Here are today’s most important updates from the realm of Science and Space.
Students of a private university in Sri Lanka and Chennai-based space start-up SpaceKidz India have sanctioned a collaboration to develop a communication satellite, expected to launch by space agency ISRO in 2025. This collaboration will provide the opportunities for the students of Northern Uni, government schools in Jaffna, along with their Indian counterparts to jointly design, develop and launch a communication satellite.
Moreover, this initiative will help students learn essential skills in satellite development, data analysis, as well as communication technologies to ultimately prepare them for future careers.
Meanwhile, SpaceKidz organization has been involved in the Indian space technology sector since the launch of Kalamsat-V2 in 2019.
Sunspot AR3842 has erupted, leading to the generation of the strongest solar flare of Solar Cycle 25, categorized as an X9.1 event. The strong solar eruption has even ionized the Earth’s upper atmosphere, causing a drastic shortwave radio blackout over Africa and several areas of the South Atlantic. The signal was lost for up to 30 minutes. The Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) associated with this flare is expected to collide with Earth on October 6. Already, a warning has been issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for geomagnetic storm disrupting power grids, satellite operations, and navigation systems. This powerful blast was recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. As we have already entered a solar maximum phase earlier than predicted, the heightened activity is expected to persist in 2025 also. This also brings the aurora viewing opportunities across the globe this weekend.
For decades, researchers have been trying to understand how the wiring in the brain, neurons and connections potentially give rise to animal behaviour. Now, the scientists made a breakthrough discovery by entirely mapping a fruit fly brain. For the first time ever, the researchers detailed over 50 million connections between more than 139,000 neurons or brain nerve cells - in the insect Drosophila melanogaster, often used in research studies. This research could pave the way for mapping the brains of other species.
The widely accepted theory of dinosaur extinction is one asteroid hitting the earth 66 million years ago and ultimately causing massive destruction. Here comes the twist, it was not only one asteroid. Another second smaller asteroid also smashed into the sea off the coast of West Africa that led to a huge crater formation at the same era, as confirmed by the scientists. This might have caused “catastrophic event” like a tsunami of 800m high to tear across the Atlantic ocean. There has never been such massive asteroid impact in human history.
