AKHAND-JYOTI

The globally famous National Geographic launched a special edition of Explorer magazines for the Indian schoolchildren. With this project, India has become one of the first countries in the world where the magazine has been launched. The magazine will provide educational resources and new learning solutions to both, teachers and students. US Ambassador to India Kathleen Stephens launched the magazine during the inauguration of National Geographic Learning's Explorer Education Program at the American Centre in New Delhi. Vice President of India Hamid Ansari and Publisher of National Geographic Learning, Francis Downey were present on this occasion. The program includes accessing content through an interactive application, content on its website, large posters, projectable magazine content, monthly magazines and a teacher's guide. There will be four reading levels and seven issues will be published in a calendar year for each level. About 20 to 199 copies of the Explor...

One of the NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity, reached the Red Planet on 24 January 2004. The Opportunity rover was built for a three-month mission on Mars, but continues to return valuable scientific data even after 10 years. NASA's Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover search for and characterize a variety of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity. Jlly doughnut rock discovered by NASA Mars rover was revealed on 21 January 2014 on the tenth anniversary of the Mars rover’s landing on the planet. The researchers named the rock as Pinnacle Island, which is high in composition of three elements sulfur, magnesium and manganese. Researchers said that the rock was the one of the oddest things on Mars that space experts had ever come across on Mars. The rock is examined and it can be seen as a whitish colour on the outer surface while bearing reddish colour toward its center and looks like sweet desert.

Opportunity, i.e., NASA’s Mars rover, has discovered that Mars had life friendly fresh water in the past. This news was confirmed by the scientists at NASA. The discovery has reinforced the similar discoveries made by Curiosity on the other side of the planet Mars. Opportunity, i.e., Mars rover, had been observing and analyzing water-bearing rocks at the rim of an ancient impact crater called Endeavour. Instead of the chemical fingerprints of acidic, salty water found at previous sites, Opportunity discovered telltale clays called smectites that form in Ph-neutral water. The discovery adds to an emerging picture of a planet Mars on which the first billion years or so warmer were warmer than it is today, with pools of fresh water on its surface. Slowly, water activity declined and what did exist became acidic, scientific findings reveal, and then, beginning about 3 billion years ago, Mars dried up. By studying rocks at various levels, scientists expect to not only have a better...

A team of NASA scientists, that also includes a scientist of Indian-origin, has developed Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite. The satellite can predict the severity of droughts worldwide and help farmers to produce the maximum yield. Launched in November 2014, the mission will collect the local data of agricultural and water managers that are needed worldwide. SMAP uses two microwave instruments to monitor the top 2 inches of soil on Earth’s surface. Together, the instruments create soil moisture estimates with a resolution of about 6 miles (9 kilometers), mapping the entire globe every two or three days. The SMAP will enable science and applications users to understand processes that link the terrestrial water, energy and carbon cycles, estimate global water and energy fluxes at the land surface, quantify net carbon flux in boreal landscapes, enhance weather and climate forecast skill, and develop improved flood prediction and drought monitoring capability. SM...