Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft covers two-thirds of distance to Moon, Lunar Orbit Injection tomorrow
Bengaluru (PTI): The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has covered about two-thirds of the distance to the Moon since its launch on July 14, ISRO said on Friday.
Over five moves in the three weeks since, ISRO has been lifting the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into orbits farther and farther away from Earth. Then, on August 1 in a key manoeuvre -- a slingshot move -- the craft was sent successfully towards the Moon from Earth's orbit.
Following this trans-lunar injection, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft escaped from orbiting the Earth and began following a path that would take it to the vicinity of the moon. Tomorrow, in another crucial manoeuvre the spacecraft will be injected into Moon's orbit.
The Lunar Orbit Injection (LOI) is set for around 7 pm on August 5, the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency said on Friday.
The manoeuvre will be performed when Chandrayaan-3 is at the closest point to the Moon (perilune), ISRO said.
The space agency earlier said that the health of India's third lunar mission is normal and a soft-landing on the lunar surface would be attempted on August 23.
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.
Karnataka Agriculture minister blames Centre for fertilizer shortfall
Bengaluru, Aug 13 (PTI): Karnataka Agriculture Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy on Wednesday accused the Centre of cutting fertilizer supplies to the state by 2.75 lakh metric tonnes (MT) between April and August this year, leading to a shortage for farmers.
Replying to a debate in the Assembly, he said Karnataka's annual allocation was 11.17 lakh MT, of which 5.55 lakh MT was supplied by April, along with an additional 20,000 MT. However, allocations later dropped by 10,000 MT in May, 79,000 MT in June and 58,000 MT in July.
"The Centre has asked states to use less Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) and urea. There are two to three reasons, like import from Iran and China not happening, production in our country coming down and war," Chaluvarayaswamy claimed.
"Till August, the Centre supplied 2.75 lakh MT less fertilizer this year. You can call the Union Fertilizer Minister (J P Nadda) tomorrow and get the details. If there is any false information, I will face whatever punishment you decide," he said.
The minister said the state government was "distributing fertilizer in a controlled manner."
The opposition BJP, which raised the issue citing an acute urea shortage, accused the state government of "turning a blind eye to farmers' problems."
Heated exchanges forced a half-hour adjournment, after which BJP members staged a walkout.
