General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - January 2019

Jan 2019

May 23, 2022

NatGeo Installs World's Highest Weather Station on Mt. Everest

National Geographic Society installed the "world's highest weather station" on Mount Everest at an altitude of 8,830 metres to automatically measure various meteorological phenomena.
The weather monitoring system, powered by solar energy, is supposed to measure various meteorological phenomena like air temperature, wind speed and direction, air pressure, change in surface height of snow, and incoming and outgoing short and longwave radiation.
The NatGeo team, led by climate scientist Baker Perry from the Appalachian State University in the US, consisted of climbers and scientists, many of whom scaled the world's highest peak while installing the weather station. The team spent a month near Everest and also carried out the maintenance of other stations, including a station at South Col.

Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace Successfully Test Fires Engine of Vikram-1 Rocket

Private sector rocket maker Skyroot Aerospace Private Ltd successfully tested its Vikram-1 rocket's third stage/engine. Named 'Kalam-100' after renowned Indian rocket scientist Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the third stage of Vikram-1 produces a peak vacuum thrust of 100 kN (about10 tons) and has a burn time of 108 seconds.
The rocket stage is built with high-strength carbon fiber structure, solid fuel, Ethylene-Propylene-Diene terpolymers (EPDM) thermal protection system, and carbon ablative nozzle. The rocket stage/engine has no moving parts and a high level of automation in manufacturing.
The rocket's stage was tested at the facilities of Solar Industries India Ltd, one of the investors in Skyroot. This is the largest rocket stage ever designed, manufactured, and tested completely in the Indian private sector.

May 21, 2022

Blue Origin Delays May 20 Space Tourist Launch

Jeff Bezos space venture Blue Origin delayed its fifth tourist flight to space. The company in a statement said its NS-21 faced some vehicle issues. The company has not announced the new target launch date. NS-21 is expected to fly six customer astronauts. Echazarreta will become the first Mexican-born woman and youngest American woman to fly to space, while Hespanha will be the second Brazilian to fly to space.
The typical 11-minute flight aims to carry the crew members far above the Karman line -- an internationally recognised boundary of space that lies 62 miles (100 km) above the Earth's surface. The company conducted its fourth human flight to the edge of space with six people in March 2022.

May 19, 2022

Full Lunar Eclipse Creates Rare Super Blood Moon

Millions of people across the world were able to see the reddish glow of a rare and spectacular show in the sky — a lunar eclipse known as a "super flower blood moon." This rare event happens only when a series of conditions are at play. Along with there being a total lunar eclipse — when Earth is directly between the moon and the sun — the full moon must also be at its closest point to Earth, known as a "super moon." The full moon in May is sometimes known as the flower moon since spring is in bloom in the Northern Hemisphere. The moon appears "blood red" when the eclipse reaches totality.
While only parts of the world were able to see the dazzling astronomical event, it was a sight to remember.

SpaceX Launches Starlink Satellites from California

A SpaceX rocket carried 53 satellites for the Starlink internet constellation into orbit after blasting off from California. The Falcon 9 booster lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base and minutes later the first stage landed on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean while the second stage continued toward low Earth orbit. SpaceX later tweeted that the satellites were successfully deployed.
Starlink is a space-based system that SpaceX has been building for years to bring internet access to underserved areas of the world. Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX has hundreds of Starlink satellites orbiting Earth at an altitude of 340 miles (550 kilometres).

May 18, 2022

Scientists Grow Plants in Soil from Moon

For the first time, scientists have grown plants in lunar soil brought back by astronauts in the Apollo missions. It is a step towards producing food and oxygen on the Moon. Researchers designed a simple experiment: plant seeds in lunar soil, add water, nutrients and light, and record the results.
Researchers had no idea whether anything would sprout in the harsh moon dirt and wanted to see whether it could be used to grow food by the next generation of lunar explorers. The results stunned them.

Ransomware Gang Threatens to overthrow Costa Rica Government

A ransomware gang that infiltrated some Costa Rican government computer systems upped its threat, saying its goal is now to overthrow the government. The Russian-speaking Conti gang attacked Costa Rica in April 2022, accessing multiple critical systems in the finance ministry, including customs and tax collection.
Other government systems were also affected and not all are fully functioning. President Rodrigo Chaves declared a state of emergency over the attack as soon as he was sworn in May 2022. The US state department offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the identification or location of Conti leaders. Conti responded by writing, "We are determined to overthrow the government by means of a cyber attack, we have already shown you all the strength and power, you have introduced an emergency. " The gang also said it was raising the ransom demand to $20 million. It called on Costa Ricans to pressure their government to pay.

May 17, 2022

ISRO Successfully Tests Human-rated HS200 Solid Rocket for Gaganyaan

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully completed the static test of the human-rated solid rocket booster (HS200) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota The test was for ISRO's Gaganyaan programme. The booster engine is part of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MkIII (GSLV Mk III) rocket that will carry Indian astronauts to space. The GSLV MK III rocket is a three-staged vehicle. The first stage is powered by solid fuel, the second by liquid fuel and the third is the cryogenic stage powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
India's first manned space flight mission - 'Gaganyaan' - is expected to launch in 2023.

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