1. Chinese astronauts enter Tiangong space station module after successful launch
Tags: Defence Science and Technology
The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced that three Shenzhou-14 astronauts successfully entered the Tiangong Space Station on June 6 with the Tianzhou-4 cargo craft.
The three astronauts Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Kai Xuje will collaborate with the ground team to complete the assembly and construction of the Tiangong space station.
Astronauts will grow the space station from a single-module structure with core module Tianhe, two lab modules Wentian and Mengtian into a National Space Laboratory.
About Tiangong Space Station
This is a planned permanent space station of China which will be placed in Low Earth Orbit.
It was launched on September 15, 2016.
This is China's longest manned space mission so far.
China had launched Tiangong-1 in 2011 as a proof-of-concept of technologies for future stations.
Tiangong will be fully operational by the end of 2022.
2. India’s First Liquid Mirror Telescope
Tags: Science and Technology
The country's and the world's first Liquid Mirror Telescope has been set up in Uttarakhand. This telescope has been set up on top of a hill in Devasthal Observatory located in Nainital.
Through this telescope, it will be helpful to take information about supernova, gravitational lens and asteroids etc. in space.
The Indian Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) will help in surveying the sky.
This will also make it easy to observe many galaxies and other astronomical sources.
In 2017, with the help of countries like Belgium, Canada, Poland, Aeries started the International Liquid Mirror Telescope Project with the help of 500 million.
What is a Liquid Mirror Telescope (LMT)?
It has been made by India with the help of astronomers from Belgium and Canada.
It is like a 4 metre diameter rotating mirror made of a thin film of liquid mercury, which collects and focuses the light.
It has been installed at Devasthal Observatory at an altitude of 2450 metres above sea level.
This observatory is situated in the Aryabhata Research Institute of Observational Science (ARIS), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science, Government of India.
To prepare the telescope, scientists created a pool of mercury, which is a reflective liquid. This causes the surface of the telescope to become curved.
This is ideal for focusing light.
A thin transparent film over it protects the mercury from the air.
It also has a large electronic camera, which records the images.
The telescope was designed and built in Belgium by the Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems (AMOS) Corporation and the Center Spatial de Lige.
This telescope has taken a clear picture of the NGC 4274 galaxy, 95 thousand light years away.
Along with this, it has also easily captured the stars of the Milky Way in the camera.
3. D2M Technology
Tags: Science and Technology
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Prasar Bharati are exploring the feasibility of ‘direct-to-mobile’ (D2M) broadcasting.
What is D2M Technology?
This technology is based on the convergence of broadband and broadcast, using which mobile phones can receive terrestrial digital TV.
This would be similar to how people listen to FM radio on their phones, where a receiver within the phone can tap into the radio frequency.
Using D2M, multimedia content can also be beamed to phones directly.
Benefit and need of D2M Technology
It allows video and other forms of multimedia content to be transmitted directly to mobile phones without the need for an Internet connection.
It improves consumption of broadband and utilisation of spectrum.
This technology can be used to directly broadcast content related to citizen-centric information.
It can also be used to combat fake news, issue emergency alerts and provide assistance in disaster management.
In addition, it can be used to broadcast live news, sports, etc. on mobile phones.
Government's initiative to facilitate D2M technology
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has constituted a committee to study the feasibility of a spectrum band to provide broadcast services live on users' smartphones.
Band 526-582 MHz is envisaged to work in sync with both mobile and broadcast services.
Currently, this band is used by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for TV transmitters across the country.
4. World's largest plant discovered off Australia's west coast
Tags: Science and Technology
The world's largest plant has recently been discovered off the west coast of Australia, it is a sea grass with a length of 180 km.
About the plant
The name of the discovered plant is Posidonia australis or ribbon weed.
It has been discovered in Shark Bay by a group of researchers from Flinders University and The University of Western Australia.
Researchers have also found that the plant is 4,500 years old, is sterile, and has double the number of chromosomes than other similar plants.
The plant has managed to survive in the volatile atmosphere of the shallow Shark Bay.
Plant’s size
Posidonia australis covers an area of 20,000 hectares.
The second largest plant, is the clonal colony of a quaking Aspen tree in Utah, which covers 43.6 hectares area.
The largest tree in India is the Great Banyan in the Botanical Garden of Howrah which is spread over 1.41 hectares.
The findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
5. PARAM ANANTA Supercomputer commissioned at IIT, Gandhinagar
Tags: Science and Technology
A state-of-the-art supercomputer PARAM ANANTA under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM), was dedicated to the nation at IIT Gandhinagar.
NSM is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Department of Science and Technology (DST).
About PARAM ANANTA
This high power supercomputer can process 838 lakh crore calculations per second.
It is capable of offering peak performance of 838 teraflops.
The facility has been set up under Phase 2 of the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between IIT Gandhinagar and Center for Development in Advanced Computing (C-DAC) on 12 October 2020 to set up this 838 teraflops supercomputing facility under NSM.
It is equipped with a mix of CPU nodes, GPU nodes, High Memory nodes, High throughput storage and high performance Infiniband.
It is based on direct contact liquid cooling technology to achieve high power utilization effectiveness and reduce operating costs.
This facility will be of great benefit to IIT Gandhinagar to pursue Research and Development (R&D) activities in the multidisciplinary domain of Science and Technology.
What are supercomputers?
A supercomputer can perform high-level processing at a faster rate than a normal computer.
They work together to perform complex operations that are not possible with normal computing systems.
Fast speed and fast memory are the characteristics of supercomputers.
The performance of a supercomputer is generally evaluated in petaflops.
National Supercomputing Mission
The National Supercomputing Mission was launched In 2015.
The aim of the mission was to enhance the research capacities in the country to form a Supercomputing grid.
It supports the government's vision of 'Digital India' and 'Make in India' initiatives.
The mission is being jointly operated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
It is implemented by Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune and IISc, Bengaluru.
Some important facts about supercomputer
China has the maximum number of supercomputers followed by the US, Japan, France, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland and the United Kingdom..
India’s first supercomputer - PARAM 8000
first supercomputer assembled indigenously - PARAM Shivay, installed in IIT (BHU)
PARAM Shakti, PARAM Brahma, PARAM Yukti, PARAM Sanganak are some name of india's supercomputers
India's PARAM-Siddhi AI, has been ranked 63rd in the Top 500 list of most powerful supercomputers in the world.
6. One person dies of West Nile fever in Thrissur
Tags: Science and Technology
The health department has been alerted after one person died of West Nile fever, a mosquito-borne disease, in Thrissur's Panancheri panchayat on May 29.
About West Nile Virus
West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne, single-stranded RNA virus.
As per WHO, it is a member of the flavivirus genus and belongs to the Japanese Encephalitis antigenic complex of the family Flaviviridae.
Transmission of virus
The Culex species of mosquitoes serves as the major carrier for transmission.
It is transmitted through infected mosquitoes to humans, animals and birds.
Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds and circulate the virus in their blood for a few days.
The virus eventually moves into the mosquito's salivary glands.
When mosquitoes bite, the virus enters the body of humans and animals where there is a rapid increase in the number of viruses that cause disease.
The virus can also be spread by blood transfusion, from an infected mother to her child, or through exposure to the virus in laboratories.
Symptoms
In 80% of the infected people the disease is asymptomatic.
Symptoms seen in 20% of cases include fever, headache, fatigue, body aches, nausea, rash and swollen glands.
Severe infection can lead to encephalitis, meningitis, paralysis, and even death.
It usually becomes fatal in individuals with co-morbidities and in immune-compromised individuals (e.g. transplant patients).
7. MoU signed between Ministry of Ayush and Department of Biotechnology
Tags: National Science and Technology
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry of AYUSH and the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India to explore the possibility of collaboration, convergence and synergy to bring together expertise towards evidence based biotechnology interventions in the AYUSH sector.
The MoU is expected to enable traditional health care and biotechnology to come together to conduct innovative and path-breaking research.
Innovation and research can be used for the exploration of various fundamental principles of Ayush systems.
The discovery and application of the ancient scientific method in the public health care sector requires multi-dimensional and technological methods.
This is expected to pave the way for coordinated research in the AYUSH sector and harness the vast untapped potential of the AYUSH health care system for community benefit.
The MoU will facilitate inter-ministerial cooperation for evidence based biotechnology interventions in the AYUSH sector.
8. BHASHINI to remove language barriers in using internet
Tags: Science and Technology
A brainstorming session with researchers and start-ups was organised by the Ministry of Electronics and IT with an aim to shape the strategy for Digital India BHASHINI (Language Interface for India).
About Digital India BHASHINI
It is India’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) led language translation platform.
It will make available Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) resources to startups and innovators in the public sector.
It is a part of the National Language Translation Mission.
Its objective is to substantially increase the content in Indian languages on the Internet in the areas of governance and policy, science and technology etc.
Significance of the initiative
It will empower Indian citizens by connecting them to the country's digital initiatives in their own language.
It will lead to digital inclusion.
It will encourage participation of startups.
It will create an ecosystem involving Central/State government agencies and start-ups, working together to develop innovative products and services in Indian languages.
It will play an important role in realising the goal of digital government.
It will Increase the Content in Indian Languages.
9. PARAM PORUL Supercomputer inaugurated at NIT, Tiruchirappalli
Tags: Science and Technology
PARAM PORUL, a state-of-the art Supercomputer was inaugurated on May 25, 2022 at NIT Tiruchirappalli.
It has been dedicated to the nation under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).
National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between NIT Tiruchirappalli and Center for Development in Advanced Computing (C-DAC) on 12 October 2020 to set up this 838 Teraflops supercomputing facility under NSM.
The system is equipped with a mix of CPU nodes, GPU nodes, high memory nodes, high storage and high performance Infiniband interconnects to meet the computing needs of various scientific and engineering applications.
It is based on direct contact liquid cooling technology to achieve high power utilisation effectiveness and thereby reduce operating costs.
This state-of-the-art computing system will prove to be of great importance to the research community.
Under NSM, so far 15 supercomputers with compute capacity of 24 petaflops have been installed across the country.
All these supercomputers are manufactured in India and are working with indigenously developed software stack.
10. Collaboration with The Ministry of Railways and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras
Tags: National Science and Technology
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The Ministry of Railways will collaborate with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras in the development of an 'indigenous' Hyperloop system and will also help in setting up a Centre of Excellence for Hyperloop Technology at the Institute.
The plan to develop Hyperloop technology was launched by the then Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in the year 2017.
Indian Railways has taken this important step in the direction of making rail travel fast, easy and modern in the country.
This project will also help in the goal of reducing carbon emissions and energy consumption.
According to the Ministry of Railways, a team of students of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) 'Team Avishkar Hyperloop' is working on this transport medium.
The model proposed by Team Invention can achieve a top speed of over 1,200 kmph and is completely autonomous, safe and clean.
What is Hyperloop?
Hyperloop is a technology that uses a magnetic field in a low-pressure tube to move people and goods at high speed without friction.
Specially designed capsules or pods will be used in this.
The capsules and pods will be driven at high velocity inside a transparent tube pipe.
In this, the pods will be driven above the ground in very large pipes on an electrical magnet, due to the effect of this magnet, the pods will rise slightly above the track, due to which the speed will increase and friction will be reduced.
It will have a magnetic track on which the vacuum will be created. With this, the train will be able to move from one place to another very fast.
