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Following NASA’s footsteps,  European Space Agency (ESA) announced a new mission- EnVision mission to Venus. The mission will have contributions from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It is likely to be launched sometime in the 2030s.  Once launched on an Ariane 6 rocket, the spacecraft will take about 15 months to reach Venus. It will take 16 more months to achieve orbit circularisation. AIM The mission will carry a range of instruments to study the planet’s atmosphere and surface, monitor trace gases in the atmosphere and analyse its surface composition. At the core of the ESA’s mission is the question of how Earth and Venus evolved so differently from each other considering that they are roughly of the same size and composition.  EnVision will follow another ESA-led mission to Venus called ‘Venus Express’ (2005-2014) that focussed on atmospheric research and pointed to volcanic hotspots on the planet’s surface.          ...

The government has booked 30 crore doses of Hyderabad-based Biological-E's Covid vaccine, which is still in clinical trials.  The Health Ministry will make an advance payment of ₹ 1,500 crore to the company for what will be the second made-in-India vaccine to be used in the country after Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.  CORBEVAX Corbevax is a “recombinant protein sub-unit” vaccine, which means it is made up of a specific part of SARS-CoV-2 — the spike protein on the virus’s surface.  The spike protein allows the virus to enter the cells in the body so that it can replicate and cause disease.  However, when this protein alone is given to the body, it is not expected to be harmful as the rest of the virus is absent.  The body is expected to develop an immune response against the injected spike protein.  Therefore, when the real virus attempts to infect the body, it will already have an immune response ready that will make it unlikely for the person to fall...

WhatsApp moved the Delhi High Court against the IT Rules . It argued specifically against Rule 4(2) that mandates that a “significant social media intermediary providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable the identification of the first originator of the information on its computer resource as may be required by a judicial order.  A “significant social media intermediary” is one with more than 50 lakh registered users. ARGUMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT A release by the Ministry of Electronics and IT has said that the traceability measure will be used by law enforcement as the “last resort” and will come by only in specific situations, such as “for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of an offence related to the sovereignty and integrity of India... or child sexual abuse material, punishable with imprisonment....” The assertion suggests that this requirement is in line with the Puttaswamy judgment that clarified tha...

DRDO has developed an Artificial Intelligence algorithm that can detect the presence of COVID-19 disease in Chest X-rays. Named ATMAN AI, the tool was developed by DRDO's Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), with the support of 5C Network & HCG Academics.  The ATMAN AI is an artificial intelligence tool for chest X-ray screening as triaging tool in COVID-19 diagnosis. It is a method for rapid identification and assessment of lung involvement. This would be utilised by 5C Network, the country's largest digital network of radiologists, with support of HCG Academics.  The method has shown an accuracy of 96.73 per cent.

Microsoft and UK's Met Office have teamed up to build the world’s most powerful supercomputer.  This supercomputer will be used to forecast weather and climate-change.  The supercomputer is likely to be operational in 2022.  Supercomputers forecast the weather better by: 1. Handling more data. 2. Handling data more rapidly. 3. Running the data through simulations of the atmosphere more accurately. Right now, the UK Met office uses the Cray supercomputer, to predict weather models.  It will reach the end of its life in 2022. First stage installation of the new supercomputer will be six times more capable than the supercomputer used now. The new supercomputer will run its "digital twin" of the Earth's atmosphere – a highly detailed "model" of everything from the winds to the temperatures to the pressures.

Space construction company Orbital Assembly Corporation unveiled its ambitious project of building a hotel above Earth’s atmosphere. The company is planning to start building the hotel, Voyager Station, in the low Earth orbit in 2025 that could be operational as early as 2027. DETAILS The space hotel will be different from the International Space Station (ISS) since the giant wheel with 24 modules, connected by elevator shafts, will rotate to generate artificial gravity of a level found on the Moon’s surface. It will also have 44 emergency return vehicles (ERVs) with automated flight controls for autonomous landing, according to the construction company.  The planned orbit and elevation for Voyager Station is 97 degree and 500-550 kilometres from Earth surface in a sun-synchronous orbit. This means the space hotel will be synchronised to always be in the same ‘fixed’ position relative to the Sun, helping reduce thermal stress and allow for almost continuous solar power generation.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched 19 satellites as part of the first dedicated commercial PSLV mission for its commercial company NewSpace India Limited (NSIL).  The company was set up in March 2019 under the Department of Space. The PSLV-C51/Amazônia-1 mission carry Brazil’s Amazônia-1 as the primary payload, along with 18 other guest satellites, including five Indian satellites.  It is ISRO’s first launch of 2021 and the 53rd flight of the PSLV. DETAILS The NSIL facilitated the mission through a commercial agreement with the American company Spaceflight Inc. The rocket will fly in its DL configuration, with two solid strap-on boosters.  PSLV-C44, launched in 2019, was the first flight to use PSLV-DL variant. There will also be on board 12 pico satellites by Swarm Technologies, US, called SpaceBees (Basic Electronic Elements).  These are the world’s smallest two-way communications satellites that are meant to provide and data relay.  I...

An agreement for establishing India’s first-ever geothermal field in Ladakh has been signed.  Ladakh's Lieutenant Governor R K Mathur termed it a step towards achieving the goal of carbon-neutral Ladakh. The MoU was signed between: Union Territory Administration Ladakh, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC)-Leh, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Energy Centre. WHAT IS GEOTHERMAL ENERGY? Geothermal energy is the thermal energy generated and stored in the rock and fluids beneath Earth’s crust.  Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter.  The largest geothermal development in the world is The Geysers north of San Francisco in California. In 2015, India launched the draft National Policy on Geo-Thermal Energy. THE LADAKH PROJECT In phase 1, 1 megawatt (MW) power generation capacity is to be installed. ONGC Energy Centre is the implementing agency for this pilot project. Phase-2 will focus on deeper and lateral exploration of geot...

NASA’s rover Perseverance landed safely on the floor of a vast crater, Its first stop on a search for traces of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet. Nasa's Perseverance rove becomes the fifth Nasa rover ever to touch down on Mars after Sojourner -- twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity and Curiosity. DETAILS OF LAUNCH The launch was made aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V. The launch took place from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.  The Rover’s destination is a crater Jezero.  COMPONENTS  Perseverance is loaded with seven instruments chosen to help it achieve its mission objectives. Perseverance will carry a unique instrument, MOXIE or Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment.  MOXIE will manufacture molecular oxygen on Mars using carbon dioxide from the carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere.  ISRU means In Situ Resource Utilization: or the use of local resources to meet human needs or requirements of the spacecraft. The mission will also carry Ingenuity, the fir...

The National Informatics Centre has launched an instant messaging platform called Sandes on the lines of WhatsApp. Like WhatsApp, the new NIC platform can be used for all kinds of communications by anyone with a mobile number or email id.  The National Informatics Centre is a branch under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. WHY? The government felt the need to build a platform to ensure secure communication between its employees as they worked from home.  After security scares, the Ministry of Home Affairs had in April last year issued an advisory to all government employees to avoid using platforms like Zoom for official communication. This was after the Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In) had also posted an advisory against Zoom over safety and privacy concerns. THE APP The execution of the idea of such an app was accelerated during the last year.  In August 2020, the NIC released the first version of the app, which said that the app could be ...

The Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) Council held its maiden meeting and approved the establishment of the world’s largest radio telescope, SQUARE KILOMETRE ARRAY. The telescope will be located in Africa and Australia. The operation, maintenance and construction will be overseen by SKAO.  The completion is expected to take nearly a decade at a cost of over £1.8 billion. RADIO TELESCOPES Unlike optical telescopes, radio telescopes can detect invisible gas. Therefore, they can reveal areas of space that may be obscured by cosmic dust. SKAO   SKAO is a new intergovernmental organisation dedicated to radio astronomy. It is headquartered in the UK.  At the moment, organizations from ten countries are a part of the SKAO.  These include Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK. French-born Dr Catherine Cesarsky was appointed the first Chair of the SKAO Council. Indian contingent is led by Pune-based ...

Eytan Stibbe, a former Israeli fighter pilot, Larry Connor, an American technology entrepreneur and Mark Pathy, a Canadian investor will be part of the crew of the first entirely-private orbital space mission.  The three men are paying a whopping $55 million each to fly aboard a SpaceX rocket for an eight-day visit to the International Space Station.  The trip is being organized by Houston-based spaceflight firm Axiom. The mission will be led by former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who now works for Axiom space. AXIOM MISSION 1 The Axiom Mission 1 (AX 1) flight is being arranged under a commercial agreement with NASA.  While private citizens have travelled to space before, the AX 1 mission will be the first to use a commercially built spacecraft, the SpaceX Dragon 2. The three men will participate in research and philanthropic projects alongside the astronauts from all over the world who are already stationed at the ISS. Eytan Stibbe Stibbe will be the second Isra...

The Lunar Gateway is a planned small space station in the orbit of the Moon.  The Gateway will be an outpost orbiting the Moon that provides vital support for a sustainable, long-term human return to the lunar surface, as well as a staging point for deep space exploration.  It is a critical component of NASA’s Artemis programme. Old name - Deep Space Gateway (DSG).  It was renamed as Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOP-G) in 2018. NASA focused Gateway development on the initial critical elements required to support the 2024 landing – the Power and Propulsion Element, the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), and logistics capabilities. ORBIT OF GATEWAY  It will have highly elliptical "near-rectilinear halo orbit." Its 6-day orbit will keep the Gateway out of the moon's shadow at all times, permitting constant communication with Earth. Once docked to the Gateway, astronauts will be able to stay there for three months at a time, conduct science experiments and take...

India Meteorological Department (IMD) inaugurated the highest (3,500 metres above sea level) Meteorological Centre (MC) of India in Leh, Ladakh.  The India Meteorological Department (IMD) will provide specialised weather forecasts for traffic movement on highways, agriculture, and defence personnel from the Ladakh centre. It will provide weather forecasts to two districts: Kargil and Leh. After Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, the Leh centre is the second MC located in the Himalayas. IMD The India Meteorological Department is an agency of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India.  It is the principal agency responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting and seismology. Current Director General: Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra.  IMD has six Regional Meteorological Centres, each under a Deputy Director General.  These are located in Chennai, Guwahati, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur and New Delhi. 

It is $1.6 billion project of NASA to send the next man and first woman to the moon by 2024. This project is first of its kind as no country has launched a stay mission to the moon. The project is carried out in collaboration with European Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, Japan Space Agency and Australian Space Agency. ARTEMIS ARTEMIS stands for “Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun”. ARTEMIS is made up of two probes P1 and P2.  These probes were originally members of the successful mission THEMIS in Earth orbit studying Earth’s aurora, but were redirected to the moon in an effort to save the two probes from losing power in Earth’s shade. PURPOSE Through this new mission scientists look to learn more about the Earth-moon Lagrange points, the solar wind, the Moon’s plasma wake and how the Earth’s magnetotail and the moon’s own weak magnetism interact with the solar wind. NAMING The mission is named Artemis after the tw...