Shubhanshu Shukla turns farmer in space; grows methi, moong seeds
New Delhi (PTI): In the final leg of his space sojourn, Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla turned into a farmer, taking photos of 'moong' and 'methi' seeds sprouting in petri dishes and inserting them into a storage freezer on the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a study on how microgravity influences germination and early plant development.
Shukla and his fellow Axiom-4 astronauts have spent 12 days on the orbital lab and they are expected to return to Earth any day after July 10, depending on the weather conditions off the Florida coast.
NASA is yet to announce a date for the undocking of the Axiom-4 mission from the space station. The duration of the Axiom-4 mission docked to the ISS is up to 14 days.
"I am so proud that ISRO has been able to collaborate with national institutions all over the country and come up with some fantastic research which I am doing on the station for all the scientists and researchers. It is exciting and a joy to do this," Shukla said in an interaction with Axiom Space Chief Scientist Lucie Low on Wednesday.
The sprouts experiment is led by two scientists – Ravikumar Hosamani of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad and Sudheer Siddapureddy of the Indian Institute of Technology, Dharwad.
Once returned to Earth, the seeds will be cultivated over several generations to examine changes in their genetics, microbial ecosystems and nutritional profiles, a statement from Axiom Space said.
In another experiment, Shukla deployed and stowed microalgae, which are being investigated for their potential to produce food, oxygen and even biofuels. Their resilience and versatility make them ideal for supporting human life on long-duration missions.
Shukla also captured images for the crop seeds experiment, where six varieties will be grown over multiple generations post-mission. The goal is to identify plants with desirable traits for genetic analysis for sustainable farming in space.
Shukla said his research tasks on the space station spanned various domains and disciplines.
"Right from doing stem cell research and looking at the effect of microgravity on seeds, evaluating the cognitive load on astronauts while they are interacting with screens onboard the station. It has been fantastic. I feel proud to be this kind of a bridge between the researchers and the station and do the research on behalf of them," he said.
"One particular research I am really excited about is stem cell research where scientists are trying to explore whether it is possible to accelerate recovery or growth or repair injury by adding supplements to stem cells. It has been great to work in the Glove Box doing this research for them. I am really excited to be doing this," Shukla said.
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
