China has successfully put another probe on the Moon.
Its robotic Chang'e-5 mission touched down with the aim of collecting samples of rock and dust to bring back to Earth.
The venture has targeted Mons Rümker, a high volcanic complex in a nearside region known as Oceanus Procellarum.
The lander is expected to spend the next couple of days examining its surroundings and gathering up surface materials.
The intention is to package about 2 kg of "soil", or regolith, to send up to an orbiting vehicle that can then transport the samples to Earth.
It is 44 years since this was last achieved. That was the Soviet Luna 24 mission, which picked up just under 200 g.
Dec 01, 2020
DRDO Creates New Lab for Focused Research along China, Pakistan Borders
In the middle of a border conflict, the government has merged two Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratories to create a new one to do focused research on terrain and avalanches along the borders with China and Pakistan.
The newly created laboratory has been named Defence Geo Informatics Research Establishment by merging two exiting labs.
The two new labs merged by the government are the Manali-headquartered Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE) and the other is the Delhi-based Defence Terrain Research Establishment (DTRL).
The SASE had been very actively engaged in the study of snow and avalanches in the operational areas and has prepared an avalanche atlas of almost 3,000 on-road locations in different parts of the country where the armed forces are deployed.
Similarly, the DTRL had been working on different terrains where the armed forces are deployed.
HAL Delivers Biggest ever Cryogenic Propellant Tank to ISRO
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has delivered the biggest cryogenic propellant tank (C32 LH2) ever fabricated by the company to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It added that this was much ahead of the contractual schedule at a program held in Bengaluru recently.
The C32-LH2 tank is a developmental cryogenic propellant tank of aluminium alloy designed for improving the payload capability of GSLV MK-III launching vehicle.
The four-meter diametric tank is of eight-meter length to load 5,755 kg propellant in the 89 cubic meter volume.
HAL has mastered the skills and technologies required for fabricating welded propellant tank of Aluminium ally to such stringent quality requirement.
Nov 29, 2020
Researchers Creates Hydrogen-Producing Living Droplets
Scientists have built tiny droplet-based microbial factories that produce hydrogen, instead of oxygen, when exposed to daylight in air.
Normally, algal cells fix carbon dioxide and produce oxygen by photosynthesis. The study used sugary droplets packed with living algal cells to generate hydrogen, rather than oxygen, by photosynthesis.
Hydrogen is potentially a climate-neutral fuel, offering many possible uses as a future energy source. A major drawback is that making hydrogen involves using a lot of energy, so green alternatives are being sought and this discovery could provide an important step forward.
The team trapped around 10,000 algal cells in each droplet, which were then crammed together by osmotic compression. By burying the cells deep inside the droplets, oxygen levels fell to a level that switched on special enzymes called hydrogenases that hijacked the normal photosynthetic pathway to produce hydrogen. In this way, around a quarter of a million microbial factories, typically only one-tenth of a millimetre in size, could be prepared in one millilitre of water.
Nov 27, 2020
Ladakh Gets Largest Solar Project at Leh
The Union Territory of Ladakh has got the largest solar power project setup under the Centre's ''Make In India'' initiative at Leh IAF station to provide sustainable energy alternative to fossil fuel and traditional methods of energy generation.
The project namely ''Provision of Solar Photo Voltaic Power Plant 1.5 MW'' has been completed within 12 months well before the completion deadline of March 31, 2021.
It is the largest installed solar project till date out of the target of 300 MW in three phases for defence sectors and 14 MW for Leh region as set by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
Nov 26, 2020
NASA 'Megarocket' Assembly Begins in Florida
NASA has started assembling the first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on a launch platform ahead of its maiden flight next year.
The SLS is the giant rocket that will send US astronauts back to the moon this decade — with the first crewed landing targeted for 2024.
Engineers in Florida have begun stacking the segments that make up the vehicle's two solid rocket boosters.
The rocket is scheduled to make its debut in November 2021.
The SLS consists of a giant, 65 m (212ft) — long core stage with four engines that's flanked by the twin solid fuel boosters.
Together, these produce a massive 8.8 million pounds (39.1 Meganewtons) of thrust that can loft astronauts into orbit; the rocket subsequently hurls them towards the moon.
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