86026621
submission
William Robinson writes:
According to some reports, China has tested its first single photon detection technology quantum radar which could detect objects, including stealth aircraft, within the range of 100 kilometres, somewhere is mid August. The radar uses quantum entanglement photons, which means it has better detection capabilities than conventional systems. This means it can more easily track modern aircraft that use stealth technology or baffle enemy radar. The report also suggests that "The system was able to detect a target at a range of 100 kms in a real-world environment".
85753351
submission
William Robinson writes:
India test fired Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV), a research rocket with a solid booster carrying advanced scramjet engines, which is Air Breathing Propulsion System that uses hydrogen as fuel and oxygen from the atmosphere air as the oxidiser. Since 70 per cent of the propellant mass is oxidiser, using oxidiser directly from air makes flights significantly cheaper. Also air breathing technique makes is less prone to failure because it uses less moving parts. India is fourth country to test this technology after US, Russia and EU.
85631147
submission
William Robinson writes:
According to recent reports, a visit a torrent website from within India , you might be committing a crime, one that earns a Rs 3 lakh fine (approx US$ 4400 ) and 3 years in prison. The ban extends to looking at "a torrent file, or downloading a file from a host that may have been banned in India, or even for viewing an image on a file host like Imagebam". Earlier, the Government of India had blocked many torrent sites, and there used to be simple message implying the URL is blocked. But legal warning is a recent development, which says, "This URL has been blocked under the instructions of the Competent Government Authority or in compliance with the orders of a Court of competent jurisdiction. Viewing, downloading, exhibiting or duplicating an illicit copy of the contents under this URL is punishable as an offence under the laws of India, including but not limited to under Sections 63, 63-A, 65 and 65-A of the Copyright Act, 1957 which prescribe imprisonment for 3 years and also fine of upto Rs. 3,00,000/-. Any person aggrieved by any such blocking of this URL may contact at urlblock@tatacommunications.com who will, within 48 hours, provide you the details of relevant proceedings under which you can approach the relevant High Court or Authority for redressal of your grievance"
85384727
submission
William Robinson writes:
NASA Television will be bringing to viewers around the world live coverage Friday, Aug. 19, as two NASA astronauts install a new gateway for American commercial crew spacecraft at the International Space Station. Walking in space alone poses a threat to the astronauts performing their duty, but the new mission of installing a dock into the ISS adds to the level of difficulties that astronauts will need to survive in order to perform their duty. Coverage will begin at 6:30 a.m. EDT Aug. 19, on NASA TV and the agency’s website, with the spacewalk scheduled to begin at 8:05 a.m. Leading up to the spacewalk, NASA TV will air a briefing from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston at 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 15, during which station and commercial crew experts will discuss the process and significance of installing and connecting the first of two international docking adapters (IDAs) that will be used for the future arrivals of Boeing and SpaceX commercial crew spacecraft. Not an event to miss.
85127361
submission
William Robinson writes:
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have engineered a potentially game-changing solar cell that cheaply and efficiently converts atmospheric carbon dioxide directly into usable hydrocarbon fuel, using only sunlight for energy. This artificial leaf delivers syngas, or synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide. Syngas can be burned directly, or converted into diesel or other hydrocarbon fuels. The discovery opens up possibilities of clean reusable energy.
84894659
submission
William Robinson writes:
Scientists from Harvard University have discovered how to create flow batteries using organic molecules inspired by vitamin B2, which helps store energy from food in the body. With a few tweaks to the original B2 molecule, the scientists discovered a new group of organic molecules that make good candidates for alkaline flow batteries. The result of the discovery was a redox flow battery that demonstrates an open-circuit voltage approaching 1.2V, with a current efficiency of 99.7 percent and a capacity retention over 99.98 percent per cycle.
84522621
submission
William Robinson writes:
The UDS Project (Ultra Deep Survey), part of UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey, have recently released the final data providing spectacular infrared images of the distant Universe have provided astronomers with the deepest view ever obtained. The UDS mapped a total area four times the size of full moon and detected over 250,000 galaxies, including several hundred observed within the first billion year after Big Bang. This was done since 2005 by observing the same patch of sky repeatedly, obtaining more than 1,000 hours of exposure time and utilizing the power of infrared to provide the deepest view ever obtained over a large area in the sky,
84345731
submission
William Robinson writes:
Antikythera mechanism, the 2,100-year-old mechanism recovered from a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, was used track the phases of the moon, the position of the sun and moon through the zodiac, the position of the planets, and to predict eclipses. Many of the recovered fragments of the device contain ancient Greek text, mostly unreadable due to corrosion. Over the past decade, new imaging techniques like 3D X-ray scans have provided clearer images of these inscriptions, revealing new details about the device’s function. "It's like a textbook of astronomy as it was understood then, which connected the movements of the sky and the planets with the lives of the ancient Greeks and their environment." said Alexander Jones from New York University. This high-tech relic, which looks like an old clock with bronze gears, was discovered to have been used thousands of years ago to calculate astronomical events and other happenings in space.
84272731
submission
William Robinson writes:
India's ISRO used its workhorse PSLV-C34 to inject 20 satellites, which includes 17 satellites from various countries like US, Canada, Germany and Indonesia. In the final stages of the mission, ISRO also demonstrated the vehicle's capability to place satellites in different orbits. In the demonstration, the vehicle reignited twice after its fourth and final stage and moved further a few kilometres into another orbit. Also included are couple of satellites from academic institutes, Sathyabamasat from Sathyabhama University, Chennai and Swayam from College of Engineering, Pune.
83598925
submission
William Robinson writes:
India will use a mini-rocket with a booster to fly a winged reusable launch vehicle into lower earth orbit on May 23 for demonstrating the technology. Called as RLV-TD, a nine meter 1.7-tonne will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. If everythig goes well, it will reach about 70 km from the earth, and will plunge into the Bay of Bengal. This flight is using dummy vehicle to demonstrate hypersonic and aero-thermo dynamics of the winged re-entry vehicle with autonomous mission management to land after passing through very high temperatures during re-entry.
83453787
submission
William Robinson writes:
Astronomers at Indiana University recently have detected a faint blue dwarf galaxy which can be used as a medium to test the Big Bang Theory. Nicknamed Leoncino, meaning the little lion, the AGC 198691 galaxy is the most metal poor one among the list of discovered galaxies until now. Therefore, Leoncino can be used as a time capsule that will give scientists more insight into the conditions that prevailed right after the creation of the Universe. A metal poor galaxy is in a chemical state similar to the early Universe and it could help contribute to a quantitative test of the Big Bang. The current accepted model of the start of the universe makes clear predictions about the amount of helium and hydrogen present during the Big Bang, and the ratio of these atoms in metal-poor galaxies provides a direct test of the model. The story is covered here too.
83312119
submission
William Robinson writes:
Scientists have used the Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) of telescopes in Chile's Atacama Desert to calculate the mass of black hole, at the center of a galaxy called NGC 1332. It is estimated to be 660 million times the mass of our sun. Using ALMA, astronomers have been able to zoom in at the center to get a high-precision view of the swirling gases around the central supermassive black hole. Knowing the distance of the gas cloud from the black hole and using ALMA to clock its speed, a highly precise measurement of the black hole’s mass could be made. The black hole is 73 million light years away from Earth.
82456959
submission
William Robinson writes:
Upset with the way hijacking of Egypt Air flight MS181 ended, leading terrorists of the world have issued a statement condemning the actions of Seif Eldin Mustafa, the man who had hijacked the flight to deliver some messages to his ex-wife. ISIS too has condemned the action calling it highly irresponsible act that hurt their professional sentiments.
81707323
submission
William Robinson writes:
Fossils of an ancient creature resembling a shrimp containing oldest and best-preserved nervous system have been found in Xiashiba area in Kunming, South China. The fossils revealed a long "ropelike" central nerve cord that extended throughout the body, with visible clusters of nerve tissue arranged along the cord, like beads strung on a thread. Even individual nerve structures could be detected. The discovery is important because fossils typically provide scientists with records of bones, teeth, shells and other tough organic structures, while softer tissues generally disintegrate too quickly to be preserved.
80196889
submission
William Robinson writes:
ISIS has issued a chilling guide describing how to carry out 'lone wolf' terror attacks. The 64-page guide was first published by al-Qaeda but has been updated by ISIS extremists to include advice on how would-be attackers can avoid being detected. The 12-chapter manual is also said to reveal how to go online without being detected and how to tell if a spy is trying to infiltrate a small cell.
