General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - October 2018

Oct 2018

Dec 17, 2019

Europe's Cheops Telescope Will Profile Distant Planets

Europe launched a space telescope to study far-off worlds.
Called Cheops, it's a different kind of mission to previous efforts in that it won't be trying to find new planets.
Rather, it's going to follow up the discoveries of others, to see if it can reveal new insights - such as whether these distant objects are likely to be rocky or gas-rich.
The telescope rode to orbit on a Russian Soyuz rocket from French Guiana.
Cheops (short for CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite) is a joint endeavour of 11 member states of the European Space Agency (ESA), with Switzerland in the lead.

Dec 15, 2019

Russia's Arktika Completes Test

Russia's nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika, a symbol of Moscow's ambition to tap the Arctic's potential, returned to Saint Petersburg after a two-day test run. Destined to transport LNG from the Arctic, the vessel is 173 metres long and 15 metres high. The run tested its functioning and manoeuvrability.

Dec 14, 2019

NASA Selects Nightingale Crater for Asteroid Sample Collection

After a year scoping out asteroid Bennu's boulder-scattered surface, the team leading NASA's first asteroid sample return mission officially selected a sample collection site.
The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-Rex) mission team concluded a site designated "Nightingale" – located in a crater high in Bennu's northern hemisphere.
The OSIRIS-REx team spent the past several months evaluating close-range data from four candidate sites in order to identify the best option for the sample collection. The candidate sites – dubbed Sandpiper, Osprey, Kingfisher and Nightingale – were chosen for investigation because, of all the potential sampling regions on Bennu, these areas pose the fewest hazards to the spacecraft's safety while still providing the opportunity for great samples to be gathered.
After thoroughly evaluating all four candidate sites, the final decision based on which site has the greatest amount of fine-grained material and how easily the spacecraft can access that material while keeping the spacecraft safe. Of the four candidates, site Nightingale best meets these criteria and, ultimately, best ensures mission success.

Dec 13, 2019

Nova Innovation to Develop Tidal Array in Canada

A Scottish energy firm was granted a licence to deploy a tidal array in Canada.
Edinburgh-based Nova Innovation said that the move would lead to 15 new turbines being installed in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, by 2023.
The project will provide enough electricity to power 600 homes.
In 2016, Nova said that its offshore tidal array at Bluemull Sound off Shetland had become the first in the world to deliver electricity to the grid.

First Liquid Hydrogen Ship Debuts in Japan

The world's first liquefied hydrogen carrier made its debut at a shipyard in Japan, a step towards tapping the carbon-free energy potential of the element. Kawasaki Heavy Industries christened the tanker Suiso Frontier at a ceremony at the Kobe Works yard.
The ship will be used for technology demonstration to establish a hydrogen energy supply chain. The construction is expected to be complete by late 2020.

Dec 12, 2019

ISRO Launches Radar Imaging Satellite RISAT-2BR1

In a big boost to India's space-based surveillance, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched Radar Imaging Satellite RISAT-2BR1 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota. This was PSLV's fiftieth mission. With RISAT-2BR1, PSLV is also carrying nine other commercial foreign satellites from countries such as the US, Italy, Japan and Israel under a commercial contract with New Space India Limited (NSIL). The 628 kg Earth observation satellite is set to be positioned at an orbit of 576km altitude.

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