IIA Discovers He-enhanced Star among Omega Centauri
Indian Scientist from Indian Institute of Aerophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, Karnataka, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST) discovered a helium (He)-enhanced cool bright star among metal rich samples of the globular cluster, Omega Centauri.
This study, a result of the spectroscopic survey conducted of the cluster, which determines the helium (He) abundance of these stars.
This is the first ever spectroscopic determination of He-abundance in the Omega Centauri.
The study was published in "The Astrophysical Journal".
The team started the study with the low-resolution spectra obtained from the Optometric Medium Resolution Spectrograph (OMRS) with the Vainu Bappu Telescope at Vainu Bappu Observatory, Kavalur, Tamil Nadu.
v.Dr Hema BP and Prof Gajendra Pandey of IIA worked in association with international researchers to measure the amount of He in the star, using the high-resolution spectra obtained from the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT).
The study gave the important clue for the origin of the He-enhanced population.
This establishes that these are the second generation stars formed from the metal-rich and He-enhanced material from the first generation stars.
Aug 13, 2020
Skyroot Aerospace, India's 1st Private Aerospace Company to Test Fire Kind Upper Stage Rocket Eng...
Skyroot Aerospace, Indian aerospace startup successfully test fired an upper stage rocket engine "Raman", India's first 100% 3D printed bi-propellant liquid rocket engine injector named after the nobel laureate Sir C. V. Raman and became the first private aerospace company in India to test a rocket engine developed in India.
Raman is a lightweight 3D printed rocket engine featuring a fewer number of moving parts.
Raman can hurl a satellite of 250 to 700 kg into the lower orbits.
Compared to the traditional manufactured conventional rockets, 3D printing has reduced the overall mass by 50% and the total number of components and lead time by 80%.
Skyroot Aerospace was founded by Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists and backed by founders of Curefit – Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori and Solar Industries.
Aug 12, 2020
Dwarf Planet Ceres Not Barren
The dwarf planet Ceres, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is not a barren space rock as earlier believed. New data from NASA's Dawn spacecraft have shown that it is a water-rich world.
After analysing data collected near the end of the mission, scientists determined that beneath the surface of Ceres, there could be a deep reservoir of brine, or salt-enriched water which is about 40 km deep and hundreds of miles wide.
Ceres makes up almost a third of the asteroid belt's total mass, but it is still far smaller than Earth's Moon. The Dawn spacecraft arrived at Ceres in 2015.
Long before Dawn arrived at Ceres, scientists had noticed diffuse bright regions with telescopes, but their nature was unknown.
By the time the mission ended in October 2018, the orbiter had dipped to less than 35 km above the surface, revealing crisp details of the mysterious bright regions Ceres had become known for.
Aug 10, 2020
IIT Guwahati, in Collaboration with Imperial College London, Develops Nanoparticle 'Meta-grid'
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, India, and Imperial College London, United Kingdom, have developed nanoparticles called the 'meta-grid' or 'metamaterial grid' that makes the light-emitting diodes (LED) brighter, energy-efficient and durable.
It was jointly developed by Dr. Debabrata Sikdar, assistant professor at IIT Guwahati along with Prof. Sir John B. Pendry and Prof. Alexei A. Kornyshev from Imperial College London.
The findings have been recently published in Light: Science and Application journal of the Nature Publishing Group. The theoretical models, developed by Dr. Sikdar, find out the optimal conditions for the design of the nanoparticle 'meta-grid' layer.
Meta-grid is a specifically patterned array of nanoparticles acting as metamaterials and it is capable of exhibiting extraordinary optical properties.
Aug 03, 2020
SpaceX Brings NASA Crew Back to Earth
Two NASA astronauts returned to Earth in a dramatic, retro-style splashdown, their capsule parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico to close out an unprecedented test flight by Elon Musk's SpaceX company.
It was the first splashdown by US astronauts in 45 years, with the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to carry people to and from orbit. The return clears the way for another SpaceX crew launch as early as next month and possible tourist flights next year.
Test pilots Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken arrived back on Earth in their SpaceX Dragon capsule named Endeavour, less than a day after departing the International Space Station and two months after blasting off from Florida.
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