India's AstroSat Completes a Decade of Stellar Operations
India's pioneering multi-wavelength space observatory, AstroSat, has successfully completed a decade in orbit, far exceeding its designed mission life of five years. Launched on September 28, 2015, by the PSLV-C30 rocket from Sriharikota, AstroSat has consistently provided invaluable data, enabling groundbreaking insights across the electromagnetic spectrum from UV/Visible to high-energy X-rays.
Operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), AstroSat is equipped with five scientific payloads: the Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT), Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC), Cadmium–Zinc–Telluride Imager (CZTI), Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT), and Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM). In its ten years, the observatory has made significant discoveries, including solving a two-decade-old puzzle about a red giant star unusually bright in both ultraviolet and infrared light, and detecting far-UV photons from galaxies approximately 9 billion light-years away. Its observations have also contributed to understanding black holes, neutron stars, and the nearest star, Proxima Centauri. AstroSat has also played a crucial role in popularizing space science within India, bringing astrophysics research to 132 Indian universities and fostering a new generation of astronomers.
India to Unveil AI Safety Framework by September 28
In a move to ensure responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence, the Indian government is slated to release a non-prescriptive AI governance framework by September 28. Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw confirmed that this framework is designed to establish safety boundaries and implement checks and balances to protect citizens from potential harms associated with AI. India is placing significant emphasis on AI safety, a topic that will also be a major focus at the AI Impact Summit scheduled to be hosted by the country in February 2026. The nation advocates for a consensus-based, common global governance framework for AI.
Breakthrough 'Soilification Technology' Turns Desert Sand into Farmland
In a significant advancement for agricultural science, researchers from the Central University of Rajasthan (CUoR) have successfully grown wheat on desert land using an innovative 'soilification technology'. This pioneering method is powered by an indigenous bioformulation, offering a promising solution to combat desertification and expand arable land in arid regions. This technology is actively being promoted and scaled up under initiatives like the Technology Development and Transfer Programme, aiming to reclaim degraded land, support climate-resilient agriculture, reduce water usage in farming, and enable sustainable livelihoods for rural communities.