KUCHING, Oct 17 (Bernama) -- The Sultan Iskandar Planetarium here, Malaysia's first astronomy education centre, is to be upgraded with the possibility of using expertise from Warner Bros, one of the world's largest producers of film and television entertainment.
Science, Technology and Innovation Deputy Minister Fadillah Yusof who disclosed this, said the ministry was prepared to assist the planetarium in this effort.
"The country's first planetarium which has been in operation for 19 years is now in need of upgrading in terms of infrastructure, in line with current technological developments.
"The ministry will cooperate with the Sarawak government to identify aspects or areas which need to be improved in order to continuously draw people to the planetarium and avoid boredom for the visitors.
"If possible, we want to create realistic situations during the screenings at the planetarium," he told reporters after launching its "Mirrordome" digital screening, today.
For instance, Fadillah said, visitors watching on the screen, a rocket being launched into space might "experience" what the astronauts were going through, and his could happen with Warner Bros. expertise.
"Perhaps the seats need to be changed so that the visitors could 'feel' the vibrations when the rocket is launched into space or hit a meteor," he added.
Fadillah said the use of Mirrordome technology was the beginning of the upgrading process, while the initiative of the Sarawak government which was responsible for the daily operations of the Sultan Iskandar Planetarium should be emulated by others.
The Mirrordome technology allows for digital film screening while previously a projector was used for showing the planets and stars to the planetarium visitors.
The technology application was contributed by Paul Bourke, a computer visualisation researcher from the University of Western Australia.
On the state government's request from the federal government to set up a science centre in Sarawak to promote interest in science among the younger generation, Fadillah said his ministry was prepared to study it but the decision would depend on the country's financial situation.
-- BERNAMA
Friday, October 24, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
China To Issue Commemorative Coins For Maiden Spacewalk Success
BEIJING, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- The People's Bank of China, the central bank, said on Monday that it would issue a set of gold and silver coins on Oct 10 to commemorate the success of the country's maiden spacewalk.
The issuance comprises 30,000 gold coins, with a face value of 150 yuan (US$22) each, and 60,000 silver coins, with a face value of 10 yuan each, Xinhua reported Monday.
The head of each coin will have the solar system design while the tail will bear a color portrait of a taikonaut conducting a spacewalk and the Chinese words "To commemorate the success of China's first spacewalk", the central bank said.
The coins are produced by Shenyang Mint and will be distributed by the China Gold Coin Inc., it said.
Zhai Zhigang, the first Chinese to walk in outer space, and the other two astronauts in the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft safely returned to earth from a historic mission Sunday afternoon.
The Shenzhou-7 that carried the three astronauts blasted off Thursday evening and flew 68 hours in space which included the 20-minute spacewalk on Saturday
BERNAMA
The issuance comprises 30,000 gold coins, with a face value of 150 yuan (US$22) each, and 60,000 silver coins, with a face value of 10 yuan each, Xinhua reported Monday.
The head of each coin will have the solar system design while the tail will bear a color portrait of a taikonaut conducting a spacewalk and the Chinese words "To commemorate the success of China's first spacewalk", the central bank said.
The coins are produced by Shenyang Mint and will be distributed by the China Gold Coin Inc., it said.
Zhai Zhigang, the first Chinese to walk in outer space, and the other two astronauts in the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft safely returned to earth from a historic mission Sunday afternoon.
The Shenzhou-7 that carried the three astronauts blasted off Thursday evening and flew 68 hours in space which included the 20-minute spacewalk on Saturday
BERNAMA
China's Spacewalk Team Returns To Rousing Welcome In Beijing
BEIJING, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- Hundreds of people lined the streets to give a rousing welcome to China's three astronauts when they returned to the Beijing Aerospace Centre on Monday morning after the space walk mission.
Flight commander Zhai Zhigang, who performed the extra vehicular activity (EVA) and fellow crew members Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, dressed in blue uniforms and black boots, were garlanded and showed with bouquets, state television showed.
They appeared in good spirits as they waved and smiled to the crowd, each standing in the back of open-top sedans with Zhai in the lead.After the brief parade, the astronauts will undergo two weeks of quarantine to check on their physical condition.
Zhai's walk in space triggered another wave of China patriotism after the country's table-topping golden harvest in the recent Olympic Gamesin Beijing and another remarkable earlier feat of taking the Olympic flame up Mount Everest, the world's highest peak.
The latest Shenzhou VII mission, the third manned flight by China in five years, was closely followed by the Chinese leadership with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao congratulating the astronauts and shaking hands with ground command centre workers.
"It was a glorious mission, full of challenges with a perfect ending. I feel proud of the motherland," said Zhai after stepping outside the space capsule that landed in Inner Mongolia on Sunday evening.
He had worn a China-made spacesuit, considered another breakthrough for the country's space technology.
Space mission spokesman Wang Zhaoyao revealed China's ambition to aim for a manned moon landing but gave no timetable for that.
The next step is to assemble a space laboratory in 2010 and a space station by 2020.
The eighth and ninth Shenzhou, meaning divine vessel in Chinese, missions are unmanned to test out docking technology.
Shenzhou VIII will lift off "in early 2009, only months from now", an inside source with the project's rocket system told the China Daily.
The launch of Shenzhou IX is also planned for next year, followed by Shenzhou X, the next manned journey to set up the space laboratory.
-- BERNAMA
Flight commander Zhai Zhigang, who performed the extra vehicular activity (EVA) and fellow crew members Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, dressed in blue uniforms and black boots, were garlanded and showed with bouquets, state television showed.
They appeared in good spirits as they waved and smiled to the crowd, each standing in the back of open-top sedans with Zhai in the lead.After the brief parade, the astronauts will undergo two weeks of quarantine to check on their physical condition.
Zhai's walk in space triggered another wave of China patriotism after the country's table-topping golden harvest in the recent Olympic Gamesin Beijing and another remarkable earlier feat of taking the Olympic flame up Mount Everest, the world's highest peak.
The latest Shenzhou VII mission, the third manned flight by China in five years, was closely followed by the Chinese leadership with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao congratulating the astronauts and shaking hands with ground command centre workers.
"It was a glorious mission, full of challenges with a perfect ending. I feel proud of the motherland," said Zhai after stepping outside the space capsule that landed in Inner Mongolia on Sunday evening.
He had worn a China-made spacesuit, considered another breakthrough for the country's space technology.
Space mission spokesman Wang Zhaoyao revealed China's ambition to aim for a manned moon landing but gave no timetable for that.
The next step is to assemble a space laboratory in 2010 and a space station by 2020.
The eighth and ninth Shenzhou, meaning divine vessel in Chinese, missions are unmanned to test out docking technology.
Shenzhou VIII will lift off "in early 2009, only months from now", an inside source with the project's rocket system told the China Daily.
The launch of Shenzhou IX is also planned for next year, followed by Shenzhou X, the next manned journey to set up the space laboratory.
-- BERNAMA
Shenzhou VII Returns Safely To Earth After Historic Spacewalk
BEIJING, Sept 28 (Bernama) -- China's latest space heroes with flight commander Zhai Zhigang, who performed the country's first space walk, hurled back to earth and landed safely in the central steppes of Inner Mongolia on Sunday evening.
Applause and cheers greeted the three-men crew whose mission was broadcast in great detail over local television since they powered off on a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan satellite launch centre in northwestern Gansu Province on Thursday.
Millions of Chinese were riveted on the 'live' broadcast by state television as the re-entry module floated steadily down to earth, tied to a giant parachute, two days before China's 59th national anniversary.
Premier Wen Jiabao arrived at the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre more than an hour earlier before the capsule's anticipated return 5.44 pm and applauded heartily when it touched ground a few minutes ahead of schedule.
Underscoring the national pride and breakthrough feat, President Hu Jintao was at the Jiuquan centre to see the astronauts off and he was again at the Beijing centre to congratulate the crew, lauding them for a "great job" done.
Zhai and fellow crew, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, were reported to be in fine shape after their 68-hour mission, and Zhai flashed a thumbs-up sign to the ground rescuers, according to state television, and stayed inside for a while to re-adapt to gravity.
State television showed a convoy of four-wheel vehicles speeding across the grassy plains towards the located capsule.
Three hundred search and rescue staff and six helicopters were mobilised for the landing and all five of China's satellite-tracking ships had been on standby in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans before Shenzhou VII took off.
Xinhua said the three astronauts will be quarantined for half a month.
"We can't see them during that period, but we can rest our hearts as long as they are on the earth," Zhai's wife, Zhang Shujing, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
Zhai and fellow crew, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, add to the list of Chinese astronauts who flew on successful manned flights, going back to solo pioneer Yang Liwei in 2003 and pair of Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng in 2005.
Yang, Fei and Nie all had asteroids named after them.
-- BERNAMA
Applause and cheers greeted the three-men crew whose mission was broadcast in great detail over local television since they powered off on a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan satellite launch centre in northwestern Gansu Province on Thursday.
Millions of Chinese were riveted on the 'live' broadcast by state television as the re-entry module floated steadily down to earth, tied to a giant parachute, two days before China's 59th national anniversary.
Premier Wen Jiabao arrived at the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre more than an hour earlier before the capsule's anticipated return 5.44 pm and applauded heartily when it touched ground a few minutes ahead of schedule.
Underscoring the national pride and breakthrough feat, President Hu Jintao was at the Jiuquan centre to see the astronauts off and he was again at the Beijing centre to congratulate the crew, lauding them for a "great job" done.
Zhai and fellow crew, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, were reported to be in fine shape after their 68-hour mission, and Zhai flashed a thumbs-up sign to the ground rescuers, according to state television, and stayed inside for a while to re-adapt to gravity.
State television showed a convoy of four-wheel vehicles speeding across the grassy plains towards the located capsule.
Three hundred search and rescue staff and six helicopters were mobilised for the landing and all five of China's satellite-tracking ships had been on standby in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans before Shenzhou VII took off.
Xinhua said the three astronauts will be quarantined for half a month.
"We can't see them during that period, but we can rest our hearts as long as they are on the earth," Zhai's wife, Zhang Shujing, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
Zhai and fellow crew, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, add to the list of Chinese astronauts who flew on successful manned flights, going back to solo pioneer Yang Liwei in 2003 and pair of Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng in 2005.
Yang, Fei and Nie all had asteroids named after them.
-- BERNAMA
Shenzhou VII Locks In For Return To Earth After Space Walk
BEIJING, Sept 28 (Bernama) - The Shenzhou VII space mission that pulled off China's first spacewalk has entered into the journey back to earth and can expect a euphoric welcome on Sunday evening.
The return capsule carrying astronaut Zhai Zhigang, who performed the historic feat, and two other astronauts will touch down at about 5.40pm in the steppes of central Inner Mongolia, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Set to be the new poster space hero is Zhai whose image has dominated newspapers and repeatedly replayed on television waving China's red national flag in space after slipping out of the space capsule on Saturday evening.
The 42-year-old former fighter pilot, as with all Chinese astronauts, is the first generation of China's 14 space explorers picked in 1998 for the country's ambition to mark its presence in space and build its own space station by 2020.
Zhai and fellow crew, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng blasted off in a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan satellite launch centre in northwestern Gansu Province on Thursday.
President Hu Jintao met the astronauts before their trip at the launch centre and spoke to them again from the Beijing Aerospace Centre after their achievement.
"The successful extra vehicular activity symbolises China has achieved a new breakthrough on manned space missions. All three of you have made a great contribution to China's undertaking of space technology," he said.
Another triumph lauded has been the China-made "Feitian" (lying in the sky) spacesuit worn by Zhai, a 10-layer outfit costing 30 million yuan (RM13.7 million) and weighing 120kg suit.
Shenzhou VII was China's third manned space mission after Shenzhou V which took off with solo astronaut Yang Liwei, now a national hero, and the subsequent Shenzhou VI flight with two other astronauts in 2005.
China's next step is to start work by 2010 to put together a space laboratory and by 2020 to build its own space station.
The country's space march will demand more astronauts and a spokesman, Wang Zhaoyao, told newsmen after the spacewalk that research had begun on developing woman astronauts.
China's astronaut training chief engineer Deng Yibing said a second selection of astronauts will be held after the Shenzhou VII mission.
Xinhua quoted Deng as saying that a fresh team may be involved in the Shenzhou X mission, which will seek another breakthrough in orbiter docking technology.
Some of the present group of astronauts, with average age of 40, may already be too old by then.
The eighth and ninth Shenzhou (meaning "divine vessel" in Chinese) missions will be unmanned to test docking technology first, Xinhua quoted Li Yuqing, a consultant of the Shenzhou VII mission as saying.
-- BERNAMA
The return capsule carrying astronaut Zhai Zhigang, who performed the historic feat, and two other astronauts will touch down at about 5.40pm in the steppes of central Inner Mongolia, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Set to be the new poster space hero is Zhai whose image has dominated newspapers and repeatedly replayed on television waving China's red national flag in space after slipping out of the space capsule on Saturday evening.
The 42-year-old former fighter pilot, as with all Chinese astronauts, is the first generation of China's 14 space explorers picked in 1998 for the country's ambition to mark its presence in space and build its own space station by 2020.
Zhai and fellow crew, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng blasted off in a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan satellite launch centre in northwestern Gansu Province on Thursday.
President Hu Jintao met the astronauts before their trip at the launch centre and spoke to them again from the Beijing Aerospace Centre after their achievement.
"The successful extra vehicular activity symbolises China has achieved a new breakthrough on manned space missions. All three of you have made a great contribution to China's undertaking of space technology," he said.
Another triumph lauded has been the China-made "Feitian" (lying in the sky) spacesuit worn by Zhai, a 10-layer outfit costing 30 million yuan (RM13.7 million) and weighing 120kg suit.
Shenzhou VII was China's third manned space mission after Shenzhou V which took off with solo astronaut Yang Liwei, now a national hero, and the subsequent Shenzhou VI flight with two other astronauts in 2005.
China's next step is to start work by 2010 to put together a space laboratory and by 2020 to build its own space station.
The country's space march will demand more astronauts and a spokesman, Wang Zhaoyao, told newsmen after the spacewalk that research had begun on developing woman astronauts.
China's astronaut training chief engineer Deng Yibing said a second selection of astronauts will be held after the Shenzhou VII mission.
Xinhua quoted Deng as saying that a fresh team may be involved in the Shenzhou X mission, which will seek another breakthrough in orbiter docking technology.
Some of the present group of astronauts, with average age of 40, may already be too old by then.
The eighth and ninth Shenzhou (meaning "divine vessel" in Chinese) missions will be unmanned to test docking technology first, Xinhua quoted Li Yuqing, a consultant of the Shenzhou VII mission as saying.
-- BERNAMA
China's First Space Walk Set For Saturday
BEIJING, Sept 26 (Benama) -- China's first space walk attempt is set for Saturday to last 20 minutes and astronauts onboard the Shenzhou VII spacecraft have begun assembling the bulky spacesuits, a task that will take several hours.
Since the liftoff on Thursday night, the expedition has proceeded smoothly and the three astronauts have had their first meal and nap, mission spokesman Wang Zhaoyao told a news conference in Beijing.
Third manned flight took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu province and has entered its destined orbit of 343km from earth."Our astronaut will stay in space for 20 minutes, that is our plan," he said.
The space walk, widely reported to be attempted by flight commander Zhai Zhigang, will be telecast 'live'.
Wang said the Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) is scheduled for 4.30pm Saturday subject to the conditions of the spacesuit and the astronaut.
During the EVA, he said it was important to ensure that communication between earth and space will not be disrupted.State media had reported that 42-year-old Zhai would don a 120kg China-made "Feitian" (fly to the sky) spacesuit with the assistance of fellow crew, Liu Boming, who will be standing by in a Russian developed "Haiying" (sea eagle) suit.
The third astronaut, Jing Haipeng, will be inside the re-entry module of the space craft which will make a return landing in Inner Mongolia on Sunday after a 68-hour voyage according to the schedule.
The success of the EVA is crucial to China's ambition of building its own space station in the next decade.
The chief designer of spacecraft who provided the name Shenzhou meaning "divine vessel", told the Xinhua News Agency on Friday that China would mass produce the model to shuttle astronauts to China's space station.
-- BERNAMA
Since the liftoff on Thursday night, the expedition has proceeded smoothly and the three astronauts have had their first meal and nap, mission spokesman Wang Zhaoyao told a news conference in Beijing.
Third manned flight took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu province and has entered its destined orbit of 343km from earth."Our astronaut will stay in space for 20 minutes, that is our plan," he said.
The space walk, widely reported to be attempted by flight commander Zhai Zhigang, will be telecast 'live'.
Wang said the Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) is scheduled for 4.30pm Saturday subject to the conditions of the spacesuit and the astronaut.
During the EVA, he said it was important to ensure that communication between earth and space will not be disrupted.State media had reported that 42-year-old Zhai would don a 120kg China-made "Feitian" (fly to the sky) spacesuit with the assistance of fellow crew, Liu Boming, who will be standing by in a Russian developed "Haiying" (sea eagle) suit.
The third astronaut, Jing Haipeng, will be inside the re-entry module of the space craft which will make a return landing in Inner Mongolia on Sunday after a 68-hour voyage according to the schedule.
The success of the EVA is crucial to China's ambition of building its own space station in the next decade.
The chief designer of spacecraft who provided the name Shenzhou meaning "divine vessel", told the Xinhua News Agency on Friday that China would mass produce the model to shuttle astronauts to China's space station.
-- BERNAMA
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
