General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - January 2020

Jan 2020

Jul 29, 2020

World's Largest Nuclear Fusion Project

The world's biggest nuclear fusion project has entered its five-year assembly phase.
After this is finished, the facility will be able to start generating the super-hot "plasma" required for fusion power.
The £18.2bn (€20bn; $23.5bn) facility has been under construction in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, southern France.
Advocates say that fusion could be a source of clean, unlimited power that would help tackle the climate crisis.
Iter is a collaboration between China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the US. All members share in the cost of construction.

Airbus to Build First Interplanetary Cargo Ship

Airbus-France will build the huge satellite that brings the first Martian rock samples back to Earth.
This material will be drilled on the Red Planet by the US space agency's next rover, Perseverance, before being blasted into orbit by a rocket.
It'll be the Airbus satellite's job to grab the packaged samples and then ship them home.
The joint American-European project is expected to cost billions and take just over a decade to implement.
But scientists say that it is probably the best way to confirm whether life has ever existed on the Red Planet.
Any evidence is likely to be controversial and will need the powerful analytical tools only found in Earth laboratories to convince the doubters, the researchers argue.

Jul 28, 2020

'Mausam' App for Weather Forecasts

In the event of celebration of 14th Foundation day of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Earth Sciences launched the mobile app "Mausam" designed and developed by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune and the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
India has the best weather service in the world for disaster management with accurate warnings on tropical cyclones, heat waves and floods.
The mobile based application will provide weather forecasts, nowcast and warning for various cities and locations.
The application is available for both Android and iOS platforms.
The app will provide information on current weather with temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction for around 200 cities.
The information on the app will be updated 8 times a day.

Jul 27, 2020

DST launches Rs. 15 Crore Fund to Support India-Russia Cross-country Technology Adaptation

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the Ministry of Science and Technology launched a joint India-Russia Joint Technology Assessment and Accelerated Commercialisation Programme in partnership with Russia's Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE). On the Indian side, the programme will be implemented and funded by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) on behalf of the DST.
The objective of this bilateral initiative is to strengthen the Science, Technology and Innovation ties between the two countries by connecting Indian, and Russian Science & Technology (S&T) led Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and Start-ups for joint development through Research and Development (R&D) along with technology adaptation.
The programme will run through two annual cycles and top five selected Indian and Russian partners will be provided partial funding support. DST will fund up to Rs. 15 crores to Indian SMEs/Start-ups and FASIE will provide similar funding to the Russian projects. The remaining cost will be borne by partners.

Jul 25, 2020

Space Start-up Digantara Selected for SID Incubation Program by IISc

A Space start-up namely Digantara Research and Technology (DRT) which developed India's first in-orbit space debris monitoring and tracking system that works on LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology has been selected by SID (Society for Innovation and Development) incubation program at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore. In this regard, the start-up has received a grant of Rs. 25 lakh which will be used to develop space debris monitoring systems and the company's expansion.
The In-orbit Space Debris Monitoring and tracking system provides global real-time earth coverage by deploying a constellation of cost-efficient nanosatellites in LEO (Low Earth Orbit) and a space-based air surveillance payload for accurate tracking of both aircraft and space objects.
Digantara will also help international space agencies to track and map the space debris and minimise the major threat to the future of space exploration.
The startup is planning to establish a small satellite assembly line and production unit to develop small satellites to build a satellite constellation which in turn will help India to achieve indigenous space surveillance system as a part of self-reliant India (Atma Nirbhar Bharat).
It is founded by Anirudh Sharma and Rahul Rawat.
Headquarters are in Kotdwara, Uttarakhand.

Jul 24, 2020

Facebook Rolls Out 'App Lock' for Messenger to Protect Users' Privacy

Facebook announced new privacy and security features for Messenger including App lock, which enables users to add another layer of security.
With App lock, users can lock Messenger and it will require an authentication method like Face ID or Touch ID to open it.
App Lock uses your device's privacy settings like fingerprint or face authentication to unlock the Messenger app, and your touch or face ID is not transmitted to or stored by Facebook," Sullivan added.
As of now, the feature is only available on iPhone and iPad. It will come to Android in the next few months.

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