1) Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project: Indian delegation visits Hawaii to discuss progress of TMT.
- TMT is a new class of extremely large telescopes that will allow seeing deeper into space and observing cosmic objects with unprecedented sensitivity.
- It is a joint venture of 5 countries- India (Department of Science and Technology), Canada, US, China and Japan.
- It is being installed at Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
- The level of contribution determines the amount of viewing time, or slots.
- TMT would be able to resolve objects 12 times better than the Hubble Space Telescope.
2) Cold dark matter (CDM): Scientists have found a new approach to explore CDM.
- CDM is a hypothetical dark matter that constitutes 25 percent of current Universe.
- “Cold” or “hot “refers to fact that particles of CDM move at speeds much lower than the speed of light.
- It is very difficult to determine what constituents of CDM are.
- One of promising candidates of CDM is Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMP).
- WIMPs, represent one hypothesized class of particles that neither absorb nor emit light and don’t interact strongly with other particles.
3) Akash-NG (New Generation) missile: Defence Research and Development Organisation conducted successful flight-test of Akash NG missile.
- Akash-NG is a Surface to Air Missile capable of intercepting highspeed, agile aerial threats.
- It has range of around 80 km.
- Its active electronically scanned array (AESA) multi-function radar features all three functions – search, track and fire control in one platform.
- Akash Weapon System is Short Range Surface to Air Missile (SRSAM) Air Defence System, indigenously designed and developed by DRDO
4) Atal Setu Nhava Sheva Sea Link: Inaugurated by PM, it is country’s longest Sea bridge, also referred as Mumbai Trans Harbour Link.
- It is a 21.8 Kms long bridge of which 16.5 kms is built completely over the Sea.
- It connects Sewri in Mumbai with Nhava Sheva in Raigad district, thereby easing travel between Mumbai-Navi Mumbai.
