India successfully carried out a test launch of tactical ballistic missile Prithvi-II from a test range off the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur off the coast of Odisha on Tuesday. The Prithvi-II Short Range Ballistic Missile (SRBM) missile, with a range of around 350 kilometres, struck its target with “high accuracy,” said the Defence Ministry in a statement. It said the “user training launch” successfully validated all operational and technical parameters of the missile. A well-established system, the SRBM has been an integral part of India’s nuclear deterrence. The training
A one-of-its-kind ‘Interactive Science Park’ being developed in Hyderabad will be ready by the end of January 2022. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is giving final touches to the park, located in the midst of guesthouses, hospitals and residential apartments, beside Medicover Hospital at Patrikanagar in Serilingampally. The park spread over three acres of land includes science theme-based facilities as well as charging points and Wi-Fi access and open interactive seating areas for individuals to work on their laptops. There will be a children’s play area, a caf�
India is ‘Number 1’ in terms of artificial intelligence (AI) projects, said Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella. He said that if the next big age is going to be AI, India has the required human capital, which is already doing innovative things. Nadella was speaking at the Microsoft Future Ready Leadership Summit in Mumbai early this month. He said that India is the second biggest contributor to the developer ecosystem, and will be the third largest economy by the end of this decade. Nadella added that AI is going to accelerate human creativity, human ingenuity and human product
Chennai-based space tech start-up, Space Kidz India will launch a satellite made by 750 government school girl students from across the country aboard an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launch vehicle this month. Space Kidz India selected 10 girl students from 75 government schools across the country for the mission. The selected students are predominantly from class 8 to 12. It is a first of its kind space mission with an ‘all women concept’ to promote women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Moreover, the programme utilises children from impoverishe
India’s first-ever coal gasification based Talcher fertiliser plant in Odisha will be ready by October 2024. Union Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya said this after reviewing the progress of work in the plant in Talcher. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was also present on the occasion. Dr. Mandaviya said that when operational, the Talcher fertiliser plant will help the country reduce its dependence on urea import. The plant is being built under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Five out of f
India’s digital competence will grow in 2023 and over the next five years, driven by technology, start-ups, semiconductors, electronics and computing, said Union Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Allaying any concerns over tech winter, the minister predicted spring for the country’s booming innovation ecosystem. “India as a market for consuming digital products and digital services is one of the biggest markets,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, adding that opportunities for digitisation continue to be "very strong". He exuded confidence that India's trillion dollar digital
Around 75-80% of the new smartphone launches in India by 2023-end will be 5G-enabled, said Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA). “India as a nation is an early adopter of 5G technology,” Mohindroo said. “[5G] has opened a vast opportunity for a new generation of telecom equipment manufacturers, application providers...among others,” he added. The mobile device ecosystem was an early starter for manufacturing 5G phones. Even before the launch of 5G services, approximately 80-100 million 5G-compatible phones were already in the market. By t
A solar-powered electric car built by students at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, has made it to the Guinness World Record for covering 1,000 km on a single charge in 11 hours 52.08 minutes. The car, named Sunswift 7, weighs 500 kg, about a quarter size of a Tesla. The student-produced car achieved the feat at the Australian Automotive Research Center in Wensleydale, Victoria. The Sunswift 7 set the new record after circling the facility’s test track 240 times in a hair over 11 hours and 52 minutes. The car travelled at an average speed of 52.8 mph. A few days later,
Shree K. Nayar, the T. C. Chang Professor of Computer Science at Columbia Engineering, has been awarded the prestigious Okawa Prize from Japan’s Okawa Foundation for his decisive work on computer vision and computational imaging. Nayar, who directs Columbia’s Computational Imaging and Vision Laboratory, is being recognised for “the invention of innovative imaging techniques and their widespread use in digital photography and computer vision.” The Computer Science Professor will receive the prize at a ceremony in Tokyo, Japan, in March 2023. The Okawa Prize “is intended to pay
Bharti Airtel and Apollo Hospitals have carried out India’s first 5G-driven, artificial intelligence (AI) guided colonoscopy trial in collaboration with HealthNet Global, AWS and Avesha. The trial was conducted using AI on Airtel’s 5G technology and led to faster and accurate detection of colon cancer. The successful AI-assisted colonoscopy polyp detection trial will now help doctors to improve quality of patient care, improve accuracy of detection rates by capturing information correctly, and reducing errors. Technologies like 5G, edge computing and artificial intelligence can signifi