SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS MAY 2016
- World's space agencies join hands to combat climate challenge
For the first time, under the impetus of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the French Space Agency (CNES), space agencies of more than 60 countries agreed to engage their satellites, to coordinate their methods and their data to monitor human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
The COP21 climate conference held in Paris last December acted as a wake-up call in this context. Without satellites, the reality of global warming would not have been recognised and the subsequent historic agreement at the United Nations headquarters in New York on April 22, 2016 would not have been signed.
Out of the 50 essential climate variables being monitored at present, 26 - including rising sea level, sea ice extent and greenhouse gas concentrations in all layers of the atmosphere - can be measured only from space.
The key to effectively implementing the Paris Agreement lies in the ability to verify that nations are fulfilling their commitments to curb greenhouse gas emissions and only satellites can do that.
Invited to New Delhi by ISRO and CNES on April 3, 2016, the world's space agencies decided to establish "an independent, international system" to centralise data from their Earth-observing satellites through the 'New Delhi Declaration' that officially came into effect on May 16, 2016.
The goal now will be to inter-calibrate these satellite data so that they can be combined and compared over time. In other words, it is to make the transition to closely coordinated and easily accessible 'big space data'.
Earth observation satellites provide a vital means of obtaining measurements of the climate system from a global perspective. ISRO is committed for the continuity of earth observation data, through the thematic series of satellites, with improvements en-route, to meet contemporary as well as future needs. ISRO is also engaging with CNES, JAXA and NASA for realising joint missions for global climate observation with advanced instruments. - ISRO successfully test launches India's first-ever indigenous reusable space shuttle
India successfully launched its maiden indigenous winged Reusable Launch Vehicle, RLV from Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh on 23rd May. Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO said, the mission has been accomplished successfully. The Re-Usable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator, RLV-TD, that is ultimately aimed at putting satellites into orbit around earth and then re-enter atmosphere, was carried up on a solid rocket motor.
The nine-metre long rocket weighs 11 tonnes. Very similar in its looks to the US space shuttle, the double delta-winged RLV-TD being experimented is a scale model which is almost 6 times smaller than the final version. The 6.5 meter long RLV-TD has aeroplane like structure which weighs about 1.75 tons. The cost of this project is 95 crore rupees.
After launch from the Sriharikota spaceport, it glided back onto a virtual runway in the Bay of Bengal. The vehicle re-entered the atmosphere after reaching a height of over 70 km.
The mission, known as the hypersonic flight experiment, lasted about 10 minutes. Earlier, explaining the importance of the experimental RLV, ISRO Chairman Kiran Kumar said, it is essentially an attempt by India to bring down the cost of making infrastructure in space. - New smartphone app can detect earthquakes
Scientists have developed an app that crowdsources ground-shaking information from smartphones to detect earthquakes and eventually warns users of impending jolts from nearby quakes.
The app called MyShake, developed by researchers at University of California, Berkeley, runs in the background and draws little power, so that a phone's onboard accelerometers can record local shaking any time of the day or night.
For now, the app only collects information from the accelerometers, analyses it and, if it fits the vibrational profile of a quake, relays it and the phone's Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates to the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory in California for analysis.
Since it was first released in English in February this year, more than 170,000 people have downloaded the app from around the world. - Brahmos missile successfully test fired at Pokaran
In Rajasthan, the supersonic ballistic missile Brahmos was test fired successfully on 27th March at the Pokaran field firing range in Jaisalmer. It operates on fire and forget principal. The missile has flight range of up to 290 km with supersonic speed all through the flight. Army, Air force officers and defense experts were present on the occasion. - Scientists Find Minivan-Sized Sponge, World's Largest
Researchers in Hawaii have been absorbed by a sea creature they discovered last summer, and their findings are pretty big. The team of scientists on a deep-sea expedition in the waters off Hawaii discovered what they say is the world's largest known sponge.
The creature, roughly the size of a minivan, was discovered about 7,000 feet down in a marine conservation area off the shores of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The rare sponge, with a bluish-white color and brain-like appearance, stunned scientists when it appeared in the remote cameras attached to their underwater rover.
Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Hawaii studied the sponge for about a year
The largest portion of our planet lies in deep waters, the vast majority of which has never been explored," Papahanaumokuakea research specialist Daniel Wagner with NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries said in a statement
The animal was found in the waters of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which is the largest protected conservation area in the United States and one of the largest in the world. It covers an area that is bigger than all the other U.S. national parks combined. - India successfully test fires indigenously developed Advanced Air Defence interceptor missile
India on 15th May successfully test fired an indigenously developed Advanced Air Defence interceptor missile, capable of destroying any incoming hostile ballistic missile from the launch complex of Abdul Kalam Island in Bhadrak district of Odisha.
The advanced version of low altitude supersonic ballistic interceptor missile was fired from the Integrated Test Range off the Odisha coast at a ballistic missile, a modified version of Prithvi weapon system.
Quoting Defence Research Development Organisation sources our correspondent reports that the test was conducted at 11.18 a.m. from launch pad number-3 of the Integrated Test Range to validate various parameters of the interceptor in flight mode.
India is the fourth country to have successfully developed this anti-ballistic missile system, after United States, Russia and Israel. This development now strengthens India's position in the very exclusive Ballistic Missile Defence club of the three countries. Today’s success is likely to pave the way for the supersonic interceptor missile’s induction in the armed forces.
The test was the twelfth test of interceptor missiles fired from a warship in the Bay of Bengal near Paradip. Of the 11 tests held earlier, nine have been successful.
The interceptor missile is a 7.5-meter long single stage solid rocket propelled guided missile equipped with a navigation system, a hi-tech computer and an electro-mechanical activator. It weighs around 1.2 tonnes and has a diameter of less than 0.5 meter. - Researchers genetically engineered world’s first Zika virus clone
Researchers in US said that they have, for the first time ever, succeeded in genetically engineering a clone of the Zika virus strain that is currently spreading in the Americas.
Researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch said yesterday that the research could help speed up vaccine and therapeutic development for the mosquito-borne virus.
The new Zika clone, together with mosquito infection models and the UTMB-developed Zika mouse model, represent a major advance towards deciphering why the virus is tied to serious diseases. Research is published in the US journal Cell Host and Microbe. - India successfully test fires its indigenously developed Prithvi-II missile
India on 18th May successfully test fired its indigenously developed Prithvi-II missile from the Chandipur, off Odisha coast on 18th May. The medium range missile is capable of carrying 500 kg to 1000 kg of warheads and is thrusted by liquid propulsion twin engines. As part of a user trial, the 4,600 kilogram missile with a strike range of 350 kilometer, the surface-to-surface Prithvi-II test was carried out from a mobile launcher from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range.
The battlefield missile has flight duration of 483 seconds and a peak altitude of 43.5 kilometer. The launch activities were carried out by the Strategic Force Command and monitored by the DRDO scientists. The first missile to be developed by DRDO under India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Program, Prithvi-II was inducted into India's armed forces in 2003.
The last user trial of Prithvi-II was successfully conducted on February 16, 2016 from the same test range in Odisha. - ISS completes 100,000th orbit of Earth: mission control
The International Space Station, the space laboratory that showcases cooperation between Russia and the United States, on 16th May orbited Earth for the 100,000th time, Russian mission control said.
Travelling at an altitude of about 250 miles (400 kilometres) and a speed of about 17,500 miles (28,000 kilometres) per hour, the space station circles the Earth once every 90 minutes.
The ISS has now travelled 2.6 billion miles “or about the distance of 10 round trips to Mars,” NASA said Williams is on his third ISS mission and is currently on board the station with fellow NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra, Britain’s Tim Peake and Russians Yury Malenchenko, Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka. Maxim Matyushin, the head of Russian mission control, also praised the ISS as a “vivid example of real and effective international cooperation” to “carry out really large breakthrough projects that are crucial for the whole of civilisation.
The first section of the ISS station called Zarya or Dawn in Russian, was launched into space more than 17 years ago on November 20, 1998. The first crew to inhabit the station – American astronaut Bill Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko — arrived in 2000, since when it has been continually occupied.
From two modules, it has grown to 15 modules, occupying a space the size of a football pitch and represents around $100 billion in investment.
During its lifetime, 226 people have visited the ISS from 15 countries, Russian mission control said. The ISS is expected to remain operational until 2024 after all the participating countries except the European Union agreed to continue financing it at least until then. - 1,284 planets discovered beyond solar system
Astronomers have discovered 1,284 more planets beyond our solar system, with nine possibly in orbits suitable for surface water that could bolster the prospects of supporting life.
The announcement brings the total number of confirmed planets outside the solar system to 3,264. Called exoplanets, the bulk were detected by NASA's Kepler space telescope, which searched for habitable planets like Earth.
NASA said, out of the new planets, nearly 550 could be rocky like Earth. Nine planets are the right distance from a star to support temperatures at which water could pool. The discovery brings to 21 the total number of known planets with such conditions, which could permit life. - Scientists uncover details of genetic events that cause breast cancer
UK Scientists say they now have a near perfect picture of the genetic events that cause breast cancer. The largest study of its kind resolved practically all the errors that cause healthy breast tissue to go rogue. To understand the causes of the disease, scientists have to understand what goes wrong in the DNA that makes healthy tissue turn cancerous. The study, published in Nature, has been described as a milestone moment that could help find new ways of treating and preventing the breast cancer.
- Scientists Discover 3 'Potentially Habitable' Planets
An international team of scientists said on 2nd May they had discovered a trio of Earth-like planets that are the best bet so far for finding life outside our solar system.
The three orbit an ultracool dwarf star a mere 39 light years away, and are likely comparable in size and temperature to Earth and Venus, they reported in a study, published in Nature. All three planets had the "winning combination" of being similar in size to Earth, "potentially habitable" and close enough so their atmospheres can be analysed with current technology, he told AFP. The find opens up a whole new "hunting ground" for habitable planets, he added.
Gillon and colleagues calibrated a 60-centimetre (23.5-inch) telescope in Chile, known as TRAPPIST, to track several dozen dwarf stars neither big nor hot enough to be visible with optical telescopes. They zeroed in on a particularly promising one -- now known as TRAPPIST-1 -- about one eighth the size of the Sun, and significantly cooler.
Observing it for months, the astronomers noticed that its infrared signal faded slightly at regular intervals, evidence of objects in orbit. Further analysis confirmed they were exoplanets -- planets revolving around stars outside our solar system.
The innermost two circle their dwarf star every 1.5 and 2.4 days, though they are hit with only four and two times the amount of heat-generating radiation that Earth receives from the Sun. The more distant orbit of the third planet takes between four and 73 days, according to the study. - Indian scientists make seawater drinkable at fraction of cost
Scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre have successfully developed a filtration technique that removes the salinity of the seawater. This same method can be used to treat groundwater containing arsenic and uranium and make it safe for consumption.
A pilot project which is currently operational in Tamil Nadu's Kalpakkam processes nearly 6.3 million litre seawater every day. The purified water is now being used at the Kudankulam nuclear reactor.
Even though the water is free of salinity and safe for drinking, it is not yet provided for human consumption. Several such plants have been installed in Punjab, West Bengal and Rajasthan. - India successfully launches 7th navigation satellite
India has successfully put into orbit its seventh and final navigation satellite called IRNSS-1G with its own rocket. On the historic occasion at the Indian space centre, PSLV C33 rocket carried the seventh satellite of the IRNSS series precisely at 12:50 on 28th April. The 1425 kilogram satellite was ejected by the launch vehicle around 20 minutes after take off.
The launch of PSLV-C33 is an important landmark in the country's space programme with India now joining the small group of nations having their own regional satellite navigation system.
The constellation of the Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is similar to GPS (global positioning system) of the US, Glonass of Russia, and Galileo of Europe as well as China's Beidou.
India can take pride in formally joining the select group of nations once IRNSS is declared operational after checking the systems-space (satellites), ground (ground stations) and the user end signal receivers.
Only on declaration of the system as operational, user end signal receiver makers will seriously get into manufacture of the equipment for use at the retail end.
The system will provide accurate position information service to users across the country and the region, extending up to an area of 1,500 km. The full system comprises of nine satellites seven in orbit and two on the ground as stand-by.
The applications of IRNSS are: terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation, vehicle tracking and fleet management, terrestrial navigation for hikers and travellers, disaster management, integration with mobile phones, mapping and geodetic data capture and visual and voice navigation for drivers. - Astronomers find first of its kind tailless comet, "Manx"
Astronomers have found a first-of-its-kind tail-less comet whose composition may offer clues into long-standing questions about the solar system's formation and evolution, according to research published on Friday in the journal Science Advances
The so-called "Manx" comet, named after a breed of cats without tails, was made of rocky materials that are normally found near Earth. Most comets are made of ice and other frozen compounds and were formed in solar system's frigid far reaches.
No comments:
Post a Comment