HEAVENLY BODIES
An icy body with a glowing tail when near the Sun.
The disaster movie Deep Impact featured one of its types, headed for Earth.
Comet
Sanskrit name meaning “Moon Craft.”
It carried NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper.
Chandrayaan Mission
Stunning light display caused by solar particles hitting Earth’s poles.
In Brother Bear (Disney), spirits appear through this phenomenon.
Aurora (Northern Lights)
NASA mission which carried the “Golden Record” into interstellar space
Launched in the year 1977, it flew past outer planets like Jupiter and Saturn
The Voyager Mission
India’s first satellite, launched in 1975 with assistance from the Soviet Union.
Named after an ancient Indian academician.
Aryabhatta
A cloud of dust and gas where stars are born.
Also the name of the blue warrior in Guardians of the Galaxy
Nebula
It was launched by PSLV-C25 in 2013.
Focused on studying Martian atmosphere and methane
Mangalyaan
ISRO rocket which became the “workhorse” of India’s space program
Can launch upto 1.7 tons of satellite to lower Earth orbit.
PSLV
Space telescope, launched in 2021, which observes primarily using infrared radiation
Has a 6.5 m gold-coated mirror
JWST
I am an eminent physicist who predicted that black holes emit radiation
I wrote "A Brief History of Time"
Stephen Hawking
The brightest star in the night sky, called the “Dog Star.”
Shares its name with a star-themed wizard in Harry Potter.
Sirius
Name of ISRO’s upcoming human spaceflight program
Targeted for launch in mid-2020s.
Gaganyaan mission
High-energy radiations from space hitting Earth’s atmosphere.
In Fantastic Four, exposure to these gave the heroes their powers.
Cosmic Rays
Apollo mission which nearly ended in disaster due to an oxygen tank explosion.
“Houston, we’ve had a problem.”
Apollo 13 mission
I proposed the heliocentric model of the solar system
My work was banned by the Catholic Church
Nicolaus Copernicus
A moon-sized space station built by the Empire in Star Wars.
Capable of destroying a whole planet with one shot.
The Death Star
Provides coverage over India and 1,500 km around it.
Consists of 7 satellites.
NaviC
Orbits Earth every 90 minutes, housing astronauts. Sandra Bullock struggles to reach it in Gravity.
The ISS
NASA spacecraft that has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016
Studies Jupiter’s magnetosphere
The Juno spacecraft
I am known as the "Father of India’s space program"
I founded ISRO in 1969
Vikram Sarabhai