One nation

After the Landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis Space Station completed another chapter in its quest to become the human outpost in Space. The ISS received its new sets of solar array, the power capability of the station has been enhanced paving way for new modules and lab on the Station. The Japanse space agency will have an important role to play when its lab are launched in the space in future. Japanse space agency has a lab along with a platform and a robotic arm to installed in the space. There are couple of Russian modules yet to be transported along with other American labs. The expected completion of the station is around 2010. But the completion of the station solely depends on the Space Shuttle, recently Space Shuttle had issues with the thermal blanket, before that it had problems with its fuel tank. This may sound to be glitches but they are great learning experience for NASA and its international partners. The Russian computer failure was another example on how unpredictable w

India disgracefully bowed out of the World Cup 2007. It was not a surprise for many who had followed Indian cricket in recent times. The timing of exit is alarming. Unfortunately this was the last world cup for many Indian players who formed the nucleus of Indian cricket for the last decade. There will be a fact finding mission from BCCI into this debacle. But I think India failed in every department and also in dressing room. Greg Chappell is almost certain to be fired by the BCCI . My personal opinion is that Greg has an excellent coaching skillet but his plans were hijacked by internal politics which has marred Indian cricket for long. Indians especially the cricket players are not a disciplined lot, shown by lot of antics by star players in and out of the ground. Disciplining such experienced lot was I think the most difficult job Chappell had. One more area in which Indian cricketers failed was to rectify mistakes. Take example of Virendra Shewag , until recently he stated t

T he world cup 2007 started with much fanfare and bang as expected. The initial stage matches with minnows in fray were expected to be dull affair. But thanks to Ireland and Bangladesh the world cup has become interesting from the word go. The resilience and commitment shown by Ireland is second to nothing. The first timer at the world gave an excellent example of fighting till the end and use available resources to the best. Ireland performance knocked out Pakistan out of the World Cup. Bangladesh victory gave tremors in Indian camp. Minnows good performance is good for cricket and its development. But this article is not about this but what happened after that. Pakistan exit had great impact on the fans in Pakistan and the cricket fraternity there. But the most shocking news was demise of Coach Bob Woolmer. The reason behind his death is unknown but without doubt we can say that lost game had some role in it. Cricket is religion in Pakistan and India . It is very stressful

No Life on Mars by Jean Thilmany, Associate Editor H ydrogen peroxide can bleach hair, propel rockets, and wipe out microbes. And that's why a University of Michigan professor of atmospheric and space science believes that we shouldn't expect to meet a Martian anytime soon. Mars is thought to have been formed with the same ingredients that, on Earth, created molecules that led to plant and animal life. Those molecules haven't yet been detected on the Martian surface, and they probably won't be, according to Sushil Atreya, a professor in the department of atmospheric, oceanic, and space sciences at the Ann Arbor campus and director of the university's Planetary Science Laboratory. Atreya attributes the lack of life on Mars to fallout from extensive dust storms on the planet. The storms can be dense and can cover wide areas. A particularly large storm, for instance, erupted more than a year ago, at the end of October 2005, when Mars and Earth were closer to

After much speculation and guessing Team India was selected for the World Cup. Selectors didn’t throw any surprises this time around and selected a more predictable team. As always this selection process is also marred by controversies. Front runner is inclusion of Virendra Shewag, who got a boost in confidence from the selectors and the captain. All others players select for themselves with few exceptions. I predicted the world cup team couple of months back, my team came closely to what selected with exception of Uthappa, I had Gambhir in it. Given a chance I would also select Robin. Robin Uthappa has played couple of solid knocks and he often plays with straight bat which will be asset in West Indies . Gautam Gambhir is also a flamboyant player with variety of strokes in his armory but I think he gets carried away and throws his wicket casually; it’s a primary reason why he is not included in the squad. Inclusion of Dinesh Karthik might have not gone well with some people, who