Scientists Discover Plant Growth-promoting Bacteria, Names it after Rabindranath Tagore
Researchers from Visva-Bharati University's botany department identified a bacterium with remarkable potential to enhance plant growth. Named 'Pantoea Tagorei' in homage to Nobel laureate, the bacteria could revolutionise agricultural practices, said microbiologist Bomba Dam, who led the research.
Dam was assisted by research scholars Raju Biswas, Abhijit Mishra, Abhinav Chakraborty, Pooja Mukhopadhyay and Sandeep Ghosh. The team isolated the bacteria from the soil of Sonajhuri in Santiniketan and then discovered the same in the coal mining belt in Jharkhand's Jharia.
The Association of Microbiologists of India officially recognised this discovery.
Dec 30, 2023
China Successfully Launches Test Satellite for Internet Technologies
China successfully launched a test satellite for satellite internet technologies.
The satellite was launched by a Long March-2C carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. It successfully entered its preset orbit.
It was the 505th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.
Reliance Jio Joins Hands with IIT Bombay to Launch Bharat GPT, to Bring OS for Smart TVs
Reliance Jio Infocomm, India's largest telecom service provider, joined hands with Indian Institute of Technology Bombay to launch 'Bharat GPT', a large language model specifically tailor for India's needs.
The company is also comprehensively thinking to launch an operating system for televisions.
The company will be launching products and services in the media space, commerce, communication and also devices.
Dec 29, 2023
NASA Sends Spacecraft to Study 'God of Chaos' Asteroid
NASA relaunched a mission to study the 'God of Chaos' asteroid as it begins to near Earth's orbit. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft that returned from deep space after collecting samples from the space rock Bennu has been renamed the OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Apophis Explorer).
It has now been launched to study the asteroid Apophis' extremely close flyby of Earth in 2029. The asteroid also known as 'God of Chaos' is expected to fly by Earth on April 13, 2029, from about only 20,000 miles away.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. Established in 1958, NASA succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the U.S. space development effort a distinctly civilian orientation, emphasising peaceful applications in space science.
Dec 28, 2023
ISRO to Launch XPoSat Mission to Study X-ray Polarisation in Space
India is poised to ring in 2024 with a roaring launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle carrying the country's first X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) on January 1, 2024.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that the XPoSat mission will lift off using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), marking a significant milestone in India's space exploration journey.
The XPoSat mission is designed to investigate the polarisation of intense X-ray sources, a scientific endeavour that will place India at the forefront of space-based polarimetry.
This mission is not only India's first dedicated polarimetry mission but also the world's second, following NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) launched in 2021.
XPoSat aims to study the 50 brightest known sources in the universe, including pulsars, black hole X-ray binaries, active galactic nuclei, neutron stars, and non-thermal supernova remnants. The satellite will be placed in a circular low Earth orbit of 500–700 km, with a mission lifespan of at least five years.
Dec 26, 2023
India to Replace Maitri Research Station in Antarctica by 2029
India decided to build a new research station in Antarctica, replacing its very old predecessor Maitri station.
The Maitri-2 station will be established in East Antarctica near the existing one, and it will be able to house about 90 scientists. The establishment of the new research facility will enhance the quality of Indian research regarding the White Continent.
The existing station, Maitri, was set up in 1988 and was supposed to be operational for ten years only.
Maitri also known as Friendship Research Centre, is India's second permanent research station in Antarctica as part of the Indian Antarctic Programme. The name was suggested by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.