MUMBAI: ISRO has achieved a significant milestone through the successful test of indigenously developed Cryogenic Stage, to be employed as the upper stage of India‘s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The test was conducted for its full flight duration of 720 seconds today (15 November, 2007) at Liquid Propulsion test facility at Mahendragiri, in Tamil Nadu. With this test, the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage has been fully qualified on the ground. The flight stage is getting ready for use in the next mission of GSLV (GSLV-D3) in 2008.

It may be recalled that a ground test for 480 seconds of the complete stage was conducted on 4 August, 2007.

The indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) is powered by a regeneratively cooled cryogenic engine, which works on staged combustion cycle developing a thrust of 69.5 kN in vacuum. The other stage systems include insulated propellant tanks, booster pumps, inter-stage structures, fill and drain systems, pressurisation systems, gas bottles, command block, igniters, pyro valves and cold gas orientation and stabilisation system. Liquid Oxygen (LOX) and Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) from the respective tanks are fed by individual booster pumps to the main turbo-pump, which rotates at 39,000 rpm to ensure a high flow rate of 16.5 kg/sec of propellants into the combustion chamber. The main turbine is driven by the hot gas produced in a pre-burner. Thrust control and mixture ratio control are achieved by two independent regulators. LOX and Gaseous Hydrogen (GH2) are ignited by pyrogen type igniters in the pre-burner as well as in the main and steering engines.

Apart from the complexities in the fabrication of stage tanks, structures, engine and its sub-systems and control components, CUS employs special materials like Aluminum, Titanium, Nickel and their alloys, bi-metallic materials and polyimides. Stringent quality control and elaborate safety measures have to be ensured during assembly and integration.

Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) is the lead centre for the development of Cryogenic Upper Stage with the involvement of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and other ISRO centres as well as several industries, both in public and private sector.

The successful ground test of the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage for the full flight duration has validated the design robustness and performance adequacy for its use in GSLV.

MUMBAI: After having conquered the silver screen, the girls who took the audience by storm with their power packed performances are now all set to kick off the small screen!Chitrashi Rawat, Shilpa Shukla and Tanya Abrol will host Star Gold 5th edition of Idea Sabsey Favourite Kaun 2008, the biggest and only opinion poll in Bollywood!

Speaking on the initiative, Mr. Prem Kamath, VP, Marketing and Communications, STAR India Pvt. Ltd. Said, ?The year 2007 opened new ways of creating a mark at the box office. To motivate our audience to vote and make their favourite stars win, the super successful girls who made waves in their debut film will host Idea Sabsey Favourite Kaun 2008. Also, this year?s nominee?s show how there is cut-throat competition amongst the stars and to make the best win is all upto our viewers. I wish them all the very best to vote for their Sabsey Favourite Stars?.

All set to rock the Hindi film industry, this November, Idea Sabsey Favourite Kaun (SFK) 2008 is all about `Pure Fan Power? that will decide junta?s Sabsey Favourite. Keeping up with the promise of igniting the passion of ardent fans, SFK gives an opportunity not only to vote for the winners of every single category but also shortlist the stars as nominees. That?s not all, the vote is for popularity and not performance. Stars who have not even had a single release in the last year stand a chance to win basis their popularity.

Upbeat about their new role as hosts, the girls unanimously exclaimed, ?We are delighted to be a part of this show as it is the only opinion poll to judge the popularity of Bollywood stars. This is going to be a new experience for us as we will be campaigning for this initiative and interacting with movie buffs across the country. We are looking forward to this exciting journey with Star Gold?s Sabsey Favourite Kaun and hoping to spring some surprises this year! .?

Adding to the excitement, Idea Sabsey Favourite Kaun 2008 captures the emotions of the audiences not only in India but also across the globe as Bollywood fanatics from Middle East, South East Asia, US, UK, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Australia and New Zealand too can vote for their favourite superstar. With the scale of the exercise this year being unprecedented, a special Sabsey Favourite Fan Van will campaign across the country in a bid to choose their favourite stars.

That?s not all; to build more interactivity with the viewers a special Sabsey Favourite Fan Van will travel across cities in Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Meerut, Barielly, Allahabad, Varanasi and Gorakhpur), Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Viewers can look forward to exciting on-the-spot contests; know to vote for their favourite stars and lots more!

Watch out for Idea Sabsey Favourite Kaun this year as it whips up a frenzy amongst the Bollywood fans who will become a part of the One and Only Mega Opinion Poll and determine the popularity of Bollywood Stars!

MUMBAI: Episode 9 promises to be an amusing yet eventful one! The jodis will for the first time ever, interchange roles and perform in front of none other than John Abraham & Bipasha Basu! The theme for the episode is role reversal!

Watch out for John & Bipasha who will be there to cheer on our Final FOUR and guage how tough the competition will be for them if they become the 11th jodi! They will rate all the jodis on a KHATRA meter as ‘Time pass‘, ‘Khatra‘ or ‘Khatarnaak‘

Also, don‘t miss the cool finalists of Nach Baliye 2 ? Yash & Gauri Tonks‘ performance. They will prove that they are not far behind this seasons jodis and have what it takes for this NOT so asaan Nach!

The show begins with a masti bhara performance by Tina and Hussain and then they returned to their original avatar as hosts and called upon our prestigious panel of judges!

Each week promises to be a fun filled fiesta, as the Jodis will dance through unique themes, songs costumes and moods at the specially designed ‘Nach Baliye‘ studios. These performances will be judged by the gorgeous Ishaa Koppikar, the talented Vaibhavi Merchant and ace director David Dhawan! And of course, the ultimate judges are the viewers themselves!

Four great performances, four supremely talented choreographers?but which choreographer will bag the ‘Choreographer of the week‘ title this time?

Also, which coveted jodi will return in through the WILD CARD? Who has been given a second chance by the audience to grab the Nach Baliye trophy? And are they game for competing with the probable 11th Jodi John ? Bipasha?

BANGALORE: Recognizing the growing demand for bandwidth, Dax Networks, one of the top three networking companies in India, today launched its Smart 10G Cat-6A Cabling Solution, based on 10G Ethernet on Copper. Dax‘s Smart 10G Cat-6A Cabling Solution is priced at Rs 26,990/- and is an ideal solution for enterprise, metropolitan and wide area networks.

MUMBAI: Bol Baby Bol, rock n roll?Can you sing the next verse? Do you know the lyrics of your favourite songs by heart?