Latest news with #Surveyor
Hans India
4 days ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Licensed Surveyor Trainees Receive Kits from Additional Collector Lakshmi Narayana in Gadwal
Gadwal: In an effort to strengthen land rights documentation and ensure transparency in land records management, the Telangana State Government has initiated the training of licensed surveyors. As a part of this initiative, Additional District Collector Mr. Lakshmi Narayana distributed training kits to surveyor trainees on Tuesday. The distribution took place at the IDOC (Integrated District Offices Complex) in the chamber of the Additional Collector, in line with the directives issued by the District Collector. Addressing the gathering, the Additional Collector stated that the government has launched the licensed surveyor program with the objective of maintaining land records in a transparent and accountable manner. He emphasized that the kits being provided to the trainees would play a crucial role in enhancing their practical skills. 'The training program includes both theoretical sessions and practical field training. I urge all candidates to dedicate themselves fully to learning the techniques and tools of land surveying,' he said. He further explained that under the 'Bhoobharati' Act, survey maps have become mandatory for processes such as land registration and mutation. Hence, there is a growing demand for licensed surveyors, particularly in rural areas. Mr. Lakshmi Narayana also noted that those who successfully complete the training program will be required to pass an examination, after which they will be issued a Licensed Surveyor Certificate. He encouraged the trainees to make the most of this opportunity, which could pave the way for promising careers in land management and public service. The event was attended by Survey and Land Records Department Assistant Director Mr. Ram Chander, several trainee candidates, and other officials.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Thales, Saildrone pitch a windsurfing fleet of submarine spotters
MILAN — Thales Australia has partnered with Saildrone to integrate a towed array sonar system with the Surveyor unmanned surface vessel, promising navies the ability to pinpoint underwater threats through silent operation. The companies' tie-up follows sea trials, funded by the United States Office of Naval Research, during which Saildrone's Surveyor USV, equipped with Thales' BlueSentry sensor package, operated almost uninterrupted for 26 days. Conducted off the coast of California, the tests demonstrated that the systems detected and classified underwater and surface threats, with an uptime averaging more than 96%, according to Saildrone. In the context of underwater drones, the notion of 'uptime' generally refers to the percentage of time the system is available and able to perform its intended missions continuously. 'The trials showed that, under wind propulsion, the Surveyor provided a near-zero self-noise environment, significantly improving the detection capabilities of the BlueSentry sonar system,' a Saildrone press release stated. A fleet of USVs, integrated with these sonar arrays, is intended to be able to operate for extended periods of time, autonomously patrolling large ocean areas and reduce the costs of coverage, per the Thales website. The companies said that the team-up could pave the way for greater 'naval interoperability' between the trilateral AUKUS partners – Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States – and deliver on the security partnership's technology-focused Pillar 2 scope. That line of work is intended to harness the joint industrial and innovation bases of the three countries to ensure that their respective militaries are equipped with advanced and interoperable capabilities. While during the trials the systems relied on Starlink and Iridium satellite communications, Saildrone recently announced a GPS-denied option not reliant on satellites.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA to launch asteroid hunting spacecraft in 2027
PASADENA, Calif. (NewsNation) — As NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth on Tuesday, the space agency is gearing up for another project: a spacecraft targeting asteroids. A NewsNation exclusive reveals NASA's high-tech plan to save Earth if an asteroid ever comes barreling toward the planet. The NEO Surveyor, set to launch in 2027, is the first spacecraft specifically designed to hunt large asteroids and comets that could harm Earth. NewsNation got a look at the NEO Surveyor, which is being built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. More Local News After its launch, the NEO Surveyor will be able to spot about 90% of asteroids and comets that might pose a hazard to Earth within a range of about 30 million miles. Those that are smaller than about 500 feet in diameter are nearly impossible to see from Earth but not from space. The NEO Surveyor's infrared technology will also be capable of measuring the size and composition of these fast-moving objects. 'We're looking for near-Earth objects — those are the objects that are within the same sort of orbit as the Earth. And the reason we want to look for those is some of those have the potential to impact the Earth. So with this particular project, we'll be looking for those in this very special spectrum called infrared, trying to detect them and find them before they find us,' NASA NEO Surveyor project manager Tom Hoffman told NewsNation. More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State The Surveyor's announcement comes as scientists have almost fully ruled out any threat from the asteroid 2024 YR4. At one point, the odds of a strike in 2032 were as high as about 3% and topped the world's asteroid-risk lists. ESA has since lowered the odds to 0.001%. NASA has it down to 0.0017% — meaning the asteroid will safely pass Earth in 2032 and there's no threat of impact for the next century. NASA has already proved it is capable of redirecting an asteroid, should one pose a serious threat to Earth. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Ghostly lunar sunsets shot by private lander
A private US lander has captured eerie high-definition images of a lunar sunset, which NASA hopes will help unravel the mystery of a strange haze first observed on the Moon in the 1960s. Texas-based Firefly Aerospace, which published the pictures on Tuesday, became the first private company to land a robotic spacecraft upright on the Moon earlier this month. Its Blue Ghost lander -- roughly the size of two rhinos side by side -- touched down on March 2 at Mons Latreille, a volcanic feature within Mare Crisium on the Moon's northeastern near side, and operated until March 16 when it powered down with the onset of the lunar night. One of the new images shows the Sun glowing just above the horizon, its halo tinged with green. Above it, a small dot marks Venus, while Earth's bright reflection appears almost as large as the Sun at the top of the frame. Another view reveals the setting Sun bathed in a green glow, as seen from a west-facing camera. "We are taking time to have scientific specialists go over all the imagery," said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration at NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "One of the things they will be looking for is to see if they can identify 'horizon glow' or a mechanism called 'dust lofting.'" Scientists believe lunar dust particles may become electrically charged due to ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, causing them to levitate above the surface. The phenomenon was first spotted by NASA's Surveyor probes in the 1960s and later observed by Apollo astronauts. Kearns noted that scientists will compare the images with complementary readings from Blue Ghost's instruments, including electromagnetic field and radiation sensors, to refine existing theories. "The images themselves are beautiful, they're really aesthetic," he said. The west-facing image, in particular, shows soil in front of the lander illuminated by light reflected from mountains behind it. The picture's level of detail could help scientists refine models of how light scatters on the lunar surface. Earlier in the mission, Blue Ghost also captured high-definition imagery of a total solar eclipse from the Moon on March 14. The mission was part of a NASA-industry collaboration aimed at cutting costs and supporting Artemis, the program to return astronauts to the Moon and use lessons learned there to go to Mars. Firefly Aerospace's spaceflight program director, Ray Allensworth, said the company is already applying lessons to future flights, including Blue Ghost-2 and Blue Ghost-3. "The lander is absolutely not designed to survive the extreme cold of lunar night, so I think the probability is very low that we will power back on -- but this lander has surprised me," she added. ia/jgc
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA Awards SpaceX $100 Million Contract To Launch Asteroid Hunting Telescope
Remember just last week when we were all excitedly reading about the record one in 32 chance that a giant asteroid was on a collision course with Earth? Well, it isn't anymore but that doesn't mean there aren't more massive space rocks up there that could smash into the planet without much notice. To prepare for this, NASA awarded SpaceX a $100 million contract to launch a new satellite that could monitor extraterrestrial threats to the Earth. NASA began developing a special telescope that can scan the night sky for asteroids almost five years ago. The craft, called the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor, comprises an infrared telescope that will search space for potentially threatening asteroids, reports Production of the specially-designed satellite kicked off in January 2023 and NASA is now preparing to set out a plan to launch the Surveyor into space to start work protecting the planet. The task of transporting the craft into orbit will now fall on Elon Musk-backed SpaceX, as reports: The agency announced on Friday (Feb. 21) that it has selected Elon Musk's company to launch its NEO Surveyor spacecraft, which will hunt for asteroids and comets that could pose a threat to Earth. NEO Surveyor will lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Space Coast no earlier than September 2027. The total value of the newly announced firm, fixed-price contract is about $100 million, which covers the launch and related services, NASA officials said. SpaceX will transport the Surveyor to a point about 930,000 miles away from Earth. From there, it will scan space using telescopes that can pick up two infrared wavelengths to spot threatening asteroids. Read more: Even SpaceX Would Apparently Rather Use A Ford F-150 Lightning Than Tesla Cybertruck NASA awarded the $100 million contract to SpaceX to cover the launch of the craft, but not its construction or operation. The costs of designing, developing and assembling the probe fall on NASA, which is already knee-deep in the production of the new telescope. SpaceX will just be tasked with getting the probe to its destination onboard one of the company's Falcon 9 rockets. The rocket will launch "no earlier" than September 2027, reports NASA and there isn't yet a timeline on how long it will take for the probe to begin scanning for threats once it's in space. Musk's private space company regularly works with NASA, providing rockets to launch all kinds of tech into orbit when the American space agency requires. NASA previously called on SpaceX to run supply missions to the International Space Station and the company could even be tasked with transporting a new lunar rover to the surface of the moon one day. Once deployed to a site that scientists call the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1, NEO Surveyor will form part of our planetary defense system to scan for asteroids that are at least 460 feet across, explains. The program launched in 2021, but its importance was highlighted over the past few weeks when the world watched to see if a city-killing asteroid would hit Earth. The new probe aims to give advanced warnings of similarly enormous space rocks, and will also help scientists map the paths of such asteroids to see if they could hit our home. The program remains an important one, despite it emerging that the near-Earth object, designated 2024 YR4, probably won't hit Earth in 2032 after all, reports Ars Technica. To hunt out future risks to our planet, the NEO Surveyor will work alongside probes like the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will also launch in 2027, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which is currently under construction in Chile. Now, NASA will just have to hope that the team responsible for delivering the NEO Surveyor isn't gutted as part of Musk's never-ending cuts to the U.S. Government. At least the fact that SpaceX will make $100 million off the back of the project should mean that it's safe for now. Read the original article on Jalopnik.
