Indian Railways conducting trials of Tri-Netra technology: Piyush Goyal:

Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal stated that In order to reduce accidents, Indian Railways is conducting extensive trials of modern technology TRI-NETRA (Terrain Imaging for Drivers Infrared, Enhanced, Optical & Radar Assisted) for detecting obstructions on tracks during fog.

Key points:

i. It will assist Loco pilots to identify obstructions on tracks by using Infrared Camera, Optical Camera and Radar assisted imaging system(Tri-Netra).

ii. It will help in reducing the accidents and help to maintain a high speed of the train.

NASA’s TESS space telescope discovers a new planet named L 98-59b:

The United States(US) space agency, NASA’s(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered a new planet called L 98-59b. It is roughly around 80 percent the size of Earth. It orbits L 98-59 star, which is about one-third the mass of Sun and lies about 35 light-years away.

 

Key points:

 

i. Two other exoplanets were also discovered orbiting the L 98-59 known as L 98-59c and L 98-59d.

ii. The discovery was published in The Astronomical Journal.

iii. TESS: It is a space telescope cost $200 million launched as part of NASA’s Explorers program. It is aimed at searching for exoplanets using the transit method in an area 400 times larger than that covered by its predecessor Kepler mission.

 

NASA to send ‘Dragonfly’ drone mission to Titan for looking origins & signs of life:

 

America’s space agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has planned to send a flying multi rover vehicle, ’Dragonfly’ to Saturn’s moon Titan to search for signs of life.

 

Key points:

 

i. It will be launched in 2026 and set to land on Saturn’s largest moon in 2034. The outlay of the mission was $850 million.

ii. It is the part of the NASA’s New Frontiers program, which includes Pluto probe New Horizons, Jupiter probe Juno and OSIRIS-Rex asteroid mission.

iii. Mission: It will be launched with the aim of collecting samples, examining sites around Titan and looking for prebiotic chemical processes common on both Titan and Earth.

iv.Dragon fly: It will be for the first time NASA will fly multi-rotor vehicle, which has eight rotors and flies like a large drone for science on another planet.

v.Titan: It is Saturn’s largest moon and the second largest moon in the solar system after Jupiter’s moon Ganymede.