Canada has signed an agreement with the United States to send a Canadian astronaut around the moon as part of a broader effort to establish a new space station above the lunar surface.
Industry Minister Navdeep Bains unveiled the new Gateway Treaty, which formalises Canada's involvement in the U.S.-led effort to build that new station known as the Lunar Gateway.
The treaty includes a commitment to having a Canadian on board when the U.S. conducts a manned flyby of the moon in 2023, as well as a second yet-to-be-scheduled flight to the future station.
Canada will join the U.S. on the first crewed mission to the moon since the Apollo missions.
Launching in 2023, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut will be part of Artemis 2, the first mission to carry humans to lunar orbit in over 50 years. This will make Canada only the second country after the U.S. to have an astronaut in deep space.
Dec 19, 2020
New Indian Social Networking App Set to Launch in 100 Countries
Forpose Pvt Ltd, a leading SaaS (Software as a Service) developer, based out of Hyderabad, India, announced the launch of an indigenous social networking app named Forpose. The beta version of Forpose went live in August, 2020, and now the full-scale launch is set to happen at the start of 2021, across 100+ countries.
As a social networking platform, the app will not just connect people, but create new business opportunities for the fashion sector. And with a broad focus on privacy, the Forpose app is set to solve the challenges users face while using current social networks.
In-line with other social networking platforms, the consists of a news feed with image and video sharing, tagging, etc., along with Moments to share byte-sized content. The platform has in-built chatting capabilities, but privacy is the key benchmark where it outperforms other players.
Dec 18, 2020
PSLV-C50 Successfully Injects Communication Satellite CMS-01 into Orbit
Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) workhorse rocket PSLV-C50 successfully injected into orbit India's latest communication satellite CMS-01.
The communication satellite is envisaged for providing services in Extended-C Band of the frequency spectrum covering India, Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands.
ISRO successfully launched CMS-01 onboard the launch vehicle Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C50). The polar satellite launch vehicle's 52nd mission lift-off took place from launch pad at the spaceport of Sriharikota.
CMS-01 is the 42nd communication satellite of the space agency.
Dec 17, 2020
China's Spacecraft Successfully Brings Home Moon Samples
China's Chang'e-5 probe successfully touched down on Earth, bringing home the first samples of the moon in over 40 years.
The spacecraft landed in Siziwang Banner in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Zhang Kejian, head of the CNSA, declared the Chang'e-5 mission a success.
It marks a successful conclusion of China's current three-step lunar exploration programme of orbiting and landing, and bringing back samples which began in 2004.
It is China's maiden attempt to retrieve materials from an extra-terrestrial body. The Chang'e-5 lunar probe was launched from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on November 24.
Indian-American Raja Chari among 3 on SpaceX Mission
Indian-American US Air Force Colonel Raja Chari has been selected as the Commander of the SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by NASA and the European Space Agency.
Chari will serve as the commander, while NASA's Tom Marshburn will be pilot and ESA's Matthias Maurer will serve as a mission specialist for the SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the ISS, which is expected to be launched next year.
Dec 16, 2020
China to Open Giant Telescope to International Scientists
Nestled among the mountains in southwest China, the world's largest radio telescope signals Beijing's ambitions as a global centre for scientific research.
The Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) -- the only significant instrument of its kind after the collapse of another telescope in Puerto Rico this month -- is about to open its doors for foreign astronomers to use, hoping to attract the world's top scientific talent.
The Chinese installation in Pingtang, Guizhou province, is up to three times more sensitive than the US-owned one, and is surrounded by a five-kilometre (three-mile) "radio silence" zone where mobile phones and computers are not allowed.
Google, Dell, Intel VMware, others Set up Computing Alliance
In order to address the biggest IT challenges being faced by companies with integration from silicon to cloud, Google, Dell, Intel and a few other tech companies have come together to form a new computing group.
Named as 'Modern Computing Alliance,' the group aims to drive silicon-to-cloud innovation for benefiting enterprise customers, fuelling a differentiated modern computing platform and providing additional choice for integrated business solutions.
Box, Citrix, Imprivata, Okta, RingCentral, Slack, VMware, and Zoom are the other founding members of the group.
Hayabusa-2: Pieces of an Asteroid Found Inside Space Capsule
Scientists were greeted by the sight of jet black chunks of rock and soil from an asteroid after opening a capsule that returned from deep space a week ago.
It's the first significant sample of material to be delivered to Earth from a space rock and was grabbed last year by Japan's Hayabusa-2 spacecraft.
Researchers began opening the capsule in Sagamihara, Japan.
The material was retrieved from an asteroid called Ryugu.
Hayabusa-2 reached the object in June 2018; it is believed to be one of the building blocks left over from the formation of the Solar System.
Scientists at the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) curation facility at Sagamihara have now opened one of three sample chambers inside the capsule.