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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - August 2015

Aug 2015

Aug 25, 2019

NASA Found More Than 40 Pieces Of Debris Created By India's Anti Satellite Test

More than 40 pieces of debris created by India's anti-satellite test, are still moving around in space even as majority of the debris has disintegrated, a survey conducted by NASA has found.
A report in Orbital Debris Quarterly News journal, published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Orbital Debris Program Office, has found that of the 101 pieces that were big enough to be tracked, 49 continue to be in the orbit.
According to the report, it is possible that more pieces created by the test, albeit much smaller in size, are floating in space, but they are not being tracked.
On March 27, 2019, India had shot down its Microsat-R satellite with the intention of demonstrating that it can shoot down space-based infrastructure of an enemy country. The test made India only the fourth country to have demonstrated this capability.

Lens That Works Like Human Eye

A team of researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have created a new lens that functions a lot like the human eye.
Not only is the instrument capable of focusing in real-time thanks to an elastomer muscle, it features none of the bulk of a traditional spherical lens. It can even do some things the human eye can't, including adjusting for astigmatism and image shift, two variables that lead to blurry vision.
The flat lens design this new artificial eye takes advantage of is called a metalens. It uses tiny nanostructures to focus light. In this way, it's able to focus the entire visible light spectrum at a single point.
By contrast, traditional lenses use multiple elements to achieve the same feat, which is why they get so bulky.
Prior to this latest breakthrough, the SEAS team says they were only able to manufacture metalenses that were "the size of a piece of glitter." By contrast, their latest invention is larger at approximately one centimeter in diameter Bigger, in this case, is better because it makes it more feasible to use the technology in a host of modern applications.

"Gaganyaan" Programme Envisages Two Unmanned And One Manned Flight To Mars

A human mission to Mars has always been the next big dream for space enthusiasts, with space barons like SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Blue Origins CEO Jeff Bezos and Virgin Galactics founder Sir Richard Branson along with NASA aiming to send humans to deeper space, and eventually Mars, in years to come.
India, which created history nearly five years back with becoming the first country to enter Mars orbit in its maiden attempt with "Mission Mangal", is also looking to send a manned mission to send a manned mission to space by 2022.
India also has ambitions to land a probe on Mars, as its lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 gets ready to drop the Vikram lander on Moon on September 7, 2019.
The country's ambitious "Gaganyaan" programme envisages two unmanned and one manned flight to space.
India's human space mission, which is one of the pet projects of the Prime Minister, is estimated to cost around Rs 10,000 crore and the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) and Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) is targeting to send an astronaut to space by 2022.

Aug 24, 2019

NASA Names Rolling Stone On Mars After Rolling Stones

NASA has named a small rock on Mars after the Rolling Stones, which will appear on working, informal maps of the Red Planet.
"Rolling Stones Rock" was unveiled during the Stones' concert in Pasadena, California with Robert Downey, Jr. on hand to make the announcement.
The name came after a team of scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory noticed that a small rock, just a bit larger than a golf ball, had been propelled about three feet by the thrusters of the Mars InSight lander as it touched down.

Europa Clipper Mission To Jupiter's Moon Will Search For Alien Life

NASA has confirmed the next phase of Europa Clipper mission which will explore life on Jupiter's Galilean moon Europa. The US space agency says that it targets to have the spacecraft ready for launch by 2023.
NASA has confirmed the next phase of development of the Europa Clipper mission – an interplanetary mission to Jupiter's smallest moon Europa.
The US space agency has cleared the mission to progress through its final design phase, followed by the construction and testing of the entire spacecraft.
The latest development comes over 2 years after NASA originally announced its plans for the Galilean moon.
To recall, NASA had announced the Europa Clipper mission in 2017. The mission will be conducting an in-depth exploration of Jupiter's moon Europa and investigate whether the icy moon can have suitable conditions for sustaining life and increase our insights in to astrobiology.

Aug 23, 2019

Wipro Inks Pact With IISc For Research In Robotics, 5G

Wipro Limited announced a strategic partnership with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to conduct advanced applied research in autonomous systems, robotics and 5G space.
The two organisations have jointly set up the Wipro IISc Research and Innovation Network (WIRIN), an industry academia collaboration unit.
A group of senior professors and research staff from IISc and engineers, developers, architects and researchers from the autonomous systems, robotics and 5G domains at Wipro would constitute the team at WIRIN.
They would focus on the research and development of cutting-edge technologies in artificial intelligence, machine learning, visual computing, human computer interaction (HCI) and vehicle-to-everything communication (V2X).

IIT Delhi Startup Sanfe Launches Reusable Sanitary Pads Made From Banana Fibers

Sanfe, an IIT Delhi-incubated startup for designing and developing products for improving female health and hygiene, launched the first-of-its-kind reusable sanitary pads, made with composite banana fiber, which can last up to two years (around 120 washes).
Sanfe Reusable Pad is developed by Sanfe's co-founders Archit Agarwal and Harry Sehrawat, who are also 4th year IIT Delhi students, based on inputs from several IIT Delhi professors.
The reusable pads are ultra-thin and are highly absorbent with Quadrant True Lock Technology, which makes the pad leak proof and avoids creating any rashes. A patent has also been filed for the design. A pack of two pads is priced at ₹199.
These reusable sanitary pads can be used up to 120 times, after washing them in cold water with detergents after every use.
With these reusable sanitary pads, Sanfe is trying to address the huge problem of disposable pad waste burdening the planet.

Amazon, Microsoft, Intel Putting World At Risk Of Killer AI

Amazon, Microsoft and Intel are among leading tech companies putting the world at risk through killer robot development, according to a report that surveyed major players from the sector about their stance on lethal autonomous weapons.
Dutch NGO Pax ranked 50 companies on whether they were developing technology that could be relevant to deadly AI, whether they were working on related military projects, and if they had committed to abstaining from contributing in the future.

Russian Robot Travels To Space LAUNCH SITE

Known as Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research (FEDOR), the Skybot F-850 is the first humanoid robot to be sent to space by Russia. The silvery 'anthropomorphic' robot stands 1.80 metres (5-foot-11 inch) tall and weighs 160kg.
NASA was the first to send a humanoid robot, Robonaut 2, to space in 2011.
FEDOR is of the size of an adult human and can emulate movements of the human body.
FEDOR blasted off in a Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft. The robot will dock at the International Space Station with 660kg of cargo including medical supplies and rations for the crew at the station.

Aug 22, 2019

Power Minister Launches State Rooftop Solar Attractiveness Index

Power Minister R K Singh launched the State Rooftop Solar Attractiveness Index -SARAL in New Delhi. Karnataka has been placed at the first rank in the Index followed by Telangana and Gujarat that evaluates states based on their attractiveness for rooftop development.
It will incentivise rooftop solar by creating healthy competition among the States. He encouraged all States to adopt the best practices being followed by the top-ranking States.
SARAL encourages each state to assess the initiatives taken so far and to improve its solar rooftop ecosystem.
The Ministry has set a target of 175 giga watt of renewable energy capacity by 2022, of which 100 giga watt solar power is to be operational by March 2022.

US Tests Medium-Range Cruise Missile In The Wake Of INF Treaty Exit

The Pentagon said on Monday that it had tested a conventionally configured ground-launched cruise missile with a range of more than 500 km (310 miles), the first such test since the US pulled out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).
The United States formally withdrew from the landmark 1987 pact with Russia on Aug. 2, 2018 after determining that Moscow was violating the treaty.
The treaty, which was negotiated by then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, banned land-based missiles with a range of between 310 and 3,400 miles (500 to 5,500 km).
In a statement, the Pentagon test took place at San Nicolas Island, California, and the missile hit its target after more than 500 km of flight.

Aug 21, 2019

NASA Takes First High-Resolution Measurements Of An Interplanetary Shock

NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission took first high-resolution measurements of an interplanetary shock. These shocks are made of particles and electromagnetic waves launched by Sun.
These interplanetary shocks provide ideal test beds for learning about larger universal phenomena.
Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission is NASA's robotic space mission launched in March 2015 to study Earth's magnetosphere.
It consists of constellation of four identical spacecraft that orbit/fly in tetrahedral formation around Earth through dynamic magnetic system surrounding our planet to study Magnetic reconnection.
It is also designed to gather information about microphysics of energetic particle turbulence and acceleration, processes that occur in many astrophysical plasmas.

APPLE aims for APPLE TV+ Launch

Apple Inc. plans to roll out the Apple TV+ movie and TV subscription service by November 2019, part of a drive to reach $50 billion in service sales by 2020.
A free trial is likely as Apple builds up its library.
With its first foray into video subscriptions, Apple is weighing different release strategies for shows.
Apple is considering offering the first three episodes of some programs, followed by weekly installments.

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