SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS SEPTEMBER 2016

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS SEPTEMBER 2016

• ISRO places SCATSAT-1, 7 other satellites in two orbits
  The national space agency ISRO in its longest ever space flight using the workhorse rocket PSLV launched eight satellites in two different orbits in a single mission on 26th September.
  
  The launch vehicle PSLV-C35 after its lift off from the national space port at Sriharikotta at 9.12 am successfully inserted India’s sophisticated weather satellite SACTSAT-1 in a 724 kilometer altitude sun-synchronous polar orbit in 17 minutes as planned.
  
  Afterwards, the fourth stage of the vehicle travelled in a switch off mode in space for a while and then reignited twice, an innovation adopted for the first time with seven satellites on board it. After lowering the vehicle to the specified 689 kilometer altitude, it ejected the three smaller satellites of Algeria, a micro-satellite each from the US and Canadian customer agencies and two nano-satellites of the IIT, Bombay and PES University, Bengaluru.
  
  The SCATSAT-1 satellite is India’s continuity mission for the Oceansat-2 with an expected operational life of five years. It has modern devices to assess wind speeds and directions periodically over the ocean surface helping meteorologists to predict well in advance the formation of cyclonic systems and their expected landfall location and timing. Its predecessor Oceansat-2 data served to predict the landfall of Cyclone Phailin over Odisha coast in 2013 helping to mitigate its effects on lives and properties.
  
  The PSLV has proved its reliability as a versatile engine once more with today’s longest journey in two different orbits disembarking its passengers. The commercial arm Antrix of ISRO has said it has generated Rs 1790 crore this year through commercial launches and has many more orders at hand. The present success is set to attract many more inquiries apart from catering to India’s launch needs.
  
• China commissions world's largest radio telescope
  The world's largest radio telescope began operating in southwestern China, a project which Beijing says will help humanity search for alien life. Built at a cost of 180 million dollars, the telescope dwarfs the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico as the world's largest radio telescope.
  
• Icrisat develops new method for watershed management
  The International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) has claimed that a new watershed management method developed by it will lead to a paradigm shift in water conservation programmes across the country. Using this method, a village in Bellary could capture an additional 18,500 cubic metres over a period of three years.
  
  Suhas P Wani, Director of Icrisat Development Centre (IDC), said the approach helped the groundwater level rise by 1.5-2 metres. With soil test-based fertiliser application, the overuse of fertilisers was reduced, which meant a lower cost of cultivation — by 10-15 per cent
  
  Icrisat has taken up the initiative with the help of JSW group, an arm of the OP Jindal group. Some of the interventions included building soil and water conservation structures; improved variety of sorghum seeds, green gram (moong bean), pearl millet, pigeonpea and groundnut; soil analysis and micronutrient applications; avenue plantation (to improve green cover and to trap the dust) and agro-forestry.
  
  The initiative covered 7,000 hectares with over 2,000 households in which 1,200 belonged to the farming community. A total of 3,500 farmers benefited from the interventions.
  
• Scientists in US successfully grow three-dimensional lungs in lab, using stem cells
  Scientists in the United States, including those of Indian origin, have successfully grown three-dimensional lungs in the lab, using stem cells.
  Researchers said the laboratory-grown tissue can be used to study diseases including Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), which has been difficult to study using conventional methods.
  The inability to model IPF in the laboratory earlier made it difficult to study the biology of the disease and design possible treatments.
  
  Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic lung disease in which lungs become thick and stiff. Over time, this results in progressively worsening shortness of breath and lack of oxygen to the brain and vital organs. Additionally, cigarette smoking and exposure to certain types of dust can increase the risk of developing the disease.
  
• India successfully test fires long range surface-to-air Barak-8 missile off Odisha coast
  India on 20^th September successfully test-fired the most advanced surface-to-air missile 'Barak-8' off the Odisha coast. The long-range nuclear capable ballistic missile, developed jointly with Israel, was first test-fired at 10:13 hrs from a mobile launcher; while the second test was conducted at 14:25 hrs this afternoon at the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur in Balasore district. The 4.5-meter missile weighs around 3 tonnes can carry a payload of 70 kilograms.
  Both the missiles swung into action after getting signals from the radars to intercept a moving aerial target supported by an unmanned air vehicle ‘Banshee’ over the Bay of Bengal. DRDO sources said, more tests of the missile will be carried out.
  
   
• ISRO launches INSAT- 3DR weather satellite
  ISRO successfully launches GSLV-F05 rocket carrying advanced weather satellite INSAT-3DR; The launch from Sriharikota is the first operational flight of GSLV with indigenous cryogenic technology .The satellite to provide operational search and rescue services to various users.
  
  India on 8th September accomplished yet another mission as weather satellite insat 3dr was placed in orbit around 17 minutes after GSLV-F05 took off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 4.50pm.
  
  This is the successful launch of the GSLV, with an indigenously developed cryogenic upper stage. INSAT-3DR would supplement the services of INSAT-3D launched from French Guiana on July 26, 2013.
  
  The GSLV rocket is almost 49 meters high -- as much as a 17-floor building. It weighs 415 tons. The 2211-kg INSAT 3DR that's piggybacking on the GSLV will eventually be pushed into orbit 36,000 km above Earth. The advanced meteorological satellite will provide a host of data, including sharper night-time pictures. It also carries a special search and rescue transponder, which will help in satellite-aided rescue.
  
• Scientists for first time discover magnetic particles of air pollution lodged in human brains
  Scientists have for the first time discovered tiny magnetic particles from air pollution lodged in human brains, which could be a possible cause of Alzheimer's disease. Researchers at Lancaster University in the UK found abundant magnetite nanoparticles in the brain tissue from 37 individuals aged three to 92-years-old who lived in Mexico City and Manchester.
  
  The strongly magnetic mineral is toxic and has been implicated in the production of reactive oxygen species in the human brain, which are associated with neuro degenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease. Professor Barbara Maher, from Lancaster Environment entre, used spectroscopic analysis to identify the particles as magnetite.
  
  Particles smaller than 200 nanometres are small enough to enter the brain directly through the olfactory nerve after breathing air pollution through the nose.
  
  David Allsop of Lancaster University's Faculty of Health and Medicine said, this finding opens up a whole new avenue for research into a possible environmental risk factor for a range of different brain diseases. The findings were published in the journal PNAS.
  
• Biocompatible piezoelectric generator is made from fish scales
  Fish scales extracted from food waste have been used to build tiny generators that can convert mechanical energy, such as a touch or sound vibrations, to electrical energy. The work was done by physicists in India, who say that the piezoelectric device could be used to develop environmentally friendly, self-powered electronics with a wide-range of applications.
  
  Piezoelectric materials respond to mechanical stress by separating positive and negative electrical charge, and therefore can be used to convert the mechanical energy of vibrations into electrical energy. Piezoelectric generators that harvest energy from vibrations in the living environment would allow the development of fully independent, battery-free devices. These could be particularly useful for medical devices, such as pacemakers and insulin pumps, and targeted drug-delivery systems that consume little power, but need it continuously.
  
  But, to realize the full potential of such devices, researchers need to develop new environmentally friendly piezoelectric materials.
  
  Dipankar Mandal, a physicist at Jadavpur University in Koltata, India, says this is "simply because most of the traditional piezoelectric materials contain toxic elements, such as lead and bismuth". As well as being useful for biomedical applications, Mandal adds that non-toxic and environmentally friendly piezoelectric materials would also reduce electronic waste and society's dependence on traditional energy sources, like batteries, which often contain toxic elements.
  
  When subjected to a repeated compressive stress of 0.17 MPa the nano-generator produced an output of 4 V with a current of 1.5 µA – or 6 µW of power. The researchers also linked four of the devices together and were able to produce a voltage of 14 V. By gently slapping this device with their hands, they were able to switch on more than 50 LEDs. According to the researchers, this demonstrates that it is "a sustainable green power source".
  
• New reptile species from 212 million years ago identified
  Scientists have identified a new species of extinct reptiles - 12 to 18 feet long carnivores related to crocodiles - that lived 212 million years ago in US. The fossils of the reptile named Vivaron Haydeni was found in Ghost Ranch of New Mexico during an excavation in 2009, co-led by Sterling Nesbitt, who was at University of Texas at Austin in the US during the research.
  
  Vivaron Haydeni is named for a famed, monstrous snake - 30 feet long - of Ghost Ranch lore, a story passed around campfires more than a century ago.
  
  The fossil represents the sixth species of rauisuchid found thus far, and the second found in what is now the American Southwest, but was once part of the western portion of the supercontinent Pangea.
  
  Vivaron was a carnivorous archosaur - a large set of animals that includes crocodilians and dinosaurs, as mammals includes humans and dogs.
  
  Vivaron itself measured 12 to 18 feet long, and walked on four legs. Thus far, three jaw bones, other skull fragments, and hip-bones from at least three individuals - two large, one smaller - have been found.
  
  These were some of the biggest predators at the time; all dinosaurs were much smaller, said Nesbitt, now an assistant professor of geosciences at Virginia Tech, speaking of the Triassic Period, more than 200 million years ago.
  
  Vivaron is distinguishable by its upper jaw bone, which is smoother in appearance than other rauisuchid species. Other features of the animal must be inferred from close relatives.