Onkar Batra, a 12th-standard student from Jammu, has launched a nano-satellite with the help of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Batra, a student at BSF Senior Secondary School Jammu, has developed India’s first open-source satellite, InQube. This satellite, prepared under the banner of Paradox Sonic Space Research Agency, will be launched this month. The satellite has been developed with nanotechnology and weighs one kilogram. Its launch in India cost Rs. 20 to 80 lakh. The price in foreign countries is into crores of rupees. In an interview, Batra said that the sate
The European Union has announced plans to provide in-flight network connectivity to passengers. The move will allow airlines across EU countries to give 5G connectivity in flights. The EU has ordered its member states to make 5G frequency bands available in planes by June 30, 2023 and implement the new directives. Once the directives are in place, air travellers will be able to call, surf the internet, and stream and use apps on the internet. The new order of mid-flight connectivity comes under EU’s Digital Future Strategy and will affect all EU member states. While there are some air
In a real breakthrough in the renewable energy sector, researchers at IIT Madras have created a device that can generate electricity from sea waves. The development might help India achieve its goal to deliver on its climate change targets by generating 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030. Called the ‘Ocean Wave Energy Converter’ or Sindhuja-1, this device was deployed at a remote location 6 km off the coast of Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, and placed at a depth of 20 metres. The IIT-M team completed trials of this device in the second week of November, and now targets generating 1 MW of power
A team of researchers in Canada have discovered two new minerals in a slice of a 15-tonne meteorite that landed near the town of El Ali, in the Hiraan region of Somalia in east Africa. A potential third mineral is also being looked at. The meteorite is the ninth largest celestial rock recorded at over 2 metres wide. It was unearthed in Somalia in 2020 and named the El Ali meteorite. The minerals have officially been named elaliite after the meteorite’s location and elkinstantonite after Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Vice President, Arizona State University Interplanetary Initiative and Principal
Indigenous radio telescope SARAS has helped scientists conclude the properties of the earliest radio luminous galaxies formed 200 million years after the Big Bang, a period called the Cosmic Dawn. Published in Nature Astronomy by an international group of scientists, the findings of SARAS give an insight into the characteristics of the earliest radio loud galaxies that are usually powered by supermassive black holes. The team of scientists estimated the energy output, luminosity, and masses of the first generation of galaxies that are bright in radio wavelengths. The Shaped Antenna meas
Indonesia is building a lithium refinery and an anode material production facility to complement its nickel-based battery materials industry, an official said, as it aims to set itself up as a hub for making electric vehicles (EVs). Investors are currently building a lithium hydroxide plant with 60,000 tonnes capacity in the heart of the nickel industry in Morowali, Septian Hario Seto, a Deputy Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs, told an industry conference on Tuesday. An anode material plant with 80,000 tonnes capacity is set to start construction in January, he
The researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur have developed lanthanides-based perovskite nanocomposite catalytic materials for artificial photosynthesis to produce high-purity hydrogen. In the patented method, the researchers used natural sunlight to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen using a highly recyclable catalyst based on low-cost, simple transition metal. The team has now developed a series of catalysts that can efficiently produce hydrogen under ambient conditions. The end application of this research lies in the industries, automobile and energy sectors. In
The Union Minister for Telecom and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has said that 200 Indian cities will be 5G enabled by April next year. The minister added that India is one of the only five countries in the world where end-to-end telecom technology stack is available. Airtel and Jio have already started their 5G mobile services in the country. Reliance’s Jio is offering unlimited data on an invite-only offer, while Airtel 5G is available for all Airtel subscribers, while being capped by data limits. So far, the 5G coverage is light and limited to metros and a few tier-1 cities. Speaking at a
Faridabad will have a ₹200 crore waste-to-methanol plant by December 2023. The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) is likely to sign an agreement soon with its door-to-door waste collection concessionaire Ecogreen to ensure the waste is not sent to landfill and is directly sent to the plant instead. The MCG has identified eight acres of land in Sihi, Faridabad, for the plant, which will be used to convert 500 tonnes of waste into 50 kilo-litres of methanol daily. Methanol is commonly used as a fuel, antifreeze and as solvent. The Government of Haryana will supply water and power t
Bengaluru-based Indian space technology start-up, Pixxel will launch its third hyperspectral satellite, Anand, onboard ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from Sriharikota spaceport on Saturday. The hyperspectral microsatellite – with weight less than 15 kg and wavelengths more than 150 – can capture Earth’s images in greater detail than other non-hyperspectral satellites with wavelengths not more than 10. These images can be used to detect pest infestation, map forest fires, identify soil stress and oil slicks, to name a few. In April, Pixxel became the first Indian co