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Oxygen on Moon? Nasa seeks major breakthrough

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In a major development in space exploration activities, scientists from Nasa have been able to extract oxygen from regolith — lunar soil. It would allow space explorers to use the moon’s surface as a launch pad for their future activities.

The process was carried out by a Johnson Space Center in Houston team, with the help of a high-powered laser to create a carbothermal reaction, they separated life-sustaining oxygen from a lunar soil simulation. For the first time ever, the oxygen was removed within a vacuum environment.

The experiment of Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) could be a base for producing oxygen gas for breathing alongside its uses for transport propellers.

Nasa engineer Anastasia Ford said: “Our team proved the CaRD reactor would survive the lunar surface and successfully extract oxygen.”

Ford also added: “This is a big step for developing the architecture to build sustainable human bases on other planets.”

Nasa has been planning for a long to establish the moon as its operational base for space exploration activities. The Artemis mission is aimed to take humans back to the moon in 2025 after fifty years.

Humans last time put a step on the moon in 1972.

The recent success in the oxygen extraction experiment is regarded at readiness level six which means it is all set to be tested in real space.

Aaron Paz, a senior engineer at Nasa noted that “the technology has the potential to produce several times its own weight in oxygen per year on the lunar surface, which will enable a sustained human presence and lunar economy.”

(L-R) Astronauts Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Christina Hammock Koch celebrate after being selected for the Artemis II mission who will venture around the Moon during a news conference held by NASA and CSA at Nasa Johnson Space Centers Ellington Field in Houston, Texas, on April 3, 2023. — AFP
(L-R) Astronauts Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Christina Hammock Koch celebrate after being selected for the Artemis II mission who will venture around the Moon during a news conference held by NASA and CSA at Nasa Johnson Space Center’s Ellington Field in Houston, Texas, on April 3, 2023. — AFP

Earlier in April, Nasa named four astronauts that will fly to the moon on the Artemis II mission — the first crewed lunar flight of the program.

Nasa has already concluded the Orion spacecraft flight — an uncrewed test —which flew the Moon and returned to Earth in November 2022.

Education

The establishment of IT labs in Islamabad’s educational establishments

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SIFC was established to improve the ease of doing business for potential investors through a “Whole of Government”Approach”—achieving optimal horizontal-vertical synergy and facilitation by the Pakistan Army—and to attract investments from friendly countries in selected sectors through an empowered organisation that serves as a “single-window” platform for facilitation.

The children will learn the newest skills in these state-of-the-art IT labs, expanding their employment prospects.

These IT laboratories will be constructed in sixteen degree colleges spread throughout various parts of Islamabad.

Students will take six-month courses in artificial intelligence (AI), game development, data science, and block chain in these IT labs.

Approximately 1,000 students will have access to courses in the first phase, which is being implemented in response to market demand.

The National Vocational and Technical Training Commission has worked with esteemed universities such as NUST, National Skills University, COMSATS, and NUML to produce these courses.

The second week of this month will mark the start of these classes. For these courses, about 3,600 students have signed up.

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Pakistan launches first-ever lunar mission with iCube Qamar

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China’s Chang’E6 spacecraft carried Pakistan’s first satellite mission to the moon, iCube Qamar, into orbit.

The Institute of Space Technology states that IST worked with Pakistan’s national space agency SUPARCO and China’s Shanghai University SJTU to design and develop the satellite ICUBE-Q.

The launch event was streamed live on both Chinese state television and the IST website.

Two optical cameras are carried by the ICUBE-Q orbiter to capture images of the lunar surface. ICUBE-Q has now been successfully integrated into the Chang’e6 mission after qualification and testing.

The sixth in China’s sequence of lunar exploration missions is called Chang’e6.

China’s Lunar Mission, Chang’6, will land on the Moon’s far side in order to gather surface samples and bring them back to Earth for analysis.

Pakistan would benefit from the mission since it will carry a Pakistan CubeSat Satellite, called iCube-Q, which was created by IST.

Small satellites known as “CubeSats” are typified by their uniform design and compact size. They are built in the form of a cube and are made up of modular parts that follow predetermined dimensions.

These satellites are regularly placed in orbit for a variety of uses and only weigh a few kilos.

Cubesats are primarily used to support space exploration education, technology development, and scientific research. Many different missions are carried out by these satellites, such as telecommunication, astronomy, remote sensing, Earth observation, atmospheric research, and technological demonstration.

CubeSats provide universities, research centers, and commercial organizations with the chance to engage in space missions and acquire important data for scientific advancement and innovation because of their small size and very low cost when compared to regular satellites.

They act as test beds for novel ideas and technology, opening up space to a wider spectrum of users and encouraging cooperation amongst members of the space community.

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The green colour of WhatsApp ‘angers’ some users.

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After changing its display colour from blue to green, WhatsApp, which was before well-known for its blue motif, caused its users to hold divergent views.

New upgrades to the Meta app always spark a lot of discussion, regardless of how big or small the changes are.

Still, Meta-owned WhatsApp hopes that these modifications would “make it more accessible as well as easier to use” and offer a “modern, new experience” with relation to the updated display color.

A statement from the firm claimed that they had altered WhatsApp’s “looks and feels, including spacing, colors, icons, and more.”

Both iOS and Android users can now view the new WhatsApp update; the green tint on the latter has changed from the previous version.

However, iPhone users will notice that every display element, including the chat-list window and status bar, has changed with the recent design update. WhatsApp used to have a blue color scheme on iPhones.

Furthermore, the formerly blue links shared within the app are now displayed in green.

In addition, WhatsApp has made other improvements to improve its user experience outside of the color shift.

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