General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - March 2018

Mar 2018

Apr 07, 2019

IIT-B researchers find bacteria that may help remove pollutants

While carrying out a routine experiment on degradation of pollutants, researchers from IIT-Bombay have stumbled upon an organism which preferentially feeds on hazardous aromatic pollutants over glucose.
The discovery of this strain of bacterium, called Pseudomonas putida CSV86, can help in eliminating a diverse range of aromatic pollutants such as naphthalene (in household insect repellents), benzoate (in food preservatives), plastics and industrial chemicals.
The findings of the study, which was published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, will not only help in getting rid of pollutants in waste water by breaking them down into safer chemicals, but further gene study could have implications in the field of agriculture too.

India working on star wars arsenal

After successfully testing an anti-satellite (ASat) missile in March,, India is working to develop other counterspace capabilities like directed energy weapons (DEWs) and co-orbital killers as well as the ability to protect its own satellites from electronic or physical attacks.
The A-Sat missile that destroyed the Microsat-R satellite at an altitude of 283-km in the low-earth orbit (LEO) on March 27 was a "direct-ascent, kinetic kill" weapon.
It's "feasible" to target multiple satellites with multiple launches of the three-stage interceptor missile, which can go up to 1,000 km into space.
A co-orbital weapon is basically a satellite equipped with some explosive, weapon or DEW device, which is first put into orbit and then later manoeuvred to target the enemy satellite.
Apart from these kinetic kill weapons, other ASAT weapons like lasers, jammers, EMP and high-powered microwaves are being developed by China, which first tested an A-Sat missile against a Leo weather satellite in 2007.
India's long-term aim is to develop A-Sat weapons against satellites in both LEO and GEO-synchronous orbits as a credible deterrence against emerging threats to its growing space-based assets.
DRDO for long has also been running programmes on a wide variety of DEWs like highenergy lasers and high-powered microwaves capable of destroying aerial and ground-based targets, but whether they can be successfully developed into ASat weapons remains to be seen.

Amazon Plans Constellation of 3,000 Sats for 'Inclusive' Internet

Tech giant Amazon is planning to set up a network of more than 3,000 satellites in order to provide a high-speed broadband internet service from space.
In his latest space venture, Jeff Bezos plans to establish 3,236 satellites that will provide high-speed internet access to people around the world.
In recent weeks, Amazon has been posting job adverts for the project, named Project Kuiper, after a part of the distant solar system believed to contain many comets, asteroids, and other small bodies.
It was discovered by the late Dutch American astronomer Gerard Kuiper.
Project Kuiper is a new initiative to launch a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites that will provide lowlatency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world.
This is a long-term project that envisions serving tens of millions of people who lack basic access to broadband internet.
Amazon is joining several other major players already seeking to provide the nextgeneration broadband service from space.

Apr 05, 2019

Carbon Dioxide at its Highest Level

According to a study, the levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere are higher today than ever before in the past three million years.
For the first time, scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany succeeded to do a computer simulation that fits ocean floor sediment data of climate evolution over this period of time.
Today, it is the increase of greenhouse gases due to the burning of fossil fuels that is fundamentally changing our planet.

Verizon's First 5G Mobile Service

Verizon Communications Inc. in a tight race with AT&T Inc. and Sprint Corp. has claimed bragging rights as the first U.S. carrier to offer fifth-generation mobile-phone service.
Verizon customers with unlimited data plans in parts of Minneapolis and Chicago can get speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second on a limited number of phones for an extra $10 a month. The initial launch is part of a 30-city goal for 5G service this year.
Verizon is only able to offer the service to customers who own a Motorola Z3 handset and pay $50 extra for a snap-on 5G module.
Manufacturers including Motorola and Samsung Electronics Co. are expected to deliver more 5G phones later this year. Apple Inc. is sitting out the race this year and is expected to hold off on introducing a 5G iPhone until at least 2020.

Apr 04, 2019

BSNL Gets Licence for WiFi on Flights

State-owned telecom service provider Bharatiya Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has received licence from the Department of Telecommunications to provide Internet and mobile services on flights.
BSNL and its satellite partner, Inmarsat, will be able to offer in-flight connectivity to airlines "later this year, once the ground infrastructure and associated approvals are in place," said a press statement from Inmarsat.

Apr 03, 2019

ISRO to Launch a String of Defence Satellites

Between now and early 2020, the space above India looks set to see an unprecedented rush of satellites meant solely or mainly for the country's military.
Starting May, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to send up at least eight earth observation (EO) satellites of varied hues and at the rate of almost one a month.

Apr 01, 2019

ISRO Launches EMISAT Defence Satellite

ISRO launched a new variant of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from Sriharikota, carrying electronic intelligence satellite, Emisat for the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and 28 other third-party satellites.
India will also launch two more defence satellites sometime in July or August with its new Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) rocket.
After putting the Emisat into orbit, the rocket will be brought down to put the 28 foreign satellites, 24 from the US, two from Lithuania and one each from Spain and Switzerland, in orbit at an altitude of 504 km.

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