Ten days after India’s success in landing the first ever spacecraft on the southern side of the moon, the country has launched ‘Aditya L1’, its first mission to study the sun.
The spacecraft was launched on the polar satellite launch vehicle rocket, from Sriharikota on the eastern coast of India at 11.50am local time.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said: “The launch of Aditya-L1 by PSLV-C57 is accomplished successfully.
“The vehicle has placed the satellite precisely into its intended orbit.
“India’s first solar observatory has begun its journey to the destination of sun-Earth L1 point.”
Aditya L1 will travel 1.5 million km for about four months and place itself in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point (L1) of the sun-Earth system.
It will stabilise in the orbit because of balancing gravitational forces.
According to ISRO, the Aditya-L1 mission is the first space-based observatory-class Indian solar mission to study the sun’s atmosphere.
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The spacecraft is carrying seven payloads to observe and study the photosphere (deepest layers of the sun), chromosphere (layer about 400 km and 2,100 km above the photosphere) and the corona (the outermost layers of the sun).
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Using electromagnetic and particle and magnetic field detectors, it aims to study solar winds, which can cause disturbance on Earth and are commonly seen as “auroras”.
Long-term data from the mission could help better understand the sun’s impact on Earth’s climate patterns.
Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), the primary payload on board the Aditya L1 has been designed is such a way that it will be sending large data of spectral lines continuously.
Every day it will send 1,440 images – meaning every minute an image of the sun will be sent to ground stations where it will need to be read, studied, processed and disseminated to scientists across the world.
Every storm that emerges from the sun and heads towards Earth passes through L1.
A satellite placed in that halo orbit around L1 of the sun-Earth system has a major advantage of continuously viewing the sun without any eclipse.
This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was feted and congratulated by world leaders while attending the BRICS summit in South Africa when India became the first country to have a spacecraft land on the southern region of the moon.
He said “the success of Chandrayaan-3 is not only the victory of India, it is the triumph of the entire humankind”.
Image: Chandrayaan-3 captures the moon’s image just prior to touchdown
Pic:@isro
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Watch India’s rover touch moon surface
Today’s ambitious launch is just a few days away from the largest gathering of global leaders in New Delhi for the G20 Summit – an opportunity for Mr Modi to showcase India’s prowess in its successful low budget space program.
With a budget of about $74m (£57.7m) the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission was cheaper than even fake-space ventures, like Hollywood movies Gravity and The Martian, which both cost more than $100m (£78.8m) to make.
And with every successful launch, the country joins the table as a prominent player in the community of global space exploration.
It’s likely the outage will surpass Europe’s largest blackout to date when 56 million people in Italy and Switzerland lost power for up to 12 hours in 2023.
The cause of the outage is unclear. Portugal’s grid operator has blamed a “rare atmospheric phenomenon” that caused “anomalous oscillations” in high voltage power lines in Spain.
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Spain’s grid operator has yet to respond to that or provide an update on the cause. But it’s unlikely whatever caused the outage was a single, localised event.
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Mayhem in Spain after major power outage
A major power line going down can cause a large outage – as it did in 2021, when an interconnector between France and Spain failed leaving a million people without power for a few hours.
But it’s unlikely to cause a system-wide failure of the kind we’re seeing now.
However, when things do start to fail on a power grid, they can cascade uncontrollably.
Keeping a grid running is a constant and highly complex balancing act.
Image: People outside a terminal at Lisbon Airport during the blackout. Pic: Reuters
Spain’s mains AC electricity supply grid, like ours in the UK, runs at 50Hz. That frequency is based on the speed at which generating hardware such as gas and nuclear turbines spin.
If there are sudden fluctuations in power supply or demand – a power station failing or a high voltage power line going down, for example – the frequency of AC power in the transmission lines changes and circuit breakers trip to protect either the transmission network, or power plant hardware from burning out.
To prevent such failures, grid engineers constantly measure and forecast supply and demand to keep the grid balanced.
To protect the system in emergencies, they occasionally have to “shed load” by cutting power to parts of the grid – the reason we’ve all experienced the occasional short-lived power cut.
But if balance is lost, a grid can fail in a domino effect with sections of the grid tripping, then power plants shutting down to protect themselves from the drop in demand, one after another.
The challenge now, and it’s a nightmare for Spain and Portugal’s power engineers, is to gradually restore the grid section by section while maintaining the balance of supply and demand.
Act too fast, and the grid can trip again. Take too long and some power plants or substations might struggle to restart – especially if they rely on battery power to do so.
While some regions of Spain have already had power restored, and Portugal says its power will be back to normal within hours, it could take much longer for the system to be fully restored.
A Palestinian diplomat has told the United Nations’ top court that Israel is “starving, killing and displacing” civilians and targeting aid workers in Gaza.
Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians and aid staff and did not attend the hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday.
At The Hague, Palestinian ambassador to the Netherlands, Ammar Hijazi, accused Israel of breaching international law in the occupied territories.
He said: “Israel is starving, killing and displacing Palestinians while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organisations trying to save their lives.”
Image: Ammar Hijazi, right. Pic: AP
Image: A protester outside the International Court of Justice on Monday. Pic: AP
The hearings are focused on a request last year from the UN General Assembly, which asked the court to weigh in on Israel’s legal responsibilities after the country blocked the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine refugees from operating on its territory.
In a resolution sponsored by Norway, the General Assembly requested an advisory opinion, a non-binding but legally important decision from the court, on Israel’s obligations in the occupied territories to “ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population”.
Image: Pic: AP
While Israel was not in court, foreign minister Gideon Saar told a news conference in Jerusalem: “I accuse UNRWA, I accuse the UN, I accuse the secretary-general and I accuse all those that weaponised international law and its institutions in order to deprive the most attacked country in the world, Israel, of its most basic right to defend itself.”
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Forty states and four international organisations are scheduled to participate in the ICJ hearings, with it likely taking months for the court to rule.
Image: Pic: AP
The hearings come amid the near collapse of the humanitarian aid system in Gaza.
Israel has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other humanitarian supplies since 2 March.
Image: Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Beit Lahiya. Pic: Reuters
Israel also renewed its bombardment on 18 March, breaking a ceasefire, and seized large parts of the territory, claiming it aims to push Hamas to release more hostages.
Overnight into Monday, at least 27 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes, according to local health officials.
An air strike hit a home in Beit Lahia, killing 10 people, including a Palestinian prisoner, Abdel-Fattah Abu Mahadi, who had been released as part of the ceasefire.
His wife, two of their children and a grandchild were also killed, according to Indonesia Hospital which received the bodies.
Image: An Israeli air strike hit a home in Beit Lahia, killing 10 people. Pic: AP
Image: Pic: AP
Another strike hit a home in Gaza City, killing seven people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service.
And late on Sunday, a strike hit a home in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least 10 people, including five siblings as young as four-years-old, according to the health ministry.
Two other children were killed along with their parents, according to Nasser Hospital which received the bodies.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel claims it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in densely populated areas.
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The organisation has faced increased criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who claim the group is deeply infiltrated by Hamas, which UNRWA refutes.
Amir Weissbrod, a foreign ministry official, presented Israel’s case against UNRWA on Monday.
He accused it of failing to act before the war against evidence that Hamas had used its facilities, including by digging tunnels underneath them.
The official said UNRWA employed 1,400 Palestinians with militant ties.
Israel claims some of those employees also took part in Hamas’ attacks on 7 October 2023, with at least three of those employees still allegedly working for the UN.
The presentation included videos, documents and pictures of the alleged employees.
The 7 October 2023 attack in southern Israel killed around 1,200 people and prompted the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza – which the territory’s health ministry says has killed more than 52,000 people.
UNRWA said it fired nine staffers after an internal UN investigation concluded that they could have been involved, although the evidence was not authenticated and corroborated.
The ban does not apply directly to Gaza, but UNRWA is prohibited from operating inside Israel which affects the agency’s ability to function.
Israeli officials claim they are looking for alternative ways to deliver aid to Gaza that would cut out the UN.
The conclave to elect Pope Francis’s successor will begin on 7 May, the Vatican has announced.
Some 135 cardinal electors – those under the age of 80 – will take part and vote for the new pontiff.
The rituals of the event, held in the Sistine Chapel, are elaborate and date back centuries. So how does the process work?
When Pope Francis died, the Catholic Church entered a period known as “sede vacante”, meaning “empty seat”.
His ring and seal – used to dispatch papal documents – were broken to prevent anyone else from using them.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell – the Camerlengo, or chamberlain, who announced Francis’s death – became the interim chief of the Catholic Church.
Image: Pic: Reuters
The conclave
Cardinals travel to Rome from all over the world and stay until a new pope is chosen.
Of the 252 current ones, there are 135 cardinal electors: 53 from Europe; 23 from Asia; 20 from North America; 18 from Africa; 17 from South America; and four from Oceania.
Italy has the most cardinals who can vote, with 17, while the US has 10 and Brazil has seven. The UK has three.
Image: A papal crest dedicated to Pope Pius XII. Pic: Reuters
Once the conclave begins, the cardinals will not emerge from the Vatican until a new pope has been chosen. The word “conclave” comes from Latin, meaning “with key” – a reference to the isolation in which the cardinals are kept.
While holding voting sessions in the Sistine Chapel, they sleep in the Casa Santa Marta – a guesthouse inside the Vatican’s grounds.
The longest conclave lasted almost three years, between 1268 and 1271. Several have lasted only one day. The one which elected Pope John Paul in 1978 lasted less than three days. Cardinals chose Pope Francis in around two days.
While the conclave is ongoing, cardinals are unable to communicate with the outside world. No telephones, internet use or newspapers are allowed.
Except for the first day, when only one ballot is held, the cardinals hold two daily votes until one candidate has a majority of two-thirds plus one. They are sworn to secrecy about the voting.
White smoke?
So how do we know if a decision has been reached? Yes, this is the black smoke, white smoke part.
If the cardinals have not reached a majority, the cards and the tally sheets are placed in a stove and burned with an additive to produce black smoke, showing the outside world that a pope has not yet been chosen.
Image: No pope yet… black smoke rising from the Sistine Chapel. Pic: Reuters
Watching for the tell-tale smoke arising from the top of the Sistine Chapel is a tradition, with Catholics crowding into St Peter’s Square for the spectacle.
If no result has been reached after three days, the sessions are suspended for a day to allow for prayer and discussion. More ballots are held until a two-thirds majority is reached.
When enough cardinals have agreed on a candidate, he is asked if he accepts the papacy and by which name he wishes to be known.
The ballots are burned as before, but with an additive to produce white smoke.
Image: A Papal white skull cap. Pic: Reuters
New pope proclaimed
The new pope then dons his new papal vestments – tailors keep large, medium and small sizes ready – and sits on a throne in the Sistine Chapel to receive the other cardinals who file up to pay homage and swear obedience to the church’s new leader.
The senior cardinal deacon then steps out on to the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica overlooking the square and announces in Latin: “Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum. Habemus Papam” (I announce to you a great joy. We have a pope) and reveals the cardinal’s name and the name he has chosen.