What is Surgical Strike?

Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh:  In its longest and most complex mission, India's space agency ISRO today launched eight satellites from one rocket into two different orbits. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, "Our space scientists keep scripting history."

The PSLV or 37th Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, carrying three satellites from India, three from Algeria, and one each from Canada and the US, lifted off from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at 9:12 am. Around noon, ISRO said its launch was "100 per cent successful".

Most countries launch satellites in a single orbit and even if multiple satellites are injected, it is in a sequence in the same orbit.

What makes this mission a challenge is that the PSLV will launch its payloads in two different orbits. The twin-orbit manoeuvre was recently accomplished by European Space Agency's Vega rocket.

"This is a challenging two-in-one mission which puts India in a unique league of nations having the capability to achieve two different orbits in a single mission," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman AS Kiran Kumar earlier told.

India's SCATSAT, meant for ocean and weather forecasts, cyclone detection and tracking, has been placed in orbit. India shares such data with the US, which helped them track Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Pratham, a 10-kg satellite developed by students of the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, will study the total electron count in space. The 5.25-kg PISAT made by students of Bengaluru's PES University will take pictures of earth.

The mission will also test PSLV's multiple burn capability which will be utilized in the last leg and will set a new milestone for ISRO. The whole procedure was completed within 2 hours and 15 minutes - the longest mission for ISRO.

The stop-start of the rocket - while travelling at a speed of more than 2660 kmph - gives PSLV an edge in the multi-billion dollar commercial launch market. "It will open up new vistas to commercialise ISRO's launch capabilities for two-orbit configurations," said Dr K Sivan, Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center.

In another first later this year, India hopes to launch its heaviest rocket, the Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III, capable of taking up to 4 tonnes of communications satellite.

The three Algerian satellites are for earth observation, remote sensing and technology demonstration. The US' Pathfinder-1 is a commercial high resolution imaging micro satellite while Canada's NLS-19 is a technology demonstration nano satellite for experimentation in helping to reduce space debris and for tracking commercial aircraft.

London Has Fallen 2016 (Rating ****)

Starring: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Alon Aboutboul.
Director: Babak Najafi

When a film titled London Has Fallen begins with the dusty fields of Pakistan, you know where it’s heading. It’s going to be yet another American geopolitical fantasy where Uncle Sam saves the world, as it bulldozes all nuances of the topic of terrorism along its way. But to be fair, keeping its problematic politics aside, the film begins to tell its story well

We see a wealthy Muslim arms dealer Aamir Barkawi (Alon Aboutboul) in his mansion somewhere in Punjab Province. He talks business with his sons even as they make plans for his daughter’s (their sister) wedding. In the next scene, we are inside the wedding, observing all its colourful festivities. We also catch someone making a suspicious phone call. Cut to the next shot, a G8 sanctioned drone sets its eyes on the venue: it becomes a small square plot on its display screen, a button pressed and a big boom heard. Barkwai may be a dangerous man, but you are made to feel for him, for his family and the innocents who have been wiped off the face of the earth. But as it turns out, the portion was merely a guilt-trip in advance for the makers of a movie where America, yet again, emerges as the hero.

London Has Fallen is a sequel to Olympus has Fallen (2013), in which North Korean terrorists had held US President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) hostage in the White House. But the series’ protagonist is not Asher, but Mike Banning, chief of his personal security. Now, I haven’t seen Olympus, but that film showed Banning falling from grace – he was demoted from the President’s detail after he failed to save the lives of Asher’s family – only to be reinstated at the end of the film after he pulls off an impossible rescue. That backstory explains the single-minded focus with which Banning works for Asher. But in isolation of the first film, London Has Fallen carries few traces of his troubled past. 

Yet, it isn’t a total disaster because director Babak Najafi manages to pull us into his film in the first 30 odd minutes. It’s when the US president, along with other world leaders (strong allies of the United Kingdom), descend in London to attend the British Prime Minister’s funeral. Given the short notice that the event has been planned, it becomes one with extreme high-security. This stretch is taut as we are introduced to one leader after the other, knowing that something terrible is about to happen. And then terror strikes as though it is some evil alien ship taking over earth. Sure, it makes for some spectacular visuals such as the Westminster Abbey collapsing as the Italian President romances with his girlfriend on its terrace or London Bridge falling down while the French President relaxes on his boat on the river Thames. While the impact is superficially pleasurable, London Has Fallen treats terrorism the way big, dumb blockbusters treat apocalyptic tsunamis or other natural disasters. 

So much more could have been extracted from Banning’s relationship with Asher. Banning is not just Asher’s personal security but also a confidante. Asher treats him as an equal, going for jogs together or putting up a sparring boxing match. But the film portrays Butler as an American superhero masquerading as an US agent, mouthing offensive lines such as “Go back to F**khead-istan or wherever it is you are from”, single-handedly saving his President from a terror attack planned for years. Butler isn’t bad, but he plays the character straight, as you expect him to. And an actor of Ackhart’s calibre seems severely underutilised and you just wish he had a better written character rather than a one-note helpless President. When both come out unscathed from a helicopter crash (leaving their third partner, um, a black character dead), Banning tells Asher that after everything else has failed, London by foot might well be there best option. I thought London by foot would be a great opportunity to take the film to an unexpected direction, giving us a tense, cinematic tour of a broken London. But no, turns out it was a short cut to get into a house. And from there to another one. London Has Fallen becomes too clichéd to make us care for its characters, an overdose of American self-righteous heroism, that the world already has had too much of.

The Mechanic 2011 (Rating ****)

Starring: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland.
Director: Simon West

The basic plot of The Mechanic—a loose remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson movie of the same name—holds boundless promise for action fans, and mostly fulfills it: A preternaturally skilled hitman (Jason Statham) teaches a young loose cannon (Six Feet Under’s Ben Foster) the tricks of his slick, deadly trade. But things aren’t that simple, naturally. The duo connect at the funeral of Foster’s father (Donald Sutherland), who was also Statham’s mentor in the killin’ business—and whom Statham murdered early in the movie, under orders from his clearly no-good handler. Feeling some pang of regret even though Sutherland double-crossed the company, Statham takes the hotheaded, boozed-out scamp under his wing and sets about making him into an ice-veined killer. It’s the least he can do, right?

For a good chunk of its running time, The Mechanic is a buddy movie about two guys really enjoying murder together. They almost seem ready to high-five after a job well done, even as Statham’s character glumly explains “I wanted you to see one up close.” In order to ease the audience’s conscience, the protagonists’ victims are conveniently more awful than they are: an arms dealer “who’ll sell to anybody,” a ridiculous cult leader, a hulking gay assassin who wants to fuck Foster. Statham’s hit-plans are frequently complex, and he’s always eight or nine steps ahead of everyone else—so much that it would’ve been nice to see these guys actually planning more assignments instead of just watching those assignments unfold. But that would leave less screen time for strangulations, splattery headshots, and murder-by-fireplace-tools, so maybe it’s just as well.

Statham and Foster play off each other nicely, and director Simon West (Con Air) strikes a playful balance between carnage and conviviality, gore and gregariousness. A confrontation between the two leads is inevitable, and since The Mechanic is so morally muddled to begin with, it’s difficult to tell where things are headed, or how to take sides. That isn’t because these characters are well-drawn or terribly complex—they assuredly aren’t—but it’s still an unusual, intriguing path for a movie like this to travel. The only thing certain going into the climax is that guns will be fired and things will explode in style. Couple that with actual acting—Statham is the most winning action hero around, and Foster brings some nuance that the script probably doesn’t deserve—and it’s bloody fun.
 

Central Intelligence 2016 (Rating ***)

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Aaron Paul, Jason Bateman, Amy Ryan
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Call it the superhero scourge or the blight of franchise but the big-dollar cinema, which invariably has few brave men saving the world – sometimes in spandex, sometimes not-- seems to be throttling everything else. If a courageous film like the quirky buddy comedy Nice Guys finds its way to the theatres, we the audience decide to look the other way.

You, O Hollywood, have conditioned us. Even when we are talking bromance, we want it with a generous serving of formula, and – please, oh please – someone save the world. Enter Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart and buddy comedy 101, Central Intelligence. The film keeps so much to the bromance formula that it is funny in itself: We get jokes on anatomy (Dwayne Johnson’s character is called Robbie Weirdicht), fart jokes, the mandatory marital counselling session and other vulgar gags.

But leave it to the pocket-sized Hart and his buddy, who is not called The Rock for nothing, to squeeze out the comic juice from this unevenly-paced thriller comedy. There may be crater-sized script holes but you still guffaw as this unlikely pair goes about sending CIA in a tizzy.

Now, for the plot: 20 years ago, Hart was the star of his high school, destined to great things while an overweight, awkward Johnson was the butt of all jokes. When Robbie is pushed into the school assembly naked by bullies, Hart is the only one who comes to his rescue.

Fast forward two decades and Hart is a burnt out accountant and Johnson is, well, back to being the buffed, muscled Johnson we know. He is also a CIA agent who may or may not have gone rogue. He definitely idolises Hart still and gets in touch with him. CIA boss woman (Amy Ryan) follows suit and a kerfuffle ensues. At stake are secret nuke codes which can destroy the world.

Hart and Johnson share an easy chemistry and there are enough lines in there to keep the jokes coming. Johnson calls a befuddled Hart “snacksized Denzel” and “like a black Will Smith” at various points in the film.

The muscled Johnson plays Robbie like a goofball who is still struck on Hart’s high school charisma. His love for unicorns, fanny packs and schmaltzy films keep the laughs coming. And hell, who has a name like Sting, or The Rock for crying out loud?

The trouble lies in director Rawson Marshall Thurber’s patchy handling of the story. There are moments when the film is slow and sluggish, and then it is on steroids with hyper action. Those are the moments when you thanks god that you are in this ride with a big Johnson and a little Hart. Also, watch out for the cameos both credited and not.

GSLV Successfully Launches India's Weather Satellite INSAT-3DR

In its tenth flight (GSLV-F05) conducted September 08, 2016, India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, equipped with the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS), successfully launched the country's weather satellite INSAT-3DR, into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).

The achieved orbit is very close to the intended one. The launch took place from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota, the spaceport of India. This was the first operational flight of GSLV equipped with CUS and the fourth to carry the indigenous CUS. This latest GSLV flight was the third consecutive success achieved by GSLV carrying indigenous CUS and the 2211 kg INSAT-3DR is the heaviest satellite to be launched from the Indian soil.

In its oval shaped GTO, the INSAT-3DR satellite is now orbiting the Earth with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 169.76 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 36,080.5 km with an orbital inclination of 20.62 deg with respect to the equator.

After a 29 hour 40 minutes countdown, the 415 tonne, 49 m tall GSLV-F05 carrying INSAT-3DR, lifted off at the rescheduled time of 16:50 Hrs IST. The 40 minute delay in the launch was due to an anomaly observed in the functioning of a pressure release valve in the liquid Oxygen filling ground segment which was resolved later.

At 4.8 seconds before the countdown reached zero, the four liquid propellant strap-on stages of GSLV-F05, each carrying 42 tonne of liquid propellants, were ignited. At count zero and after confirming the normal performance of all the four strap-on motors, the 139 tonne solid propellant first stage core motor was ignited and GSLV lifted off.

The major phases of the flight included the core motor burn-out, strap on burn-out, ignition of the second stage, separation of the core motor together with strap-ons, payload fairing separation, second stage separation, CUS ignition and its timely shut down after satisfactory performance. About seventeen minutes after lift-off, INSAT-3DR was successfully placed in GTO.

Soon after its injection into GTO, the solar array of INSAT-3DR was automatically deployed and the Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka took control of the satellite.

Like its predecessor INSAT-3D which is providing service from orbit since 2013, INSAT-3DR is an advanced meteorological (weather observation) satellite built by India to provide a variety inputs essential for accurate weather forecasting. For this, it is equipped with three payloads (instruments), namely, a Multispectral Imager, Sounder and weather Data Relay Transponder.

INSAT-3DR also carries a satellite aided Search and Rescue Transponder that picks up and relays alert signals originating from distress beacons of maritime, aviation and land based users.
In the coming days, INSAT-3DR's orbit will be raised from its present GTO to the final circular Geostationary Orbit (GSO) by firing the satellite's Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) in stages.

The satellite will be commissioned into service after the completion of orbit raising operations and the satellite's positioning in its designated orbital slot of 74 degree East longitude in the GSO and in-orbit testing of its payloads.

This latest flight of GSLV further highlights the success of ISRO in mastering the highly complex cryogenic rocket propulsion technology.

Ignited Minds by A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (Rating ****)

Genius, it is said, is the ability to reduce the complex into the simple. The strength of Ignited Minds, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's latest essay at book-writing, lies in the scientist's ability to present some of the most tangled issues that confront the nation in easily digestible packages of information.

Kalam throws modesty to the winds and makes bold to present his "I have a dream" kind of vision statement to pull the nation out of the morass of doubt that it has fallen into. But those looking for an erudite discourse on the nation's woes by someone who has achieved so much may feel let down. Kalam's world-view is at times far too simplistic, even bordering on the naive.

Yet it is precisely the lack of cynicism that makes it a refreshing read especially for the young reader. Kalam's "Can Do" approach even at his age is a lesson for all those who curl their lips at any talk of India achieving greatness in the near future.


The scientist is right to rely on the young to ask him some of the most stimulating questions. A student in Assam, for instance, asks him pertinently why the flood waters of the Brahmaputra cannot be diverted to water-scarce Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu? Dulled, even deadened, by India's slow march to development, an adult reaction would be to dismiss such a notion outright.
But it is the childlike curiosity and quest for knowledge coupled with steely determination to do the job- which Kalam exhibits in abundance and which makes him so special-that can probably ignite minds and produce greatness.

Kalam believes the mission approach that he championed during his tenure in the country's leading scientific establishments is a good enough model to replicate. In his way, after careful analysis major problems have to be broken up into achievable goals, time frames fixed, resources provided and, presto, the team should deliver.

Unfortunately in India, Murphy's Law (anything that can go wrong will go wrong) still prevails. Kalam's notions may take a while gaining supremacy.