SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS JUNE 2015
- NASA Has a Robot in International Space Station
NASA has a humanoid robot on board the International Space Station. Robonaut 2 is the first robot inside a human space vehicle operating without a cage and first to work with human-rated tools in space. Robonaut 2 was selected as the NASA Government Invention of the Year for 2014. It was chosen after a challenging review by the NASA selection committee that evaluated the robot in the areas of Aerospace Significance, Industry Significance, Humanitarian Significance, Technology Readiness Level, NASA Use, Industry Use and Creativity.
Astronauts are testing to see if Robonaut 2 - which looks like a cross between C-3PO and the Michelin Man - could be used to perform medical tasks in space, guided by doctors on the Earth
The Robonaut, which can apparently take selfies, was built by NASA and General Motors to perform tasks on the space station, as well as in the automotive industry.
NASA's Robonaut programme dates back to 1997, when scientists believed they would be able to test a robot in space by 2005. Their dream was realised in 2011, when Robonaut 2 joined the crew bound for the ISS. Astronauts on the ISS have been testing how the Robonaut performs in minimal gravity. NASA says its aim with the Robonaut is to free up astronauts from doing repetitive tasks, to give them more time to spend on research and critical work on the ISS. - Mars Orbiter is on its 100th orbit: Isro
The Mars Orbiter began its hundredth orbit around the red planet on 22nd June, the Indian Space Research Organisation, or Isro, reported after receiving data from the orbiter. The orbiter which has begun emerging from a blackout phase, will complete this orbit on 24th June.
The communication blackout took place because the orbiter was behind the sun, as viewed from the earth, an event that takes place every 26 months for Mars. During this phase, called solar conjuncture, the communication signals from the spacecraft are interrupted by the Sun’s corona. - Greenhouse gases: India fourth biggest emitter, but lags far behind top three
According to the World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organization’s analysis on the country-wise emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases. It shows India despite being the fourth largest carbon emitter continues to be far behind the other three top big emitters in terms of per capita emission.
However, developing countries like China, Mexico and Brazil too are way ahead of India in terms of their per capita contribution to the overall emissions. And, this is the reason why a section within the government in India has time and again argued not to compare the country's action with that of the Chinese goal.
The WRI analysis is based on data from its Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) that has recently released its emission figures for the year 2012. It also came out with details as how the various economic sectors have contributed to the overall emission.
Per capita emissions are still distributed unequally, it said, pointing out that the per person emissions still vary among the top 10 emitters, with the United States' per capita emissions eight times that of India.
According to the figures, the largest emitters contribute a majority of global emissions as the top 10 emitters contribute over 72% of global greenhouse gas emissions (excluding land use change and forestry). On the other hand, the lowest 100 emitters contribute less than 3%.
It shows the energy sector is the dominant source of greenhouse gas emissions. It contributes more than 75% of global emissions.
The analysis also shows that emission sources vary by country. While the energy sector dominates, industrial emissions in China contribute more than 3% of global emissions and new data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicate that agriculture contributes a notable share of Brazil's and Australia's emissions.
Six of the top 10 emitters are developing countries. According to the data, China contributes approximately 25% of global emissions, making it the top emitter. India, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico and Iran are also contributing relatively large shares of global emissions as their economies grow - Indian American scientist Neal Devaraj creates first artificial cell membrane
A team led by an Indian American scientist has successfully created the first artificial cell membrane that is capable of sustaining continual growth just as a living cell would.
Devaraj and his team released their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Self-growing membranes have been made before by using a catalyst, the study said. However, as the membranes grow, the catalyst is diluted and growth eventually ceases.
The new advance in the production of synthetic cell membranes that grow like real membranes will be an important new tool for both for synthetic biology and origin of life studies
The other UCSD researchers in the study were Michael Hardy, Jun Yang, Christian Cole, Jangir Selimkhanov, and Lev Tsimring. - Robot controlled by thoughts and brain signals developed
A robot that can be controlled with person’s thoughts and brain signals has been developed, says new research. The robot is developed by researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Switzerland.
The robot can be controlled remotely through brain signals and can perform various tasks. The team of researchers, headed by Professor Jose del R. Millain, particularly had disabled people in mind while working on the concept to restore a sense of independence to the disabled.
Nine disabled people and 10 healthy people in Italy, Germany and Switzerland took part in the task of piloting a robot with their thoughts.
For several weeks, each of the subjects put on an electrode-studded hat capable of analysing their brain signals. They then instructed the robot to move, transmitting their instructions in real time via internet from their home country. By virtue of its video camera, screen and wheels, the robot, located in an EPFL laboratory in Switzerland, was able to film as it moved while displaying the face of the remote pilot via Skype.
The person at the controls, as if moving in place of the robot, was able to interact with whoever the robot crossed paths with.
In the second part of the tests, the disabled people with residual mobility were asked to pilot the robot with the movements they were still capable of doing, for example by simply pressing the side of their head on buttons placed nearby. They piloted the robot just as if they were uniquely using their thoughts. “Will robots soon become a fact of daily life for people suffering from a disability? Too soon to say,” Milan said. “For this to happen, insurance companies will have to help finance these technologies,” he added. The findings were published in a special edition of Proceedings of the IEEE. - Indigenously designed LCH completes hot weather flight trials
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's indigenously designed and developed Light Combat Helicopter attained a milestone by successfully completing the hot weather flight trials. Light Combat Helicopter prototype, TD-3 was ferried from Bengaluru to Jodhpur for the trials. Light Combat Helicopter had completed cold weather flight testing at Leh in February 2015.
The Light Combat Helicopter is expected to receive Initial Operational Clearance and enter into series production by the end of this year. The helicopter is designed to carry out dedicated combat roles such as Air Defence, anti-tank, scout and support combat search/rescue missions. - ISRO to test re-usable satellite launch vehicle in September
In a major technology demonstration ultimately aimed at cutting down the cost of satellite launches to one-tenth the present rates, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will flight test an indigenously developed re-usable satellite launch vehicle for the first time this September.
Under the project, a plane will be flown into outer space at five times the speed of sound, deliver the payload and then land back like an aircraft.
At present, the various stages in a satellite launch vehicle fall off in succession during launch and cannot be reused, making such launches expensive.
The launch vehicle will be landing for the first time in the ocean and the ultimate attempt is to make it land at an airstrip at Sriharikota. A wind tunnel modeling and other tests had been completed.
According to the Minister of State, for Department of Space Jitendra Singh, 11 satellites were launched in the last one year and by next year the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System would be internationalized. It will be only the third such system in the world. - Indian Ocean warming weakens monsoon in parts of India
Rapid warming of the Indian Ocean in the past century has led to a significant decrease in summer monsoon rainfall over the central-east and northern regions of India, a new study led by an Indian scientist said ON 16th June.
An international team of researchers led by Dr Roxy Mathew Koll, from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology(IITM), Pune, found that the summer monsoon rainfall during 1901-2012 showed a weakening trend over parts of South Asia.
The reduction in rainfall was significant over the central-east and northern regions of India, along the Ganges-Brahmaputra basins and the Himalayan foothills. The study has been published in the Washington-based journal Nature Communications. - Brightest early named after Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the brightest stars of modern football, has a galaxy named after him. COSMOS Redshift 7 or CR7, as it's popularly known, is one of the oldest galaxies in the universe. It's said to have existed when the universe was only 800 million years old, i.e. some 13 billion years ago.
The Portugal captain and the Real Madrid superstar were bestowed with the honour by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Dr. David Sobral of the University of Lisbon confirmed that the name of the galaxy was inspired by Portugal's favourite son, Ronaldo. - NASA launches giant balloon to test Mars landing tech
NASA has launched a giant balloon carrying a kind of flying saucer that will test technologies for landing on Mars, but its outsized parachute only partly deployed. The aircraft fitted with the largest parachute ever constructed was launched from a military base in Hawaii 8th June.
It was the second test of the saucer like device called the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator. During the first test in June last year, the parachute shredded to pieces on the way down. NASA modified the design. - India richer by 349 new species
Scientists and taxonomists of the country have discovered 349 new species of flora and fauna in the past one year — 173 species and genera of plants and 176 species of animals. The list of new discoveries by the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) and the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI)
Of the new plants, some of the significant findings include nine new taxa of wild Musa (bananas), four species of black plum (jamun), three species of wild gingibers and 10 species of orchids
According to scientists of the BSI, the Western Ghats accounted for 22 per cent of the new discoveries, while the Eastern Himalayas and the north-eastern States each accounted for 15 per cent of the species found. In Arunachal Pradesh alone, 25 species of seed plants were discovered.
At the ZSI, 176 new species were added to the list of animals of India. These include 93 species of insects, seven species of collembolans, 12 species each of arachnidan and crustacean and one species of mollusca.
Two species of reptiles have also been located for the first time in the country — one in Tamil Nadu and another in Madhya Pradesh.
As in the previous year, insects outnumbered other animal groups this year also. But surprisingly, a large number of amphibians and fish made it to the list with 24 and 23 new species respectively
While most of the new species of amphibians were discovered from the Western Ghats, majority of fish species were from north-east India.
Scientists of both BSI and ZSI agree that the Western Ghats and the northeast are biodiversity hotspots where most new species were found.
Apart from the new species, BS I 105 and ZSI 61 ‘new records.’ Animals and plants that are found elsewhere in the world but have been spotted in India for the first time are called ‘new records.’
Last year, 614 new species of plants and animals — 366 plants and 248 animals — were discovered. In India, 96,891 species of animals and 47,791 species of plants have been recorded so far. - China unveils facial-recognition ATM
Chinese researchers have successfully developed the first automated teller machine (ATM) with facial recognition technology to reduce the risk of theft
The developers include Tsinghua University and Tzekwan Technology, a Hangzhou firm in eastern China's Zhejiang province that provides security protection for financial transactions. Tzekwan chairman GuZikun, an anti-counterfeit technology expert, believes the technology will curb ATM-related crimes. The product has already passed certification and would soon be available for sale. China currently relies mostly on imported ATM technology, the report said, but the new machine, which combines high-speed banknote handling, improved counterfeit-bill recognition and facial recognition, was wholly Chinese. However, it is unclear who will manufacture the ATMs and how it will collect facial data. Cash machines using fingerprint authentication have sprung up in countries like Chile and Colombia, though these biometric ATMs have not found favour with some countries like the United States because of privacy concerns and its high cost. These biometrics ATMs are not being used by some countries, such as the United States, because of privacy concerns and its high cost.
The new ATMs are expected to connect with the country's banks and public security networks, which allows only guarantees that only cardholders to withdraw money, even if someone else knows the password. - NASA gets IIT researcher’s inputs for asteroid landing
A research scholar from the Indian Institute of Technology is a member of the team that has provided vital inputs for the U.S. space agency’s project.
Shanti Swaroop Kandala, a second-year Ph.D. scholar at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of the IIT, was among the 32 selected from 104 universities across 14 countries to design a mission to land astronauts on an asteroid, extract resources from it and demonstrate the usage of the raw materials.
Mr. Kandala was the lone Indian student at the Caltech Space Challenge, an international student space mission design competition organised at the California Institute of Technology.
The two teams formed from among the 32 participants were to produce a viable mission design for the Asteroid Redirect Mission, the next mission of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA.
Every team member had a specific role, and Mr. Kandala was responsible for presenting the engineering aspect of the mission, which included launching the various modules along with new technologies for a multipurpose docking module, a robotic arm and a life-supporting system. He had to collate, edit and integrate all the reports into one document. “It was a tedious task given the amount of work each team member had done,” he says.
During the five days and nights spent for the mission, they first understood one another’s strengths and agreed on individual contributions to the subsystems of the mission.
After understanding the nuances associated with the mission from two lectures, they were mentored and guided by top scientists and engineers from the JPL, Caltech, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Planetary Resources Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment