News on Science, Technology and Research in India
According to a Times of India report, two factors are influencing India’s space agency to begin purchasing satellite insurance. First is an unexpected setback in Project Chandrayaan-2, which cost nearly INR10 billion (US$139.4 million), and second is the success of ISRO’s Mars mission, which brought down reinsurance rates for Indian space exploration activities.
PSLV C-47 rocket, to be launched from Sriharikota at 9.28 am on November 25, will carry third-generation earth-imaging satellite Cartosat-3 as the primary payload and 13 commercial nanosatellites from the US. The commercial deal for the launch of 13 US nanosatellites was earlier signed by newly formed commercial arm NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), according to Isro. Cartosat-3 will be placed in an orbit of 509 km at an inclination of 97.5 degree.
The successful Indian mouse deer conservation breeding programme, funded by Central Zoo Authority (CZA) and implemented by NZP, Hyderabad has ensured that the mouse deer, as a species is thriving, healthy, genetically diverse and its numbers are on the rise.
The contraceptive is effective for 13 years, after which it loses its potency. It is designed as a replacement for surgical vasectomy, which is the only male sterilisation method available in the world.
“The major reason behind the population of the bird not increasing is primarily because it is a very slow breeder. It lays just one egg in a year and that too in an open place in the dry grasslands. The egg(s) are mostly destroyed by predators such as fox, pigs, dogs, lizard, mongoose and cattle.
The study – Characterising the harmonic vocal repertoire of the Indian wolf – published in the international peer-reviewed research journal Plos One on October 31, is based on the analysis of 270 recorded vocalisations from wild and captive Indian grey wolf populations.
Gaganyaan is India’s manned space mission which the ISRO aims to launch by December 2021. The project aims at sending the astronautsto a lower orbit of the earth and the spacecraft will have a capsule with adequate supply of oxygen and other essential material and facilities for the Gagan Yatris, the officer explained.
A team of two researchers, Dr Bhushan J Toley and his PhD scholar Navjot Kaur from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, have now developed a compact, stand-alone and portable device that promises to overcome the limitation by drastically cutting down the costs.
The Indian Space Research Organisation had constituted a high-level committee, headed by S Somanath, Director of Thiruvanathapuram-based Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, the lead centre responsible for all launch vehicle programmes of ISRO, to prepare a report on the proposed Chandrayaan-3.
Cytotron aids in tissue engineering of cancer cells to alter or modify how specific proteins are regulated to cause cancer cells to stop multiplying and spreading.
