General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - October 2016

Oct 2016

Jul 12, 2021

New Era of Space Tourism Begins

A billionaire, philanthropist, business tycoon, who is friends with former US President Barack Obama, has close ties to the British royal family, Sir Richard Branson has everything that one could imagine and 17 years ago he dreamed of becoming a space traveller. On July 11, 2021, Branson became an astronaut, ushering in a new era of private space tourism.
Branson boarded his company Virgin Galactic's Unity 22 flight from the Mojave Desert in New Mexico and propelled into suborbital space, where he enjoyed over three minutes of weightlessness in microgravity. He was accompanied by India-born Sirisha Bandla and four other passengers.

Jul 10, 2021

Huawei Inks Largest 4G Automative Deal with Volkswagen Supplier

Chinese conglomerate Huawei has reached a patent license agreement with a supplier of Volkswagen Group. According to reports, it was Luxembourg-based Rolling Wireless.
Huawei expects more than 30 million vehicles to be licensed under its patents based on existing license agreements.
The deal covers 4G connectivity in the vehicles.
The agreement includes a license under Huawei's 4G standard essential patents (SEPs), which covers Volkswagen vehicles equipped with wireless connectivity.
This agreement marks Huawei's largest licensing deal in the automotive industry.

Jul 05, 2021

Two Astronauts at China's New Space Station Make First Spacewalk

Two Chinese astronauts made the first spacewalk outside China's new orbital station to work on setting up a 15-meter (50-foot) long robotic arm.
Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo were out of the airlock as Earth rolled past below them. The third crew member, commander Nie Haisheng, stayed inside.
The astronauts arrived on June 17 for a three-month mission aboard China's third orbital station, part of an ambitious space program that landed a robot rover on Mars in May. Their mission comes as the ruling Communist Party celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding.

Frankenstein Star could be on the Brink of a Startling Transformation

The discovery of a moon-size zombie star transforming into another type of stellar corpse could upend astronomers' understanding of how stars evolve.
The cosmic zombie, an embering core of a dead star, or a white dwarf, is about the size of Earth's moon, making it the smallest white dwarf ever found. Despite being tiny, with a radius of 2,670 miles (4,300 kilometers) compared to our sun's 432,470-mile (696,000 km) radius, the stellar corpse has a ginormous mass of about 1.35 times that of the sun.
Dubbed ZTF J190132.9+145808.7, the white dwarf is located about 130 light-years from Earth; and it is rotating super fast, completing a full revolution every 6.9 minutes. Perhaps even weirder, the star's magnetic field is up to 1 billion times stronger than that of Earth's at its surface, or 900 times the strength of the sun's magnetic field.

Jul 04, 2021

Asteroid Named after a Senegalese Expert

The International Astronomical Union has honoured a Senegalese astronomer Maram Kairé by naming an asteroid in the solar system after him.
Mr. Kairé welcomed the news with humility.
Mr. Kairé, whose passion for astronomy began at a tender age, has received congratulatory messages from different countries.
His colleague Mary Teuw Niane said: "From now on the name of Maram Kaïré floats in the Sky, standard bearer of Senegal and Africa."

Jul 03, 2021

Sirisha Bandla, the Second Indian-origin Woman to Fly to Space

Sirisha Bandla will soon become the second India-born woman to fly to space. The first Indian-origin woman to achieve the feat was Kalpana Chawla. After she embarks on her journey on July 11, Bandla would be the fourth Indian to fly into space.
Bandla is vice-president, government affairs and research operations wing of Virgin Galactic as well as its sister concern, Virgin Orbit.
During the space flight, which is the 22nd for VSS Unity, Sirisha's role will be to evaluate research experience.

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