1. Science, Technology Secretary releases four popular science books
• Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Professor Ashutosh Sharma released four popular science books published by Vigyan Prasar in New Delhi.
• The books released are `Voyage to Antarctica` authored by Felix Bast, `Story of Consciousness` by Govind Bhattacharjee, `An Autobiography of Moon` written by Ramesh Shishu and `Shambhu Nath De - The discovery of cholera toxins` by MS Murthy.
• Addressing the gathering, Prof. Sharma said that popular science books serve an important purpose of science communication.He said, these books will inspire the people to understand the scientific temperament.
2. ISRO launches earth observation satellite RISAT-2B
• Indian Space Research Organisation has successfully launched its earth observation satellite RISAT-2B from Sriharikota. ISRO`s trusted workhorse PSLV-C46 carrying RISAT-2B blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
• The 615 kg satellite was released into the orbit 15 minutes after the lift-off. RISAT-2B meant for application in fields such as surveillance, agriculture, forestry and disaster management support.
• It will replace the RISAT-2, which was launched in 2009.
• ISRO Chairman K Sivan said this particular mission is really important in the sense that PSLV has crossed a landmark of launching 50 tonnes into space.
• He said, there are several new features in RISAT-2B. Dr Sivan said, it is having expanded Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) making it an advanced earth observation satellite, operating in spotlight mode, mode and mosaic mode.