SHORT NEWS
SHORT NEWS
Girish Bharadwaj
- Context: Girish Bharadwaj, the legendary engineer affectionately called the 'Bridge Man of India', has passed away in Karnataka.
- Engineering Legacy: He pioneered the construction of over 140 low-cost, eco-friendly suspension footbridges across remote, isolated Indian villages.
- Major Recognitions: His grassroots infrastructure work earned him the prestigious Padma Shri civilian award in the year 2017.
- Cultural Honors: He received honorary doctorates for community impact, and an upcoming biopic titled 'Sethu Bandhu' will honor his life.
Akash Tarang
- Context: The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared a 52,000 crore package, approving the domestic acquisition of Akash Tarang alongside Fixed-Wing High Altitude Pseudo Satellites (FW-HAPS).
- Primary Capability: It functions as an indigenous Anti-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Electronic Warfare System built to defend Indian Army formations from hostile aerial threats.
- Interception Mechanism: Rather than using kinetic "hard-kill" ammunition, the platform tracks, intercepts, and jams the vital control signals and radio frequencies of invading drones.
- Defense Architecture: Operating as a digital pillar within the Sudarshan Chakra network, it integrates with MRSAM and V-SHORADS to create a multi-tier, layered airspace network.
Quasars
- Discovery: The Euclid telescope by the European Space Agency detected two of the earliest known ancient quasars.
- Cosmic Timeline: These ultra-distant objects formed during the Epoch of Reionisation when the Universe was 670 million years old.
- Mechanism: Powered by a supermassive black hole devouring dust, a quasar acts as the intensely glowing galactic core.
- Value & Emission: They release massive radiation from radio waves to gamma rays serving as cosmic lighthouses to study early universe structure.