ISRO aims to send human astronauts to space by the year of?

Scientists have discovered evidence of abundant water-bearing minerals on the surface of the near-earth asteroid Bennu. Data from NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft that is currently orbiting the asteroid confirm the presence of aqueously altered, hydrated minerals on its surface. Scientists say similar objects may have seeded the earth with water and organic materials.

Israel's first moon lander, the 585 kg "Beresheet" ("Genesis" in Hebrew), was launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the private US-based SpaceX in Florida, United States. At a cost of USD 100 million, it is the lowest-budget spacecraft to ever undertake such a mission. It is part of renewed global interest in the Moon, sometimes called the "Eighth Continent" of the Earth. The project is funded almost entirely by donations making it the first privately backed lunar lander mission.It was notably financed by businessman and philanthropist Morris Kahn. Other partners include Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Israel's space agency and Israel's Ministry of Science and Technology. Beresheet carries a "time capsule" loaded with digital files containing a Bible, children's drawings, Israeli songs, memories of a Holocaust survivor and the blue-and-white Israeli flag. Landing is the main mission, but the spacecraft also carries a scientific instrument to measure the lunar magnetic field, which will help understanding of the Moon's formation.

Scientists from Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar have developed world's Thinnest Material by making usage of Magnesium Diboride. It has its utility in next-generation materials and UV absorbing films.

An international team of more than 200 astronomers from 18 countries has published the first phase of a major new radio sky survey at unprecedented sensitivity using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. The survey discovered 3,00,000 hidden galaxies using radio astronomy in a tiny corner of the northern hemisphere at low radio frequency. It is believed that these findings will help shed new light on some of the Universe's deepest secrets. This includes the physics of black holes as well as research into how galaxy clusters evolve. The LOFAR telescope is operated by ASTRON in The Netherlands and is considered to be the world's leading telescope of its type. It is made up of a network of radio antenna across seven countries, forming the equivalent of a 1,300-km diameter satellite dish. It is capable of detecting light source beyond the power of optical instruments. Radio astronomy allows scientists to detect radiation produced when massive celestial objects interact.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) selected 10 companies jointly with the NITI-Aayog from a list of 141 companies for transfer of its Lithium-ion cells technology developed by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thumba. ISRO developed Li-ion cells with capacities ranging from 1.5 Ah to 100 Ah for use in launch vehicles and satellites.

The Center for Cell and Molecular Biology (CCMB) scientists have discovered a new enzyme called "Murein EndopeptidiaseK" while studying the cell growth in bacteria. This new discovery has paved the way for a new drug treatment that prevents anti-bacterial resistance by existing antibiotics.It would act on the protein of cell wall in Escherichia coli (E. coli), a bacterium found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms.Pavan Kumar Chodisetti, research student and his mentor Dr. Manjula Reddy were the backbone of this discovery. The finding has been published in the latest issue of Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, USA.

Indian Space Research Organization is planning to send a probe to study the sun early next year. ISRO chairman Dr K Sivan currently scientists are exploring possibilities to study more about Sun and the probe named Aditya-L1 will be sent to observe the solar corona, the outer layers of the Sun. The satellite would be ed in a halo orbit around the L1 (Lagrangian point A) of the Sun-Earth system so that it has the advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation or eclipses. The L1 is 1.5 million kms from t the mission to send Indian astronauts to space by 2022 is well on stream.

Scientists from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea have developed a system that can produce electricity and hydrogen fuel from carbon dioxide. The Hybrid Na-CO2 system can continuously produce electrical energy and hydrogen through efficient carbon dioxide (CO2) conversion with stable operation for over 1,000 hours. The key to this technology is the easy conversion of chemically stable CO2 molecules to other materials. Much of human CO2 emissions are absorbed by the ocean and turned into acidity. The researchers focused on this phenomenon and came up with the idea of melting CO2 into water to induce an electrochemical reaction.If acidity increases, the number of protons increases, which in turn increases the power to attract electrons. If a battery system is created based on this phenomenon, electricity can be produced by removing CO2. In particular, this system has shown stability to the point of operating for more than 1,000 hours without damage to electrodes. The system can be applied to remove CO2 by inducing voluntary chemical reactions.

NASA's Anne McClain and Nick Hague took a spacewalk on 22nd March to replace ageing batteries on the International Space Station. Two American astronauts worked for several hours to swap three nickel-hydrogen batteries with more powerful lithium-ion ones. The duo overcame minor struggles in their first task, which involved attaching a tool bag on one of the station's trusses for possible future use. The space station uses solar panels to generate power but the batteries are used when it is in the dark and not getting power from the sun.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft broke a record after successfully entering into orbit around the asteroid Bennu - the smallest cosmic object ever to be orbited by a spacecraft. NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, 110 million kilometers away, carried out a single, eight-second burn of its thrusters. The manoeuvre placed the spacecraft into orbit around the asteroid Bennu. The spacecraft will circle Bennu about 1.75 kilometres from its centre, closer than any other spacecraft has come to its celestial object of study.