Shilpasena2

SHILPASENA Exhibition – Stage II

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ග්‍රහලෝකාගාරය
இலங்கை கோளரங்கம்.
Sri Lanka Planetarium.

(+94)11 2586499

October 31, 2024

SHILPASENA Exhibition - Stage II

The Ministry of Science Technology and research is in the process of organizing the SHILPASENA Exposition the main objective of talking all Technologies and research findings to the general public for their benefit and creating awareness among all segments of the society of Science, Technology, and Engineering. The first Exposition will be held in BMICH premises From 11th-15th September 2019.

Sri Lanka Planetarium Participated in this Exhibition Under the theme of “Space Technology” at National Sports Complex, Polonnaruwa. So we displayed many exhibits such as Weight on Different Planets Scale Unit System, Mars Helicopter Scout Model, Mobile Planetarium and Night Sky Observation using Telescopes. Also, the following Institute Arthur C Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies and Astronomy Society of the University of Colombo.
Shilpasena1

SHILPASENA Exhibition – Stage I

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ග්‍රහලෝකාගාරය
இலங்கை கோளரங்கம்.
Sri Lanka Planetarium.

(+94)11 2586499

October 31, 2024

SHILPASENA Exhibition - Stage I

The Ministry of Science Technology and research is in the process of organizing the SHILPASENA Exposition the main objective of talking all Technologies and research findings to the general public for their benefit and creating awareness among all segments of the society of Science, Technology, and Engineering. The first Exposition will be held in BMICH premises From 18th-21th July 2019.

Sri Lanka Planetarium Participated in this Exhibition Under the theme of “Space Technology” at BMICH.So we displayed many exhibits such as Astronunt Model, Solar System Model, Aliens Models, Weight on Different Planets Scale Unit System, and 3D Hologram Projection. Also, the following Institutes Arthur C Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies, St. Aloysius’ College, Rathnapura, Nalanda College Colombo, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University and the University of Ruhuna.
Solar-Eclipse-Camp-Mullaitivu-04

Annular Solar Eclipse Camps

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ග්‍රහලෝකාගාරය
இலங்கை கோளரங்கம்.
Sri Lanka Planetarium.

(+94)11 2586499

October 31, 2024

Annular Solar Eclipse Camps

An annular eclipse will be visible in Sri Lanka on 12-12-2019. Such an eclipse was first seen in Sri Lanka in the year 2010 and such a phenomenon will happen again in another 12 years. This eclipse will not be seen in many countries and only a few countries in sri lanka india will have this opportunity Although this phenomenon is of great interest to school children, the public as well as foreigners, it is best seen in the northern part of Sri Lanka.

Accordingly, the main observatory was organized at Mullaitivu to observe the eclipse and the other observatory was to conduct observations at the Sri Lanka Planetarium Premises at Colombo.

Annular Solar Eclipse Main Camp - Mullaitivu Beach

Annular Solar Eclipse 2nd Camp - Sri Lanka Planetarium, Colombo 07

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Perseids meteor shower

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ග්‍රහලෝකාගාරය
இலங்கை கோளரங்கம்.
Sri Lanka Planetarium.

(+94)11 2586499

October 31, 2024

Perseids meteor shower

The Perseids meteor shower is the one of the best meteor showers to observe will be active from 17 July to 24 August, producing up to 100 meteors per hour at its peak activity at around 01:00 a.m. (+05.30GMT) on 13 August 2022.

Perseids best displays might be seen on 13 August above your north east horizon in the constellation of Perseus.

This celestial event is visible to the naked eye.
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Lyrid meteor shower

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ග්‍රහලෝකාගාරය
இலங்கை கோளரங்கம்.
Sri Lanka Planetarium.

(+94)11 2586499

October 31, 2024

Lyrid meteor shower

The Lyrid meteor shower will be active from 16 April to 25 April, producing up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak activity at around 00:00 a.m. (+05.30GMT) on 23 April 2022.

Lyrids best displays might be seen before dawn on 23 April and after the radiant rises on 22 April above your eastern horizon in the constellation of Hercules.

This celestial event is visible to the naked eye.
Ingenuity

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ග්‍රහලෝකාගාරය
இலங்கை கோளரங்கம்.
Sri Lanka Planetarium.

(+94)11 2586499

October 31, 2024

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

On 19th Monday 2021, NASA’s Ingenuity flew on Mars becoming the first-ever aircraft to attempt and succeed in a powered, controlled flight on another planet. Ingenuity is a helicopter developed by NASA’s JPL Caltech, as proof of the concept of powered flight on extra-terrestrial worlds, thus it did not carry any science equipment.

Most of this helicopter is built with off-the-shelf parts that are readily available. It consists of a Li-ion battery pack that stores energy produced by the solar panels on board the helicopter. Among several motors, the motor that drives the propellers is a brushed DC motor and there are powers two propellers. The propellers are specially designed for the Martian environment. The propellers have a large wingspan (1.2 m) and a steeper angle of attack (unlike the quad-copters propellers we see here on Earth) considering the low air pressure at the Martian surface. The propellers are made with carbon fiber to reduce weight and increase strength. The two propellers rotate in opposite directions to counter the rotational torque produce by each other.

On 19th at 07:34 (GMT) Ingenuity became airborne, and it stayed in the air for 39.1 seconds, with 30-second stable hovering 3 meters above the Martian surface. Although Ingenuity can be controlled from Perseverance rover, this first flight was an autonomous test flight and all the steps were carried out by the onboard computer.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Rover-2

Mars 2020 Perseverance

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ග්‍රහලෝකාගාරය
இலங்கை கோளரங்கம்.
Sri Lanka Planetarium.

(+94)11 2586499

October 31, 2024

Mars 2020 Perseverance

Perseverance carried seven instruments to Planet Mars

Mastcam-Z, an advanced camera system with panoramic and stereoscopic imaging capability with the ability to zoom. The instrument also will determine the mineralogy of the Martian surface and assist with rover operations.

SuperCam, an instrument that can provide imaging, chemical composition analysis, and mineralogy at a distance

Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL), an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer and high-resolution imager to map the fine-scale elemental composition of Martian surface materials. PIXL will provide capabilities that permit more detailed detection and analysis of chemical elements than ever before.

Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC), a spectrometer that will provide fine-scale imaging and uses an ultraviolet (UV) laser to map mineralogy and organic compounds. SHERLOC will be the first UV Raman spectrometer to fly to the surface of Mars and will provide complementary measurements with other instruments in the payload. SHERLOC includes a high-resolution color camera for microscopic imaging of Mars’ surface.

The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE), a technology demonstration that will produce oxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide. If successful, MOXIE’s technology could be used by future astronauts on Mars to burn rocket fuel for returning to Earth.

Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA), a set of sensors that will provide measurements of temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity, and dust size and shape.

The Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX), a ground-penetrating radar that will provide centimeter-scale resolution of the geologic structure of the subsurface.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Key Objectives of the Perseverance mission.

Mission Timeline

A camera aboard the descent stage captured this shot

Image credit:  NASA/JPL-Caltech
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Rover Size and Dimensions

Perseverance Rover is about 10 feet long (not including the arm), 9 feet wide, and 7 feet tall (about 3 meters long, 2.7 meters wide, and 2.2 meters tall).

Ingenuity

Perseverance carried with it; a 2 kg helicopter named “Ingenuity’ which will become the first aircraft to attempt powered flight on another planet. This solar powered drone will take arial photographs of the Jezero Crater.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
ISS

International Space Station (ISS)

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ග්‍රහලෝකාගාරය
இலங்கை கோளரங்கம்.
Sri Lanka Planetarium.

(+94)11 2586499

October 31, 2024

International Space Station (ISS)

ISS is the biggest artificial satellite currently orbiting our planet. It’s first component was launched in 1998. This satellite is a joint project by Several space agencies (NASA of USA, Roscosmos of Russia, JAXA of Japan, ESA of European Union, CSA of Canada) belong to several countries. This station is built as a habitable laboratory to conduct research works on several fields of science including Physics, Chemistry, Microbiology, Mereology. ISS provides a microgravity and space environment conditions for these researches. The first long term residents arrived on 2nd November 2000 (20 years ago)

ISS is in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with an average altitude of 400km above the surface of the earth it has 2 engines onboard and it can use the engines of visiting spacecrafts to maintain this orbit. It goes around the planet 15.5 times a day with an orbital period of 92 minutes.

ISS is 109m by 73m in size (as large as a football field), this size and the reflectivity of its construction materials make the ISS clearly visible to naked eye. If we look through a telescope even the shape of the ISS can be seen.

Given that the ISS rotates around earth nearly 16 times a day, ISS sighting is a common occurrence since its launch. Because the ISS is in a LEO, it is covered from the sunlight during the flight over night side of earth and lit from behind over the day sky. Thus, its only visible during evenings and mornings. You have to know where to look and at what time if you want to spot the ISS.

There are several mobile phone apps and website that lets you know details of ISS sightings. One of which is https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ website maintained by NASA.
astronaut

Inventions that came with Space Travel

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ග්‍රහලෝකාගාරය
இலங்கை கோளரங்கம்.
Sri Lanka Planetarium.

(+94)11 2586499

October 31, 2024

Inventions that came with Space Travel

When hear “space travel” we think only about the astronauts, planets and rockets. If someone asks how space travel helped us, we’d say that space travel let us explore the previously unexplored parts of the space. But with the space travel there has been lot of inventions are currently helping us on earth.

Solar Cells:

Solar Cells were invented to use as a power source for satellites. Now we use them every day, to power pocket calculators and to power cities as an alternative energy source.

Phone Camera Sensors:

Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA invented small digital camera sensors to fit on space crafts. They are known as CMOS sensors and today most camera phones and Webcams use the same technology.

Water Purification:

NASA invented an electrolytic silver iodizer to purify drinking water for astronauts. These types of filters are widely used today to kill bacteria in drinking water.

Handheld vacuum:

Black & Decker, an American company was appointed to develop a lightweight device to collect moon dust. The same technology is now used in handheld wireless vacuum pumps.

Wireless headsets:

In some cases, astronauts required to be free of wires but at the same tie, they needed to communicate. Wireless headsets are born to fulfill this requirement, now we use these to listen to music and entertain ourselves.

Computer mouse:

In an attempt to make the interaction between astronauts and computers easier, researchers at NASA came up with the idea of a mouse. Now we can’t even imagine a computer without a pointing device.

Exercise machine:

Since astronauts stay in space for weeks or months at a time they need to exercise, but since they cannot exercise as usual in-space exercise machine were invented. Now we user Exercise machine has given their convenience.

These are only a few of the inventions that came with space travel and very use full-on earth for everyone. The list includes many inventions including Portable computers, Baby formula, Freeze-dried food, CAT Scanner, Memory Foam, Athletic Shoes, LASER eye surgery, and many more. So we can say space travel helped use reach the stars while making our lives better on earth.