General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - May 2016

May 2016

Apr 11, 2024

NASA Captures Mysterious 'Surfboard-shaped' Object Orbiting Moon

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a spacecraft circling and studying the Moon for 15 years, captured a "surfboard-shaped" object orbiting the celestial body. Expectedly, after making its way onto social media, the image sparked conversations about its mysteriousness.
A few also compared the object with the surfboard carried by the fictional character Silver Surfer. Any guesses what the object really is? According to NASA, it is Korea Aerospace Research Institute's Danuri lunar orbiter. LRO captured the image while zipping past Danuri in opposite directions.

Japanese Astronaut to be First Non-American to Set Foot on Moon

A lucky Japanese astronaut will become the first non-American to set foot on the Moon during one of NASA's upcoming Artemis missions, US President Joe Biden announced Wednesday.
The offer to Japan an opportunity many nations have long dreamed of came as part of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's state visit, and as Washington seeks to strengthen ties with its key Asian ally.
"Two Japanese astronauts will join future American missions, and one will become the first non-American ever to land on the Moon," Biden said in a press conference with Kishida.

Indian-origin Expert Ashwini Joins Britain's Research Team on Dementia

Dr. Ashwini Keshavan, an Indian-origin neurologist, was selected to be a part of a world-class research team in the UK. This prestigious team has been entrusted with the crucial task of conducting research to detect dementia through blood tests and gathering more evidence to support this approach.
The research team's findings are expected to have a wide-ranging impact in the coming five years, as the potential to diagnose dementia through a simple blood test could revolutionize the way the condition is detected and managed.
Dr. Ashwini Keshavan is part of a team that is focusing on p-tau217, a promising biomarker for Alzheimer's disease. This means that her research is aimed at examining the potential of this specific protein as an indicator of Alzheimer's, one of the most common forms of dementia.

Apr 09, 2024

Tata's Military-grade Satellite Successfully Placed into Orbit

India's first military grade geospatial satellite manufactured in the private sector was successfully launched and placed in orbit, with full functionality expected to be achieved within a few months.
Built by Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. (TASL) at its Vemagal facility in Karnataka, the TSAT-1A was onboard the Bandwagon-1 mission launched by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket in Florida.
The satellite will provide military grade imagery with high resolution of less than one metre per pixel that will be downloaded and processed at a ground centre in India that is being built by TASL.
While India has a few military spy satellites built by ISRO, this if the first such initiative in the private sector.

Apr 08, 2024

Agnikul Puts Off for Third Time Launch of Agnibaan Sub-orbital Rocket

Chennai-based space start-up Agnikul Cosmos called off the maiden launch of its 3D-printed, semi-cryogenic Agnibaan rocket about 129 seconds before lift-off citing communication in the onboard hardware.
This was the third attempt at the test launch of the Agnibaan Sub-Orbital Technology Demonstrator (SOrTeD) since March 22, when the test flight was first scheduled to be held at the Agnikul Launch Pad at ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
Agnikul is seeking to conduct India's second private rocket launch, following startup Skyroot Aerospace's November 2022 launch of the Vikram-S sub-orbital rocket.

South Korea Launches Its 2nd Military Spy Satellite

South Korea launched its second military spy satellite into space, days after North Korea reaffirmed its plan to launch multiple reconnaissance satellites this year.
The Koreas each launched their first spy satellites last year (2023) – North Korea in November and South Korea in December — amid heightened animosities. They said that their satellites would boost their abilities to monitor each other and enhance their own missile attack capabilities.
South Korea's second spy satellite was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on April 7, 2024.

Apr 06, 2024

Meta Expands Fact-Checking Program with PTI in India

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, extended its third-party fact-checking initiative in India by partnering with the Press Trust of India (PTI). This collaboration established PTI as a dedicated fact-checking unit within its editorial department, enabling the identification, review, and rating of misinformation across Meta platforms.
Meta's collaboration with PTI aims to bolster efforts in combating misinformation by empowering PTI to identify, review, and rate content across Meta platforms, contributing to a more reliable information ecosystem.

Apr 05, 2024

Romania Unveils World's Most Powerful Laser

A research centre in Romania revealed the world's most potent laser, based on the groundbreaking inventions of Nobel Physics Prize winners Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland. The laser, operated by the French company Thales, promises revolutionary applications across sectors from healthcare to space exploration.
The heart of this groundbreaking laser lies in Chirped-Pulse Amplification (CPA) technology, developed by Mourou and Strickland. This technique enables the amplification of laser power while maintaining safe intensity levels. By stretching and compressing ultra-short laser pulses, CPA achieves unprecedented levels of intensity, paving the way for various applications, including advanced precision instruments in corrective eye surgery and industrial uses.

NASA Selects Three Firms to Develop Vehicle to Explore Moon's Surface

The US space agency NASA selected three companies, Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab, to develop a lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) that Artemis astronauts will use to travel around the Moon's surface.
As per NASA, the vehicle will help conduct scientific research during the agency's Artemis campaign at the Moon and preparing for human missions to Mars.
This vehicle will greatly increase the astronauts' ability to explore and conduct science on the lunar surface while also serving as a science platform between crewed missions.

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