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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - January 2019

Jan 2019

Jan 16, 2022

China Builds 'Artificial Moon' for Gravity Experiment

Chinese scientists have built an "artificial moon" research facility that will enable them to simulate low-gravity environments using magnetism.
The facility, slated for official launch this year, will use powerful magnetic fields inside a 2-foot-diameter (60 centimeters) vacuum chamber to make gravity "disappear." The scientists were inspired by an earlier experiment that used magnets to levitate a frog.
Scientists plan to use the facility to test technology in prolonged low-gravity environments before it is sent to the moon, where gravity is just one-sixth of its strength on Earth. This will allow them to iron out any costly technical kinks, as well as test whether certain structures will survive on the moon's surface and assess the viability of a human settlement there.

Jan 15, 2022

ISRO Successfully Tests Cryogenic Engine for Gaganyaan Rocket

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully conducted the qualification test of Cryogenic Engine for Gaganyaan programme for a duration of 720 seconds at ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu. According to the space agency, the performance of the engine met the test objectives and the engine parameters were closely matching with the predictions during the entire duration of the test.
This successful long-duration test is a major milestone for the Human Space Programme – Gaganyaan. It ensures the reliability and robustness of the cryogenic engine for induction into the human-rated launch vehicle for Gaganyaan. Further, this engine will undergo four more tests for a cumulative duration of 1810 seconds. Subsequently, one more engine will undergo two short-duration tests & one long-duration test to complete the cryogenic engine qualification for Gaganyaan Programme.

Physicists Discover New Type of 'Strange Metal'

A team of physicists from the United States and China detected the unexpected signatures of strange metallicity in a material in which electrical charge is carried not by electrons, but by more 'wave-like' entities called Cooper pairs.
Strange metals, also known as non-Fermi liquids, are a class of materials that do not follow the traditional electrical rules.
Their behavior was first discovered around 30 years ago in materials called cuprates.
These copper-oxide materials are most famous for being high-temperature superconductors, meaning they conduct electricity with zero resistance at temperatures far above that of normal superconductors.

Jan 14, 2022

Nearby Elliptical Galaxy Hosts At Least 1,900 Globular Clusters

A research team led by University of Arizona's Steward Observatory astronomers presents a new catalog of 40,502 globular cluster candidates in Centaurus A, an elliptical galaxy located 13 million light-years away in the constellation of Centaurus, recommending follow-up observations focused on a set of 1,900 that are most likely to be true globular clusters.
Centaurus A is a visually stunning, elliptical galaxy featuring a relativistic jet spewing from a supermassive black hole at its center and spectacular streams of scattered stars left behind by past collisions and mergers with smaller galaxies orbiting Centaurus A.
Also known as NGC 5128, the galaxy is too far away to allow astronomers to see individual stars, but star clusters can be identified as such and used as fossil evidence of the galaxy's tumultuous evolution.

Huge Nursery for Icefish Discovered Beneath Weddell Sea in Antarctica

Scientists onboard an icebreaker in Antarctica were blown away when they spied a trove of 60 million icefish nests dotting the floor of the Weddell Sea. The bonanza of nurseries — each guarded by a ghostly looking parent — represents the largest known breeding colony of fish.
One of the ship's missions was to monitor the seafloor of the Weddell Sea.

Jan 12, 2022

Mini-Super massive Black Hole in Star-Forming Dwarf Galaxy

According to new research led by Dartmouth College astrophysicists, a super massive black hole with 200,000 solar masses is located in the middle of the dwarf galaxy Markarian 462 (Mrk 462).
Mrk 462 lies approximately 110 million light-years away in the constellation of Canes Venatici.
Otherwise known as ECO 6421, IRAS Z13493+4027 and LEDA 49191, this dwarf galaxy contains only a few hundred million stars, which means it holds about a hundred times fewer stars than a massive galaxy like the Milky Way.
Black holes are notoriously hard to find in dwarf galaxies because they are usually too small and dim for optical light telescopes to track the rapid motions of stars in the centers.
The black hole in Mrk 462 is among the smallest of the super massive, or monster, black holes.

Jan 10, 2022

China's Chang'e 5 Lunar Probe Finds First on-site Evidence of Water on Moon's Surface

China's Chang'e 5 lunar lander found the first-ever on-site evidence of water on the surface of the moon, lending new evidence to the dryness of the satellite.
The study revealed that the lunar soil at the landing site contains less than 120 parts-per-million (ppm) water or 120 grams water per ton, and a light, vesicular rock carries 180 ppm, which are much drier than that on Earth.
The presence of water had been confirmed by remote observation but the lander has now detected signs of water in rocks and soil.
A device on-board the lunar lander measured the spectral reflectance of the regolith and the rock and detected water on the spot for the first time.

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