General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - December 2018

Dec 2018

Nov 10, 2023

Scientists Detect Oxygen in Noxious Atmosphere of Venus

Oxygen accounts for about 21% of Earth's air, with the rest of our atmosphere primarily nitrogen. And most living things - including people, as we well know - need oxygen to survive.
Earth's planetary neighbour Venus offers quite a different story. Its thick and noxious atmosphere is dominated by carbon dioxide - 96.5% - with lesser amounts of nitrogen and trace gases. Oxygen is nearly absent. In fact, with Venus getting far less scientific attention than other planets such as Mars, the direct detection of its oxygen has remained difficult.
Using an instrument aboard the SOFIA airborne observatory - a Boeing 747SP aircraft modified to carry an infrared telescope in a joint project between NASA and the German Aerospace Center - scientists have now detected atomic oxygen in a thin layer sandwiched between two other layers of the Venusian atmosphere.
They noted that this atomic oxygen, which consists of a single oxygen atom, differs from molecular oxygen, which consists of two oxygen atoms and is breathable.
The researchers directly detected oxygen for the first time on the side of Venus facing the sun - where it actually is produced in the atmosphere - as well as detecting it on the side facing away from the sun, where it previously was spotted by a ground-based telescope in Hawaii.

Nov 09, 2023

Infosys, AWS Join Hands to Help Financial Clients Accelerate Cloud Adoption

IT major Infosys announced a three-year strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help financial organisations across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region accelerate their cloud transformation journeys.
As part of the collaboration, Infosys and AWS aim to support financial organisations, like retail banking at NatWest Group, in accelerating their cloud adoption journeys.
Customers will receive transformative cloud services from AWS, domain knowledge and delivery from Infosys, and Infosys Capital Markets' expertise to transform business models and modernise applications, delivering operational efficiency.

Nov 06, 2023

NASA's INFUSE Mission: Studying the Cygnus Loop Supernova Remnant

NASA recently launched a sounding rocket as part of its Integral Field Ultraviolet Spectroscope Experiment (INFUSE) mission.
NASA recently launched a sounding rocket as part of its Integral Field Ultraviolet Spectroscope Experiment (INFUSE) mission. This mission aims to study the Cygnus Loop, a 20,000-year-old supernova remnant located 2,600 light-years away from Earth.
The Cygnus Loop offers a unique opportunity to explore the life cycle of stars and gain insights into how new star systems form in the universe.

Nov 01, 2023

Aligarh Muslim University to Launch Its Own Satellite Approved By IN-SPACe

Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) embarked on a groundbreaking space initiative, the 'SS AMU SAT' project, approved by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe). Led by AMU's Robo Club, this initiative aims to develop a 3U CubeSat, marking the first satellite named after AMU's founder, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.
The objectives of the project are:
Economic Growth Study: Utilize satellite imagery to study economic growth in India's poorest districts.
Technology Testing: Test in-house developed satellite sub-systems for enhanced functionality.
Multimedia Transmission: Implement image compression technology for rapid multimedia transmission.
The launch schedule is tentatively planned within the next six months, targeting Lower Earth Orbit.

Oct 31, 2023

NASA Launches Mission to 20,000-year-old Supernova Remnant to Understand Life Cycle of Stars

NASA launched a new sounding rocket to study a stellar event in the Cygnus Loop, which is a supernova remnant that took place 20,000 years ago. Cygnus is about 2,600 light years away from the Earth. The sounding rocket mission, named the Integral Field Ultraviolet Spectroscope Experiment (INFUSE) was launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
As per astronomers, a massive star, which was perhaps 20 times the size of the sun exploded in a supernova so bright that it was possibly seen from Earth. After this supernova, some matters of the explosion remain suspended in the universe, which is known to astronomers as the Cygnus Loop. The INFUSE mission will study the Cygnus Loop and try to understand the life cycle of stars.

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