General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - December 2018

Dec 2018

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.

Jul 09, 2022

Life on Venus Not Possible, New Study Concludes

A new study published by scientists at the University of Cambridge in the UK concluded that there might be no life on Venus. The study, mentions that the planet bears no signs of microbes eating or excreting, suggesting that the peculiar chemical composition of the planet's clouds cannot be explained by extraterrestrial life.
For the study, researchers analysed the biochemistry of the thick, sulphur-rich clouds present in Venus. The team of three researchers: Sean Jordan, Oliver Shorttle and Paul B. Rimmer looked for "fingerprints" that any potential cloud-dwelling organisms would leave there as a result of their feeding and excretion.

Jul 08, 2022

It is Raining Diamonds on Neptune and Uranus

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is set to explore the worlds of Uranus and Neptune--two of the most mysterious objects in the universe due to the fact that the planets have been experiencing diamond rain. Or so astronomers and physicists have suspected for years.
Uranus and Neptune are known for their blue colour. The blue colour is due to the presence of methane in their atmosphere.
Methane has carbon in it. When this carbon is subjected to extreme temperature and pressure conditions on these planets, diamonds are formed.
The accumulated diamonds become heavy and rain down in the atmosphere.
The idea of diamond rain was first introduced by Marvin Ross in 1981 in an article titled "The Ice Layer of Uranus and Neptune—Diamonds in the Sky?"

Share on

TCY Analytics (View Subscription Plans)

Subscribe to GK Updates

I want to receive

GK Tags

July GK, June GK, May GK, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, ENVIRONMENT, BUSINESS AND ECONOMY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, SPORTS, NATIONAL AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, PERSONS IN NEWS, DAYS AND EVENTS, AWARDS AND HONOURS, GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES, GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION, ART AND CULTURE, BOOKS AND AUTHORS, TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS, ART AND CULTURE, LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Start Discussion

On any topic

Take Tests

Compiled from GK updates

Login

Sign Up

Forgot Password

Download TCY App

Unlock All Services And Enjoy The Premium Benefits

US$ 10

US$ 13

US$ 15

US$ 17

US$ 19

US$ 20

US$ 21

US$ 22

US$ 23

US$ 24

US$ 25

US$ 26