1) ISRO to test rocket that takes its fuel from air.
- Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has decided to test an Air-breathing Propulsion System after successful test of Reusable launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstration (RLV-TD).
- The system aims to capitalize on the oxygen in the atmosphere instead of liquefied oxygen while in flight.
- The air-breathing propulsion system uses natural oxygen present in the atmosphere up to 50 km from the earth’s surface to burn the fuel stored in the rocket.
- This system would help in reducing the lift-off mass of the vehicle as there will be no need of carrying liquefied oxygen on board the vehicle.
- In turn help in increasing the energy efficiency of the rocket and also make it cost-effective.
- ISRO is now evolving and testing various technologies to bring down the cost of launch vehicles.
2) Huge tsunamis swept across ancient Mars.
- A series of giant tsunamis swept across an ocean on Mars 3.4 billion years ago.
- The impacts kicked up enormous waves that raced across the water and swamped the shoreline.
- Imagine this enormous red wave coming towards you, up to 120 meters (393.7 feet) high. Rodriguez and his colleagues mapped traces of two of these tsunamis.
- It may help resolve long-standing arguments about whether Mars had an ancient northern ocean.
- Mega tsunamis could have wiped away some of that shoreline, happening as often as every 3 million years.
3) Indian Coast Guard Ship `ARUSH` Commissioned.
- The Indian Coast Guard ship `Arush`, the seventeenth in the series of twenty Fast Patrol Vessels (FPVs), designed and built by M/s Cochin Shipyard Limited, was commissioned at Kochi.
- The special features of the ship include an Integrated Bridge Management System (IBMS) and Integrated Machinery Control System (IMCS).
- The ship has been named ICGS `Arush`, literally meaning `first ray of sun`.
- The Indian Coast Guard will be a 150 ships/ boats and 100 aircraft maritime force in next few years.
- In addition to these operational assets, a coastal surveillance network is being established with 46 stations to ensure real-time coastal surveillance.
- The 50-meter indigenous FPV displaces 421 tonnes and can achieve a maximum speed of 33 knots with an endurance of 1500 nautical miles at economical speed of 13 knots, equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry and advanced communication and navigational equipment.
4) Microsoft, Facebook to jointly build subsea cable for faster internet.
- Microsoft and Facebook have joined hands to lay a giant state-of-the-art sub-sea cable across the Atlantic Ocean connecting the US with Europe and beyond so as to facilitate faster speed and access to the Internet.
- The 6,600 km MAREA cable will be the highest-capacity subsea cable to ever cross the Atlantic - eight fiber pairs and an initial estimated design capacity of 160 terabits per second of bandwidth (Tbps).
- Microsoft and Facebook are collaborating on this system to accelerate the development of the next-generation of Internet infrastructure and support the explosion of data consumption and rapid growth of their respective cloud and online services
- The submarine cable system, to be operated and managed by Telxius.
5) Indian Air Force successfully test-fires land-attack version of BrahMos cruise missile.
- The Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully test-fired an advanced version of BrahMos land-attack supersonic cruise missile at the Pokhran field firing range in Rajasthan`s Jaisalmer district.
- Two squadrons of IAF already have been equipped with the land-attack version of the missile version (One squadron has about 70 to 80 missiles).
- IAF is deploying this version of the missile in the border areas to take out the enemy’s communication towers, runways, and radar in case of a conflict.
- BrahMos supersonic cruise missile has been designed and developed by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture of India and Russia.
- It has derived its name from the names of two rivers, India’s Brahmaputra River and Russia’s Moskva River.
- It can strike a target at maximum range of 290 km. It is two-stage missile, the first one being solid and the second one ramjet liquid propellant.
6) Microsoft, Facebook to jointly build subsea cable for faster internet.
- Microsoft and Facebook have joined hands to lay a giant state-of-the-art sub-sea cable across the Atlantic Ocean connecting the US with Europe and beyond so as to facilitate faster speed and access to the Internet.
- The 6,600 km MAREA cable will be the highest-capacity subsea cable to ever cross the Atlantic - eight fiber pairs and an initial estimated design capacity of 160 terabits per second of bandwidth (Tbps).
- Microsoft and Facebook are collaborating on this system to accelerate the development of the next-generation of Internet infrastructure and support the explosion of data consumption and rapid growth of their respective cloud and online services
- The submarine cable system, to be operated and managed by Telxius.
7) ISRO to test Air-breathing Propulsion System.
- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to test an air-breathing propulsion system, which aims to capitalise on the oxygen in the atmosphere instead of liquefied oxygen while in flight.
- The mission would be on a sounding rocket.
- Generally, vehicles that are used to launch satellites use combustion of propellants with oxidiser and fuel. The air-breathing propulsion system aims at using oxygen present in the atmosphere up to 50 km from the earth’s surface to burn the fuel stored in the rocket.
- This system, when implemented, would help in reducing the lift-off mass of the vehicle since liquefied oxygen need not be carried on board the vehicle. This would also help increasing the efficiency of the rocket and also make it cost-effective.
8) NASA successfully deploys space station`s inflatable room.
- US space agency NASA successfully deployed the first experimental inflatable room attached to the International Space Station.
- NASA Astronaut Jeff Williams began introducing air into the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, but he only filled air into the spacecraft for a very short time, ranging from one to 30 seconds, each time.
- The 1,400 kg Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) was built by Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace under a $17 million NASA contract.
- BEAM was launched to the orbiting lab last month in an effort to test and validate expandable habitat technology.
- Inflatable habitats are designed to take up less room on a spacecraft, but provide greater volume for living and working in space once expanded, according to NASA.