General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - December 2018

Dec 2018

Apr 22, 2021

NASA's Mars Rover Makes Oxygen on another Planet

According to US space agency, NASA has logged another extraterrestrial first on its latest mission to Mars: converting carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into pure, breathable oxygen.
The unprecedented extraction of oxygen, literally out of thin air on Mars, was achieved by an experimental device aboard Perseverance, a six-wheeled science rover that landed on the Red Planet in February after a seven-month journey from Earth.
In its first activation, the toaster-sized instrument dubbed MOXIE, short for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilisation Experiment, produced about 5 grams of oxygen, equivalent to roughly 10 minutes' worth of breathing for an astronaut. Although the initial output was modest, the feat marked the first experimental extraction of a natural resource from the environment of another planet for direct use by humans.

Microsoft Building New App Store for Windows 10

Microsoft is reportedly working on a new app store for Windows 10 that will introduce a modern and fluid user interface, as well as bring changes to the policies that govern what kind of apps can be submitted to the store by developers.
The new store will feature a new user interface (UI) and big policy changes for app developers.
The new app store will follow the same design refresh that the rest of Windows is following with Sun Valley, which is expected to ship towards the end of this year.

Apr 20, 2021

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity Takes Flight, 1st for another Planet

NASA's experimental Mars helicopter 'Ingenuity' rose from the dusty red surface into the thin air, achieving the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.
The triumph was hailed as a Wright Brothers moment. The mini 4-pound (1.8-kg) copter named Ingenuity, in fact, carried a bit of wing fabric from the 1903 Wright Flyer, which made similar history at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Flight controllers in California confirmed Ingenuity's brief hop after receiving data via the Perseverance rover, which stood watch more than 200 feet (65 metres) away. Ingenuity hitched a ride to Mars on Perseverance.

Apr 19, 2021

NASA Scientists May Detect Extra-terrestrial Life Soon with New Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), to be launched this October, could feasibly detect ammonia around six gas dwarf planets after just a few orbits, thus detecting a potential signature of life on other planets in as little as 60 hours.
Gas dwarf planets have the potential to foster life.
Since none of these super-Earths or mini-Neptunes exist within our solar system, scientists struggle to determine whether their atmospheres contain ammonia and other potential signs of living things.
The telescope is the world`s largest, most powerful, and complex space science telescope ever built.
It is designed to help in solving the mysteries of our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mystifying structures and origins of our universe.

Apr 18, 2021

SpaceX Wins NASA Contract to Build Commercial Moon Lander

NASA has picked Elon Musk's SpaceX to develop the first commercial lander and take the next two US astronauts to the moon.
The contract is worth $2.9 billion and is part of NASA's Artemis programme, which aims to return astronauts to the moon by 2024 as a stepping stone to the first human mission to Mars.
SpaceX had been competing against Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' private space company Blue Origin and defence contractor Dynetics.

Apr 17, 2021

NASA Set to Launch SpaceX Crew-2 from International Space Station

US space agency NASA is set to launch SpaceX Crew Dragon second flight to the International Space Station on April 22.
The Crew-2 with four astronauts on board, will lift-off on April 22, from Launch Complex 39A at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Crew-2 flight will carry NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur – who will serve as the mission's spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively -- along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronauta-Akihikoa-Hoshidea-and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomasa-Pesquet, who will serve as mission specialists to the space station.
The Crew-2 astronauts will remain aboard the space station for approximately six months as expedition crew members, along with three crewmates who will launch via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

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