NASA says Artemis I Mission is proceeding as per plan

The Orion spacecraft, which is at the core of NASA’s historic Artemis I mission, reached its farthest distance from Earth. It shattered the earlier record for the maximum distance a spacecraft designed to carry humans has ever traveled. NASA confirmed that the Orion capsule had reached about 270,000 miles from Earth. This is the midpoint of its uncrewed mission around the moon. This distance is more than 40,000 miles beyond the far side of the moon. Apollo 13 mission in 1970 holds the previous record for the farthest a human-rated spacecraft has traveled. That mission had humans on board and it had stretched out to 248,655 miles from our home planet. The goal of the present Artemis I mission is to test the Orion capsule to its limits. The objective is to ensure that the vehicle is ready to host humans. The trial run is part of NASA’s broader Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since the 1970s. In a program of this nature, there could be problems and these have not posed any problems. Orion Program Manager Howard Hu said the spacecraft’s performance has been “outstanding.” In fact, the spacecraft is outperforming expectations in some respects. An example is producing about 20 percent more power than needed. NASA’s Orion spacecraft reaches record-breaking distance from Earth on Artemis I mission. The satisfactory progress of work impressed NASA. It plans to add seven additional mission objectives. These will gather additional data about the spacecraft’s capabilities and performance.

The spacecraft will swoop back toward the moon before firing its engines exit its current trajectory and head back toward Earth. The Orion capsule will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on December 11. Experts will keep a watch on the behavior of the heat shield. After landing, Orion must safely deploy parachutes to ensure a gentle ocean splashdown. A NASA recovery ship will be ready to haul the Orion capsule to safety. The success of Artemis I mission will mean NASA will proceed to choose a crew to fly on the Artemis II mission. This could take off as soon as 2024. Its mission would be to fly around the moon but not land on its surface. That will be mission of Artemis III in 2025. It will be unique because it will include the first woman and the first person of color to achieve such a milestone.

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SpaceX launched the first Falcon Heavy mission in over three years

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is back in business. It has now launched the first Falcon Heavy mission in over three years. This is a towering rocket and the most powerful one currently in operation. The rocket is carrying the classified USSF-44 mission for the U.S. Space Force. It is also the first operational national security mission for Falcon Heavy. The mission took off from a launchpad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Earlier, launch was the Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) mission in June 2019. At that time, it carried experimental satellites on a demonstration flight for the Pentagon. Falcon Heavy’s base is reusable. However, the company landed just the side pair of the three rocket boosters. Its central core dropped into the ocean as traditional rockets do. The purpose was to meet the Space Force’s high-performance requirement for this mission. The hiatus in Falcon Heavy launches is attributable to the readiness of customers on its schedule. Incidentally, the company has completed three since the rocket’s debut in February 2018. SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful rocket, on Space Force mission.

This original schedule of USSF-44 mission was for late 2020. There was plan for two other Falcon Heavy missions for this year – one for the Space Force and the other for NASA. However, customer payloads are also not ready yet. In fact, there is a backlog of about a dozen missions for Falcon Heavy still to come. SpaceX continues to launch its Falcon series of rockets at a high rate. The latest mission was the company’s record 50th launch this year and the company continues to work on the even larger Starship rockets that could replace them.

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Eruption of volcano in Tonga led to a plume of ash and water that went about 31 to 50 miles above the surface of the Earth

In January, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted underwater. It created a plume of ash and water that reached nearly 31 to 50 miles above the surface of the Earth. Scientists say it penetrated the third layer of Earth’s atmosphere. In fact, it was the highest-recorded volcanic plume and reached the mesosphere. At this height, meteors and meteorites usually break apart and burn up in our atmosphere. Incidentally, the mesosphere lies above the troposphere and the stratosphere and beneath two other layers. The stratosphere and mesosphere are dry atmospheric layers. The height of the volcanic plume was 35.4 miles at its highest. It broke earlier records of the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines at 24.8 miles and the 1982 El Chichón eruption in Mexico at 19.2 miles. Researchers made use of satellite images over the eruption site to confirm the height of the plume. The location of the eruption was in the southern Pacific Ocean off the Tongan archipelago. This is an area covered by three geostationary weather satellites. Tonga eruption’s towering plume reached the third layer of Earth’s atmosphere.

It is possible to visualize the magnitude of the disturbance caused by the amount of water displaced. It could fill 58,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. This is based on previous detections from a NASA satellite. Researchers can use the height of the plume to study the impact of the eruption on the global climate. Incidentally, determining the height of the plume was a challenge to researchers. There are various algorithms to arrive at the figure. Dr. Simon Proud is the lead study coauthor. Knowledge of the composition and height of the plume can reveal how much ice went up into the stratosphere and how the ash particles scattered. The height is also critical for aviation safety because volcanic ash in the atmosphere could result in failure of the jet engine.

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NASA shelves Artemis I unmanned mission to the moon and back while China tries to keep abreast of America

China is becoming Asia’s rapidly growing space power. It is progressing on its own program to put both robotic and crewed spacecraft on the lunar surface. It wants to keep pace with NASA-led achievements. Ambitious plans of China include sample-return missions from the Moon, landings at the South Pole and sending astronauts there on a short-term visit. In 2024, there are plans to collect rock samples from the far side of the moon. Incidentally, in 2019, China became the first country to land a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon. Subsequently, Chang’e-5 mission in 2020 carried out the first sampling of lunar material in over four decades. It brought 1.731 grams of lunar rocks to Earth. Then Chang’e-6 plans to collect fresh samples. China’s Moon Missions Shadow NASA Artemis’s Pace. Study of these samples could provide answers to the geological past of the Moon. That is what a planetary scientist of the University of Manchester, England.

The next mission would be Chang’e-6 in 2024. It will focus on the lunar south pole where NASA plans to land Artemis 3 crewed mission. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is the country’s main space contractor. It is developing a new rocket that will be specifically meant for launching astronauts beyond low Earth orbit. NASA is leading humanity’s journey to the moon, but China is not too far behind. It is gradually accumulating capabilities for its long-term ambitions.

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Russia could vacate International Space Station by 2024

The International Space Station launched in 1998 has been in operation since 2000. Scientists and astronauts from different countries have worked in this sky lab located 250 miles above Earth. In spite of difference in policies and ideologies, this space lab is a venture where the USA and Russia joined hands with a common objective to promote space research. They have carried out studies on various aspects of working in space in order to evaluate the effects of alien environments on humans. They worked on animals, plants, other living organism, and as many as nine countries worked on the ISS. Over the past more than two decades, they have conducted space walks, repaired portions of the space station from the outside and have participated in festivals like Christmas.

It seems Russia has taken a decision to dissociate itself from the International Space Station after 2024. It wants to focus on creating its own orbital outpost. This has been reported in the media. Russia to quit International Space Station ‘after 2024.’ Obviously, the cooperative program between Europe, the United States, Russia, Canada, and Japan would no longer exist. In the course of an ISS conference for NASA in Washington, an official said they did not want the US-Russia space relationship to end. Space agencies all over the world are trying to break new frontiers in space. They have the Moon and Mars on their radars. With a combination of robotics and artificial intelligence at their command, they want to explore unknown territories – they are in search of natural resources available on other planets.

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NASA locates India's 'lost' Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft

Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft is India's first lunar probe and it was believed to have been lost because Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) lost contact with it on August 29, 2009, almost a year after it was launched on October 22, 2008.
Scientists of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California have discovered that it is not lost but still circling nearly 200-Km above the surface of the Moon. NASA has located it by using a new ground-based radar technique.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 10 March 2017.

NASA was searching for its own LRO and it was quite easy because they were working in league with the mission's navigators and had precise orbit data where it was located. However, finding Chandrayaan-1 required a bit more detective work. This was because o its size - it is a very small cube about 1.5 meters on each side and is about half the size of a smart car. Finding such a tiny object was a challenge.
The JPL team used NASA's 70-metre antenna at NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California to send out a powerful beam of microwaves directed towards the Moon. The radar echoes bounced back from lunar orbit were then received by the 100-meter Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. That is how the lost Chandrayaan-1 was found 380,000 kilometres away.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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United Arab Emirates plans to set up the first mini city on Mars by 2117

United Arab Emirates (UAE)has given the world Burj Khalifa which the tallest building and now plans to set up the first mini city on Mars, the Red Planet by 2117. This will be a part of its 100-year national program to understand the red planet in a better way.
This was announced at the World Government Summit by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum in the presence of representatives of 138 governments.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 16 February 2017.

The Mars 2117 Project of UAE is expected to explore methods of how people can reach Mars and how they would create food and energy on the red planet which are the essentials of survival. UAE's aim is to spearhead international efforts to turn this dream into a reality.
Many countries have attempted and the world's overall success rate in this endeavor since the 1960s is less than 50-50 with NASA having the best success rate at around 70 per cent. Since 1960s, it has sent 21 missions to Mars and only six have succeeded.


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Brewing beer on the Moon would have an Indian connection

All countries are keen to get a pie of the Moon and while NASA wanting to colonize the moon by 2022 for a total cost of just $10 billion, Russia planning to land its first cosmonauts on the moon in 2031. However, one important question that is looking for an answer is whether or not beer can be brewed in space.
For that, a group of students have drawn up plans for brewing a batch of beer on the moon - and it has an Indian connection! A team of University of California, San Diego students are competing to send an experiment to the moon - it will go aboard a spacecraft built by Indian startup TeamIndus. The spacecraft has been funded under Google's Lunar XPRIZE competition.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 23 January 2017.

The students are one of just 25 teams that has been selected from a pool of 3,000 to compete for a spot aboard TeamIndus spacecraft - it is expected to launch on 28 December this year. The experiment that would go up on India's moonlander would be a combination of hobby coupled with the viability of yeast in outer space.
Trying to know how yeast behaves on the Moon is important for development of pharmaceuticals and yeast-containing foods, like bread. In this case, the unfermented beer, or wort, will be prepared on Earth and then sent into space.
Incidentally, proposed experiments for the Lab2Moon competition have come from all over the world and range from photosynthesis to electricity. These will be evaluated by an international jury in March when teams fly to Bangalore, India, to showcase their final prototype.


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Mars mission very much on the cards - six scientists are getting ready in Hawaii

Mars mission is very much on the cards and a team of six scientists are getting ready in Hawaii to acclamatise themselves with the rigors of undertaking a journey to the Red Planet situated nearly 56 million kilometers from planet Earth.
These scientists have entered a dome that is perched on top of a remote volcano in Hawaii. The University of Hawaii has indicated that they will spend the next eight months in isolation to simulate life for astronauts traveling to Mars.
This has been reported in thehindu.com dated 21 January 2017.

The study has been designed to help NASA understand human behavior and performance during long space missions in anticipation of a manned mission to the red planet. The crew will perform geological fieldwork and basic daily tasks in the 1,200-sq.ft. dome that is located in an abandoned quarry 8,200 feet above sea level on the Mauna Loa volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island.
There is very little vegetation in the area and the scientists will have no contact with the outside world and communications with a mission control team will be time-delayed to match the 20-minute travel time of radio waves passing between the Earth and the Mars.
Their daily routine would include food preparation from only shelf-stable ingredients, exercise, research and fieldwork aligned with NASA’s planetary exploration expectations.
The mission is funded by NASA and is known as the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (Hi-SEAS). It is the fifth of its kind intended to create guidelines for journeys to Mars.


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30th International kite festival in Gujarat, Telangana, Delhi and Karnataka

30th International kite festivals are being held in Gujarat, Telangana, Delhi and Karnataka. The festivals are organized by the State governments in association with India Tourism. Thirty-five international teams and five national teams are participating in the festivals.
This has been reported in thehindu.com dated 5 January 2017.

Kozhikode is sending two teams - One India Kite Team and Incredible India Women’s Kite Team. They will take part in all the four festivals being. The tentative schedule is - Gujarat from January 8 to 13, the Telangana International Kite Festival to be held in Hyderabad on January 14 and 15, the Delhi International Kite Festival from January 16 to 17, and the Belgaum International Kite Festival from January 18 to 22.
The teams will be seen in both national and international categories in events like kite making workshops, kite flying competitions, exhibition of huge kites and competition of sports and stunt kites.
Incidentally, the trump card of One India Kite Team for the year is ‘NASA A.B. Plus’ - this is a Sports Power Kite and it has been made locally by a gentleman and is based on a technology that has been developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States of America. The kite is just 1,500 grams in weight and the technology is usually used by NASA to control aircraft as they alight on ships. It is believed to be the first time that this technology is used for kites in India.


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NASA finds huge underground ice deposit larger than New Mexico on Mars

Here is good news for Mars Mission - a new study from NASA has revealed the presence of a huge underground ice deposit on Mars which is more extensive in area than the state of New Mexico. The deposit holds about as much water as that in Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes.
This discovery is based on data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Scientists had examined part of Mars' Utopia Planitia region, in the mid-northern latitudes. They used the ground-penetrating Shallow Subsurface Radar (SHARD) instrument that was on board the MRO.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 23 November 2016.

As per initial estimates of NASA, the deposit ranges in thickness from about 260 feet (80 meters) to about 560 feet (170 meters) and its composition is 50 to 85 percent water ice, mixed with dust or larger rocky particles. It is presumed that this deposit formed as snowfall accumulating into an ice sheet mixed with dust during a period in Mars history when the planet's axis was more tilted than it is today.
The ice deposit is covered by just 3 feet to 33 feet (1 to 10 meters) of soil.
Today, Mars has an axial tilt of 25 degrees, thereby it accumulates large amounts of water ice at the poles. Incidentally, Utopia Planitia is a basin with a diameter of about 2,050 miles (3,300 kilometers). It was the result of a major impact early in Mars' history and subsequently filled. NASA had sent the Viking 2 Lander to a site near the center of Utopia in 1976.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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President-elect Donald Trump wants to see Americans colonise the Moon

The election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States has placed NASA at a crossroads because it could herald the return of American astronauts to the surface of the Moon. The former House speaker Newt Gingrich had suggested that the lunar colony would one day hold 13,000 settlers. It would probably qualify for statehood in the US.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 20 November 2016.

Observers of NASA and the American space program are of the opinion that if Trump appoints key Republican ally Newt Gingrich to a top position, the US may find itself leading international efforts to build a permanent base on the lunar surface. That would be a major stepping stone toward the ultimate goal of one day sending a manned mission to Mars.
Incidentally, President Obama has gone on record as saying that he supports putting a man on Mars by the year 2030. It may be noted that between 1969 and 1972, a total of 12 American astronauts had set foot on the moon and, since then, no one has come close. However, given the present scenario, Americans might be forced to return to the Moon in view of the increasing interest in manned lunar missions from rival space programs in Europe, China, Japan, and Russia.


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A few indoor plants that can combat air pollution

Air pollution is a major problem in metros and Delhi is currently witnessing its worst smog in 17 years. The hazardous level of air pollution has put the health of residents at risk from a number of respiratory diseases, including asthma.
While the authorities are trying to reduce the level of air pollution and people are wearing masks when out on the streets, the air quality inside the house can be reduce by planting indoor plants instead of buying air purifiers or protective face masks. The air quality inside the house can be controlled and the air can be rid of pollution in a cheap cheap method by employing the green technique – planting trees.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 5 November 2016.
A few of such plants are -
Flamingo lily - this is one of the plants listed in the NASA Clean Air Study and is effective in removing formaldehyde, xylene, toluene, and ammonia from the air.

Spider plant - this is native to Africa and is effective in removing pollutants. A study by NASA has discovered that the spider plant not only released oxygen and removed carbon dioxide in relatively low levels of light, but it can trap and absorb many harmful toxins from the air.

English ivy - this is an invasive species that provides a natural way of removing toxic agents like benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene from the air. It also helps to neutralize the effects of sick building syndrome.

Areca palm - this is also known as bamboo palm, golden cane palm, yellow palm,or butterfly palm and is a species of flowering plant in the Arecaceae family. As per NASA it can filter indoor air pollutants such as xylene and toluene. It can grow to a height of nearly 5 ft 11 in and has the ability to transpire 1 liter of water per 24 hours. Thus, it is a natural and effective humidifier.

Boston fern - these are highly effective in removing indoor air pollutants, such as benzene, formaldehyde, and xylene. Nephrolepis exaltata is a very popular house plant, often grown in hanging baskets or similar conditions.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Russian Soyuz space capsule back on Earth with three astronauts from the ISS

A Russian Soyuz space capsule has brought back three astronauts from the ISS and has landed in Kazakhstan. The three astronauts who have come back to Earth are from the United States, Japan and Russia and they are back from a 115-day mission aboard the International Space Station.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 31 October 2016.

The landing happened near Dzhezkazgan on the treeless Central Asian steppes. The three who returned are Kate Rubins of NASA, Japan's Takuya Onishi and Anatoly Ivanishin of Russia. They were removed from the capsule and then sat on the steppes still in their capsule seats as they gradually readjusted to the forces of gravity after nearly four months in weightless conditions. Subsequently, they were shifted to a nearby medical tent for initial examination.
With their return, the three who remain on the ISS are Andrei Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhykov of Russia and NASA astronaut Robert Shane Kimbrough. They have arrived on October 22 after a two-day voyage.
Incidentally, the trip back to Earth was much quicker for the three returnees today - it took about 3 1/2 hours from undocking until landing. It landed upright and that made the extraction of the astronauts quicker than when capsules land on their sides.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to sow lettuce

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), have taken to farming in preparation of Mars mission at a future date. They have made a beginning by planting their third on-orbit crop of red romaine lettuce. It was done by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough who initiated the Veg-03 experiment. This is one of his first science assignments as a new crew member aboard the orbiting laboratory.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 26 October 2016.

The astronauts are making use of plant growth system called 'Veggie' for their experiment. The Veg-03 crop will be the the team's first on-orbit attempt at a new, repetitive harvest technique termed ‘Cut-and-Come-Again'. As explained by Nicole Dufour, NASA's Veggie project manager, once the plants are approximately four weeks old, a selection of leaves can be harvested for a bit of fresh lettuce and possibly science samples. Some leaves will be left in as-is condition along with the core of the plant, and it will continue to grow and produce more leaves.
The experiment will, in the long run, increase the on-orbit crop yield, and allow for more opportunities to supplement the diet of astronauts with fresh, nutritious food from the same plants. This is an important goal of the ‘pick-and-eat' food concept.
Astronauts on future long-duration space missions will have to grow their own food to supplement their diets.
Incidentally, using the Veggie plant growth facility aboard the station, Veg-03 builds on the successes of previous studies, including Veg-01, which resulted in the first-ever on-orbit harvest and sampling of fresh produce during the summer of 2015. Various techniques that will emerge from Veggie crops will assist NASA to prepare for the Journey to Mars.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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NASA sends team to the bed of Atlantic Ocean to get a feel of Martian environment

Having set its eyes on Mars, NASA has sent a team of astronauts to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean on a 16-day mission - the objective is to prepare them for future deep space missions and the journey to Mars. These “aquanauts” have been sent to train undersea in simulated space mission because the bottom of a blue ocean has extreme environments similar to the surface of Mars, the Red Planet.
This has been reported in thehindu.com dated 24 July 2016.

The expedition has been named NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 21. It will consist of an international crew and they will have to explore tools and techniques being tested for future space exploration by living in simulated spacecraft conditions and, simultaneously, conducting simulated spacewalks outside of their undersea habitat. This habitat is named Aquarius and the Aquarius Reef Base is located 62 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
The main purpose of isolating crew members at the bottom of the ocean is to simulate life and work for astronauts in microgravity environments like the International Space Station, or in spacecraft that will, in future, make journeys to asteroids and planets.


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Three new crew members from US, Russia and Japan were on their way to the International Space Station (ISS). One of them is a NASA biologist. They were successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The three are Kate Rubins of NASA, Soyuz Commander Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. They are traveling in an upgraded Soyuz spacecraft.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 7 July 2016.

The three of them will spend two days along with 34 Earth orbits in the course of testing modified systems before docking to the space station's Rassvet module on Saturday. With their arrival, the station's crew complement will come back to six.
Kate Rubins, Anatoly Ivanishin and Takuya Onishi will join Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams of NASA and Flight Engineers Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos. The plan for the Expedition 48 crew members is to spend four months conducting more than 250 science investigations in fields ranging from biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology development. Rubins holds a bachelor's degree in molecular biology and is also a doctorate in cancer biology.
Ivanishin and Onishi would remain aboard ISS till late October while Williams, Skripochka and Ovchinin will return to Earth in September.
One of the assignments for Expedition 48 crew members is to receive and install the station's first international docking adapter which will accommodate future arrivals of US commercial crew spacecraft. Among the various experiments are capabilities for sequencing DNA in space, regulating temperatures aboard spacecraft, understanding bone loss and tracking ships around the world and studying how to protect computers from radiation in space and also test out an efficient, three-dimensional solar cell.


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Mission Mars is set to happen earlier than expected because SpaceX has readied plans to send an unmanned Dragon spacecraft to Mars as early as 2018 and, it would be a first step in achieving founder Elon Musk's goal to fly people to another planet. If successful, SpaceX will beat all other world space agencies in landing a new robot on Mars.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 28 April 2016.

NASA aims to send human mission to Mars in the 2030s and it will provide technical support for SpaceX's first foray, known as Red Dragon. However, it will not extend any financial assistance to SpaceX's Mars mission. However, SpaceX is upgrading the capsules to carry astronauts, with test flights to the station scheduled for 2017, under a separate NASA contract worth up to $2.6 billion.
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Welcome to the fascinating world of drones – from golf course to weddings

Until recently, drones were associated with terrorism and law enforcement agencies used these UAVs extensively to track down and eliminate terrorists. Drones have proved their usefulness in tackling terrorism in Afghanistan and Syria. But – the concept is gradually changing and today commercial drones are available online and off the shelf at affordable prices.

A report in Dailymail dated 29 March 2016 (1) mentions drones on the golf course. Golfers usually have to make trips from the green to the clubhouse to get refreshments and that can be a pain. However, Rakuten, a Japanese firm is bringing drones also known as quadcopters) on the scene. The firm has unveiled a snack-delivery service for golfers.
Golfers can order anything by using their smartphones from drinks to replacement balls through an app and the items will be delivered by a quadcopter in minutes - the golfers need not leave the course.
This service is expected to be deployed sometime in May at a golf course in Chiba Prefecture southeast of Tokyo. Chiba is a city where the government will ease up on a few aviation restrictions.
Rakuten is an e-commerce platform, and it plans to team up with Yamato Transport and undertake field tests of the drones that will be used for home deliveries. It will be similar to how Amazon is going to proceed with their drones. Operations for delivery of packages will start only in 2020. It will begin by picking up packages from distributors and transferring them to large condominium complexes in the prefecture.
Incidentally, Amazon will also being using the deregulated zones of Chiba to test out their delivery drones.
In Sky News dated 25 March 2016 (2) there was news about the first federally authorized delivery by drone in the US.
The occasion was when a six-rotor drone delivered a package containing bottled water, food and a first-aid kit to an uninhabited address in Hawthorne, Nevada. The State governor Brian Sandoval has acknowledged that this was the first federally authorized urban delivery in the US.
The drone followed a pre-GPS programmed route for the half-mile journey as indicated by Flirtey chief executive. A pilot and visual observers were on standby during the flight but their services were not needed. The 'experiment' is proof that drones can safely navigate urban obstacles like power lines, rooftops and street lamps.
Flirtey had earlier conducted the first US rural drone delivery last July when it brought in medical supplies to a Virginia clinic.
Obviously, these herald a new era in business and the achievement is perceived as a major step towards making regular deliveries to your front doorstep.
Nevada is one of six states that the Federal Aviation Administration has designated as test sites for unmanned aircraft. NASA is working with the drone industry and the FAA on a low-altitude air traffic control system to prevent drone crashes.
The online retailer Amazon has been testing drone deliveries in other countries, including Canada and the Netherlands. And, Times of India dated 15 February 2016 has reported that in Indian weddings a trend is appearing where there is a clamor to capture those glorious moments of weddings on videos from the air – this aerial photography is done by using drones.
Many of the Indian weddings of the rich and famous are held at magnificent forts and palaces and drones add another dimension to make the event more regal. This trend is fast catching on as more and more couples are opting for aerial shots of their wedding.
Rajasthan is a state that provides a diversity in landscaping, clear skyline and open space to the lensmen who say that the demand for drone cameras has increased several times in the past two years. As a wedding planner admits - in Rajasthan, a drone can add grandeur to the images of the already plush wedding venues. ... The wide-angle and top-angle shots give a new outlook. The cameras are installed with ultra-high resolution (4K) cameras, zoom lenses and advanced stabilizers.
Such sophisticated drones provide a unique visual perspective of the ceremonies and can be purchased online from between Rs 75,000 to Rs 4 lakh, based on the demand and purpose. Of course, many photographers prefer to take it on rent for Rs 12,000 to 35,000 per day after depositing the identity proof and security money.
Photographers of Jaipur claim that last year there was a tremendous demand for drone photography. The photographers have their own code of conduct keeping in mind the security and safety aspects - they strictly say no to clients for drone shoots in city areas and the shooting are confined to farmhouses and outskirt areas.
Ref 1 - Forget using a caddy: Delivery drone will fly drinks and balls to golfers in minutes http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3514306/Forget-getting-golf-caddie-Delivery-drone-fly-drinks-balls-golfers-minutes.html Ref 2 - US Drone Makes History In First Urban Delivery http://news.sky.com/story/1667163/us-drone-makes-history-in-first-urban-delivery Ref 3 - Huge demand for drones at weddings http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Huge-demand-for-drones-at-weddings/articleshow/50990552.cms

Drone delivery takes off in the US - package delivered in Hawthorne, Nevada

It was the first federally authorized delivery by drone in the US when a six-rotor drone delivered a package containing bottled water, food and a first-aid kit to an uninhabited address in Hawthorne, Nevada. The State governor Brian Sandoval has acknowledged that this was the first federally authorized urban delivery in the US.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 25 March 2016.

The drone followed a pre-GPS programmed route for the half-mile journey as indicated by Flirtey chief executive. A pilot and visual observers were on standby during the flight but they were not needed. The 'experiment' is proof that drones can safely navigate urban obstacles like power lines, rooftops and street lamps.
Flirtey had earlier carried out the first US rural drone delivery last July when it brought in medical supplies to a Virginia clinic.
Obviously, these herald a new era in business and the achievement is a step towards making regular deliveries to your front doorstep.
Incidentally, Nevada is one of six states that the Federal Aviation Administration has designated as test sites for unmanned aircraft. NASA is working with the drone industry and the FAA on a low-altitude air traffic control system to prevent drone crashes.
The online retailer Amazon has been testing drone deliveries in other countries, including Canada and the Netherlands.


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