Chandrayaan 2s mission budget is less than half of the budget of The Avengers: Endgame

India's second mission to the moon, Chandrayaan 2 has caught the interest of the world. Why? Because of its incredibly low budget. How low? According to Sputnik News, the whole mission budget costs less than half of the budget of the entire "Avengers Endgame" movie.

"The total cost of the Chandrayaan-2 mission is about $124 million, which includes a $31 million price tag for the launch and $93 million for the satellite. The cost is less than half of the budget of Hollywood blockbuster "Avengers Endgame", which had an estimated budget of $356 million," said Sputnik News.

In a similar vein, The Washington Post pointed out in an article titled, 'India's Moon mission signals country's growing space ambitions', that India's first Mars satellite mission cost less than the budget of the movie 'Gravity'.

India’s success with low-budget missions means global eyes are on India and ISRO. A low cost model and a successful soft landing would mean more such space deals for the country.

Prior to Chandrayaan 2, only China's Chang'e 4 spacecraft has managed a soft-landing near the moon's South Pole. It was Chandrayaan-1's detection of water on the Moon that has prompted this course of action for Chandrayaan 2 and Pragyan, the rover that will hopefully conduct further research at the South Pole on the moon's surface.

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8 facts about Chandrayaan 2 - Indias second mission to the moon

The countdown to the launch of Chandrayaan is well on its way, and it's without a doubt, India, and ISRO's biggest and most complicated space mission yet. The mission which aims to take a rover to the far side of the moon will happen in the wee hours of Monday morning. Here are 8 interesting points about the mission.

1. Chandrayaan 2 will take off at Sriharikota and the destination is the South Pole of the moon.

2. Chandrayaan 2 is carrying Vikram, a 1.4 tonne lander, which houses Pragyan, a 27Kg Rover, to a plain between two craters at the moon's South Pole.

3. If India succeed at a soft-landing on the moon's surface, it will become the fourth country in the world to do so, following the US, Russia, and China. Israel, which tried earlier this year, failed at their attempt.

4. The rocket GSLV Mk III, known also as "Baahubali" is a 640 tonne rocket. This is its third launch. It is also India's heaviest launcher.

5. President Ram Nath Kovind will be at Sriharikota to observe the launch live. This will make him the third sitting president to observe a live launch from a space port.

6. The Chandrayaan 1 mission saw many countries supporting it, including the USA, Britain, Bulgaria and the European Space Agency. It was launched on India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle(PSLV) rocket and had a budget of Rs. 450 crore.

7. PM Narendra Modi has said that India will send a human into orbit in 2022, via Gaganyaan, India's spaceflight program. Global eyes are on India because of the low-cost model. A low cost model and successful soft landing would mean more orbiting deals for the country.

8. The US spent $25 billion on the Apollo missions which started in 1961. By today's standards that's over $100 billion. Chandrayaan 2's total budget doesn't not even exceed half a billion.

Main image credits: ISRO

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Chandrayaan 2: How Lander Vikram will touchdown on the lunar surface

India is all set to expand its footprint in space with the follow-up lunar mission, Chandrayaan 2, which is set for launch on Monday, early in the morning. The toughest challenge it will face throughout the mission is when its home-built Lander 'Vikram' will attempt to touchdown on the moon's surface which is covered with craters, dust, and rocks. 

When Chandrayaan 1 launched in 2008, it was only equipped with an orbiter and an impactor. While the orbiter continued to revolve around the Moon for around a year, the impactor was simply dropped from Chandrayaan 1 onto the surface of the moon. 

Ajay Lele, a senior fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi, states, "That was a free fall, but this time, the landing has to be controlled. Huge velocity would be required when the Lander gets released from the Orbiter. Deboosting will be extremely challenging and then ensuring that Lander lands softly and rover comes out".

Lele also clarifies that the first and foremost challenge would occur when the spacecraft would attempt to enter the moon's orbit from the earth's orbit. This is a challenge since the moon's orbital location is constantly changing, therefore the intersection of the Chandrayaan 2 and the moon's path would have to be predicted extremely accurately. 

Basically, when the moon approaches the Apogee of Chandrayaan 2, which is the spacecraft's farthest point from the earth, the on-board thrusters would have to fire precisely and also reduce its velocity for lunar capture and subsequent entry into the lunar orbit.

ISRO has identified a site between two craters marked Manzinus C and Simpelius N for landing which is near the Moon's south pole. The Navigation, Guidance and Control (NGC) system onboard as well as the propulsion system of the module will have to work together for a successful landing. 

Another hurdle is that the firing of onboard engines that are close to the lunar surface can lead to the backward flow of hot gases and dust. This dust carries a negative charge, therefore it will stick to most surfaces and cause disturbances in the deployment mechanisms as well as the functioning of the solar panels and engines, thereby creating a hostile environment.

After all of this, once the lander softly settles on the moon, 'Pragyaan', a six-wheeled rover will roll out and explore the moon's surface for 14 earth days (1 lunar day). The AI-enabled rover will study the moon's surface and its mineral composition.

Lele mentioned, "Scientists would have to overcome the communication gap. Both the Rover and Lander will not be able to communicate with the earth, so the connection established with the orbiter would only allow them to relay signals to the earth (which is at a distance of nearly 3.8 lakh km from the moon)".

Additionally, at such massive distances, the radio signals which are utilised for communication are quite weak. There's heavy background noise as well. Therefore, it is absolutely critical to make sure that the landscape features do not cause communication shadow areas.

 

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Chandrayaan 2: When and where to watch ISROs second moon mission

We are at the cusp of a historic moment with the Indian Space Research Organisation all geared up to take yet another leap in the aerospace sector. Chandrayaan 2 will be launched in a few hours.

The highly-awaited launch will take place in the wee hours of July 15. It will take place in the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 0251 hours on July 15.

The Chandrayaan 2, as per ISRO Chairman Kailasavadivoo Sivan, contains three main components - the Orbiter, Lander, and Rover. The total composite module will weigh about 3.8 tonnes.

The Chandrayaan 2 will be launched onboard GSLV MK-III. The Lander, Vikram, will in all likeliness make a soft landing on the lunar surface on September 6, 2019. The Rover will then carry out experiments on the Lunar surface for one lunar day (which equals 14 days on Earth). However, the Orbiter will continue its mission for a year.

With Chandrayaan 2, India will continue its search for water on the lunar surface after Chandrayaan 1's massive breakthrough - finding the presence of water molecules on the Moon's surface.

Where and when to watch the Chandrayaan 2 launch

Doordarshan (DD) will live telecast the entire launch event which users can watch on television. If you want to live stream the event, you can follow Doordarshan's YouTube channel. Reliance Jio users can watch the event on Jio TV.

A lucky few who managed to register for the live viewing of the event will be able to watch the Chandrayaan 2 launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre's viewing gallery. Registrations are closed now.

The entire launch will also be live-streamed by ISRO itself. The space agency will run a live stream of the event of its social media handles. Twitter - @isro and Facebook.

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Amazon Prime Day Sale: First time launches, deals sneak peek and all you need to know

In just a few hours, Amazon will open the Prime Day Sale to offer discounts on a range of products to savvy shoppers. The Prime Day sale will kick off at midnight on July 15 in India, and it will be for the first time ever that the sale will run for 48 hours. With new deals starting at regular intervals through Prime Day, members can save on them across categories covering smartphones, TVs, laptops and appliances, among others. Anyone can shop and save on Prime Day by joining Prime www.amazon.in/primeday today.

“With Prime Day, we are excited to bring to our members over 1000 new product launches, great deals and blockbuster entertainment with new titles from Prime Video and playlists on Amazon Prime music. Prime Day brings some of the biggest deals across categories like smartphones, TVs, fashion and beauty, appliances and many more. Our teams have been working for months to source these unique offers and we welcome members who will join us as we celebrate our biggest Prime Day ever,” Akshay Sahi, Director & Head of Prime, Amazon India, said in a statement.

Prime Day new product launches

Smartphones

One Plus 7 (Mirror Blue)

Samsung M40 (Cocktail Orange)

LG W30 – On Open sale only for Prime members with a new colour variant – Aurora Green

Oppo F11 Pro (Waterfall Gray)

10.or G2

TV & large appliances

Haier 43-inch Full HD LED Smart TV

TCL 55-inch 4K Ultra HD Certified Android Smart TV

TCL 43-inch New Version 4K UHD LED Smart TV

Blaupunkt 32-inch Family Series HD Ready LED TV

LG 43-inch 4K Ultra HD LED Smart TV

LG 55-inch 4K LED Smart TV

Kodak 43-inch 4K UHD LED Smart TV

Sony 32R422F with Fire Stick Bundle

CloudWalker 55-inch Cloud 55SU 4K LED Smart TV

IFB 6.5 kg Alexa enabled front load washing machine

Whirlpool 7 kg stain wash fully automatic top load with inbuilt heater

Bosch 6.5 kg Front load washing machine with speed wash

Whirlpool 265 L Frost-Free Double Door Refrigerator with deepfreeze technology

Haier 565 L frost free side by side refrigerator with twin inverter technology

LG 14 place settings dishwasher with powerful steam feature

Electronics

Intel powered Laptops from Lenovo, Microsoft and HP

Sennheiser premium range of bluetooth headphones

Huami Amazfit BIP lite smartwatch

Boat headphones and speakers

HP Laserjet and Alexa-enabled printers

Seagate Hard disks (HDD) and solid state drives (SSD)

CP Plus 360 Pan tilt 1080p wireless security cameras

iBall Alexa-enabled audio and accessories

Samsung Solid State drives up to 1 TB

JBL Cinema Soundbars

Boult  Audio Wireless Headphones and speakers

Prime Day Deals Sneak Peek: Deals on smartphones, home appliances, TVs and Alexa-enabled devices

Best Smart Home Deals

Voice exclusive deals: Existing Echo customers will be able to use their Echo devices to use Alexa voice shopping and buy 9W smart bulb for just Rs 99 (95 percent discount). Customers can say ‘Alexa, what are my deals?’. Customers can add the bulb to their cart through their voice and either: a) complete the checkout through voice (APay or COD) or use A.in app or desktop site to checkout. 

Smart Home devices: Users who buy an Echo Dot device will get a free Syska 9W bulb

Smart Home deals

Echo Dot + Fire TV Stick + Syska 9W bulb at Rs 4999.

Echo + free Syska 9W bulb

Echo Plus + free Hue bulb

Echo Show + free Hue bulb

Get Mi Camera for Rs 1499 (Rs 2299) with the Echo Show 5

Get Echo Show 5 free on purchase of select HP printers (HP OJP 9020, HP OJP 9010, HP OJP 8026)

Deals on Amazon Devices

Amazon says that it is offering “lowest prices ever” on Amazon devices, including Amazon Echo, FireTV and Kindle.

Echo

Lowest prices ever on Echo Dot (third gen), Amazon Echo, Echo Plus (second gen), Echo Show and Echo Show 5

Fire TV

Lowest prices on Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick 4K

Buy Fire TV Stick 4K for full price and get a Fire TV Stick free

Kindle

Best offers ever on All-New Kindle & All-New Kindle Paperwhite

Get Rs 5000 off/Upto 17 percent off on Kindle Oasis (ninth gen)

Alexa Built-in Devices

On Prime Day, shoppers can avail up to 60 percent off on Alexa Built-in products across headphones, speakers and TV category.

New Alexa Built-in products like the iBall decibel (black) headphones and TCL television launching exclusively for Prime Day

Smartphones

Up to 40 percent off on smartphones from the top brands

Up to  Rs 8,000 extra off on exchange on range of smartphones from Xiaomi, Samsung, Oppo and Vivo

Rs 3,000 extra on exchange on Samsung M40

No Cost EMI starting only  ₹1066

Up to Rs 14,000 off on OnePlus phones 

Up to  Rs 6,500 off on Xiaomi phones

Up to  Rs 15,000 off on Samsung smartphones and additional exchange offers up to  Rs 8,000

Up to Rs 40,000 off on Apple with unbelievable offers on iPhone XR, iPhone 7, iPhone 6S

Up to Rs 20,000 off on Huawei smartphones

Up to Rs 15,000 off on Honor smartphones

Up to Rs 20,000 off on Oppo smartphones and additional exchange offers up to  ₹7,000

Up to Rs 20,000 off on Vivo smartphones including prepaid offers

Up to Rs 10,000 off on Nokia smartphones with unbelievable offers on Nokia 6.1 and Nokia 8.1

Up to 70 percent off on power banks, earphones and other mobiles accessories

Consumer Electronics

Amazon is offering over 5000 deals from over 150 electronics brands.

Up to Rs 35,000 off laptops with No Cost EMI and exchange offers.

Minimum Rs 5,000 off DSLRs and mirrorless cameras from Canon, Sony and Fujifilm

Active noise cancellation headphones starting Rs 7,490 from Sennhieser, Bose and Sony

Wireless Ink tank printers starting Rs 9,999

TV & large appliances

Air conditioners: Up to 45 percent off, No Cost EMI starting Rs 1299/month

Refrigerators: Save up to Rs 35,000, No Cost EMI starting Rs 999/month

Washing machines: Up to Rs 11,000 off, No Cost EMI starting Rs 799/month

Televisions: Up to 50 percent off, No Cost EMI starting Rs 1500/month

Smart TVs: Up to 50 percent off, No Cost EMI starting Rs 1700/month

Games and gaming hardware

Up to Rs 10,000 off on gaming consoles

Up to 75 percent off on antivirus and business software

Up to Rs 10,000 off on PS4 consoles

Up to 40 percent off on video games

Up to 50 percent off on gaming accessories

Shoppers can also use one of the means highlights below to save and get rewards while shopping on Prime Day.

Customers can get 10 percent  instant discount using HDFC debit/credit cards.

Customers can shop using pre-paid instruments at Amazon.in and get  Rs 1100 back on food, travel, bill payment and send money as follows:

Faasos: 20 percent back up to Rs 100

Goibibo: Flat Rs 500 back (minimum purchase of Rs 6000)

Redbus: 5 percent back (up to Rs 150)

1MG: 15 percent back (up to Rs 150)

Bill payments and recharges at Amazon: Up to Rs 150 back

Send money using Amazon app: Flat Rs 50 back

Prime members can book domestic flights on Amazon.in during Prime Day Sale and get up to Rs 2500 back.

Prime members can get Rs 100 to 2000 back on money transfers.

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Google shuts down Blog Compass just 10 months after launch

Google launched their blog management tool named 'Blog Compass' late last year which could connect sites running either WordPress or Blogger and give the owner valuable insights into trending topics as well as a centralised dashboard for analytics or comments. However, the app is now dead, adding yet another grave in the Google Graveyard. It has been shut down just 10 months after its initial launch.

Blog Compass, however, is still available for download on the Play Store, but opening it only displays a goodbye note which says, "After several months, we have decided to turn down the Blog Compass app. If you want to continue managing your blog, check out the Blogger or Site Kit by Google for WordPress".

A reason for the abrupt shut down could be user reviews, which showed that users were having issues with the app as early as October 2018. Multiple users complained about being unable to sign in with a Google account. As per the Play Store, the Blog Compass app amassed somewhere between 10,000 to 50,000 installs over its lifetime.

It seems like the app hardly had a chance to succeed since it was only limited to India for its entire life cycle. The app for Google's own Blogger platform hasn't been updated since way back in 2016. It seems like Google's interest in the blogging platform may be dying down.

 

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TrickBot is back with a new attack that has compromised 250 million email addresses

The TrickBot malware has returned with a new attack that may have compromised around 250 million email addresses. Earlier this year TrickBot worked side-by-side the Ryuk ransomware to siphon millions of dollars for hackers, and now it is back again in less than a year. According to a report by Deep Instinct, a cybersecurity company, a new variant of TrickBot was revealed that joins forces with a malicious, email-based infection and distribution module named TrickBooster. The malware now has new capabilities such as stealing cookies.

The method for the attack hasn’t undergone too much change from previous methods, at least at the beginning of the attack. TrickBot infiltrates a victim’s computer and then the malware makes the machine download TrickBooster. This, in turn, reports back to a dedicated command and control server with a list of email addresses and log-in details which are gathered from the victim’s Inbox, Outbox and Address Book. After this, the TrickBooster server orders the infected machine to send malicious infection and spam emails. All these emails are then deleted from the Outbox and Trash so that the victim doesn’t realise the threat.

Deep Instinct investigated TrickBooster and its network infrastructure to find a database comprising of 250 million email addresses that were gathered by TrickBot operators. These email accounts were also, in all likeliness, targeted with the malicious emails. An email dump was recovered and this included about 26 million email accounts on Gmail, 19 million on Yahoo, 11 million on Hotmail, 7 million on AOL, 3.5 million on MSN, and 2 million on Yahoo U.K. Further investigation revealed that the compromised accounts involved several government departments and agencies in the US which included the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and more. There were also some government organisations and universities affected in the UK and Canada.

According to Deep Instinct, the discovery of TrickBot “highlights the success and sophistication of TrickBot”. The model of attack was described as “a powerful addition to TrickBot’s vast arsenal” of attacking methods. According to reports, the cybersecurity company stated that they are continuing their research and analysis in TrickBooster, and they will also be reporting details of the new TrickBot attack to the authorities.

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