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March 2, National Space Agency said that the NASA’s Cassini spacecraft had snapped never-before-seen images of the planet Saturn showing the planet which can be seen from above and below its ring system. The spacecraft was launched on October 15, 1997 and entered into orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004.

These images were taken by the probe in recent years, which blasted off on a mission to study the planet Saturn and its bands ten years ago. The spacecraft has climbed to higher and higher inclimations, providing its cameras with quick looks of the planet Saturn and its rings that have excited scientists, over the last two monts.

Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute in Boulder Colorado said that there were the views that they had waited years for. He said sailing high above the planet Saturn and seeing the rings spread out beneath them like a giant, copper medallion was like exploring an alien world they had never seen before. It was so utterly, breath-taking, it almost gives you vertign, he added.

The images of the planet Saturn which was snapped by Cassini showing the rings while it sped from south to north, rapidly crossing the ring plane. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report on air pollution, based on surveys over a period of 4 to years upto 2005, does not project a very encouraging picture. This survey was carried out in India’s 17 major cities including Agra, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Faridabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata.

Supreme Court expressed to carry out surveys in these cities over the rise in air pollution and sought action to reduce pollution in the cities. The air pollution report shows a marginal decline in the air pollution level.

Anumita Roychowdhury, Associate director of Centre for Science and Research said even if there had been a marginal decrease, the problem was that the decline over such a long period was still not good enough neither for public health nor for the environment in general.

The Central Pollution Control Board report examines the sources of air pollution ambient air quality and violations of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The Central Pollution Control Board member-Secretary B.B. Sengupta said that those cities had alarming levels of pollution and they had taken action or had asked for action in those cities to curb pollution.

Several steps were taken to curb pollution in several cities including Delhi, Lucknow and Kanpur. Roy Chowdhury said that all the attention and focus was only on the big cities due to various pressures while the smaller cities and towns were being ignored and it was there that pollution levels were alarming.

A long-range nuclear capable ballistic missle was tested successfully by Pakistan on February 23. This long-range nuclear capable ballistic missle system could target major cities in India and said it was strategy of credible minimum deterrence was fully in place.

The Pakistan military said that the test was part of a “continuous process of validation and technical improvement which Pakistan follows to consolidate and verify its various landbased strategic missile systems.

The Hatf VI (Shaheen II), with a 2000 kilometre range, was launched from an undisclosed location and the military said the test was part of a “continous process of validation and technical improvement which Pakistan follows to consolidate and verify its various landbased strategic missile systems.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Ehsan ulHaq, who witnessed the launch of Hatf VI (Shaheen II), with a 2000 kilometre range, and said that Pakistan’s strategy of credible minimum deterrence was fully in place.

He also said the Pakistan armed force was maintaining a certain minimum number of forces and wapons in comparison to that of the Indian Armed Forces. Haq described the missile system launch as an important milestone in Pakistan’s for sustaining strategic balance in south Asia”.

After two days of the tests, India and Pakistan signed an agreement in New Delhi to reduce the risk of a accidental nuclear war between them. Hatf VI is Pakistan’s longest range ballistic missile system. It is a two-stage solid fuel missile system which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads with high accuracy.