JANUARY

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Ø  First India-designed vaccine ‘Rotovac’ passes WHO test

Ø  For the first time, a vaccine conceived and developed from scratch in India has been “pre-qualified” by the World Health Organisation. The Rotavac vaccine, developed by the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech Limited last year, was included in India’s national immunisation programme. To be “pre-qualified” means that the vaccine can be sold internationally to several countries in Africa and South America. While several vaccines from India have been pre-qualified, this is the first that was entirely developed locally and, according to experts, is a sign that there is a credible industrial, scientific and regulatory process in place to develop vaccines in India.

Ø  NASA develops aircraft that can fold wings mid-flight

Ø  NASA successfully applied a new technology that allows aircraft to fold their wings between zero and 70 degrees while inflight. Built from a shape memory alloy, the system operates without a hydraulic system, reducing the wing weight by up to 80%. The technology’s potential aerodynamic benefit includes increased controllability, which may result in a more fuel-efficient aircraft.

Ø  Japan launches new observation satellite

Ø  Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has successfully launched a new Earth observation satellite, equipped with X-band radar. ASNARO-2, developed by Japanese tech firm NEC, will perform Earth-observation tasks for five years from its orbit at an altitude of about 500 km. This was the first launch of a JAXA Epsilon rocket ordered by a private company.

Ø  China launches two BeiDou-3 navigation satellites into space

Ø  China has successfully launched two BeiDou-3 satellites to provide navigation and positioning services to countries along Belt and Road initiative (BRI) by the end of 2018. The two satellites were designated as BeiDou-3 M7 and BeiDou-3 M8 (26th and 27th satellites) in BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS).

Ø  ISRO’s PSLV-C40 lifts off from Sriharikota

Ø  ISRO’s PSLV-C40 carrying Cartosat-2 series satellite and 30 other spacecraft lifts off from Sriharikota. The “Cartosat-2 Series” and 29 other satellites inserted into a 505-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. Later, the payload Microsat developed by the ISRO will be taken down to a lower orbit at 359-kilometer height and launched using the ‘multiple engine switch-on’ method. This is the fourth time the novel method has been used by the ISRO for placing satellites in multiple orbits in a single flight.

Ø  India’s fastest supercomputer ‘Pratyush’ unveiled

Ø  India’s fastest and first multi-petaflops (PF) supercomputer named Pratyush was unveiled at Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM). The supercomputer has been named as ‘Pratyush’ meaning Sun. It will help India with better forecasts in terms of monsoon, extreme events, cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes, air quality, lightning, fishing, hot and cold waves, flood and drought among others.

Ø  Pak Navy successfully tests missile in Arabian Sea

Ø  The Pakistan Navy demonstrated its ability to respond to any aggression by conducting a test fire of a cruise missile – Harba Naval Cruise Missile, which is a surface-to-surface anti-ship missile, from its newly commissioned Fast Attack Craft (Missile), PNS Himmat, off Karachi in the North Arabian Sea.

Ø  NASA to launch Parker Solar Probe to explore sun’s outer atmosphere

Ø  NASA is going to launch Parker Solar Probe in 2018 to explore the sun’s outer atmosphere. It will be launched onboard of Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle. It will perform its scientific investigations in a hazardous region of intense heat and solar radiation. The primary goals of mission are to Trace how energy and heat move through solar corona, Explore what accelerates solar wind as well as solar energetic particles.