General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - August 2015

Aug 2015

Jan 14, 2019

Chang'e-4 to Record Lunar Freezing Night Temperature

China's Chang'e-4 lunar rover, which is exploring the dark side of the moon, will measure the freezing night temperature.
Chang'e-4 named after a Chinese moon goddess and comprising a lander and a rover, touched down on the dark side of the moon on January 3, the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon by any country.
Scientists estimate that the highest temperature during the day might reach 127 degree Celsius, while the lowest at night could fall to -183 degree Celsius.

Plant membrane adapted to extract hydrogen fuel from water

Scientists have used plant proteins to create a membrane that can split water into hydrogen fuel and oxygen using energy from the sun.
Researchers from the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory adapted a chemical reaction pathway, central to plant biology, to form the backbone of the process to extract into hydrogen fuel from water.
They combined two membrane-bound protein complexes to perform a complete conversion of water molecules to hydrogen and oxygen.

India plans manned mission to Moon

Indian Space Research Organisation chairman K Sivan has said India has planned a manned mission to the Moon.
The announcement comes when the world is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
Sivan said the Gaganyaan project is not only about launching humans to space, but it will also continue with the "space station and humans to Moon".
Significantly, the announcement came nearly a week after China's Chang'e 4 achieved the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon on January 3, 2019.

Method to3D-print objects 100 times faster

Scientists have developed a 3D printing method that is up to 100 times faster than existing processes.
The approach lifts complex shapes from a vat of liquid rather than building up plastic filaments layer by layer.
3D printing could change the game for relatively small manufacturing jobs, producing fewer than 10,000 identical items.

Russia loses control of radio telescope satellite

Russia's space agency says its specialists are attempting to fix problems that have blocked control of an orbiting radio telescope.
The Spektr-R satellite is continuing to transmit signals, but scientists have been unable to control the satellite.
The satellite was launched in 2011 and has exceeded its initially expected useful life of about three years. It is used to study radio sources within and outside Earth's galaxy.

Jan 13, 2019

Shifting north magnetic pole forces urgent navigation fix

Rapid shifts in the Earth's north magnetic pole are forcing researchers to make an unprecedented early update to a model that helps navigation by ships, planes and submarines in the Arctic.
The wandering pole is driven by unpredictable changes in liquid iron deep inside the Earth.
It's moving at about 50 km (30 miles) a year. It didn't move much between 1900 and 1980 but it's really accelerated in the past 40 years.
Scientists must periodically update the World Magnetic Model to map this process, and the most recent version - produced in 2015 - was intended to last until 2020.
However, the magnetic field has been changing so quickly and erratically that while conducting a routine check in early 2018, British and US researchers realised drastic steps were needed.
The shift they observed was so large it was on the verge of exceeding the acceptable limit for navigation errors.
To account for this, scientists at the British Geological Survey and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are issuing an unprecedented emergency update to the model.
An update will be released on January 30, the journal Nature said, delayed from January 15 because of the US government shutdown.
The changes are essential as the system is used by aircraft, ships and even smartphones.

Jan 12, 2019

Panoramic View of Moon's Far Side

China broadcasted pictures taken by its rover and lander on the moon's far side, in what its space programme hailed as another triumph for the groundbreaking mission to the less-understood dark side of the lunar surface.
The pictures on CCTV showed the Jade Rabbit 2 rover and the Chang'e 4 spacecraft that transported it on the first ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, which always faces away from Earth.
The pictures were transmitted by a relay satellite to a control centre in Beijing.
Space research officials from China and the US have exchanged data for the mission, the first such collaboration since the 2011 US law banning space exchanges with Beijing.

ISRO to Send Three Indians in Space by 2021

The Indian Space Research Organization announced its plan to send Indian astronauts to space in December 2021 under India's flagship human space mission programme Gaganyaan, at a cost of ~100 billion.
The crew will include a woman and will orbit in space for up to a week.
ISRO chairperson K Sivan announced that a Human Spaceflight Centre will come up in Bengaluru to train crew and make systems safe for space missions, starting with Gaganyaan.
The centre will be headed by S Unnikrishnan Nair and the Gaganyaan programme will be headed by R Hutton.
ISRO also made a slew of other big-ticket announcements.
This year will see 32 space missions, double the number from last year, including 14 vehicle launches and 18 spacecraft missions.
Primary among them will be the launch of Chandrayaan-2, India's second moon mission, at a cost of ~8 billion.

Jan 08, 2019

Robots for Health Care and Retail Stores

Samsung Electronics Co. showed off robots at the CES technology conference in Las Vegas, including one for retail stores and another in the health care space.
The Bot Care can measure blood pressure and heart rate, detect falls and administer medicine.
The Bot Retail communicates with consumers in stores, while the Bot Air robot detects air quality. Samsung didn't say when it intends to release the robots or how they would be priced.

Jan 05, 2019

Chinese Lunar Rover Named As Yutu 2

China has named the lunar rover, successfully deployed to carry out a string of experiments on the unexplored far side of the moon, as 'Yutu 2'.
Analysts say that China's lunar probe is part of its 'Made in China-2025' project, which focuses on advanced technology, including space applications.

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