Contents:
- No decision yet on pan India NRC, Minister tells Parliament
- Maharashtra tops list of States hit by global medical data leak
- Solar panel could generate electricity even at night
- ‘Terminator Tape’ can pull down dead satellites, minimize space debris
- CHEOPS satellite
NO DECISION YET ON PAN INDIA NRC, MINISTER TELLS PARLIAMENT
Why in news?
The government informed the Lok Sabha that till now it “has not taken any decision to prepare National Register of Citizens (NRC) at the national level.”
Form not finalised
The NPR form is yet to be finalised and notified but the trial form last year collected details from 30 lakh respondents on 21 parameters, including the place of birth of father and mother and the last place of residence.
MAHARASHTRA TOPS LIST OF STATES HIT BY GLOBAL MEDICAL DATA LEAK
Why in news?
Medical details of over 120 million Indian patients have been leaked and made freely available on the Internet, according to a recent report published by Green bone Sustainable Resilience, a German cybersecurity firm.
PACS servers
Greenbone’s original report says the leak was facilitated by the fact that the Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) servers, where these details are stored, are not secure and linked to the public Internet without any protection, making them easily accessible to malicious elements.
SOLAR PANEL COULD GENERATE ELECTRICITY EVEN BY NIGHT
Context and News
University of California explained how a new kind of thermoradiative cell could design an anti-solar panel to generate power at night
Details
- According to a study published in the ACS Photonics, it is possible to design solar panels that can produce energy during the night
- A regular solar cell generates power when it absorbs photons of light from the sun to generate a voltage across the device for the current to flow.
- However, in these specially designed photovoltaic cells, light is instead emitted to generate current and voltage, which go in the opposite direction but still produce energy
- The drawback of these “anti-solar cells” or thermoradiative cells, at the moment, is that the electricity produced is way lower than the power generated by the conventional solar cells
‘TERMINATOR TAPE’ CAN PULL DOWN DEAD SATELLITES AND MINIMIZE SPACE DEBRIS
Details:
- Tethers Unlimited has demonstrated an easy solution to get rid of satellites once they are of no use.
- The solution involves a 230-feet long strip of conductive tape, which is delightfully called the Terminator Tape.
- The Terminator Tape is a small module about the size of a notebook.
- Weighing less than two pounds, it is designed to attach to the exterior of a satellite which deploys the 230-feet long conductive tape through an electric signal from either the satellite or an independent timer unit when the satellite completes its mission and is ready to get disposed.
- This tape interacts with the space environment to create a drag force on the satellite that lowers its orbit far more rapidly than it would if it were simply abandoned in orbit
CHEOPS SATELLITE
Details:
- European Space Agency (ESA) had launched the CHaracterizing ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS)– its first mission focused on exoplanets
- With its cover opened, CHEOPS is now ready for its mission of observing exoplanets, in particular, to search for habitable planets.
