General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - February 2016

Feb 2016

Dec 15, 2020

Russia Test-launches Angara A5

Russia successfully test- launched its heavy lift Angara A5 space rocket after a six-year hiatus in a project President Vladimir Putin describes as having huge significance for national security.
First test-launched in 2014, it is being developed to replace the Proton M as Russia's heavy lift rocket, capable of carrying payloads bigger than 20 tonnes into orbit. A launch pad for the new rocket is due to open in 2021.
The Angara has, however, been dogged by manufacturing delays and technical issues, including the discovery last year of a defect in its engines that scientists said could destroy it in flight.

Dec 14, 2020

Chinese Capsule with Moon Rocks Begins Return to Earth

A Chinese space capsule bringing back the first moon rocks in more than four decades has begun its return to Earth.
The Chang'e 5 lunar probe left the moon's orbit.
The mission landed on the moon earlier this month and collected about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of samples.
The return capsule is expected to land in northern China in the Inner Mongolia region after a three-day journey.
The material would be the first brought back since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 probe in 1976.

Indonesia Asks SpaceX to Study Country as Venue for Launch Site

Indonesia invited SpaceX to assess the possibility of setting up a rocket launch site in the country.
President Joko Widodo discussed the idea with SpaceX founder Elon Musk. Musk intends to send a team to Indonesia in January to study partnership opportunities.
Indonesia is already holding talks with Musk over potential investment in the country, with Tesla Inc. looking into the possibility of building a plant in Central Java. Indonesia, home to some of the world's largest deposits of copper, nickel and tin, is touting its abundance of the commodities to lure billions of dollars in investment.

Dec 13, 2020

First Woman to Land on the Moon: NASA Names Team of 18 Astronauts

The first woman to land on moon could come from the elite group of 18 astronauts which has been named by NASA. NASA has named 18 astronauts, half of which are women, who will train for its Artemis moon-landing program.
Vice President Mike Pence introduced the astronauts at the close of his final meeting as chairman of the National Space Council. The announcement was made at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, beneath one of only three remaining Saturn V moon rockets from the 1960s and 1970s Apollo program.

This Strange Exoplanet Behaves Like 'Planet Nine'

NASA and European Space Agency's Hubble Space Telescope has helped astronomers identify a strange planet outside our solar system that behaves like the long-sought "Planet Nine".
The exoplanet called "HD106906 b" occupies an unlikely orbit around a double star 336 light-years away.
This is the first time that astronomers have been able to measure the motion of a massive Jupiter-like planet that is orbiting very far away from its host stars and visible debris disc.
The exoplanet HD106906 b was discovered in 2013 with the Magellan Telescopes at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert.
However, astronomers did not then know anything about the planet's orbit.

Dec 12, 2020

PSLV-C50 to Launch Communication Satellite CMS-01 on 17 December: ISRO

According to ISRO, communication satellite CMS-01 onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C50) is scheduled from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR in Sriharikota on December 17.
"PSLV-C50, which is the 52nd mission of PSLV, will launch CMS-01 from the Second Launch Pad (SLP) of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch is tentatively scheduled on December 17, 2020, subject to weather conditions.
The CMS-01 is India's 42nd Communication Satellite envisaged to provide services in the Extended-C Band of the frequency spectrum whose coverage will include the Indian mainland, Andaman-Nicobar, and Lakshadweep Islands. This will be the 77th launch vehicle mission from SDSC SHAR in Sriharikota.PSLV-C50 is the 22nd flight of PSLV in `XL` configuration (with 6 strap-on motors).

Dec 11, 2020

Narrow Band IoT Network

BSNL in partnership with the Skylo announced the world's first satellite based Narrow Band Internet of Things network in India. This is to bring a breakthrough in satellite based narrowband internet of things technology. It will also help in in achieving the targets of Digital India mission helping farmers, fishermen, meaning, construction and Logistic Enterprises in India.
This Made in India solution will connect the BSNL satellite ground infrastructure including the Indian seas. This has been introduced under the vision of BSNL to leverage technology to provide innovative and affordable telecom services. Apart from these, NB-IoT is highly supporting 5G network.
Narrow Band IoT is a Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technology that was developed to enable wide range of new internet of things devices. It mainly improves the power consumption of the devices, spectrum efficiency and system capacity. Under this technology battery life of more than 10 years can be achieved in devices.
The technology is highly affordable to connect two vehicles and other IoT devices.
The channels and physical layer signals in the technology are designed to meet the requirements of extended coverage, especially in deep in doors and rural areas. It is much simpler than that of the GPRS or GSM Technologies.

China Launches Satellites for Gravitational Wave Detection

China successfully launched two satellites for the detection of gravitational waves into planned orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan Province.
The two satellites, which compose the Gravitational Wave High-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) mission, were launched by a Long March-11 carrier rocket.
The GECAM satellites will be used to monitor high-energy celestial phenomena such as gravitational wave gamma-ray bursts, high-energy radiation of fast radio bursts, special gamma-ray bursts and magnetar bursts, and to study neutron stars, black holes and other compact objects and their merger processes.
In addition, they will also detect high-energy radiation phenomena in space, such as solar flares, Earth gamma flashes and Earth electron beams, providing observation data for scientists.

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