General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - April 2023

Apr 2023

Jan 22, 2026

Sunita Williams retires after 27 years with NASA; records set in space

End-December 2025 marked the retirement of NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, after a distinguished 27-year career with the United States space agency. Williams, who is 60 years old, completed three missions aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and accumulated 608 days in space, the second-highest among NASA astronauts. She conducted nine spacewalks totaling 62 hours and 6 minutes, making her the astronaut with the most spacewalk time among American women. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman praised her trailblazing leadership and contributions to exploration and commercial missions beyond low Earth orbit. A post-career reflection highlighted Williams’ role in inspiring future generations.

Career duration and retirement: 27 years at NASA; retirement end of December 2025
Space time: 608 days in space (second-most for NASA astronauts)
Spacewalks: 9 walks totaling 62 hours 6 minutes
Notable achievement: extended leadership aboard ISS
Legacy: influential figure in future space exploration and commercialization

Iron bar observed in Ring Nebula hints at planetary remnants

La Palma, 22 January 2026 — Astronomers using the WEAVE instrument on the William Herschel Telescope in La Palma reported a large cloud of iron atoms forming a bar across the Ring Nebula, a well-known planetary nebula. The bar stretches about 3.7 trillion miles (6 trillion kilometers). The team suggests the iron bar could be debris from a rocky planet vaporized during the star’s late evolutionary stage, though this remains speculative. The finding adds a new dimension to the study of stellar death and planetary system fate. Further observations are planned to confirm the structure and origin of the iron bar.

Discovery: Iron bar in Ring Nebula observed with WEAVE
Scale: Bar ~3.7 trillion miles (6 trillion km) long
Hypothesis: Iron bar may be remnants of a rocky planet
Location: Ring Nebula, Milky Way
Next steps: Additional observations to confirm origin

Jan 21, 2026

Japan restarts Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant on 21 January 2026

Japan restarted the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant on 21 January 2026, the world's largest by output, marking the first restart since the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The governor of Niigata approved the restart last month amid ongoing safety concerns among residents. The plant’s operator indicated resumed operations would help stabilize Japan’s energy supply and price levels, while regulators emphasised continued safety oversight. The restart signals a major step in Japan’s energy policy, balancing energy security and environmental considerations while managing public trust in nuclear power amidst a broader decarbonisation agenda.

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa resumes operation on 21 January 2026.
First restart since Fukushima; Niigata governor approved prior.
Operator cites energy security and supply benefits.
Regulators promise ongoing safety oversight and public engagement.

Sunita Williams retires after 600+ days in space

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams retires after a 27-year career with the space agency. Her retirement took effect at the end of December 2025, NASA announced on 21 January 2026. Williams spent 608 days in space across three International Space Station missions, the second-longest cumulative time by a NASA astronaut, and performed nine spacewalks totaling 62 hours and 6 minutes. She also became the first person to run a marathon in space. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman described her as a trailblazer who helped shape future space exploration and commercial missions in low Earth orbit. Williams’ leadership left a lasting imprint on U.S. human spaceflight.

Williams retired effective December 2025; announcement 21 January 2026.
Total space time: 608 days across three ISS missions.
Nine spacewalks totaling 62 hours and 6 minutes.
First person to run a marathon in space.
NASA calls her a trailblazer for human spaceflight.

Jan 20, 2026

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla inaugurates virtual reality theatre on space exploration in New D...

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla today inaugurated the Virtual Reality Theatre and Panel Exhibition titled From Earth to Orbit: Exploring space together in New Delhi. Shukla shared experiences from the Axiom-4 mission, including life in space, astronaut training, and the challenges of orbital operations. He interacted with around 400 students from different schools, encouraging them to pursue careers in space and technology. He stressed that young minds will play a crucial role in shaping the future of space exploration and Indian contributions to human spaceflight, international missions, and global scientific collaboration. The panel exhibition remains open to the public from today, highlighting India’s space ambitions.

Inauguration by Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla
Event features spaceflight experiences and training insights
About 400 students engaged from multiple schools
Emphasis on youth roles in space exploration
Exhibition open to the public from Jan 20

C-DOT’s Cell Broadcast Solution awarded SKOCH Award 2025 for disaster alert system

The Centre for Development of Telematics (C‑DOT) received the SKOCH Award 2025 for its Cell Broadcast Solution (CBS), presented at the 104th SKOCH Summit themed Resourcing Viksit Bharat. CBS is an indigenous platform for near real‑time disaster alerts via cellular networks. It integrates agencies such as IMD, Central Water Commission, INCOIS, Defence Geo‑informatics Research Establishment, and Forest Survey of India, and collaborates with mobile operators and State Disaster Management Authorities for rapid dissemination. CBS supports 21 Indian languages and aligns with international early‑warning frameworks to enhance disaster risk reduction.

CBS awarded SKOCH Award 2025
Indigenous near‑real‑time disaster alert system
Integrates IMD, CWC, INCOIS, DGRE, FSI
Works with mobile operators and State DMAs
Supports 21 Indian languages and UN/ITU frameworks

Jan 19, 2026

Central University of Karnataka Wins IEEE MAPCON Best Large Chapter

The Central University of Karnataka earned the Best Large Chapter Award at IEEE MAPCON 2025 in Kochi, recognizing its IEEE MTT-S Student Branch. The conference drew participants from 45 countries with over 1,800 delegates and more than 250 experts. Inaugurated by ISRO and NASA collaborators, the event featured sessions led by university faculty and students. Dean Paramesha and Nrusingha C. Pradhan attended as chairs; Pradhan received a travel grant of ₹1.52 lakh for his contribution. The award highlights the university s strong technical activities and international research engagement.

Award: Best Large Chapter, IEEE MAPCON 2025
Institution: Central University of Karnataka
Event: Kochi, 45 countries, 1,800+ delegates
Notable attendees: ISRO, NASA partners
Prize: ₹1.52 lakh travel grant

NASA Rolls SLS to Launchpad for Artemis II Moon Mission

NASA rolled the Space Launch System rocket toward its launchpad for Artemis II, marking readiness for a crewed moon mission after Artemis I. The 322 foot tall vehicle moved on its mobile platform, a 4 mile crawl to the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center. Artemis II aims for a 10 day lunar journey with four astronauts aboard. A wet dress rehearsal planned four days before launch will test countdown procedures. Three launch windows exist through April, with February 6 as the earliest possible date. The schedule will depend on rehearsal outcomes and Crew-12 mission considerations.

Vehicle: Space Launch System rocket
Crew: four astronauts
Launch window options: Feb 6 to Apr 11, Mar 3–11, or Apr 1–6
Critical test: wet dress rehearsal
Next steps: Crew-12 coordination

Google Unveils TranslateGemma Open Translation Models for 55 Languages

Google released TranslateGemma, a set of open source translation models covering 55 languages. The collection comes in three sizes—4B, 12B, and 27B parameters—to run on devices from smartphones to cloud servers. The 12B model outperforms Google's 27B baseline on the WMT24++ benchmark while using less than half the computing power. For developers, this means offline high quality translation on a laptop is feasible. The 4B version matches the 12B baseline, making offline translation practical for mobile apps. Gemma 3 was fine tuned on a mixture of human translations and synthetic data from Gemini, with a second training phase using reinforcement learning to improve naturalness.

Models support 55 languages including major and low-resource options
Sizes: 4B, 12B, 27B parameters
12B outperforms 27B on WMT24++ with lower compute
Offline translation possible on laptops and mobile devices
Available on Kaggle and Hugging Face

Jan 18, 2026

Tamil Nadu signs ₹10,000‑crore MoU for Sovereign AI Park

Tamil Nadu signed an MoU with Sarvam AI to establish India’s first full‑stack Sovereign AI Park with an initial investment of ₹10,000 crore. The park will create about 1,000 high‑skilled jobs and function as a sovereign AI district with secure data, compute and governance labs. The project aims to keep data and models within a trusted state boundary, addressing ethical and security concerns. The MoU was signed in the presence of Chief Minister M. K. Stalin and other officials, setting a model for state‑led artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Project: Sovereign AI Park (TN & Sarvam AI)
Investment: ₹10,000 crore
Jobs: ~1,000 high‑skilled roles
Features: sovereign compute, data, governance labs
Goal: state‑led, data‑trusted AI ecosystem

AP FIRST Research Centre approved in Tirupati

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu approved the AP FIRST project, to establish a Futuristic Innovation and Research Centre in Tirupati. The facility aims to align education, aerospace, defence and IT sectors with future workforce needs. Officials from the Drone Corporation attended the meeting, highlighting skill development and industry partnerships. The project supports long‑term growth by building research, development and upskilling capabilities for the state’s youth and technology ecosystems.

Project: AP FIRST Research Centre
Location: Tirupati
Aims: future workforce in aerospace, defence, IT
Partners: Drone Corporation and industry players
Impact: skills, R&D, and industry alignment

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