General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - December 2018

Dec 2018

Aug 27, 2024

NASA Launches a Satellite to Track Methane Emissions

Tanager-1, the Carbon Mapper Coalition's first satellite, which carries a state-of-the-art, NASA-designed greenhouse-gas-tracking instrument, lifting off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The satellite will use imaging spectrometer technology developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to measure methane and carbon dioxide point-source emissions, down to the level of individual facilities and equipment, on a global scale. Tanager-1 was developed as part of a philanthropically funded public-private coalition led by the nonprofit Carbon Mapper. Planet Labs PBC, which built Tanager-1, and JPL are both members of the Carbon Mapper Coalition and plan to launch a second Tanager satellite equipped with a JPL-built imaging spectrometer at a later date.

Aug 26, 2024

India Welcomes First Civilian Space Tourist Gopichand Thotakura

Gopichand Thotakura, India's first civilian space tourist, received a warm welcome in Delhi upon his return on August 26, 2024. Thotakura made history by joining Blue Origin's New Shepard-25 (NS-25) mission, founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, becoming the second Indian citizen to travel to space after Rakesh Sharma's 1984 mission. His trip lasted about ten minutes, reaching a maximum altitude of 105 km.
Thotakura's journey marks a significant milestone as the first Indian space tourist. During the NS-25 mission, he and five other crew members enjoyed a brief yet memorable spaceflight. The experience offered Thotakura a unique perspective on Earth, enhancing his appreciation for space and the need to protect our planet.

Aug 25, 2024

Astronomers Introduce Black Hole Finder for Citizens to Find Newly-Formed Cosmic Gas Giants

Astronomers took a very interesting initiative and introduced an application, known as Black Hole Finder, which can help citizens spot newly-formed black holes.
The app was launched by the Dutch Black Hole Consortium in eight languages and is now available for citizens to use worldwide. Earlier, it was only available in Dutch and English, but now, the makers have added Spanish, German, Chinese, Bengali, Polish, and Italian which has widened the reach of this app.
Space enthusiasts across the world have been appealed to help scientists identify the sources which are interesting and should be followed up, which is known as potential kilonovas.

India Launches its 1st Reusable Hybrid Rocket 'RHUMI-1'

India launched its first reusable hybrid rocket 'RHUMI- 1', developed by the Tamil Nadu-based start-up Space Zone India with Martin Group, from Thiruvidandhai in Chennai.
The rocket, carrying 3 Cube Satellites and 50 PICO Satellites, was launched into a suborbital trajectory using a mobile launcher.
These satellites will be collecting data for research purposes on Global warming and Climate change. RHUMI Rocket is equipped with a generic-fuel-based hybrid motor and electrically triggered parachute deployer, RHUMI is 100% pyrotechnic-free and 0% TNT.

Aug 24, 2024

ISRO: Chandrayaan-4 Design Final, Samples from Moon by 2027

The designs of India's next mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-4, which will bring rock and soil samples back to the Earth, was finalised, and will most likely happen in 2027, said ISRO chairman S. Somanath said on the occasion of National Space Day.
The Chandrayaan-4 spacecraft will have five separate modules, officials said. The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which made a historic landing near the South Pole of the Moon, had three modules — the propulsion module (or the engine), a lander and a rover.

Aug 23, 2024

Chandrayaan-3 Reveals Stunning New Detail about Moon from Shiva Shakti Point

As India marked its first National Space Day on August 23, commemorating the historic landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon's South Pole last year (2023), scientists unveiled a groundbreaking discovery from the mission's data.
A team led by Santosh Vadawale from the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad revealed new insights into the lunar surface composition near the landing site.
The study showed that the lunar regolith around the landing site has a uniform elemental composition, primarily consisting of ferroan anorthosite rock, a product of the lunar magma ocean (LMO) crystallisation.
This discovery supports the lunar magma ocean (LMO) hypothesis, which suggests that the Moon's mantle formed as heavier materials sank inward while lighter rocks floated to the surface.
Interestingly, the chemical makeup of the regolith near the South Pole closely matches soil samples from equatorial and mid-latitude regions, further supporting the LMO theory. The presence of additional Mg-rich materials indicates a mixing of outer crustal material with deeper lunar layers.

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