Astronomy & Space - September 2006

Kalam wants to know how Tipu built rockets 200 years ago

Bangalore, July 21: A letter from a Mysore-based journalist was enough for President A P J Abdul Kalam to send a top defence scientist to Srirangapatna to study Tipu Sultan's efforts to use rockets against the British more than 200 years ago.

At the end of a visit to various sites associated with Tipu's rocket and missile launching activities at Srirangapatna, a sleepy town some 100 km from here and a short distance from Mysore, scientist A Sivathanu Pillai declared: "There is no doubt that this is the birthplace of rocketry."

Pillai, Chief Controller of Research and Development in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said his visit yesterday was at the instance of Kalam, who told him to "look at it".

"Now I will report to the president what I have seen here (Srirangapatna)," he said. "He (Kalam) is a rocket scientist. Naturally, he is interested to know.

"I don't say only Tipu (pioneered the rocket technology). There were some people with him at that time who were innovative in warfare technology. That's my impression," said Pillai, who was a core team member of slv-3, India's first satellite launch rocket, under Kalam's leadership.

"This is the birth place of rocketry. We want to tell the whole world that we are the father of rocket technology. This is the place from where rocketry has come".

It is not as if Tipu Sultan's exploits with rockets, which enabled him to defeat the British in the 1792 war, were not known before.

"It's just that not many in India know about that. Even Vikram Sarabhai, the father of Indian space programme, didn't know much about Tipu's exploits," said Pillai.

Now, he said, efforts would be made to build consensus in the community of rocket scientists that Srirangapatna was the birthplace of rocketry by holding seminars and other initiatives, perhaps jointly with the Astronomical Society of India, Aeronautical Society of India and Indian Space Research Organisation.

Recalling his visit to the royal artillery museum in London, Pillai said documents there showed Tipu's men defeating the British in 1792 with rockets.

"Tipu could simultaneously launch three rockets. He had a rocket force of 6,000 rocketeers. He used many of the rockets against the British, who could not withstand them and they were defeated. They lost the war, and while they were running away, they took away rocket pieces," he said.

Tipu's war weapons were innovative for the time and there was a need for more research to understand them, he said.

Bureau Report

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2006-09-02 04:19:31 · 20 answers · asked by doorseeker 1

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2006-09-02 03:33:14 · 5 answers · asked by dundeeflower_4 1

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I´m very interested in this science, so I think this mustn´t be, and I would like to know whats the matter...

2006-09-02 02:51:18 · 8 answers · asked by ayuda!!! ita 2

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2006-09-02 01:19:46 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous

2006-09-02 01:02:20 · 24 answers · asked by Anonymous

It has been a little over 37 years since the first lunar landing.

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2006-09-02 00:38:53 · 12 answers · asked by Siu02rk 3

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2006-09-01 23:40:47 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous

earth ,sun,moon...........all.Even when we look up & see sky we find it circular......WHY??????

2006-09-01 23:34:47 · 11 answers · asked by cafu 1

2006-09-01 23:31:17 · 21 answers · asked by s k s 1

Everybody knows whats a worm hole, does anybody know how can it be started and is it practical in today's science? Are we assuming that our universe is curved in space (if worm hole is a short cut)? Doesnt gravity bend space?

2006-09-01 22:29:17 · 6 answers · asked by agnishul 2

Has the SETI project ever,at any time, ever discovered any radio signals whatsoever from "any" source in the Galaxy that could be construed to have originated from from an intelligent source?

Anything at anytime...?

2006-09-01 22:17:37 · 4 answers · asked by B'klyn Barracuda 3

2006-09-01 22:10:57 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous

I read somewhere that gravity isn't actually a pulling force, but it is a pushing force. I read this solves the problem of singularity.

Is it true?

Any info appreciated!

2006-09-01 20:07:58 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous

2006-09-01 20:02:55 · 10 answers · asked by Soumangsu Chekraborty 1

Does Black hole play a role in cleaning the galaxy. Just like bacteria on earth.

2006-09-01 19:49:21 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous

mine is URANUS cuz the coloring and it's been knocked on it's side and the rings.

2006-09-01 19:46:57 · 21 answers · asked by MexiShortieHubby 3

I've been searching and searching through my science book and there is absolutely no answer that I have been able to locate.

First of all..what is a solstice?? what does that word mean??

Equinox???

When it is Winter Solstice or Spring Equinox (etc.) where are the sun's direct rays??

Thanks(:

2006-09-01 19:37:25 · 7 answers · asked by steph(: 1

for the -we won't do that - people
have you been to a sports stadium recently
have you seen the buses that are one big ad ( even windows)
does your area have the program that paints ads on private cars yet
have you seen the hubcaps for cars that don't rotate with ads on them
IF NOT YOU WILL SOON !
by international treaty the moon is protected ( for now ) but low orbit displays are still possible !

2006-09-01 19:32:59 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous

when you could spend that money on being cryogenically frozen and woken up when the cost will be very cheap and you can go to other planets!

2006-09-01 19:26:57 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous

What did they decide classifies a planet, lol did they just think it would be to much for school kids to memorise all the planets if there were over 20

2006-09-01 19:17:33 · 34 answers · asked by Anonymous

What do you see in the picture from this site of the Orion nebula?
http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/1995/45/images/a/formats/full_jpg.jpg
This is a panorama picture from the Hubble Space Telescope, not an artist drawing.
Read about it here: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/1995/45/image/a
View the picture small, than enlarge it. Also, see it from close, then from far. What else do you see? I want to know if people see what I see.

2006-09-01 18:46:48 · 7 answers · asked by WWJD: What Would Joker Do? 4

other planets moons have names. our planets moon needs a name. what do you think would be a good name for our moon?

2006-09-01 18:38:19 · 20 answers · asked by Anonymous

2006-09-01 18:14:12 · 6 answers · asked by paladin_monk 2