SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS AUGUST 2014

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS AUGUST 2014

• Carbon control: Cess on all fossil fuel mooted
  An expert group on 'Low carbon strategies for inclusive growth' headed by former Planning Commission member Kirit Parikh, has recommended that cess be levied on all fossil fuels, to enable a low carbon-dependent society. The report argues the need to levy a tax similar to coal cess and use it for development of energy-efficient ways to generate power.
  
  The report, has been given to the Planning Commission. In Union Budget 2014, the government increased the coal cess from Rs 50 a tone to Rs 100 a tone. The group, which has experts from coal, power, oil & gas, renewable energy, environment and transport sectors, has compiled some key alternative low-carbon options, with an analysis of their cost-benefits and the enabling legislations required to operationalise the same.
  
  The committee has suggested five policy instruments - energy pricing, carbon tax, cap & trade, subsidy, and regulation. Under these heads, the report has suggested measures such as market pricing of fuel, an appropriate structure for power sale, energy-efficiency standards, and purchase obligation on customers for demand-side management.
  
  This recommendation is in line with the suggestions made by the Vijay Kelkar committee looking into gas pricing, advocating market-determined pricing, with rates being fixed at the highest possible level.
  
• Indian origin student discovers and measures mysterious Black Hole
  An Indian-origin graduate student known as Dheeraj Pasham has discovered and measured one of the most elusive and mysterious objects in the Universe — a middling-sized black hole. University of Maryland astronomy graduate student Dheeraj Pasham and two colleagues made the measurements of the rare black hole which they found hiding in the well-known galaxy M82, some 12 million light years away from Earth. Their findings were published online on August 17 in the journal Nature.
  
  The reason why this discovery and the measurement are considered so significant is that these intermediate-mass black holes are hard to measure even their existence is sometimes disputed. Little is known about how they form, a Maryland varsity statement said. Some astronomers question whether they behave like other black holes.
  
  The universe has countless black holes and just our galaxy, the Milky Way, may have up to 100 million of them, it is thought. Nearly all black holes fall into one of two classes: big, and colossal. The 'big' ones have from about 10 times to 100 times the mass of our sun. They are the remnants of dying stars. The 'colossal' or super massive black holes have more than a million times the mass of the sun. These giants inhabit the centers of most galaxies.
  
  A black hole is a region in space containing a mass so dense that not even light can escape its gravity. Black holes are invisible, but astronomers can find them by tracking their gravitational pull on other objects. Matter being pulled into a black hole gathers around it like storm debris circling a tornado's centre. As this cosmic stuff rubs together it produces friction and light, making black holes among the universe's brightest objects.
  
• China launches advanced earth observation satellite
  China successfully launched the most advanced high-definition Earth observation satellite on 19th August, which could clearly show small objects with clarity in color. The Gaofen-2 was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) said.
  
  It was boosted by a Long March-4B carrier rocket. The satellite is China's most advanced high-definition Earth observation satellite, and is able to see a one-meter-long object in full color, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. It will be used for geographic and resources surveys, environment and climate change monitoring, precision agriculture, disaster relief and city planning, the report said.
  
• Microbial life found outside space station
  A new report claims that Russian scientists have discovered traces of marine life living on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS).
  
  Vladimir Solovyev, the official in charge of Russia’s ISS segment, told the news agency Itar-Tass that tiny plankton and microscopic organisms had been discovered on the spacecraft's exterior, describing the finds as “absolutely unique”.
  
• INS Kamorta was commissioned
  Indian Naval Ship (INS) Kamorta was reborn in Visakhapatnam on 23rd August, when Defense Minister Arun Jaitley commissioned the navy’s new anti-submarine corvette, billed as 90 per cent indigenous. The Kamorta, and three other corvettes that will follow it — Kadmatt, Kiltan and Kavaratti — are reincarnations of an earlier line of 11 Soviet-supplied Arnala-class corvettes. The earlier INS Kamorta entered service in 1968 and provided INS Vikrant with anti-submarine protection when the aircraft carrier blockaded East Pakistan during the 1971 war. It was decommissioned in 1991.
  
  While the Arnala-class corvettes were barely 1,000 tones, the new Kamorta is a muscular 3,300 tonnes. It is designed to destroy incoming anti-ship missiles and aircraft and strike ground targets, in addition to its primary role of submarine killer.
  
  So far, the Kamorta cannot fully perform even its primary role of detecting and destroying submarines. It has not been fitted with the advanced towed array sonar (ATAS), vital for detecting submarines, especially in the warm, shallow waters of the Arabian Sea. Until the ministry of defense (MoD) is able to procure an ATAS for at least 25 warships that lack it, the Kamorta will remain reliant on its less capable hull-mounted sonar, the indigenous HUMSA-NG.
  
  Since the Kamorta does not have a land attack missile, its capacity for shore bombardment is limited to the 76 mm SRGM. The navy, aware that this is only a light weapon, has issued a tender for a heavier 127 mm SRGM. So far, that acquisition has made little headway. The defense minister plays down the Kamorta’s lack of readiness. He said: “If one of the weapons is not there because it is in the process of production or procurement, it shall be installed expeditiously as soon as it is available. This is a process that takes time. It is a learning curve for the defense industry and for our own research institutions.”
  
  The Kamorta has been built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, Kolkata, (GRSE), for Rs 1,900 crore. It was to be delivered in 2009, with the Kadmatt, Kiltan and Kavaratti following at one-year intervals.
  
  The key to success of an anti-submarine warship is its ability to operate silently. The Kamorta’s engine and gearbox have been mounted on a special platform to kill vibration. INS Kamorta is named after an island in the Andaman & Nicobar chain. The navy traditionally names warships after rivers, mountains, islands, cities and islands.
  
• India test fires Akash missile in user trial
  India successfully conducted trials of its indigenously developed surface-to-air ‘Akash’ missile, which has a strike range of 25 kms, as part of a user trial by the Air Force from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur.
  
  Akash is a medium range surface-to-air anti-aircraft defense system developed by Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) as part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme. The missile has a strike range of 25 km and can carry a warhead of 60 kgs. It has the capability to target aircraft up to 30 km away and is packed with a battery that can track and attack several targets simultaneously.
  
  With its capability to neutralize aerial targets like fighter jets, cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles, Defense experts compare ‘Akash’ to the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile system of the USA. The missile was last test-fired from the same base on June 19.
  
  About Integrated Guided Missile Program:
  The Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP) was an Indian Ministry of Defence Program for the research and development of a comprehensive range of missiles. The program was managed by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Ordnance Factories Board in partnership with other Indian government research organisations. The project started in early 1980s and ended in 2008 after these strategic missiles were successfully developed. The last major missile developed under the program was the Agni 3 intermediate-range ballistic missile which was successfully tested on 9 July 2007.
  
  On 8 January 2008, the DRDO formally announced the successful completion of the IGMDP. It added that the strategic integrated guided missile program was completed with its design objectives achieved since most of the missiles in the program had been developed and inducted by the Indian armed forces.
  
• INS Kolkata commissioned
  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 16th August commissioned INS Kolkata, India's largest indigenously built warship, at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. It is an advanced version, but significantly more versatile, of the Delhi-Class ships – INS Delhi, INS Mysore and INS Mumbai – which will add considerable teeth to India's maritime warfare capabilities with all-round capabilities against enemy submarines, surface warships, anti-ship missiles and fighter aircraft.
  
  The warship, constructed by the Mazagon Dockyards Limited, has been designed by Navy's design bureau. The 6,800 tonne warship is a technology demonstrator and will showcase a giant leap in shipbuilding technology in the country.
  
• Technology connects battery free devices
  Scientists have created the world's first technology that can connect battery-free devices to Wi-Fi. University of Washington says a world will soon become a reality where your wristwatch or other wearable device will communicate directly with your online profiles, storing information about your daily activities where you can best access it - all without requiring batteries. Or maybe battery-free sensors embedded around your home could track minute-by-minute temperature changes and send that information to your thermostat to help conserve energy.
  
• Opportunity sets the record for off-earth roving
  NASA’s Mars rover, Opportunity, which landed on the ‘Red Planet’ in 2004, is now the record holder of the off-Earth roving distance after accruing 40 kilometres of driving, the American space agency on 29th July said. The previous record was held by the Soviet Union’s Lunokhod 2 rover, NASA said.
  A drive of 48 meters on July 27 put Opportunity’s total odometry at 40.25 kilometres, it said. The space agency, however said that Opportunity was never designed for distance and was intended to drive about one kilometre.
  This month’s driving brought the rover southward along the western rim
  of Endeavour Crater. The rover had driven more than 32 km before arriving at Endeavour Crater in 2011, where it has examined outcrops on the crater’s rim containing clay and sulphate-bearing minerals.
  Opportunity:
  Opportunity, also known as MER-B (Mars Exploration Rover – B) or MER-1, is a robotic rover active on the planet Mars since 2004. Launched on July 7, 2003, Opportunity landed on Mars' Meridiani Planum on January 25, 2004, three weeks after its twin Spirit (MER-A), also part of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission, touched down on the other side of the planet. While Spirit became immobile in 2009 and ceased communications in 2010, Opportunity remains active as of 2014, having already exceeded its planned 90 sol (Martian days) duration of activity by10 years, 94 days (in Earth time). Opportunity has continued to move, gather scientific observations, and report back to Earth for over 40 times its designed lifespan. On July 28, 2014, NASA announced that Opportunity, after having traveled over 40 km (25 mi) on the planet Mars, has set a new "off-world" record as the rover having driven the greatest distance, surpassing the previous record held by the Soviet Union's Lunokhod 2 rover that had travelled 37 km (23 mi).
  Mission highlights include the initial 90 sol mission, finding extramartian meteorites such as Heat Shield Rock (Meridiani Planum meteorite), and over two years studying Victoria crater. It survived dust-storms and reached Endeavour crater in 2011, which has been described as a "second landing site".
  The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.
  
• Advanced facility communications for Navy
  The Navy has acquired a new advanced facility to communicate with the silent predators. The state-of-the-art very low frequency (VLF) transmitting station was commissioned at INS Kattabomman in Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu) by Navy chief Admiral RK Dhowan on 31st July.
  Only a handful of nations have such a VLF capability, which is critical to pass coded orders to nuclear submarines on long-range deterrent patrols. Diesel-electric submarines have to surface every few days to get oxygen to recharge their batteries and have limited endurance due to fuel requirements.
  Nuclear-powered submarines, armed with nuclear-tipped missiles, in turn, are considered the most effective and difficult-to-detect nuke platform since they can operate underwater at long ranges for months at end.
  India is down to just 13 old diesel-electric submarines, barely half of which are operational at any given time, and a single nuclear-propelled submarine INS Chakra on lease from Russia without any long-range missiles.
  But India's first three SSBNs (nuclear-powered submarines with nuclear ballistic missiles) are being built at the secretive Ship-Building Centre at Vizag to complete the country's nuclear weapons triad - the capability to fire nukes from land, air and underwater.
  The first, the 6,000-tonne INS Arihant, is slated to go for extensive sea trials soon after its miniature 83MW pressurized light-water reactor, which went "critical" in August last year, attains "full power" in the next couple of months. Moreover, there is an ongoing proposal to build six SSNs (nuclear-powered attack submarines, usually without ballistic missiles)