DART Mission: NASA’s DART mission was a spacecraft designed to test a method of deflecting an asteroid for planetary defence, using the “kinetic impactor” technique (in simplest terms means smashing a thing into another thing).DART was the first-ever space mission to demonstrate asteroid deflection by kinetic impactor. The target of the spacecraft was a 160-meter-wide asteroid known as Dimorphos, which is a moonlet in orbit around the larger asteroid, Didymos. It was launched in November 2021. DART spacecraft successfully collided with Dimorphos on 26 September 2022, altering the asteroid’s orbit by 33 minutes. It is the first-time humanity intentionally changed the motion of a celestial object in space.
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African Union (AU): The African Union is a continental body consisting of the 55 member states that make up the countries of the African Continent. It was officially launched in 2002 and replaced its predecessor, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which was founded in 1963.
Primary Objective: To promote unity, cooperation, and development among African nations while advancing the continent’s interests on the global stage. It aims to strengthen political, economic, and social integration among African countries, with a vision of achieving an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful Africa.
Headquarters: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Assembly: It is the highest decision-making body, consisting of the heads of state and government of member countries.
Executive Council: Made up of foreign affairs ministers, handles policy matters and makes recommendations to the Assembly.
AU Commission: Headquartered in Addis Ababa, is the administrative arm responsible for implementing the decisions of the Assembly and the Executive Council.
The Peace and Security Council: Responsible for maintaining peace and security on the continent. The AU structure promotes the participation of African citizens and civil society through the Pan-African Parliament and the Economic, Social & Cultural Council (ECOSOCC).
Sendai Framework 2015-2030: The Sendai Framework works hand in hand with the other 2030 Agenda agreements, including The Paris Agreement on Climate Change, The Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, the New Urban Agenda, and ultimately the SDGs.It was endorsed by the UN General Assembly following the 2015 Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR). It advocates for the substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods, and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural, and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities, and countries. The state has the primary role to reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be shared with other stakeholders including local government, the private sector, and other stakeholders.
Tiangong space station: Tiangong (Chinese for “Heavenly Palace”) is a modular space station constructed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). It is the first space station built by China. Tiangong is currently in low Earth orbit (LEO), and it is expected to be operational until 2028. It is a three-module space station. The core module Tianhe launched in April 2021, followed by the Wentian and Mengtian experiment modules in 2022. The station is about the size of the International Space Station (ISS), and it can accommodate up to three astronauts. China is only the third country to have put both astronauts into space and to build a space station, after the Soviet Union (now Russia) and the US.
