General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - June 2019

Jun 2019

Aug 28, 2020

IIT Alumni Council to Build World's Largest & Fastest Hybrid Quantum Computer

The Indian Institute of Technology's Alumni Council signed an agreement with Lomonosov Moscow State University and Russoft to access and transfer key technologies from Russia to build the world's largest and fastest hybrid quantum computer in India.
The objective of the agreement is to use technology in the areas of healthcare, agriculture, transport and logistics, pollution and weather forecast to achieve the mission of Atmanirbhar Bharat.
The agreement with Russia is the first step to aggregate global key technologies from front runners.
Under the agreement, the Russian state-owned companies will transfer critical modules in cryogenics, cryptography and modularised cloud management technology to IIT Alumni Council. The deal with the companies, which are key Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) owners, are part of the Quantum Mission.
Quantum Computing, which is several million times faster than the largest supercomputer in India, will make existing supercomputers obsolete.

Aug 27, 2020

Astronaut Jeanette Epps to Become First Black Woman to Join ISS Crew

Astronaut Jeanette Epps is set to create history by becoming the first black woman to serve as an International Space Station (ISS) crew member. Epss has been selected by NASA for a 2021 mission aboard Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.
According to NASA, Epps will join astronauts Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada for a six-month expedition to the ISS.
The first operational crewed flight of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is likely to takeoff in 2021 and it will follow NASA certification after a successful uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 and Crew Flight Test with astronauts.

Aug 25, 2020

China Launches Fifth Gaofen-9 Series Earth Observation Satellite

China launched its latest Gaofen-9 Earth observation satellite and two smaller payloads from the Jiuquan launch center.
The Long March 2D rocket carrying the satellites lifted off from Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) confirmed (Chinese) the launch, mission success and the payloads.
The Gaofen-9 (05) optical remote sensing satellite follows the launch of the third Gaofen-9 satellite in June and the fourth earlier this month. Previous satellites were capable of providing sub-meter resolution imagery.
Also sent into orbit was Tiantuo-5, a small satellite developed by the National University of Defense Technology. Tiantuo satellites are experimental satellites carrying remote sensing and other payloads including AIS receivers.
The Aerospace Dongfanghong Satellite Co., Ltd, part of China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), a major CASC subsidiary, developed the Gaofen-9 satellite. Another CASC entity, the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) provided the Long March 2D launcher.
Gaofen satellites are nominally part of the civilian China High-resolution Earth Observation System (CHEOS). Land surveying, urban planning, road network design, agriculture and disaster relief are noted as the major uses of Gaofen satellites.

Aug 24, 2020

IIT Bombay, Shiv Nadar Researchers Develop Environment Friendly Lithium Batteries

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and Shiv Nadar University claim to have developed a technology for production of environment friendly Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) batteries which will be three times more energy efficient and cost effective than Lithium-ion batteries commonly used at present.
According to the team, the Li-S battery technology leverages principles of green chemistry, incorporating usage of by-products from the petroleum industry (Sulfur), agro-waste elements and copolymers such as cardanol (a by-product of cashew nut processing) and eugenol (clove oil) as cathodic materials.
The researchers said the technology has the potential to aid multi-billion dollar industries including tech gadgets, drones, electric vehicles (EV) and several more that depend on such batteries.
Lochab's team has partnered with Sagar Mitra, IIT Bombay's Professor in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering, to use the research for the development of a Li-S battery prototype.

Aug 23, 2020

ISRO's Chandrayaan 2 Identifies Craters that May have Water

Space agencies and private companies all over the world have their eyes set on the Moon as the next hub of human habitation. This includes the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It has found areas water could be right below the lunar surface, landing sites for future missions and what's hidden on the far side of the Moon over last one year.
The orbiter was successfully injected into orbit on August 20. The eight the eight instruments onboard have been scouting the lunar surface for information and clues that could set the stage for further moon exploration.
Even though the space agency did not share how much data was sent back to Earth, nearly half of it was from the Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) and Chandrayaan-2 Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS).
According to ISRO, the orbiter has enough fuel to continue its orbit around the Moon for another seven years. The data that it has collected so far will be made public by year-end.

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