General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - October 2018

Oct 2018

Jul 14, 2022

NASA's James Webb Detects Water on Distant Planet Orbiting Sun-like Star

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope detected signs of water, along with evidence for clouds and haze, in the atmosphere of a hot, puffy gas giant planet orbiting a Sun-like star over a thousand light years away.
The observation is the most detailed of its kind to date, demonstrating Webb's unprecedented ability to analyse distant atmospheres. WASP-96 b is one of more than 5,000 confirmed exoplanets in the Milky Way.
Located roughly 1,150 light-years away in the southern-sky constellation Phoenix, it represents a type of gas giant that has no direct analogue in our solar system.

Agnikul Launches India's First Rocket Facility for 3D-printed Engines

Indian space-tech start-up Agnikul opened of its Rocket Factory-1, India's first-ever rocket facility dedicated to 3D printed space engines at scale.
The unit, located at IIT Madras Research Park, was unveiled by N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons and S. Somanath, Chairman, ISRO and Secretary, Department of Space.
Agnikul's Rocket Factory-1 houses a metal 3D-printer and a host of other machines to enable end-to-end manufacturing of a rocket engine under one roof. The factory has been designed to make two rocket engines a week. Agnikul had signed an agreement with EOS in 2021 as the latter's 3D printing partner for engines.

Jul 13, 2022

Adani Data Networks, Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea to Bid for 5G Spectrum

According to a list issued by the Department of Telecom, billionaire Gautam Adani-led Adani Data Networks, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea applied to participate in the upcoming 5G auction.
The spectrum auction, scheduled to start on July 26, may see aggressive bids for some frequency bands, with the entry of Adani Data Networks and established players Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel looking to strengthen their hold in the industry.

SpaceX Booster Rocket Engulfed in Huge Fireball during Test Launch

A prototype of a booster rocket by Elon Musk's SpaceX went up in flames in the United States during ground-test firing in Boca Chica, Texas, in what is being viewed as a setback for Musk's aim of launching the next-generation Starship spacecraft to orbit this year.
The explosion of Booster 7, a prototype of Super Heavy for SpaceX's next-gen Starship deep-space transportation system, was severe and unexpected.

Jul 12, 2022

Jitendra Singh Launches the IS4OM for Safe & Sustainable Space Environment

The ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Operation (IS4OM) was inaugurated by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology Jitendra Singh at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Control Centre in Bengaluru.
The ISRO stated that the facility will support all routine operations safeguarding Indian space assets, mitigating collision threats from space objects through specific collision avoidance manoeuvres.
The control centre would facilitate the intensified activities foreseen for Space Situational Awareness & Management (SSAM) in view of increasing debris population and operational space assets. The control centre would host a range of activities pertaining to protection of Indian Space assets from inactive satellites, pieces of orbiting objects, near earth asteroids and adverse space weather conditions. It would assimilate the tracking data of inactive satellites from indigenous observation facilities and generate useful information from bare observations through analysis. For sustainable use of space, the control centre would enable research activities pertaining to active debris removal, space debris modelling and mitigation.

International Space Station Drops 78 kg of Waste for the First Time Ever

Nearly 78 kilograms of trash was jettisoned from the International Space Station (ISS) in a major waste management technology test. The bag was jettisoned from the station's commercial Bishop Airlock.
The first-of-its-kind technology to dispose of waste was developed by NASA's Johnson Space Center and a private company Nanorocks.
The technology demonstrated a more efficient and sustainable model for eliminating waste aboard the ISS and furthermore highlights a critical new function and utility for all future commercial space stations.
The new technology uses a specially designed waste container, which is mounted in the Bishop Airlock. The ISS crew can fill the container with up to 600 lbs of trash. The waste bag is then released and the Airlock is re-mounted empty.

Jul 11, 2022

City Union Bank, Shriram General Insurance Sign Corporate Agency Agreement

Private sector lender City Union Bank (CUB) signed a corporate agency agreement with Shriram General Insurance to distribute the latter's insurance products through its network of branches across the country. Under the agreement, Shriram General Insurance will offer personal lines of insurance products such as motor, accident, home and travel insurance along with commercial lines of insurance products such as property, marine and engineering insurance to the bank's customers.
Shriram General Insurance Company is a joint venture between Shriram Capital, the holding company for the financial services business of the Shriram Group, and Sanlam Limited (headquartered in South Africa), a leading pan-African financial services group.

Jul 10, 2022

NASA Reveals Asteroid Bennu has a Surface Like a 'plastic Ball Pit'

NASA revealed that 101955 Bennu, an asteroid discovered back in 1999, has a surface that can be compared to a play area for kids, complete with loosely packed particles that make up the entire exterior of the asteroid.
It turns out that the particles making up Bennu's exterior are so loosely packed and lightly bound to each other that if a person were to step onto Bennu he would feel very little resistance, as if stepping into a pit of plastic balls that are popular play areas for kids.
The findings come after NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected a sample (comprising dust and rock) from the asteroid back in October 2020 during a mission. Scientists have now discovered from the sample that the Asteroid's exterior is not as tightly packed as it seemed.

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