palemantle - Slashdot User

Submission + - Indian Supreme court reinforces "liberty of thought and expression"

Submitted by palemantle on Tuesday March 24, 2015 @05:34AM

palemantle writes: The Supreme Court overturned the controversial Section 66A of the IT Act which included a provision for a three-year jail term for sending "offensive" messages through "computer resource or a communication device".

In its judgement, the Supreme Court held "liberty of thought and expression as cardinal" and overturned the provision (66A) deeming it "unconstitutional".

The controversial provision has been in the news recently for an incident involving the arrest of a high school student, for posting allegedly "offsensive" content on Facebook about a local politician.

Submission + - Indian Mars probe successfully enters sun-centric orbit (thehindu.com)

Submitted by palemantle on Saturday November 30, 2013 @11:31PM

palemantle writes: India’s spacecraft to Mars has bid adieu to its Earth-bound orbit and is cruising in its sun-centric orbit. In a remarkably successful execution of a complex manoeuvre, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) fired the propulsion system on board the spacecraft for a prolonged duration of 23 minutes from 0049 hours on Sunday.

In space parlance, the manoeuvre is called Trans-Mars Injection (TMI). ISRO called it “the mother of all slingshots.” Celebrations broke out at the control centre of the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore from where the spacecraft specialists gave commands for the orbiter’s 440 Newton engine to begin firing.

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also known as Mangalyaan, is designed to demonstrate the technological capability to reach Mars orbit. But the $72m (£45m) probe will also carry out experiments, including a search for methane gas in the planet's atmosphere.

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