General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - March 2018

Mar 2018

Aug 15, 2019

To Prepare For Mars, NASA Camps At Iceland Lava Field

To prepare for the next mission to Mars in 2020, NASA has taken to the lava fields of Iceland to get its new robotic space explorer ready for the job.
With its black basalt sand, wind-swept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun lava field at the foot of Iceland's second biggest glacier, Langjokull, was chosen as a stand-in for the Red Planet's surface.
For three weeks, 15 scientists and engineers sent by the US space agency descended on the site, 100 km from the capital, Reykjavik, to develop a prototype.
It will aim to continue the work of the Curiosity rover, which has been exploring Mars since 2012 in search of signs of ancient life and making preparations for human exploration.
The company has been commissioned by NASA to test a rover prototype as part of the SAND-E (Semi-Autonomous Navigation for Detrital Environments) project.
The prototype is a small, electric vehicle with white panels and an orange chassis. It has a four-wheel drive propelled by two motors and is powered by 12 small car batteries stacked inside.

Aug 14, 2019

Country's First 3-D Smart Traffic Signal

In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, Mohali traffic police have launched 3-D Smart Traffic Signal devised by the students of Chitkara University Incubated Start-up.
The wireless system, called 'Intelights', has been installed at the traffic crossing near Quark City on Airport Road, Mohali, on pilot project basis, and will regulate traffic signals with a smart bird's eye view wireless sensor system.
The system was launched by Sharad Satya Chauhan, ADGP - Traffic.
The system, which was devised by the students of Chitkara University over three years of intensive research, was in the test trial phase for the last eight months before its final launch.

Aug 13, 2019

IIT Madras Introduced a Method To Recycle Urine

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) introduced the Project Water Chakra to recycle urine. The project was done by an IIT-M student with 3 project staff.
The Project Water Chakra won the Indian Innovation Growth Programme 2.0 award in July 2019. The project has developed a prototype for the Carbon Zero Challenge.

Chandrayaan-2 Onto Next Step

The Chandrayaan-2, currently revolving in a highly elliptical orbit around the Earth, will be injected in a trans-lunar path. This means the spacecraft will leave the Earth and move towards the moon.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will perform a trans-lunar injection to set the Chandrayaan-2 on its path towards the moon.
The spacecraft, which is currently revolving in a highly elliptical orbit around the Earth, will be injected in a trans-lunar path to cover most of the 384,400-km distance between the Earth and the moon.

Huawei Technologies Launched Its Own OS

Huawei has launched its own operating system — the HongmengOS, known in English as the HarmonyOS.
The operating system can be used across different devices from smartphones to smart speakers and even sensors. It's part of Huawei's play in the so-called Internet of Things, which refers to devices connected to the internet.
HarmonyOS will first be used on "smart screen products," such as televisions, later this year. Over the next three years, the operating system will be used in other devices, including wearables and car head units.
The OS will initially launch in China with plans to expand it globally.
HarmonyOS is open-source, which means that other device-makers could theoretically use its operating system.
Making it open-source could help the OS increase its scale and attract more developers to make apps for it.
Having a large number of useful apps is important for any OS to be successful.

SpaceX Falcon Launched Israel's Amos Telecommunications Satellite

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Israeli telecommunications satellite called Amos-17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The satellite was launched successfully into the geosynchronous transfer orbit .
The launch was a makeup launch for Spacecom when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launch pad in 2016. Amos-17 has been designed to provide enhanced voice, video and data services to customers in Africa and parts of Europe, the Middle East, India and China.

Kerala Signs MoU With ISRO VSSC To Promote Space Technology

The Kerala government and Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to give a push to the state's endeavour in space technology.
The agreement was signed by State IT Secretary M Sivasankar and VSSC Director S Somanath. It was signed in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
With the MoU, Kerala is set to make major strides in the space technology sector.
This partnership will create an ideal ambiance for advanced research and development in space technology.

Aug 12, 2019

North Korea Tests 'New Weapon'

North Korea's state had unspecified military test that was supervised by the country's leader Kim Jong Un.
This is the latest in a series of launches that US President Donald Trump has played down ahead of talks with Pyongyang North Korea that its leader Kim Jong Un supervised test-firings of an unspecified new weapons system, which extended a streak of launches that are seen as an attempt to build leverage ahead of negotiations with the US while driving a wedge between Washington and Seoul.

Aug 11, 2019

Chinese Startup Is In Race For Reusable Rocket With Third Test

Chinese startup LinkSpace completed its third test of a reusable rocket in five months, stepping up the pace in China's race to develop a technology key to cheap space launches in an expected global boom in satellite deployment.
LinkSpace's RLV-T5 rocket blasted off in a desert in western Qinghai province at 0230 GMT.
It flew as high as 300 metres before returning to the launchpad on its own after 50 seconds.
The Beijing-based company aims to conduct a "kilometre-level" test at some point.
The RLV-T5 previously hovered 20 metres and 40 metres above the ground in two tests in March and April 2019 respectively.
China envisions constellations of commercial satellites that can offer services ranging from high-speed internet for aircraft and rural areas to tracking coal shipments and commuter traffic.
Reliable, low-cost and frequent launches will be key, with recoverable or partially-recoverable rockets like the Falcon 9 from Elon Musk's SpaceX one pathway to eventually affordable satellite deployment missions.
SpaceX has already used recoverable rockets on a number of orbital missions since a historic launch early in 2017, spurring Europe, Russia, Japan and China to speed up their own research into the technology.
LinkSpace's test flight came on the heels of a historic delivery of a satellite into orbit by privately owned Chinese firm iSpace.

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