June 2017 Harf Facts - Final

Raj Malhotra’s IAS Study Group
Their intense gravity crushes an astonishing amount of matter – often more than 1.4 times the content of the
Sun or at least 460,000 Earths – into city-sized orbs, creating stable, yet incredibly dense matter not seen
anywhere else in the universe. Just one teaspoonful of neutron star matter would weigh a billion tonnes on
Earth.
NASA sounding rocket to release radiant artificial clouds
NASA is set to launch a sounding rocket which will release blue-green and red artificial clouds. The launch of the
Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket testing a new deployment system to support space studies was
originally scheduled for May 31, but it was delayed due to poor weather conditions.
The launch window on Saturday from from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility is 4:26 - 4:41 a.m. EDT ( 1:56-2.11 p.m
India time), the US space agency said. "Clear skies are required at one of the ground stations to view blue-green
and red artificial clouds that will be produced as part of the test. These artificial clouds may be seen from New
York to North Carolina," NASA said. The rocket will eject 10 canisters about the size of a soft drink can between
10 to 20 km from the rocket's main payload, and these containers will release the vapour between 4 and 5.5
minutes after launch. The development of the multi-canister or ampule ejection system will allow scientists to
gather information over a much larger area than previously allowed when deploying the vapour just from the
main payload. Ground cameras will be stationed at Wallops and in Duck, North Carolina, to view the vapour
tracers. "The vapour tracers are formed through the interaction of barium, strontium and cupric-oxide. The
tracers will be released at altitudes 96 to 124 miles high and pose absolutely no hazard to residents along the
mid-Atlantic coast," NASA said.
Sounding rockets take their name from the nautical term "to sound," which means to take measurements. The
flight of a sounding rocket is short-lived, and has a parabolic trajectory -- the shape of a frown. The total flight
time for the current mission is expected to be about eight minutes. The payload will land in the Atlantic Ocean
about 90 miles from Wallops Island and will not be recovered.
China launches its first X-ray space telescope
China successfully launched its first X-ray space telescope
to study black holes, pulsars and gamma-ray bursts. A Long
March-4B rocket carried the 2.5-tonne telescope into orbit
from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest
China's Gobi Desert at 11:00 am (3:00 GMT), according to
the official Xinhua news agency. The Hard X-ray Modulation
Telescope (HXMT), named Insight, will allow Chinese
scientists to observe magnetic fields and the interiors of
pulsars and better understand the evolution of black holes.
It will also help scientists search for gamma-ray bursts
corresponding to gravitational waves and study how to pulsars can be used for spacecraft navigation, Xinhua
said.
"Insight is expected to push forward the development of space astronomy and improve space X-ray detection
technology in China," Xinhua said. Beijing sees its multi-billion-dollar space programme as a symbol of its rise
and of the Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation. In
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