(Current Affairs) Science & Technology, Defence, Environment | November: 2013

Science & Technology, Defense, Environment

GSAT–7 Successfully Placed in the Geosynchronous Orbit

India’s advanced multi-band communication satellite GSAT-7, launched from Kourou, French Guiana on 30 August 2013, was successfully placed in the Geosynchronous Orbit with an altitude of about 36000 km above
Earth’s surface on 3 September 2013. French Guiana is an overseas region of France on the North Atlantic coast of South America. GSAT-7 was placed in the Geosynchronous Orbit after successfully completing the last
of the three orbit-raising manoeuvres commanded from ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan. Later, on the same day, the communication antennae of GSAT- 7, including the UHF Helix antenna, were deployed successfully. Thereafter, the GSAT-7 was put in its final orbital configuration, stabilised on its three-axis by the momentum wheels.

The GSAT-7 Satellite would reach its assigned orbital slot of 74 degree East longitude in the Geostationary Orbit within the next 10 days. It is planned that on 14 September 2013, the communication transponders in UHF,
S, C and Ku bands will be switched on. The GSLV Vehicle assembly and checkout would be completed at the Vehicle Assembly Building by the first week of December 2013 and the launch would take place by
December 2013.

About GSAT–7

  • It is an advanced communication satellite that will help by providing low bit rate voice to high bit rate data communication.
  • Payload of the GSAT–7 is designed to provide communication capabilities to users in distant oceanic regions.
  • Its solar arrays generate 2900 W of electrical power.

What is Geosynchronous Orbit?

Geosynchronous Orbit is also abbreviated as GSO. It is the orbit around Earth which has the orbital period of one sidereal day or around 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds. This sidereal day matches the Earth’s sidereal rotation period.

Battery that Uses Microbes for Turning Sewage into Energy

A team of US scientists from Stanford University developed a new and better method of making use of the microbes for harnessing the electricity from the wastewater. The US scientists created a new battery for this purpose. The new study published in the Proceedings of the National Acadamy of Sciences (PNAS) on 16 September 2013 revealed that the scientists discovered a new methodology for producing clean energy by making use of the dirty water. The US scientists explained that their new technique can be used at the wastewater treatment facilities as well as for breaking down the organic pollutants in dead zones of the lakes and oceans where the fertilizer runoff has caused depleted oxygen, leading to suffocating marine life.

About the newly developed battery

  • The team of US scientists from Stanford University started off with a prototype which is equivalent to the size of the Dcell battery.
  • The battery comprises of two electrodes, one negative and one positive, and it is pushed into the bottle of wastewater which is filled with the bacteria.

  • As and when the organic material is consumed by the bacteria, all the microbes accumulate around the electrode which is negative, thereby throwing off the electrons, which are captured by the positive electrode. This process is called fishing for electrons.

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