General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - December 2018

Dec 2018

Jul 07, 2022

Scientists Discover Material that Can Convert Infrared Light to Renewable Energy

Scientists discovered a novel material that can emit, detect and modulate infrared light with high efficiency, making it useful for solar and thermal energy harvesting as well as for optical communication devices.
The discovery has significant potential in the strategic arena of defence and space as well as the power sector.
Researchers discovered a material called single-crystalline scandium nitride (ScN) that can emit, detect, and modulate infrared light with high efficiency.
The team comprised experts from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Centre for Nano Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science and the University of Sydney.

Russia Signs Pact for Supplying Tech for Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant

LUCH Scientific Production Association (part of Science and Innovations JSC, R&D Unit of Rosatom State Corporation, Russian nuclear major) signed an agreement to supply thermocouples for four power units of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu.
High-accuracy resistance thermocouples are a critical element of the in-reactor control system, their stable functioning ensures safe operation of nuclear reactor equipment. These thermocouples are primary temperature measuring transducers designed to measure the temperature of the coolant in the "hot" and "cold" string of the main circulation pipeline under conditions of external influencing factors.
In total, the enterprise will supply 200 units of resistance thermocouples labelled TSPT 5963.

Jul 06, 2022

India's Supercomputing Capabilities Fall behind its Peers

From having two of the top 100 supercomputers in the world in 2020, the country now has none in that bracket, and only three in the top 500, according to a global ranking service for the fastest supercomputers in the world, called Top 500.
India's first supercomputer, PARAM 8000, was set up in 1990. Param Siddhi, which offers a peak performance of 5.27 PFlops, had the distinction of being ranked as the 63rd fastest supercomputer in the world when it was launched in November 2020, according to the Top 500 global ranking service. It has since slipped to the 111th spot.
Similarly, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology's (IITM) Pratyush supercomputer, which used to be in the top 100, is now ranked 132. Overall, India has three supercomputers in the top 500's overall list. China and the US account for nearly two-thirds of the top 500 supercomputers in the world, with 173 and 128 of the 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world, respectively.

China Targets Venus, Sun, Moon in Next Phase of Space Exploration

After successfully roving on Mars, collecting samples from the Moon and constructing a Space Station, China has its eyes set on deep horizons in space. The Chinese Academy of Science is gearing up to select big-ticket missions to further study the Sun, Moon, Earth and exoplanets.
The New Horizons Program, conceived by China, has selected 13 candidates from a list of proposals submitted under four broad fields of space astronomy and astrophysics, exoplanets, heliophysics and planetary and Earth science.
Among the 13, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) committee is likely to green light at least five missions as part of the third Strategic Priority Program (SPP III) project.
The selection and priority list of these missions is expected to be ready by the end of this year.

Jul 02, 2022

NASA Launches CAPSTONE to Evaluate New Orbit for Artemis Moon Missions

The first leg of NASA's CubeSat mission to the Moon was successfully completed in space. It was built to test a novel lunar orbit.
The spacecraft moved towards a still-developing, lunar space station, named Getaway constructed by NASA alongside its international and commercial partners which in turn supports the astronaut missions and Artemis program of the space administration.
The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, mission was launched on Rocket Lab's Electron rocket from the Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand.
CAPSTONE is an example of how working with commercial partners is key for NASA's ambitious plans to explore the Moon and beyond.

Jul 01, 2022

ISRO to Launch Rocket PSLV-C53, Carrying Three Singapore Satellites

In its second successful mission within a week, ISRO launched three foreign satellites in precise orbit.
PSLV-C53 is the second dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO. It had on June 23 launched GSAT-24 in its first "demand-driven" communication satellite mission post space sector reforms, leasing the entire capacity on board to Direct-to-Home (DTH) service provider Tata Play.

Jun 30, 2022

Chinese Spacecraft Acquires Images of Entire Planet of Mars

An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft has acquired imagery data covering all of Mars, including visuals of its South Pole, after circling the planet more than 1,300 times since early 2021.
China's Tianwen-1 successfully reached the Red Planet in February 2021 on the country's inaugural mission there. A robotic rover has since been deployed on the surface as an orbiter surveyed the planet from space.
Among the images taken from space were China's first photographs of the Martian South Pole, where almost all of the planet's water resources are locked.

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