A probe sent by the United Arab Emirates to study the Martian atmosphere has caught and brought us mesmerizing images of the beautiful natural light show i.e Auroras. The views on the red planet are as beautiful as, if not more, those on Earth.
Before the formal start of the Hope orbiter’s science mission, an instrument installed on the probe caught the aurora, which is known to be a phenomenon that is very difficult to study. The images were a delight, as they were not part of the planned observations on the mission.
Images released recently show the auroras standing out in the shape of bright structures set against the dark Martian night sky.
EMUS data showing the discrete aurora on Mars. The bright crescent marks the daylit side of the planet; the discrete aurora is the bright crackles seen on the nightside of Mars. (Image credit: Emirates Mars Mission)
In a statement given to Space.com reports: a space.com, Justin Deighan, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado and deputy science lead of the mission, said, “They’re not easy to catch, and so that’s why seeing them basically right away with [Emirates Mars Mission] was kind of exciting and unexpected.” “It’s definitely something that was on our radar, so to speak, but just looking at our first set of nighttime data and saying, ‘Hey, wait a second — is that? — it can’t be — it is!’ — that was a lot of fun.”
Aurora, the natural light display in the Earth’s sky, is predominantly seen in high-latitude regions.
The Ultraviolet Spectrometer installed on the probe was originally meant to study the massive halo of hydrogen and oxygen that surrounds the Red Planet, which eventually dissipates into open space.
“We did anticipate that the instrument would have the potential to do this,” Hessa Al Matroushi, the mission’s science lead, said in a statement. “It wasn’t designed to do it. But because we do have a mission that is targeting global coverage and we’re looking at Mars from different sides and very frequently within the atmosphere, that enabled us to have such a measurement of discrete auroras, which is very exciting.”
Technology is one of the essential driving components to economic growth at all levels. The recent advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology intend new and innovative applications in almost every aspect of life. At present, several groups around the globe are investing extensively in nanotechnology and considering it a powerful tool for the next industrial revolution. Nanotechnology harnesses the potential of the combination of physics, chemistry, material science, biotechnology, and engineering to create atomic-scale materials with a more significant number of exposed atoms on the surface.
However, the success of nanotechnology partially depends on the source/precursor of nanomaterials or support of nanomaterials in terms of availability, renewability, functional groups, contamination-free, and biodegradability, etc. These create more opportunities and prospects for Jute as an excellent precursor for the development of nanotechnology.
Jute as a source of Nanotechnology
Jute is a type of Tiliaceae bast fiber and has a scientific name as Corchorus Capsularis since it is taken from corchor plants. Jute is one of the low-cost natural fibers and is now the most productive bast fiber. The main chemical composition of jute fibers and sticks, which have a trace amount of ash content, are cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, making Jute an ideal candidate for utilization in nanotechnology.
Jute is an important natural fiber crop in the South Asian Zone next to cotton. It contributed robustly to countries’ economies; it was considered the “Golden Fiber.” Yet, the use of jute fibers has decreased because of the wide accessibility of long-lasting and fashionable synthetic fiber products in the market. Consequently, the scientists were drawn by the availability of vast amounts of unused, cheap, and environmental-friendly jute fibers and sticks for their utilization in nanotechnology. Its easy and endless availability also attracts Jute at a relatively low price.
Recent developments of Nanotechnology via Jute
A group of experts, headed by Dr. Md. Abdul Aziz of King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Saudi Arabia, published a personal account entitled “Present Status and Future Prospects of Jute in Nanotechnology: A Review” (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/tcr.202100135) in a well-reputed journal (The Chemical Record; Quantile Rank: Q1 and Impact Factor: 6.77) of the Wiley publishing group. To cover a broader area of nanotechnology in an authentic way, the authors were selected from different research areas and are highly qualified in research and working in the leading world-class universities. They provided well-defined proofs of why Jute needs to be applied in nanotechnology with notable examples and prospects.
Jute is an important natural fiber crop in the South Asian Zone next to cotton
They described the latest developments and future aspects of Jute in nanotechnology, including the preparation and applications of jute-derived nano-cellulose, as a scaffolder for other nanomaterials, catalysis, carbon preparation, life sciences, coatings, polymers, energy storage, drug delivery, fertilizer delivery, electrochemistry, reductant and stabilizer, petroleum industry, paper industry, polymeric nanocomposites, sensors, coatings, and electronics.
These prospects will serve as a precursor of Jute-based nanotechnology research and industry setup in the future. The utilization of Jute (high cellulose-based biomass) in the nanomaterials area could bring prosperity and economic advantages, especially from an environmental perspective. The researchers aim to find out the economic and environmental benefits of Jute and highlighted various future aspects of Jute in nanotechnology.
Applications
Jute sticks derived carbon materials also played a vital role as electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage applications and showed better results than the commercially available activated carbon. (Shah et al., Jute Sticks Derived and Commercially Available Activated Carbons for Symmetric Supercapacitors with Bio‐electrolyte: A Comparative Study, Synthetic Metals, 277, 2021, 116765).
The Jute-derived carbon-based supercapacitor delivered a higher specific capacitance (150 F/g) than the commercially available activated carbon-based supercapacitor (29 F/g). The developed supercapacitor illustrates an energy density of 20 Wh/kg at a power density of 500 W/kg with fabulous performance after 10,000 charges/discharge cycles. The research findings confirmed that the Jute bio-waste shows promise as an energy storage material.
The utilization of Jute (high cellulose-based biomass) in the nanomaterials area could bring prosperity and economic advantages, especially from an environmental perspective.
There are two primary purposes of using Jute bio-waste in developing supercapacitors, i.e., it assists with waste disposal, i.e., utilizing waste to prepare energy storage materials and provides an economic platform for the sustainability of energy storage technology.
The group members also summarized the Jute-derived carbon’s various preparation and utilization strategies (Aziz et al., Preparation and Utilization of Jute-Derived Carbon: A Short Review, The Chemical Record, 20, 2020, 1074-1098). Therefore, considering the technological, environmental, economic, and social contributions of Jute, it can be stated that Jute has a significant contribution in achieving sustainable developments. Therefore, increasing the productivity and benefits of Jute through promising input cost-saving technologies is a prime concern. It is very beneficial for farmers to focus on the cultivation of Jute and contribute to the recent technological developments.
Even though it is perfectly sensible for the education minister, Shafqat Mehmood, to be happy about the increase in the education budget, I along with several others who want to see Pakistan become a technologically advanced country would be happier and more content if some of the funds are utilized to develop a national research programme. The main aim of such a programme would be to lay the foundation for a thriving knowledge-based national economy. Such a programme should have been built decades ago to propel a Nanotechnology transformation through Industry-Academia collaborations in Pakistan. A few eminent educators, and scientists, did indeed put in some effort within this space, but we mostly missed out on the opportunity. But now a greater opportunity presents itself, and we really owe it to our future generations to ensure we do not let it slip through our hands again.
After Richard Feynman and other prominent scientists in the mid-1900s familiarised the world with nanotechnology, a new digital world was born. Whether it was millions of transistors on a single chip, or supercomputers processing gigabits of information in fractions of a second; it was predominantly nanotechnology that drove these advancements at an exponential pace. Nanotechnology has since matured and the world is now quickly moving towards the next breakthrough: Quantum Technology (also called Quantum Information Systems: QIS).
QIS or Quantum Technology is not really a new field of science as we have had its understanding for a few decades now. In fact, some of the theoretical frameworks for quantum technology was debated by the likes of Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. Fast forward to today, the world is now ready for the different avenues QIS has to offer. QIS concerns the study, control, and manipulation of quantum systems with the goal of achieving information processing, and communication beyond the limits of the classical world of science. It is a multidisciplinary field, lying at the cusp of fields such as physics, mathematics, and engineering.
QIS is not in competition with areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Advanced Robotics, and Digital Manufacturing, but can form strong foundations, which can further benefit these areas (e.g. quantum-enhanced AI and ML algorithms can further advance quantum computing capabilities). Thus, QIS along with augmenting AI and ML techniques have brought technology to a new and broader physical framework, providing fundamentally new capabilities. QIS technologies offer much more than just squeezing information into computers and multiplying the speeds of ubiquitous microchips and processors. It supports entirely new modes of computation with innovative and powerful algorithms based on quantum principles, which do not have any classical equivalents; rather they offer secure communications, simulation capabilities unattainable with classical devices, and systems with unparalleled sensitivity and precision.
The importance of QIS is the same, if not more, as it was of Nanotechnology a few decades ago which helped many countries rise to become developed states (e.g. Korea, China, Singapore). It is for this reason that leading countries in the world are spearheading projects to become future leaders in this field. For example, the European Union made an alliance of more than 5,000 scientists from all over Europe and launched a QIS project worth one billion euros, which makes it one of the three biggest research projects in the history of the EU. American and Chinese scientists are actively working on all aspects of QIS; from quantum computation, and communication to quantum metrology, sensing, and imaging. This is in addition to the billions of dollars of partnerships amongst leading companies (Amazon, Alibaba, Airbus, Google, IBM, Intel, etc.) with state-of-the-art research laboratories, and the top universities of the world.
In the race to advance QIS, developing countries are not an exception as many of them are pushing hard to build collaborations with leading Western, and Asian technology experts. For example, some developing countries such as India and to an extent Bangladesh have started active collaborations on QIS technology with material science, and electrical engineering departments of the University of Cambridge in the UK. Through these collaborations, prominent researchers and professors from developing countries get to visit and work at leading universities and institutes which are already working on QIS technologies. This way they are able to learn and make scientific contributions, eventually bringing new knowledge back to their home countries.
I wanted to shed some light on the current state of affairs of QIS in Pakistan; however, the work so far is minimal and is widely dispersed. It is high time that a national research and development programme focusing on QIS is started in Pakistan which would involve the country’s leading universities, relevant private sector companies, and budding technology-focused start-ups. Through such a programme, we could also sign collaboration agreements with the prominent global universities and organizations working within this space. I suggest the following key aspects of QIS to be included in the programme:
Micro & Nano Fabrication of Quantum devices
Quantum Communication and Quantum Control Systems
Quantum Metrology, Sensing & Imaging including for space technologies
Quantum Networks, among others
Both local Pakistani QIS experts, as well as those working abroad, can be utilized to help advise on detailed work packages with distinct short, medium, and long-term goals for each of the aforementioned aspects of QIS. This programme, if developed, should be done with swift timelines, challenging but realistic deliverables, and key performance indicators. I have no doubt, that if we bring together the intellectual wealth that we collectively possess as a nation, we will be able to advance rapidly within this new area of quantum technology.
The least that can be achieved with a national programme for QIS is short and long-term improvements in rankings of Pakistani universities, reinforced industry-academia collaborations, and better-skilled academics and graduates. And the ideal scenario would be a knowledge-based economy capable of building future technologies at home rather than being just a consumer nation.
The TransHelp – a Pakistan-based Startup, become the first Pakistani startup to be selected among the top 10 finalists across 31 countries for its innovative solutions to counter HIV/AIDS endemic organized by Gilead Sciences United States, in association with Pen State University and Bemyapp.
The TransHelp is an innovative platform that aims at democratizing affordable and quality health and legal aid for underserved communities, particularly transgender persons by combining creative art, advocacy, and digital technologies (AI/GPS/GIS). It is already been noted by several national and international organizations such as it was finalists for Asia-Pacific Social Innovation Award 2020 by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan—the People’s Republic of China in 2020.
On the occasion, Founder and Chief Knowledge Officer Mr. Mohsin Khan said that “Considering Pakistan’s perpetual rise in HIV infections and Transphobic attack, TransHelp is established to provide affordable and quality health and legal support to the underserved communities of Transgenders, PWIDs, PLWHA by combining creative art, tech & advocacy. Our aim is to educate these vulnerable communities, increase testing rates, promote prevention and treatment (of HIV/AIDS, Sexually transmitted diseases), and empower them to fight against Stigma, Transphobia, Violence, and Gender discrimination.
“We were also able to educate thousands of people on COVID19, through open-source animations, radio, and TV programs and planning to start a series of Comics to educate and empower youth. Being top 10 among 31 countries itself a pride for Pakistan and a testimonial of its vibrant startup ecosystem and human capital. We hope that government and other organizations will come forward to accelerate our common goals. We also are ready to work with other youth and trans-based organizations” He added further.
Being one of the most prominent geologists in Pakistan, Dr. Qasim Jan is a recognized international scientist and has received many awards, including TI, SI, HI, and honorary DSc degrees from King’s College London and the University of Leicester. He served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Peshawar, Quaid-i-Azam University, and Sarhad University. He has worked at several reputed national and international institutions and his impactful research focused on geology, mineralogy, geochemistry, and tectonics. He is currently serving as Distinguished National Professor (Emeritus) at the National Center of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar.
For our special edition on Natural Disasters, we caught up with Dr. Qasim to discuss climate change and how the past and present is responsible for it, disaster management, and the state of affairs in Pakistan, among other things.
Being one of the most prominent geologists in Pakistan, Dr. Qasim Jan is a recognized international scientist and has received many awards, including TI, SI, HI, and honorary DSc degrees from King’s College London and the University of Leicester.
Q. Geology is mainly the study of non-human-induced changes taking place throughout earth’s history. How could it better contribute to study climate changes?
Simply put, Geology is the study of the Earth, and climate changes are closely linked to the Earth. All the way from causes of climate change to consequences and mitigation require a sound knowledge of earth sciences. Many universities have now combined departments/ institutes for Earth and Environmental Sciences. The origin and survival of life are closely linked to water, and the study of water resources is an important branch of Earth Sciences.
So, the study of the environment cannot be isolated from the study of the earth. Environments are directly related to earth and so are geological sciences.
Q. A pre-industrial revolution record shows a significant increase in global temperatures. What do you think could be the best alternatives for coal, fossils, and other carbon-inducing agents?
The present Global Warming has been taking place for some 80-100 years, but particularly so over the past 50 years, with a temperature rise of 0.8 to 1.0oC. The projected increase is scary. A temperature rise of 2oC would be very harsh and 3oC would be a global disaster. There are a number of mitigation measures that need to be practiced. But, perhaps, the use of fossil fuels needs to be replaced very quickly by clean energy (such as solar, hydro, wind, hot springs, nuclear, etc.)
Forestry and plantation on the earth’s surface would also be helpful in reducing the harsh impact. There are some artificial practices like the management of solar radiation, but they are still under study. The utmost need at the moment is to produce an immediate substitute for hydrocarbons/ fossil fuels which are responsible for the greenhouse gases which are now commonly considered as the main reason for global warming. The current CO2 content at 419 ppm is double that of the pre-industrial time.
Q. How have natural causes affected climate change in the past ?
There have been long to short duration natural changes in the climatic conditions in the past which have resulted in the disappearance of species, the most popular of which are the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous geological period, approximately 65 million years ago. Some speculate that there might have been metabolic changes, but the more popular theory argues that it happened because of climate change which was related to the impact of a 10 km-across asteroid in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and /or extensive Deccan (India) volcanism.
Incidentally, the Deccan volcanism was one of the largest volcanic eruptions stretching up to southern Pakistan. The extensive volcanic outpouring in a span of two to four million years must have been accompanied by huge quantities of gases and dust which would have blanketed the earth for such a long time that some of the species had to die. A large asteroid impact could also have produced a large amount of dust, leading to the greenhouse effect.
In North Atlantic, about 55 million years ago, there was another huge volcanism that resulted in 100,000 years of a global warming period. Magma rose quickly to the surface and heated organic material, releasing methane and carbon dioxide which is resulted in blanketing and global warming.
Apart from the impact of asteroids/meteorites and volcanism, other possible natural causes of climate change include solar flares, cosmic radiation, changes in earth rotational orbit, low-level clouds, floods, storms, the decline in carbon sink, and wildfires.
Satellite view of the Deccan Traps. Being one of the largest volcanic features on Earth, they consist of multiple layers of solidified flood basalt that cover an area of c. 500,000 km2.
Q. What about the linkage between variations in climate and human activities?
I do believe that present-day warming, and consequential climate change, are anthropogenic. As a matter of fact, there is a good correlation between temperature rise and carbon dioxide increase in the atmosphere. The large quantity of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (such as methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases) in the atmosphere owe their origin to burning of the fossil fuels in industry, transport, agriculture, and buildings. Carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, takes flabbergasting one hundred years for its removal, and it has increased significantly over the past century to 419 ppm of the atmosphere (ca. in terms of sheer weight amounts to 40 billion tons). This is the highest concentration in the last four million years and twice the amount of pre-industrial time.
But climate change should not be viewed as an entirely warming phenomenon. Other human activities engaged in changing the landscape and cutting of forests, wastage and pollution of water and air, disrupting the ecosystem and habitat also pose serious threats to plant and animal life.
Q. The earth has been experiencing overwhelming natural disasters for the past few decades. How could modern technologies like GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and remote sensing help better understand natural disasters?
It is not correct to say that the natural disasters have been taking place over the last few decades. Major natural disasters have been occurring throughout human history, indeed geological history.
It is possible there has been an increase in the frequency of natural disasters over the past 50 years, but it can also be that because of faded memory and poor record-keeping we might be giving more importance to recent disasters which are fresh in the memory.
To illustrate, there were big floods in China in 1931 and 1887, and obviously, during that time we didn’t have the problem of present-day global warming. Those approximately killed 1-4 million and 1-2 million people, respectively. Going back further, China Shaanxi Earthquake in 1556 killed 0.83 million people and the Tangshan earthquake in 1976 killed 300,000 to 700,000 people.
The 2004 Sumatra tsunami in the Indian Ocean killed 200,000 people, but there was also the Italian Tsunami of 1908 that killed 123,000 people. As you can see, disasters have always been there, but whether their frequency increased in recent years is to be statistically confirmed.
I certainly agree that the use of GIS, Remote sensing, Early Warning Systems, and other technological tools and advances would be much helpful in the prediction and mitigation of natural disasters. In general, there is a fear that global warming and climate change are going to result in unpredictable weather, especially in superficial phenomena. To fight that, we need global collaboration because some of these events might be beyond the capacity of just one nation.
Q. Pakistan has been a frequent victim of earthquakes and other calamities. Why are we always underprepared in disaster management, when countries in similar geological states like Japan, are able to rebound so quickly?
It is a little too much to compare ourselves with Japan. Japan has a very old culture of science and technology and a very high level of education. Their financial resources and capabilities far exceed those of developing countries.
I agree that Pakistan is a seismically active zone and because of that natural disasters will keep on occurring. The 2005 Kashmir earthquake was very sudden. Even if we were prepared, we couldn’t have stopped the death of people from the jolt. And because earthquakes are not predictable, therefore you cannot evacuate towns in fear of a calamity that may not happen.
The 2005 earthquake in Pakistan was very sudden, killing around 100,000 people in the country and wounding many more. Credit: IRNA
Similarly, if you look at the 2010 flood, Pakistan couldn’t have done much regarding that because it was too sudden (at least in the northern part of the country) and too big. Within a short span of time, there was this huge quantity of rainwater thrown down in Swat and adjacent areas of Hazara and Dir which ultimately aggravated into big floods in the South.
I personally think that since the earthquake in Kashmir, Pakistan’s level of disaster preparedness and mitigation certainly has improved. The government has established an agency for the purpose of national disaster management and with the passage of time, it will continue improving.
Q. Even though Pakistan has big deposits of natural resources, why haven’t we been able to do efficient resource management.
There is a common misconception in Pakistan that we are blessed with an abundance of resources. We have to get rid of this notion. Undoubtedly, Pakistan is not poor in terms of natural resources, but to say that it has a lot, is very rich is an exaggerated statement. But having said that, the country has large quantities of building materials and marble; some industrial minerals, evaporites (rock salt and gypsum), a couple of big copper deposits, and semi-precious stones. Apart from copper, we don’t have large deposits of metallic minerals, but we do have some reasonable deposits of industrial minerals.
The biggest natural resource of Pakistan is water, but with the passage of time, Pakistan has become a water strained country. We have one of the most widespread irrigation systems in the world, but we are wasting too much water because of obsolete irrigation methods and extreme water pollution.
We have not been able to benefit because our policies have been unrealistic, and our implementation has been even worse. One example is the Reko Diq project. The unnecessary entanglements and wrongdoings cost Pakistan pay billions of dollars. This shows the flaws in our policies. All international agreements need to be reached on the basis of good scientific information and sound legal advice.
Q. From Kalabagh to Diamer Basha, dam construction has always been a subject of much controversy in Pakistan. Can you share why there is so much debate when we are in dire need of controlling our resources?
The only national controversy has been the Kalabagh dam. The construction of the Kalabagh dam was affected by 1) interprovincial differences, and 2) obsession of a particular lobby in its support. The proposal was opposed by the smaller provinces, despite perhaps insufficient scientific evidence; only fear. If it is technically a safe site despite active tectonics and a layer of salt under the dam site, then there is no reason why the Kalabagh dam project should not go ahead, firmly guaranteeing, of course, a fair supply of water to the provinces of KP, Balochistan, and particularly Sindh. In a country with the inconsistent implementation of decisions, this will not be an easy task! But we must also keep in mind that there are other sites upstream on the Indus and other rivers for water storage and power generation and these need to be quickly pursued.
As far as the Diamer Basha dam is concerned, there isn’t a serious seismological danger. About 40 to 50 kilometers from the site of the dam there is an active fault that runs along the western margin of Nanga Parbat. Because of mass movement (sliding) along the fault, the Indus River was dammed near Rakhiot (now Raikot) in the 1850s, resulting in a big lake. Later it burst and the flood wiped out a whole Sikh regiment stationed at Attock near Indus-Kabul confluence. I am sure the engineers and builders of the Basha dam would take precautionary measures to avoid disaster in case of large landslide in the area.
I conclude that we need to construct water storages, but not at the cost of affecting national unity. But equally important, we are wasting a lot of water and polluting the remaining, which needs even bigger attention.
A view of the DIamer-Basha Dam site at Chilas. Credit: INP
Q. There has been an establishment of Pak-China Earth sciences academic cooperation. What are your thoughts on that project?
Academic cooperation between Pakistan and China has been going on for quite some time and joint research is always good. The establishment of an earth sciences center in Islamabad will be impactful for three reasons. Firstly, it will improve our quality of education and research. Secondly, international researchers will have the opportunity to work in Pakistan with our scientists. This will be good for the promotion of science and global understanding through science diplomacy. Thirdly, the Center can play an important in the sustainability of CPEC. In the long run, a major goal of the CPEC is trade on land route between China and Pakistan.
Our land route, i.e., Karakoram Highway, passes through the tallest and rugged mountain ranges in the world (Himalaya, Karakoram, Hindu Kush, Kunlun) and is frequently blocked by mass movements, landslides and glacier surges, and glacial lake outbursts. It is essential to understand this region better through careful and detailed studies to ensure a smooth flow of trade along the KKH. As a matter of fact, this was also one of the primary reasons to establish this center.
Q. What contribution, do you think, your personal work has provided to the field?
Personally, I work for the love of discovering nature. As a human being, I believe I have a responsibility to understand the functioning of nature. The work we have done provides basic information about our hills and mountains. We have described rocks and minerals which are of interest to the economy and science of Pakistan. These include building materials (i.e., granites in Kohistan, Nagar Parkar, and Balochistan), chromites, gemstones, seismology, climate change, and natural hazards.
My research has not been primarily focused on minerals of economic importance, but it provided basic data for future activities on mineral exploration, engineering geology, etc. More importantly, our studies have contributed significantly to, and globally showcased, the crust building processes and geodynamics of northern Pakistan, Chagai-Raskoh arc, and Nagar Parkar. We (A.H. Kazmi & M. Q. Jan) also published a well-read seminal book on the “Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan” in 1997.
Q. How would you say the field of Geology/Earth Sciences has evolved with the advent of new technology over the years? And what is the status of geological research in Pakistan?
Geological sciences have indeed seen major advancements since the 1960s. First and foremost is the unifying theory of plate tectonics because of which we have started looking at the sectors of the earth from totally different and new perspectives. The earth sciences have become more multi-disciplinary and seen big advances in instrumentation. Thus, geology, in combination with space sciences and geophysics, have added much to surface mapping, subsurface structures, economic geology and petroleum exploration.
Pakistan also has progressed substantially in the earth sciences. At the time of independence, there were only a handful of geologists and few areas had been studied geologically. Today, there are over 20 departments and centers in the universities, and many organizations and companies which are involved in geological mapping, mineral exploration and exploitation, and oil and gas exploration. In this regard, the contributions of the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) are highly admirable despite meager human, financial, and infrastructure resources. Some important earth sciences related finds include building material and decorative stones, industrial minerals, two big copper deposits, and oil and gas discoveries.
Geological research in Pakistan needs enhancement through induction of a larger number of well-qualified scientists and technical staff, well-equipped, properly maintained, and functional laboratories with sophisticated equipment, strengthening of the GSP, adequate support for fieldwork, and improvement of syllabi in the universities.
Q. What would be your advice to individuals interested in this field?
Success is fundamentally related to hard work, capacity building, a correct attitude, and working in close cooperation with colleagues. Ours is a field-dependent science and geologists should not lose focus on fieldwork. The world has become a global village and success requires passing through cut throat completion. Knowledge of developments in S&T and multi-national, multi-disciplinary, and multi-institutional collaboration is helpful for creativity and development of knowledge, sciences.
Scientists have discovered a gargantuan galactic wind emitted by a supermassive black hole some 13.1 billion years ago, the oldest one observed to date. This is a critical discovery as it can help shed ‘light’ on the development of galaxies in particular and for our modern universe in general.
Scientists from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) first identified a hundred galaxies having supermassive black holes in their center using NAOJs Subaru Telescope, a very powerful instrument with a wide observation capacity. They then used Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), which has more sensitivity, to study the gigantic galactic winds flowing outwards from the supermassive black holes.
Scientists believe that these physical interactions between black holes and galaxies have played a critical role in the development of our modern universe.
It is already known that the center of galaxies has supermassive black holes, billions of times huge than our sun. Scientists believe that these galactic winds, going outward from these supermassive black holes, have profound effects due to physical interactions and telltale the effects of supermassive black holes on the evolution of galaxies, something scientists term as coevolution ̵ evolution of black holes and galaxies together.
Scientists believe that these physical interactions between black holes and galaxies have played a critical role in the development of our modern universe. Supermassive black holes swallow up huge amounts of surrounding matter and stellar material. As the matter begins to swallow up into the black holes it starts swirling at high speeds due to the gravitational pulls of these gigantic monsters and starts to emit intense energy which can push the surrounding matter outwards. This is how the galactic winds are created.
Takuma Izumi, the lead author of the research paper and a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), says, “The question is when galactic winds came into existence in the universe? This is an important question because it is related to an important problem in astronomy: How did galaxies and supermassive black holes coevolve?”
The latest research was presented by the research group from NAOJ in the Astrophysical Journal Takuma Izumi et al. titled: “Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). XIII. Large-scale Feedback and Star Formation in a Low-Luminosity Quasar at z = 7.07,”.
Wildfires, the infernos that burn through wild landscapes, can speed up very quickly and, if they go unhampered, may result in substantial catastrophic losses to the environment, wildlife, and climate. Moreover, they cause human deaths and migrations/displacements, ultimately impacting the economy. Wildfires can be forest, bush, and peatland fires depending upon the type of landscape affected.
Three components, also known as the Fire Triangle, cause wildfires to occur. Which includes a heat source, fuel, and oxygen. The Sun, a hot bolt of lightning, or a smoldering matchstick can cause enough heat to spark an untamed wildfire. But what’s more disturbing is the fact that about 90 % of wildfires are caused by human activities. They are regularly witnessed in the Western United States, where favorable conditions like high temperatures, droughts, and frequent lightning create a perfect setting for wildfires.
Here is a list of the world’s most devastating wildfires:
The Peshtigo Fire (October 8, 1871)
Often considered one of the deadliest and history’s most fatal wildfires. It was ignited in a vast forest and resulted in an estimated 1500 to 2500 deaths in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, U.S. Moreover, this fire was massively catastrophic as it caused the loss of around 1.2 million acres of land, setting ablaze homes, destroying fields poor people. The cause behind it was identified to be small fires whipped by high winds in dry conditions.
A painting by Mel Kishner of the 1871 Peshtigo fire, the deadliest in U.S. history (Wisconsin Historical Society). Image Source: The Washington Post
The Cloquet Fire October
The devastating Minnesota U.S fire (12, 1918) ignited and hit hard the Cloquet town; it affected Moose lake and Kettle river in a forest nearby. The reason behind this wildfire was small sparks on local railroads mixed with dry conditions. It resulted in 450 deaths, 38 communities were lost, and 250,000 acres of land were destroyed.
The 2018 Camp Fire, California
Considered to be the deadliest and destructive wildfire in California’s history On November 8, 2018, an untamed fire erupted in Butte County fierce enough to burn 153,336 acres. The most expensive natural disaster of 2018 in terms of insured losses. It destroyed nearly 19,000 homes, burning 62,053 ha acres of area and killing at least 85 people. The reason behind ignition was an electrical transmission fire from electrical transmitting company PG&E power line.
A burnt-out neighborhood in Paradise, California. Image Source: BBC
The 2017 Tubbs Fire, California
The Tubbs fire is the deadliest in Northern California history. It started on October 8, 2017, and ended on October 31, 2017, burned more than 36,800 acres, and destroyed 5,643 structures in Sonoma and Napa counties. It is reported that around 22 people lost their lives. The cause for the wildfire was the failure of a private electrical system.
One of California’s most destructive wildfires devastated a neighborhood north of Santa Rosa in October 2017. Credit Kent Porter/The Press Democrat, via Associated Press
The 2004 Alaska Fire
The 2004 Alaska Fire season is the worst on record in terms of areas burned by wildfires in the U.S State of Alaska. More than 6.6 million acres of land were burned by 701 fires, 215 of which were caused by lightning strikes, 426 outsets by humans. Fortunately resulting in no human fatalities, but the impacts on climate were severe. Moreover, the 2004 Alaska fire had a significant effect on the air quality of Alaska.
Alaska’s most significant wildfire season on record, the Boundary Fire, burned 217,000 ha of forest in interior Alaska (Photo by the State of Alaska, Division of Forestry). Image Source: Research Gate
Global Impact & Climate Change
Globally, the adverse effects of climate change are causing the average wildfire season to be three and a half months longer than what it was a few decades earlier. Also, the number of wildfires in the West has tripled. A more extended fire season means increased consequences, i.e., burning twice as many acres.
In 2015 Indonesia’s wildfire spiked greenhouse gas emissions to the same scale as Brazil’s total annual emissions. The smoke caused people to have respiratory illnesses. When temperatures get warmer than average, moisture is drawn out of the plants and onto the land. This desiccation creates “tinderbox conditions,” which are favorable for spreading fire quickly over large areas if a fire is lit up.
Wildfires are also one of the leading contributing factors in wiping out endangered species. For instance, the U.S fires have wiped out half of Washington’s pygmy rabbit population. Wildfires and other associated climatic changes occurred during the 2018 northern hemisphere heatwave, where we saw the all-time temperature records were broken across Europe, North America, and Asia.
Contributing factors for wildfires include global warming and climate change. The most apparent link-up is with rising air temperatures. Our planet has been heating up nearly continuously since the start of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1800s, when humans started burning massive quantities of fossil fuels, releasing carbon dioxide; that holds the ability of trapping heat in the atmosphere.
Wildfires contributing to climate change while heating up the planet steadily and continuously mess up with the seasonal rain and snow patterns. The hot drying-out season is stretching on the tail end.
One of the alarming trends that we witness is that Wildfires are killing large patches of conifers, 300,500, 1000 acre patches, and some even more prominent. An even bigger problem is when vast swathes of forest burn, they cannot self-regenerate.
The bottom line is climate change has increased fire risks in both direct and indirect ways. When ignition occurs, even if it is natural, the chances of it spawning a big fire are much higher than they would be in the absence of present climatic conditions.
Through many hearts are breaking And many tears are shed So many houses broken Too many people dead God summoned his angels Sent them to the disaster zone To deliver their tiny perfect wings So they didn’t travel alone. ~Sally
Over the past decade, around three hundred natural disasters have occurred yearly worldwide, affecting millions and caused damages of billions. The displacement/ migration is evident after a disaster strikes an area, leaves millions homeless, and forces to move in temporary crowded shelters with little to no access to drinking water or food in a few days to rescue operation. Such living conditions often result in the spread of infectious diseases like Dengue, Tetanus, Malaria, and others. These natural disasters have also caused a substantial economic burden, from 2000 to 2009, they brought about approx. 891 billion dollars damage worldwide that include houses and mega infrastructure.
How many of us blame ourselves for this steady rise in natural disasters? None can ignore the fact that many of these calamities were man-made; they strike due to environmental degradation caused by global warming. Now slowly but at least not too late, mankind realizes that its greed has brought destruction to the earth’s natural systems.
When the desire for fast profits and growth beats the vision of sustainability, nature retaliates in the form of disaster. Our activities after the industrial revolution play a vital role in the fast pace of natural disasters worldwide. By supporting unsustainable developments, we caused deforestation that leads to more floods and land sliding. The sprawling cities with zero to no urban planning and increasing fossil fuel consumption impacted our environment and made changes in weather patterns.
With this edition, we aim to challenge media-driven stereotypes of disasters. More often than not, a disaster reported in Pakistan has a very short life; after a few photo sessions and press conferences by the officials, our media started playing political or showbiz beats.
Much of the rainforests are being clear-cut to make ways for cattle ranches. This led to deforestation and global warming, destroyed animal habitats, and also disrupted the water cycle. Without trees to absorb rainwater, floods and soil erosion is evident in many parts of the world where forests were mercilessly killed. Besides causing massive flooding, deforestation led to severe and prolonged periods of drought because forests are an essential part of the water cycle, bringing groundwater to the atmosphere, fewer trees means fewer rains, increasing the risk of drought.
Without trees to absorb rainwater, floods and soil erosion is evident in many parts of the world where forests were mercilessly killed.
The global warming caused by the industrial revolution has a profound impact on global weather patterns. The increase in atmospheric temperature resulted in speedy glaciers melting and bringing changes to oceans’ temperature. The coastal areas are under threat of high-intensity cyclones and storms from July to September. The constant rate of increase in ocean temperature will lead to more intense storms.
When a hurricane sweeps away entire houses, a flood seeps in through every corner of our lives, or a wildfire turns a dense forest into ashes, it leaves us speechless and miserable. But if we want to upgrade our reaction against natural disasters, we need to talk about them.
Pakistan geologically overlaps both with the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates; two-thirds of Pakistan’s total area lies in fault zones that can cause tremors anytime. Pakistan is among the highly vulnerable countries due to climate change; massive floods, prolonged drought, cyclones, land sliding, glaciers melting, and earthquakes, we are destined to live with disasters.
Scientia Pakistan is launching its exclusive edition on Natural disasters to spread awareness about why natural disasters are evident and what we need to learn to stop their growing pace. We reached out to the acclaimed geologist of Pakistan, Dr. Qasim Jan, and Dr. Nayyer Alam Zaigham, to discover the geological changes in the region and how man-made activities are causing harm to the environment. For a more detailed understanding, there are stories of the most devastating natural disasters that hit different parts of the world during the last two decades. Moreover, we covered the role of remote sensing and GIS techniques for an effective disaster management policy and post-disaster rescue operation.
With this edition, we aim to challenge media-driven stereotypes of disasters. More often than not, a disaster reported in Pakistan has a very short life; after a few photo sessions and press conferences by the officials, our media starts playing political or showbiz beats. The media is ignorant of the fact that a minor calamity could cause far-reaching and long-lasting effects. The situation needs to be examined both by the governments and local communities. We want to enable the layperson to effectively play his role in a disastrous situation such as we faced in the Oct 2005 earthquake, 2010, and 2020’s massive flooding.
WildFire is not a new thing for Australia. The Australian landscape evolved because of fire. The survival of many plant species is depending on fire. There is a variety of species that adapted and even getting benefit from the fire in Australia. The Australian landscape was designed by fire in a way to prevent wildfire and also to provide resources. We know that the root cause of any natural disaster is somehow linked with global warming and overall climate change. Global warming is causing a slight rise in temperature, which leads to a decrease in rainfall in some areas of Australia. This phenomenon leads to an increase in the frequency, extent, and intensity of the wildfire in the last decades. These disturbed fire patterns increased their harmful effect on biodiversity.
According to Geoscience Australia, the leading natural reason behind these wildfires is lightning coupled with human and other biological activities. According to CSIRO, wildfire mostly breaks due to scorching weather and vegetation. But it is required to figure out the major cause of their ignition, whether lightning or accidental fire? When these factors combine with speedy winds, it results in a wildfire.
NSW RFS reported that lightning is the reason for the Gospels’ mountain fire which burnt 512000 hectares. The media reported Kangaroo island fire also started with lightning. It is concluded that in 2019-20 fires, most of the fires begin with lightning. The fires in Tasmania in December 2019 are because of deliberately lit fires results in 21000 to 35000 hectares burned.
Studies proposed that by 2050, the risk of wildfire can increase up to 25%. It is a need of an hour to understand their changing pattern, cause, and impact on biodiversity for better management of the disaster they caused.
According to CSIRO, wildfire mostly breaks due to scorching weather and vegetation.
Australia has faced extensive and continuous bushfires from June 2019 to Feb 2020. These wildfires are unexpectedly prolonged, and that’s why named Black Summer or season from hell. The outbreaks of 2019-20 adversely affected the NSW and Sydney. Overall, 2019 in Australia 2019 was recorded as driest and scorching. The FFDI (Forest Fire Danger Index), which calculates the intensity of danger caused by the wildfire in Australia, recorded the spring season in 2019 wildfire as the highest rate.
In 2019, about 15000 fires were reported in different areas, which collectively damage 19 million hectares of Australian land. This area is larger than the total burnt area of Amazon and California in recent fire events; an annual wildfire is widespread in Australia, especially the savannahs of northern tropical, last year damage the vegetation. An increase in temperature and extended drought conditions have worsened the condition at the start of November 2019.
In January 2020, heavy rainfall decreased the fires in some areas but unable to extinguish the fires completely. Drought, hotter temperatures combine with high winds increased the fires to a dangerous level again at the start of February 2020. This is followed by heavy rainfall in mid of the Feb 2020 results in the complete extinguishment of fires in NSE, but victoria was still facing the bushfire. All the fires completely stopped in March after nine months of prolonged bushfire season.
In 2019-20, wildfires affected millions of people living in these areas with 33 deaths and thousands of homes burned. The smoke from these prolonged fires causes air pollution in major cities, and even the smoke reaches over New Zealand. Hazardous air pollution causes about 400 deaths and hundreds of people hospitalized because of asthma, cardiovascular and respiratory issues. These fires released about 900 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. According to NASA, these fires produced a considerable amount of smoke, taking one complete circle of the Globe. In current times Sydney and Canberra are listed among the top 10 most polluted cities.
According to WWF estimation, about 3 billion native vertebrates are present in the 2019-20 bushfire areas, which include mammals, reptiles, birds, and frogs. These extended bushfires also affected endangered species, wildlife, ecological communities, and heritage Areas. Threatened species lost their required habitat because of these fires. The heritage sites like Gondwana InDuring 2019-20, many historical places like Greater Blue Mountain, and Old Great North Road were destroyed due to the wildfires. Many modeling and studies are carried out to explain the actual damage caused by 2019-20 fires on fauna and flora. However, much data is still an estimation from past fire events and requires detailed analysis and expert opinions.
Australia was able to come out of this emergency with the help of many Philanthropic and Governmental support. CDP (Center of Disaster Philanthropy) supports it with their global recovery funds; this helps donors meet the challenges presented by the global crises. These donations then transferred to various organizations working in the country to overcome the current emergency, just like the Australian Red Cross Society awarded $336,000 to help the human life affected by bushfires. It also includes three years of bushfire recovery programs.
FRRR (Foundation of Rural and Regional Renewal) awarded $500,000 to help at the community level and invest in community projects. This helps in the recovery of rural and remote areas of the country affected by bushfires.
WWF was also awarded $1.19 million for long-term recovery projects. This is actually for wildlife and restoration of the environment and natural habitat. The federal government of Australia announced in Jan 2020 the formation of the National Bushfire Recovery Agency. The government also initiates $A2 billion for recovery and helping the farmers, families, and businesses affected by bushfires.
The ongoing demand is the requirement of resources and funds for rebuilding communities and structure which resist the bushfires.
The world is changing? No, the Universe is changing! the universe we know in our minds and we know scientifically. Since the advent of Yuri Gagarin, the “First Man” to journey outer-space. Mankind has its eyes on the solar system and other worlds. For now, we have sent “Voyager Spacecrafts” farther than our Solar-System, and thousands of Satellites orbiting our planet. We live in times, where Mankind has established that journeying and studying outer space is directly relevant, beneficial, and crucial to our survival as species, even in far-sighting terms; as Space Exploration pioneer Elon Musk says, “Mankind needs to be on Mars and an Interplanetary Species”.
As per Statista (2019), we have a space industry of $428 Billion while a race between huge infrastructures such as NASA, ROSCOSMOS, ESA, CSNA and some of the emerging powers such as ISRO, JAXA, UAE, most of them except UAE have “Satellite Launch Vehicle: Capability”, the ability to successfully send a payload into Orbit or Outerspace. In this report, we will be discussing some facts, possibilities, and the sheer national desideratum of “SLV Capability for Pakistan” to have a desired role in the future Space Age. Now, we know that gathering data is the foremost necessity for answering big questions such as our origination as species and from advancing of the civilization to our survival on the planet in some cases possibilities of extremity.
Relevance of Space’s Technology
According to research in the U.S, every dollar spent on NASA’s space program has indirectly added more than $8 to the economy, which estimates and establishes that space research makes a country or economy stands on its feet through financial and social benefits. Today, no area of research or life’s not impacted by the advancement and investment in Space Technology. It paves a way for the rise of different industries such as aviation, the internet, weather, climate, telecommunication, academia, agriculture, geopolitics, and so many others.
In contemporary world, we have the infinite technologies that were invented or innovated by the pursuit of space goals. Monitoring Earth’s weather and climate help us to predict future conditions of the atmosphere and helping us to make smart decisions in our daily lives, such as regulating the air traffic in Aviation while having a weather forecast updates. Having preemptive warnings of Hurricanes or Cyclones that are only made possible from today’s common use as Satellite Technology, the machines orbiting on different heights and calibrating our meteorological conditions. We also employ the use of satellites to have long-distance international calls, connecting with people through the internet, radio, and satellite TV.
You can’t imagine driving a car today without GPS, and cannot understand or observe the agriculture and forestry, as there have been devastations of wildlife fires, that couldn’t have been halt or damage-controlled without the help of Remote Sensing, the abruption of Remote Sensing Satellites will only be catastrophic for us, there will be no control and regulating for Air Traffic in thousands of flights every minute in commercial aviation.
Most recently, it can be witnessed through the emergence and takeover of private investment in the space industry. Today, we have many successful businesses, thriving and localizing the awareness of space and future use. We live in times of SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, United Launch Alliance, Boeing, and many others, diversifying the economic impact by directly employing thousands of hi-tech jobs, changing the world in eventual terms. In the future, we will be having space tourism, lunar stations, orbiting hotels; all of these ideas are scientifically possible and are just modern engineering challenges that will surely be a commonly known reality in a few years. SpaceX has already won governmental contracts for delivering payloads to the International Space Station and taking the astronauts to Space and back to home, all are now facts, not future possibilities, showing us a huge new world, where “Space is for everyone”.
Interestingly, since last century’s discovery in Cosmology by Astronomer Edwin Hubble, it’s now that we know about, ’the expansion of the universe, a huge generation of scientists are admired to pursue space sciences such as aerospace, astronomy, math, astrophysics, astrobiology, all the areas of STEM. New disciplines are being formed, highly distinct topics and areas of research are being explored by researchers all over the world, and a lot of it is due to the Space Driven Age.
Even, in times of many global conflicts and geopolitical tensions, scientific collaborations have only been one of the areas, where the world has shown the force of positivity, while maintaining International Space Stations, as one of the biggest mankind’s achievement, a source of pride and interconnectedness for all beyond the borders. In more practical terms, for the last five decades, NASA’s has impacted the world with more than 1600 commercial technology products (Spin-off, 2008), as rigorous research and processes have been carried out by NASA and its collaborations or supervision throughout the scientific world, the discoveries have been immensely taken place, the environments and curiosity cultures have been laid down throughout the world, not limited to the U.S.
Above all, they put the “Man on the Moon”; also known as humanity’s biggest achievement. This all corroborates a revolutionary impact factor of Space Technology in our lives. We know about our planet, moons, and the solar system more than any other civilization that has existed since the millennia. Now, similar nature of spark and culture needs to be established within Pakistan. Fortunately, Pakistan is one of the few countries in history to have one of the earliest and first space programs in the world, but still, yet, it has lot to achieve and emerge to stay connected with the present space-time.
In this report, we will be discussing, the very next step that ought to be taken for Pakistan, the design and development of Satellite Launch Vehicle Capability, for which we the nation has a technological arrangement, resources, and commercial value in the future for financial outcomes.
Concept of Satellite Launch Vehicle
The basic concept of a launch vehicle or a carrying rocket is propelling rocket that is used to take any payload from Earth to the outer atmosphere, usually the orbits or beyond to the solar system, and any desired trajectory. The system compromises a Launch Vehicle, a launching pad that supports the vehicle and payload; the overall vehicle assembly, fueling system, range safety, and other parts.
Originally, the ideas are driven from military applications of Ballistic Missiles that were made in the early 1950s. The three most reputable Rocket Scientists, who pioneered the field were Konstantin Tsiolkovsky of Russia, America’s famous Robert Goddard, and Hermann Oberth of Germany. They all have one common recognition as they understood that to venture into outer space humanity needs a powerful launching vehicle or force, for which they did their contribution.
As per estimated calculations, to reach Earth’s orbit, a rocket must propel a payload to a velocity of around 28,000 Km (17,500miles) per hour, nearly 25-26 times more than the speed of sound. The payload has to overcome and apply more thrust than Earth’s gravity, and for leaving Earth’s gravity and reaching Moon, Mars, or other bodies the velocity is roughly 40,000 km (25,000 miles) per hour. At the start, the acceleration must be highly rapid, overcoming the atmospheric drag, turbulence, and other factors for a minimum period, and the rocket system’s stress enduring limits while launching from Earth, the orbital velocity that’s required is achieved within 10-12 minutes. To support such a high number, two or more rocket engines are there, they burn a massive quantity of fuel/propellant, and the trajectory of the vehicle is controlled within the decided mission.
Sounds exciting, but it’s a very challenging problem for aerospace engineers, the weight of the vehicle has to be very low yet rigid, but major weight accounts for the fuel it carries. Mostly, throughout today, as we have passed the problem and now we live in an era of shuttles and reusable rockets (SpaceX’s Falcon Family of Rockets), which we will discuss in detail further in the report later, the reliability has been 96%-99%.
The Operations of a Rocket to send a Payload into Space
To send a payload or spacecraft on its course into outer space, it needs to escape Earth’s gravity. Which is provided by a launch vehicle.
A rocket demonstrates Newton’s third law, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Here, the action part is when the gases flow out of the rear of the vehicle, which is produced by the combustion of the fuel, and in reaction, the thrust force is produced which pushes the payload and overall vehicle structure into the opposite direction (Towards Space). But, interestingly to encounter the oxygen problem in a vacuum beyond the planetary atmosphere of Earth, the rocket carries its oxidizing agent that’s needed for burning the fuel and continues the trajectory of the payload for its destination.
A rocket consists of parts such as spacecraft, fuel system, rocket engines, and other system structures. The three basic factors are a challenge to be balanced; weight, lift, and reliability at all costs. The thrust produced by the engines must always be greater in force than the whole structure as a whole. The stress is applied on all the parts, the structure must withstand all the forces such as rapid acceleration, atmospheric resistance, high temperatures, and overall mechanical integrity, and this all requires high precision engineering and reliability. Interestingly, as per the rocketry principles at MIT: The 90% weight makes up the propellant, and the structure and payload is around 10%.
Space Launch Vehicle Stages
Lower stages
Stating Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s work, the rocket is divided into “stages”. The first part is the heaviest where the heavy engines, large fuel tanks, and oxidizing tanks are installed, an initial thrust is applied from there that helps in leaving Earth’s gravity. In traditional SLV systems, this stage has a detaching capability, once the remaining parts are out of Earth’s atmosphere. Consequently, the first stage usually falls back into the Earth’s ocean or any depopulated area. Further, the second stage also falls back to the Earth’s atmosphere after propelling the payload out of the Earth and it either falls back to the Earth or keeps floating in the space as space debris, which has become one of the biggest problems of today and some projects are speculated or under construction to clear the space debris in future years.
.Image Credits: Scienceaid.Net
Upper Stages of the Rocket
There have been numerous stages being applied to rockets in the past, the addition of upper stages is backed by the reason to increase more lift capability in the launch vehicle, increasing reliability, as the upper stages only operate after one another, drastically producing huge against in performances, and high speeds after every stage through leaving the thick parts of the atmosphere.
Fuel Management
The propellant to power the rockets are mostly in two types, both liquid and solid. Ordinary Kerosene is used as a liquid fuel, which is used at ground level temperature, and liquid hydrogen for which temperature is extremely low 20 °K (−253 °C, or −423 °F), the liquid hydrogen is technically known as Cryogenic fuel. There’s another type, called hypergolic, which gets ignited spontaneously once contacted with an oxidizing agent, a form of hydrazine. They are well-known fuel components used on the Apollo missions to lift the crew out of the lunar surface. Now, to burn the fuel, we need an oxidizer, an oxygen-rich substance, it’s in liquid form to be used with hydrogen and kerosene.
Credits: machinedesign.com
Payload Protection & Deployment
The spacecraft or payload that’s required to be sent into space is always attached at the top of the rocket. During the collision of the upper stage with the thick atmosphere, it’s protected via modern composite material. For instance, if it’s intended for high Earth’s orbit or deeper into space, the upper stage engine is used and shut off until the payload gets into the orbit and then started again to achieve the desired spatial trajectory.
Controlling Spatial Trajectory
To have navigation and control capabilities, and determine the vehicle’s position, velocity, and direction towards the trajectory, the variables are determined, the vehicle guidance system has a “Course Correction Mechanism” that is backed by complex software, supercomputers, and other hardware devices.
Comprehensive Reliability
A launch system has one or more rocket engines, having high durability as per the requirements of the payload as the compass. Fuel to carry tanks, guidance, navigation, controllers, payload and overall housing, and systems. Further, to have additional lift some vehicles also have extra engines for added lift. To perform as per the mission requirements, the entire design has to be adequately made with a high level of operational reliability, as much light weightiness can be introduced is maximized to increase the payload lifting capability and cost-effectiveness. Every aspect of physics has to be taken into account from the extremity of pressure, temperature, shocks, vibrations and all kinds of stresses as the Vehicle will encounter super-sonic speeds, going through the atmospheric layer, and having the integrity of payload as its core mission segment or motive. While knowing that the results are to launch the spacecraft to space and the possibility of failure is there, under conditions, each human factor is taken into account.
There’s a term called “Human rated”, which implies that every component is of the highest possible reliability and backed with huge investments and rigorous research and development process, having redundancy in all crucial times. Undergoing all prior testing methods and possibilities. Even, unfortunately, there has been one fatality of human lives, on Jan 28, 1896, known as the devastating explosion of Challenger.
History of Launch Vehicles used by Global Space Powers
There have been numerous innovations, advancements and some powerful vehicles have been used since the 1950s till today’s reusable rockets. The origins start from Military Ballistic Missiles at the beginning of the Cold War. Rocket research race was at its starting peak, between Russia and the United States. American-German Rocketry Pioneer, Braun with his team was in the U.S after the War with many captured V-2 rockets. They were collaborated and under the supervision of the Military to gain expertise in operational and technological experience.
Test launch of a V-2 rocket. Credits: Camera Press/Globe Photos
Braun developed the famous Jupiter IRBM, which later derived the V-2 Rocket. Later helping in as a launch vehicle for the first U.S artificial satellite on Jan 31, 1958. Further, Redstone (Another V-2 derivate), was used to launch America’s first Astronaut Alan Shepard into a suborbital flight.
Photo of Apollo 15 Lift-Off: Apollo 15 spacecraft Credits: NASA
Later, when American President J.F Kennedy announced that America will be sending Man to the Moon, Braun and other rocket scientists were tasked by NASA to develop a launch vehicle that would be capable of carrying out a lunar mission. They used F-1 Engines for the renowned Saturn V Rocket, specifically designed for a lunar mission.
The Saturn V with Apollo Spacecraft had a height of 110.6 meters, with a weight of 3,000,000 Kg to lift off.
Main parts of U.S Apollo program, showing the Saturn V Rocket’s systems. Credit: Encyclopedia Britannica
Rocket engines of Soviet SLV that used to send manned Vostok spacecraft into orbit. Similarly based on R-7 ICBM. Credits: Novosti Press Agency
Since the era of the Cold War, Soviet Union/Russia has always been a leading force in Rocketry Business. As the Soviet Union has an early heavyweight rocket, ready to deliver a heavyweight nuclear warhead, they had successfully tested R-7 or Semyorka on August 21, 1957, as their designs were based on heavy carrying capabilities, this gave them an edge to place a significant heavy payload into orbits or any celestial body. Sputnik 1 was also launched by R-7 and also the legendary Cosmonaut “Yuri Gagarin” on April 12, 1961, who later became the first human to orbit Earth.
The United States also used a space shuttle, with the winged orbiter, two solid-fuel rocket boosters, and an external liquid tank. Credits: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
SpaceX Recoverable Rocket Science
SpaceX: American private space industry pioneer has developed a family of Falcon, which has rockets Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy. With Falcon 1 having a capability of placing 1,010-Kg of payload into orbit at such a low cost due to its first stage recoverable capability and Falcon 9 can uplift a payload of up to 4,680 Kg to geostationary orbit and its first stage reusability. SpaceX has changed the industry by innovating reusable rockets and reducing costs to a huge low that it has NASA’s contract for ISS Supply, awarded by the U.S Government and it will be assisting NASA in Artemis Program, a program that will establish NASA’s station to the Moon.
Dragon Visible from the International Space Station. NASA’s astronaut Kate Rubins and Jeff Williams are shown retrieving SpaceX’s dragon supply from the ISS. Photo Credit: NASA
Credits: CSNA
Notably, that the emerging China, which has a family of “Long March Rockets’, which is used by CSNA, its national space agency. Recently, on 23rd July 2020, Tianwen-1 was launched from China’s Long March 5, heavy-lift rocket from Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, which carried China’s first landing to Mars to send a robotic spacecraft having an orbiter and lander, which reached Mars earlier this year, a remarkable achievement making China, the second country to drive a rover on the red planet.
Pakistan’s Potential in Development of SLV Capability
Last week, Pakistanis celebrated “Youm E Takbeer”, “The Day of Greatness” in English. As of 28 May 1998 Pakistan did its first successful Nuclear Test “Chagai I” and made headlines all over the world as the First Muslim Nuclear Power, a proud title many nationalists take pride in even today.
Similarly, decades ago, the ambition was skyrocketing on 16 September 1961, when Nobel Laureate Dr. Abdus Salam founded Pakistan as one of the first countries in the world to have its space agency known as Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission. Today, considering Pakistan’s capability of operating its satellites in Geostationary and Low Earth Orbits. But, unfortunately, there are no launching vehicles within the country’s abilities, and it entirely depends on its neighboring country China, which helped Pakistan to launch Paksat-IR from Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
Credits: SUPARCO had launched its first rocket Rehbar-I in 1962 from the range off the Karachi coast with the help of the American agency NASA.
Understanding the basic principles and techniques used in SLVs, we have concluded that having a country’s capability of launching payload can dramatically give rise to its space program, even commercial benefits, as previously Pakistan had to depend on China for it, and we can also see that UAE sent its Hope Probe to Mars earlier this year while using Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Technologies as Launching Spot. suggesting this suggests that the launching system is one of the core requirements to be a vibrant and active part of today’s space industry and Pakistan should look out its potential and options how it can achieve this target, it can go through technology transfer agreements with other space nations, even though China, which is also its biggest trade partner.
Demonstration of Shaheen III Missile. Credits: ISPR Pakistan
SUPARCO has already played a part previously in Hatf I and Hatf II development within the country in the early 80s, which shows the capability and relevant manpower of the organization. Being a nuclear power with quite competitive ICBM technology developed within the country that is capable of carrying nuclear warheads, a milestone for such a developing state. Pakistan has demonstrated the capability of Shaheen III, which turned out to be a medium-range ballistic missile, which suggests that its variant or derivative can be used to deliver and send light-weighted payloads into space.
Many experts have already called for this. On TV discussions, the former Director of the Space Science Institute at the University of Karachi; Dr. Shahid Qureshi, urged that “If we can launch a missile up to a range of 1,500 km, why not build an SLV that can launch low-atmosphere satellites?”.– Saadia Reza (Dawn – 2008)
Also, renowned Pakistani-American Scientist Dr. Salman Hameed, who teaches and researches Astronomy at Hampshire College, USA has pointed out that“Pakistan’s missile program is advanced enough to provide the basic support for a civilian space program. So that it can launch its own satellites. The issue at this point is really not of technological capability, although it would still need some advancements, but rather a long-term vision which can empower Pakistan’s Space Program to a prestigious status ”, corresponding a strong case for a future Space Launch Vehicle establishment within the country and excel it’s civilian space program into new dimensions, as this is the age of SPACE, that the world has never witnessed before.
Interestingly, Pakistan has interest and investment mostly in Remote Sensing Projects for agriculture, weather forecasting, and mapping that are being done within SUPARCO. So, why not in basic SLV infrastructure? It has already potential to go for it? It just needs the right direction, leadership, and initiatives. This can be turned into a huge commercial, scientific, and landmark opportunity, and can even derive a whole new scientific renaissance in the country.
