Category: Tech

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) of US Space Agency NASA completed its primary mission of imaging 75% of the starry sky as a part of a two-year long survey. While capturing images, it has found 66 new exoplanets or worlds beyond our solar system. A team of nearly 2100 astronomers is working to confirm this. Patricia Boyd, the project scientist for TESS at NASA’s Goddard Flight Space Research Center said, “The satellite is producing a torrent of highquality observations providing valuable data across a wide range of science topics”. TESS monitored sectors with a dimension of 24 by 96 degrees of the sky for about a month using its four cameras.

It observed 13 sectors during its first year of operations comprising of the southern sky and spent next year imaging the northern sky. In its extended mission, it will resume surveying the south. Moreover, the TESS team also introduced some improvements in the process of collecting data. Its cameras can now capture a full image every 10 minutes that is three times faster than during the primary mission. The changes will be long lasting & will be completed by September 2022. Among the newest planetary discoveries is its first Earth-sized world. Named TOI 700 d, it is located in the habitable zone of its star, the range of distances where conditions could be just right to allow liquid water surface.

India, Israel and the United States have started collaboration in the area of development & the next generation of emerging technologies, like a transparent, open, reliable and secure 5G communications network. The decision taken was the result of a virtual US-India-Israel summit held on 3rd Sep ’20 to focus on trilateral partnerships in strategic, technology & development arenas. There, it was decided that these trio nations will collaborate in 5G technology. The keynote address at this summit was provided by Ms. Bonnie Glick, Deputy Administrator USAID & was also addressed by her counterparts Mr. Sanjeev Singla from India and Mr. Ron Malka, Israeli Ambassador to India. The outcome of this initiative is the result of collaboration between the people, especially Indians living in Israel & the US. The objective of this outcomeoriented meeting is to build strong ties that these three countries share with each other

Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new way of removing carbon dioxide from the air. The new technology will be able to work at virtually any concentration level. This will also introduce new strategies to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas levels.

According to MIT researchers, the new method can remove the gas even when it is present in very low
concentrations as compared to previously available methods that require high concentration levels such as those found in the fossil fuel emissions from power plants.

As per the research published in Energy and Environmental Science Journal, the efficacy of this new method can be ascertained with the fact that it can even remove the greenhouse gas at roughly 400 parts per million currently found in the atmosphere.

According to ISRO, the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter that is currently orbiting the Moon has detected Argon 40, a noble gas, in the Lunar Exosphere. The orbiter’s payload, Chandra’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer-2 (CHACE-2) found Argon 40 from an altitude of 100 kilometers.

The payload is a Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (QMA) with an ability to scan the lunar neutral exosphere in the mass range of 1 to 300 amu and is meant to carry out an in-situ study of the composition and distribution of the lunar neutral exosphere and its variability.

It is an isotope of the noble gas Argon, which is the third most abundant gas in Earth’s atmosphere and is also a major constituent of the lunar exosphere. According to planetary scientists, in the lunar exosphere, the thin gaseous covering around the Moon, the gas
atoms rarely collide. It originates from the radioactive disintegration of Potassium 40. As per the statement released by the space agency, the presence of radioactive 40K nuclide deep below the Moon’s surface disintegrates and forms the Argon 40.

This diffuses through the intergranular space and rises to make lunar exosphere through seepages. The orbiter’s payload, CHACE-2, is a neutral mass spectrometer-based payload that can detect constituents of the exosphere in the range of 1-300 atomic mass unit (amu).

The payload was able to detect the gas in the exosphere based on the variations of day-night concentration. Since it’s a condensable gas and reacts differently at various temperatures and pressures, it condenses during the lunar night and after lunar dawn. It then again starts getting released to the exosphere.

The UAE has announced the name of its researchbased AI University as Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) after Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of UAE Armed Forces. The Crown Prince has long emphasized for the UAE’s development of human capital through knowledge and scientific thinking to take the nation into the future. The establishment of MBZUAI is based on the UAE’s vision of sustainable development, progress and overall well-being of humanity.

Graduate students, businesses and governments will benefit and work for the advancement in the artificial intelligence vertical. A new model of academia and research in the field of AI will be introduced by the university offering students and faculty members access to some of the world’s most AI systems that will, in turn, help in releasing its potential for socio-economic development

September 29th saw China launching its CentiSpace- 1-S1 small satellite on a Kuaizhou-IA rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in Northwest China, making this China’s 26th orbital venture of the year. It is an experimental satellite for the low-orbit navigation enhancement system developed by the Beijing Future Navigation Technology Co. Ltd. The launch of the CentiSpace- 1-S1 marks the second commercial launch by the Kuaizhou-IA. Another launch is anticipated at the end of the year, and six more have been scheduled – including one for a foreign client.

This enthusiasm resulted in plans to launch four Kuaizhou- IA within a week during 2018, partially to make “world record for launch frequency.” Expace Technology Co.

Ltd, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp, specializing in R&D, manufacturing, and marketing of the Kuaizhou series launch vehicles, were given the contract for this mission on May 2018. The launch vehicle is based on the DF-21 missile.

A scrawny dwarf planet nicknamed the Goblin has been discovered well beyond Pluto. This 300 kilometer wide, round frozen world was first spotted by a team of astronomers in Hawaii using the Subaru Telescope in the October of 2015, thus justifying its Halloween-themed name. But it wasn’t publicly unveiled by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center after veriiying the discovery following further observations with ground telescopes. The Goblin is officially known as 2015 TG387. It is the third dwarf planet to be recently discovered orbiting the sun on the desolate fringes of our solar system, the Goblin was spotted by a team of astronomers – Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science, Northern Arizona University’s Chad Trujillo, and David Tholen from the University of Hawaii – when it was fairly close to the sun, nearly 80 AU. The other two discoveries are the dwarf planets Sedna, an icy world 1000 kilometers across discovered in 2003, and 2012 VP 113. These discoveries were made by some of the same people on the team of Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution. In a statement made at the University of Hawaii, David Tholen commented that they could only observe 2015 TG387 when it was near its closest approach to the sun.

The team stumbled upon the Goblin in their pursuit of the hypothetical Planet X.

The UAE successfully launched its indigenously built satellite KhalifaSat on 29th Oct 2018 at around 8:00 AM UAE time from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Centre. It was the UAE’s first and the most sophisticated and advanced satellite that was designed, tested and manufactured completely by 70 male & female Emirati engineers. The satellite, which was built by Space Technology Laboratories, Mohammed bin Rishad Space Centre in Dubai, also bears the name of President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed A1 Nahyan.

It was successfully placed in orbit onboard the H2A rocket from Space Centre.

The satellite is equipped to transfer images at a very high speed and will also observe environmental changes locally and internationally. KhalifaSat works as a specialized camera in space which is powered by the sun. This is meant for providing high-resolution images. Mohammed bin Rishad Space Centre get five patents and developed seven space innovations that is meant for enhanced digital camera, fast image download and high-speed communication capabilities.

It also has an automatic satellite control system, a satellite positioning technique allowing it to capture multiple 3D images and an advanced target positioning for capturing high-quality images. For the satellite, an orbit calibration was done to fix or fine tune certain parameters of the sensors. It will also be used to provide detailed imagery of the ice caps at the North and South Poles.

Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award for 2019 was conferred upon Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the 13th President of India from 2012 until 2017, Shri Bhupen Hazarika, and Shri Nanaji Deshmukh, Social Activist, and a member of RSS.

Padma Awards 2019, one of the highest civilian awards were also distributed on 25th Jan 2019, on the eve of Republic day by the President of India at ceremonial functions which were held at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

These Padma awards are conferred in 3 categories: Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri For the year 2019, the President of India Ram Nath Kovind approved 112 Padma Awards. It comprises 4 Padma Vibhushan, 14 Padma Bhushan and 94 Padma Shri Awards. Of the list, 21 awardees are women, 11 persons form the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/ OCI, 3 Posthumous awardees and 1 transgender person.

The recipients of Padma Vibhushan awards are Ms. Teejan Bai, Shri Anil kumar Manibhai Naik, Shri Balwant Moreshwar Purandare, and Shri Ismail Omar Guelleh. The recipients of Padma Bhushan are Shri Darshan Lal Jain, Shri Parvin Gordhan, Shri Mohanlal Viswanathan Nair, Shri Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Shri Ashok Laxmanrao Kukade, Shri Kariya Munda, etc.

The Padma Shri recipients are Rajeshwar Acharya, Illias Ali, Manoj Bajpayee, Uddhab Kumar Bharali, Jyoti Bhatt, Pritam Bhartwan, Dilip Chakravarty, Swapan Chaudhuri, Sunil Chhetri, Babulal Dahiya, etc

Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority and UAE Central Bank announced the launch of common digital currency ‘Aber’ to forge closer financial ties. On 29th Jan 2019, both the apex monetary bodies released a joint statement mentioning that the new digital currency will be used in financial statements between the two countries through Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers technologies.

This new digital currency also serves as an additional medium for financial remittances between the two countries. In the initial stages, this pilot project concentrates on the technical aspects and focuses on the practical application of the modern technologies and finding out their impact on the reduction of remittance costs and assessment of technical risks involved in it and ways to deal with them. Initially, the use of this digital currency will be restricted to a limited number of banks in each state. If no technical issues are encountered, economic and legal requirements for future users will be discussed. It is the first time when monetary authorities of both countries are cooperating to use blockchain technology. With the implementation of the project, it is also possible to use the system as an additional reserve system for the settlement of domestic central payments in case of any disruption.