General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - March 2018

Mar 2018

Oct 11, 2020

ISRO Plans to Launch New Rocket by November 2020

The Indian space agency is working towards launching its new rocket `Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)' before December 2020.
The necessary tests to check its biggest motor - booster motor fired by solid fuel - will be done in November.
The SSLV launch will be from the first launch pad at Sriharikota rocket port after the flight of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C49 (PSLV C49). Post PSLV C49`s flight, the launch pad set up has to be reconfigured to suit SSLV.

Oct 10, 2020

Iodic Acid Drives Amplification

An International team of scientists from the Stockholm University have identified that the iodic acid is the key driver of aerosol particle formation in The Arctic. These aerosols are responsible for the Arctic amplification. Their presence in the region has increased lately.
In the past 30 years the Arctic region has warmed twice the rate. This is called Arctic amplification.
The aerosol particles in the atmosphere influence the formation of Clouds. The clouds under the process called aerosol radiative forcing reflect solar radiation. They also retain heat on the earth surface. Increased aerosols in the atmosphere increases the heat retaining capacity of clouds which in turn ATS 2 to Arctic amplification.

Oct 07, 2020

Russia's Reusable Rocket Plan a Step in Right Direction: Elon Musk

SpaceX Founder Elon Musk supported Russia's plan to spend about $880 million on creating its first reusable carrier rocket with a methane propellant.
Russian space agency Roscosmos and the Progress Rocket and Space Centre signed a contract to develop the 'Amur' reusable space rocket.
The Russian reusable methane-fuelled rocket will get a reusable first stage and its launches will be carried out from the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East.
The cost of the work on creating the reusable rocket will not exceed 70 billion rubles (around $880 million) while the price of a launch service is stipulated at the level of $22 million.
The reusable rocket is set to blast off for the first time together with a payload in 2026. The launch vehicle will be able to orbit up to 12.5 tonnes of payload.
Roscosmos also plans to develop a larger rocket with an increased lifting capacity.

Oct 06, 2020

India's Fastest AI Super Computer

The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) commissioned the largest HPC-AI supercomputer. HPC-AI is High Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence.
PARAM-Sidhi has put India among top countries in global AI supercomputing research and innovation. The supercomputer will accelerate cyber security, education, health care, education, space, agriculture and automotive. It will help in catalysing partnerships with MSMEs, Start ups, Academia and Industries.
India has been implementing National Supercomputing Mission to build a network of 70 supercomputers.
The first super computer that was built under the National Supercomputing Mission was named "Param Shivay". It was also built by C-DAC. Param Shivay used more than 1,20,000 compute cores and 833 TeaFlops. TeaFlop is a measure of processing speed of computer.
The IIT-Kharagpur was the first institute to get supercomputing facility under the National Supercomputing Mission.
The Super Computers in the world are ranked based on their speed. The following are Indian Super computers and their world ranking
Pratyush: It holds 39th position and is operated under the speed of 4,006 TFlop/sec. It is located in Indian Institute of Meteorology.
Mihir: It holds 66th It operates at a speed of 2,808 TFlop/sec. It is located in National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting.
InC1: 206th rank, 1,413 TFlop/sec.
SERC: SERC is Supercomputer Education Research Centre at Indian Institute of Science. 327th rank, operating at 1,244 TFlop/sec.
iDataPlex: 496th rank operating at a speed of 790 TFlop/sec.

Oct 05, 2020

India and France to Launch a Constellation of Maritime Surveillance Satellites

India and France are to launch a constellation of maritime surveillance satellites to monitor illegal spillage of oil in the Indian Ocean Region.
In August 2020, the ISRO and the French Space Agency CNES agreed to develop and build a constellation of satellites. CNES is Centre National d'etudes spatiales, the National Centre for Space Studies. The satellites will carry optical-remote sensing instruments, telecommunication and radar instruments. This system is the first space-based system in the world that is capable of tracking ships continuously.
The monitoring centre is to be based in India. The satellites are to be operated jointly by both France and India. The system will also cover the entire world at the benefit of French Economic Interests.
The Indian Ocean Region has several Sea Lanes of Communication that are used by many ships every day. The main purpose of the surveillance satellites is to trace illegal oil spillage by ships. The CNES-ISRO are already operating a number of climate-monitoring satellites together. TRISHNA, a thermal infrared observer will also be a part of the constellation. Both TRISHNA and Oceansat-3 Argos Mission will augment the maritime surveillance constellation.
India and France are also working together on Gaganyaan. It is the first manned space mission of India. Also, France is also a part of ISRO's Venus Mission, Shukrayaan.

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