respond to treatment and breathed his last on Thursday morning.

The Swamiji was rushed to hospital after he complained of vomiting and abdominal pain after a programme in the Shiroor Mutt on Monday. He was admitted into the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital on Wednesday morning.



Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Bengaluru, Nov 1: ISRO on Friday said its analogue space mission has taken off at Leh in Ladakh, where it will simulate life in an interplanetary habitat as India prepares to send a human to the moon.

The initiative is a collaborative effort of the Human Spaceflight Centre, ISRO, AAKA Space Studio, University of Ladakh, IIT Bombay, and supported by Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council.

The month-long mission, kicked off mid-October, comes in the wake of India's plans to set up lunar habitats, which could provide a base to launch inter-planetary missions.

The geographical features of Ladakh are considered to closely resemble Martian and lunar landscapes and are an ideal training ground for scientific missions aimed at exploring planets "India's first analog space mission kicks off in Leh...this mission will simulate life in an interplanetary habitat to tackle the challenges of a base station beyond Earth," ISRO said in a post on X.

The team of AAKA Space Studio is testing environment suits and conducting geological studies in Leh's low-oxygen environment, simulating space-like conditions, studies that could be crucial for future space missions.

The team is also studying how the human body adapts to the harsh weather conditions in Ladakh that could be useful in understanding how astronauts could get used to space like conditions.