General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - March 2018

Mar 2018

Aug 01, 2020

European Sentinel Satellites to Map Global CO2 Emissions

German manufacturer OHB-System signed a €445m (£400m) contract to begin construction of a satellite network to monitor carbon dioxide.
The CO2M constellation will consist in the first instance of two spacecraft, but there is an option for a third.
The platforms will track the greenhouse gas across the globe, helping nations assess the scale of their emissions.
Under the Paris climate accord, countries must compile CO2 inventories. CO2M will provide supporting data.
The aim is to launch the OHB spacecraft in 2025 so they can inform the international stocktake that will report in 2028.
CO2M falls under the European Union's Copernicus Earth observation programme. This flies a series of satellite sensors called Sentinels, which monitor everything from damage wrought by earthquakes to the health of staple food crops.

China Celebrates Completion of BeiDou Satellite System that Could Rival the US' GPS

China is celebrating the completion of its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System that could rival the U.S. Global Positioning System and significantly boost China's security and geopolitical clout.
President Xi Jinping, the leader of the ruling Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army, officially commissioned the system Friday at a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
That followed a declaration that the 55th and final geostationary satellite in the constellation launched June 23 was operating after having completed all tests.
The satellite is part of the third iteration of the BeiDou system known as BDS-3, which began providing navigation services in 2018 to countries taking part in China's sprawling "Belt and Road" infrastructure initiative along with others.

Jul 31, 2020

NASA Launches Mars Rover Perseverance

NASA launched its Mars Perseverance Rover from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The main aim of the Mars Perseverance Rover is to seek signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples for a possible return to Earth. The duration of the mission is expected to be at least one Mars year which is equivalent to 687 days on Earth.
The Mars Perseverance Rover is expected to land on Mars on February 18, 2021, after covering a distance of 300 million miles (482.8 million km approximately). The landing site of the rover will be the Jezero Crater on the Red Planet. This is the third launch to Mars after China's rover-orbiter combo and a United Arab Emirates orbiter launched last week.

ISRO's IN-SPACe to be Set up as Single-window Nodal Agency for pvt Sector

IN-SPACe will have a Chairman, technical experts for space activities, safety specialists, experts from academia and industries, legal and strategic experts from other departments, and members of the PMO and MEA, Government of India. The space agency released a detailed structure of IN-SPACe and its proposed activities.
Last month, the Cabinet cleared IN-SPACe as a separate vertical for permitting and regulating the activities of private industry in the space sector.
It will be established as a single-window nodal agency, with its own cadre, which will permit and oversee the following activities of NGPEs (Non-Government Private Entities).
IN-SPACe responsibilities include space activities such as building of launch vehicles and satellites and providing space-based services as per the definition of space activities, sharing of space infrastructure and premises under ISRO's control.
Other functions include establishment of temporary facilities within ISRO-controlled premises, setting up of new space infrastructure and facilities by NGPEs.

Jul 29, 2020

World's Largest Nuclear Fusion Project

The world's biggest nuclear fusion project has entered its five-year assembly phase.
After this is finished, the facility will be able to start generating the super-hot "plasma" required for fusion power.
The £18.2bn (€20bn; $23.5bn) facility has been under construction in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, southern France.
Advocates say that fusion could be a source of clean, unlimited power that would help tackle the climate crisis.
Iter is a collaboration between China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the US. All members share in the cost of construction.

Airbus to Build First Interplanetary Cargo Ship

Airbus-France will build the huge satellite that brings the first Martian rock samples back to Earth.
This material will be drilled on the Red Planet by the US space agency's next rover, Perseverance, before being blasted into orbit by a rocket.
It'll be the Airbus satellite's job to grab the packaged samples and then ship them home.
The joint American-European project is expected to cost billions and take just over a decade to implement.
But scientists say that it is probably the best way to confirm whether life has ever existed on the Red Planet.
Any evidence is likely to be controversial and will need the powerful analytical tools only found in Earth laboratories to convince the doubters, the researchers argue.

Jul 28, 2020

'Mausam' App for Weather Forecasts

In the event of celebration of 14th Foundation day of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Earth Sciences launched the mobile app "Mausam" designed and developed by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune and the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
India has the best weather service in the world for disaster management with accurate warnings on tropical cyclones, heat waves and floods.
The mobile based application will provide weather forecasts, nowcast and warning for various cities and locations.
The application is available for both Android and iOS platforms.
The app will provide information on current weather with temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction for around 200 cities.
The information on the app will be updated 8 times a day.

Jul 27, 2020

DST launches Rs. 15 Crore Fund to Support India-Russia Cross-country Technology Adaptation

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the Ministry of Science and Technology launched a joint India-Russia Joint Technology Assessment and Accelerated Commercialisation Programme in partnership with Russia's Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE). On the Indian side, the programme will be implemented and funded by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) on behalf of the DST.
The objective of this bilateral initiative is to strengthen the Science, Technology and Innovation ties between the two countries by connecting Indian, and Russian Science & Technology (S&T) led Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and Start-ups for joint development through Research and Development (R&D) along with technology adaptation.
The programme will run through two annual cycles and top five selected Indian and Russian partners will be provided partial funding support. DST will fund up to Rs. 15 crores to Indian SMEs/Start-ups and FASIE will provide similar funding to the Russian projects. The remaining cost will be borne by partners.

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