November 2018 Science and Technology

• IMD develops new technology to monitor impact of rain & deal with natural disasters
  The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has developed a new technology to assess the rise of water level in rivers and reservoirs by rain.
  
  The technology, called 'Impact Based Forecasting Approach', which shows pre-event scenario, can help state governments to minutely monitor the impact of rain and take real-time decisions.
  
  
• PSLV-C-43 successfully puts earth observation satellite HysIS and 30 other satellites into Orbit
  In one of the longest space flights, India’s workhorse rocket PSLV C-43 placed modern earth observation satellite HysIS and 30 other satellites from an eight different countries successfully into orbit on 29 November, 2018 morning.
  
  23 of the customer satellite are from the US including the sole micro-satellite and one each from Australia, Canada, Columbia, Finland, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Spain.
  
  With this launch, India will have an eye in the sky to capture the images of the earth surface in high definition. The satellite HysIS can send pictures and data in multiple frequencies with high resolution.
  
  Information and Broadcasting Minister Colonel Rajyavardhan Rathore has congratulated ISRO team for the successful launch of PSLV C43.
  
  The highlight of this launch, HysIS will be India's first hyper spectral imaging satellite. He said it is a big victory for Indian science and technology.
  
  
• Congo’s Ebola outbreak now second-largest in history: WHO
  The World Health Organization, WHO, has said that Congo's deadly Ebola outbreak is now the second largest in history, behind the devastating West Africa outbreak that killed thousands a few years ago.
  
  WHO emergencies chief Dr. Peter Salama called it "a sad toll" as Congo's health ministry announced the number of cases has reached 426.
  
  That includes 379 confirmed cases and 47 probable ones. Salama this month predicted that the outbreak in northeastern Congo will last at least another six months before it can be contained.
  
  
• NITI Aayog organises dialogue on health system for New India
  NITI Aayog will begin a series of Development Dialogues to engage experts, thought leaders and government stakeholders across key avenues of long-term social and economic development.
  
  The first event will be a conference on "Health Systems for A New India: Building Blocks".
  
  The conference will feature senior government functionaries and eminent national and international experts in the healthcare space.
  
  The idea of a health system pertains to integrating existing and future programmes, financing, human resources and policies related to all dimensions of healthcare within the fabric of an all-encompassing, inclusive, long-term, stable system.
  
  The conference is also an attempt by NITI Aayog to begin conversations around the mandated 15-year vision document for the country as a whole.
  
  The discussions will include topics related to achieving standardized delivery of health across all levels of care in India’s mixed healthcare system and leveraging IT for healthcare.
  
  
• Government approves compensation formula for Hip implant cases
  Center has approved a formula for determination of compensation for patients who had received faulty Articular Surface Replacement (ASR) hip implants manufactured by M/s. DePuy International Limited, U.K. It was known as Johnson& Johnson Pvt Ltd prior to August, 2010.
  
  An expert committee was constituted by the Union Health Ministry.
  
  The committee, after detailed examination of the issue, submitted its report alongwith its final recommendation.
  
  Based on the recommendations, the Government constituted a Central Expert Committee.
  
  The ministry has decided to disburse the money considering three factors which includes base amount which has been decided as Rs. 20 lakh, risk factor disability and age factor along with Rs 10 lakh for non-pecuniary damages.
  
  All the State Governments have also been requested by the Ministry to form State Level Committees to examine the effected patients within the respective states and to make the process less arduous for the patients.
  
  
• NASA’s InSight spacecraft lands on red planet after six-month journey
  A NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the red planet on 26 November, 2018 after a six-month, 300 million-mile (482 million-kilometre) journey and a perilous, six-minute descent through the rose-hued atmosphere
  
  It was NASA’s ninth attempt to land at Mars since the 1976 Viking probes. All but one of the previous U.S. touchdowns were successful
  
  “Landing on Mars is one of the hardest single jobs that people have to do in planetary exploration,” said Insight’s lead scientist, Bruce Banerdt. “It’s such a difficult thing, it’s such a dangerous thing that there’s always a fairly uncomfortably large chance that something could go wrong.
  
  Mars has been the graveyard for a multitude of space missions. Up to now, the success rate at the red planet has been only 40 percent, counting every attempted flyby, orbital flight and landing by the U.S., Russia and other countries since 1960.
  
  
• NASA picks ancient Martian river delta for rover landing
  NASA has picked an ancient river delta as the landing site for its uncrewed Mars 2020 rover, to hunt for evidence of past life on the earth’s neighbouring planet.
  
  Even though the Red Planet is now cold and dry, the landing site, Jezero Crater, was filled with a 500-meter deep lake that opened to a network of rivers some 3.5 to 3.9 billion years ago.
  
  Experts believe the 45-km wide basin could have collected and preserved ancient organic molecules and other signs of microbial life.
  
  The $2.5 billion rover is planned to launch in July 2020, and land in February 2021.
  
  Mars 2020 is designed to land inside the crater and collect samples that will eventually be returned to Earth for further analysis, perhaps by the later 2020s.
  
  
• China showcases new laser defence weapon system capable of intercepting aerial targets
  China has demonstrated a new laser defence weapon system which could intercept many kinds of aerial targets such as drones, guided bombs and mortars.
  
  The vehicle-based laser weapon, called LW-30 laser defence weapon system, was developed by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), one of the country's largest missile manufacturers.
  
  The LW-30 laser defence weapon system could use a directional-emission high-energy laser to quickly intercept many kinds of aerial targets, such as photoelectric guidance equipment, drones, guided bombs and mortars, the daily quoted CASIC statement as saying. It features sustainable-combat, high-energy focused launch, efficient thermal management and is also capable of long-range detection and imaging.
  
  The system consists of a radar command communication vehicle, a laser vehicle and a support vehicle. The system can be flexibly deployed in key areas based on specific scenarios and demands.
  
  It can complete independent operations or multiple network strikes, and can be integrated into traditional air defence weapon systems.
  
  
• ISRO to launch communication satellite GSAT-29 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre
  Indian Space Research Organization will launch the communication satellite GSAT-29 this evening from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
  
  The ISRO's heaviest ever launch vehicle GSLV Mark-III is set to inject the satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit after its lift off at 5:08 PM. The countdown for the launch started at 2:50 PM yesterday and is progressing smoothly.
  
  The satellite GSAT-29 has high throughput communication transponders in the Ka and Ku bands. It can augment high speed data transfer in India's far flung and remote areas. It weighs 3,423 kg during lift off and has an operational life of over ten years.
  
  The mission assumes significance, as its success would qualify the national space agency's fifth generation launch vehicle GSLV-Mark Three, for regular launches of four-tonne class payloads. It is also set to provide a further fillip, to the prestigious Chandrayaan-II mission that is being planned early next year.
  
  The satellite GSAT-29 that is to be injected into the preparatory orbit would help increase the speed and quantum of data transfer, paving way for hi-speed communication even in remotest parts of the country.
  
  
• ISRO launches communication satellite GSAT-29
  ISRO's heavy-lift rocket GSLV-Mark-Three has proven its reliability by successfully launching the communication satellite GSAT-29.
  
  It lifted off on 15th November evening at 05.08 hours from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
  
  In a little over 16 minutes, it injected the country's second high-throughput communication satellite GSAT-29 into the geostationary transfer orbit.
  
  The GSLV Mark-Three has entered majestically into the list of operational launch vehicles on 14 November, 2018.
  
  The second mission to the moon Chandrayaan-II will be accomplished by January 2019 and the manned mission to space, Gaganyaan by December 2021.
  
  The GSLV Mark Three injected the satellite in an orbit closer to the earth at 190 km and farthest at 35,975 km. Later, the satellite will be brought to the intended circular and geostationary orbit of 36000 km radius using remote manoeuvring by scientists.
  
  
• Kilogram set for an update
  The International Bureau of Weights and Measures will vote to make an "electronic kilogram" the new baseline measure of mass at the Palace of Versailles in Paris, the world's leading measurement aficionados.
  
  Just as the redefinition of the second in 1967 helped to ease communication across the world via technologies, such as GPS and the internet, experts say the change in the kilogram will be better for technology, retail and health — though it probably won't change the price of fish much.
  
  The new definition involves an apparatus called the Kibble balance, which makes use of the constant to measure the mass of an object using a precisely measured electromagnetic force.
  
  Right measure: A replica of the International Prototype Kilogram in Sevres ; and right, a scientist working on the kibble balance, an instrument for accurate measurement.
  
  BACKGROUND
  
  • The kilogram has been defined since 1889 by a shiny piece of platinum-iridium kept in Paris. All modern mass measurements are traceable back to it — from mg of pharmaceutical medicines to kilos of apples and pears and tonnes of steel or cement.
  • The problem is, the "international prototype kg" doesn't always weigh the same. Even inside its three glass bell jars, it gets dusty and dirty, and is affected by the atmosphere. Sometimes, it really needs a wash.

Published date : 10 Dec 2018 02:40PM