2 May, 2016: The second part of a joint European-Russian mission to probe Mars for traces of life has been delayed two years, with a new launch date set for July 2020. In the first phase, the European Space Agency (ESA) and its Russian counterpart, Roscosmos, hoisted in mid-March two probes bound for the Red Planet. The Tracer Gas Orbiter will examine Mars' atmosphere, and a lander dubbed Schiaparelli, after a 19th-century astronomer will settle on the planet's surface in a trial run. The planned second stage of the mission will dispatch a European rover capable of drilling up to two metres into the Martian surface in search of organic matter. Space agency officials had warned that the follow-on ExoMars mission, originally scheduled for launch in 2018, might be delayed due to technical problems. The 2020 payload will also be lifted into space by a Russian Proton rocket. The double ExoMars mission will complement the work of NASA's Curiosity rover, which has been criss-crossing Mars' surface for more than three years. Link: http://exploration.esa.int
3 May, 2016: A veteran Mexican diplomat has been chosen to head the United Nations' newly upgraded climate office, UN chief Ban Ki-moon announced in a letter to France's environment minister. As per Ban, he will appoint Patricia Espinosa Cantellano as the new UNFCCC Executive Secretary for a term of three years, referring to the body which oversaw the international negotiations in December leading to a historic climate pact. The letter is dated April 28 and addressed to French minister Segolene Royal, whose country hosted the 195-nation climate talks. A former foreign minister, and currently Mexico's ambassador to Germany, Espinosa made her mark in climate circles when she took the helm at the UN in 2010, a year after the process was nearly derailed in Copenhagen. She will replace Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica, who held the post for six years. The mandate of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, now in its 21st year, is to slash carbon pollution and help poor countries cope with climate impacts. Link: http://www.un.org
4 May, 2016: Scientists have found that there is low probability of the existence of the mysterious 'Planet Nine', a Neptune-mass world that may circle our Sun at a distance of about 64 billion to 225 billion kilometres. Earlier this year scientists presented evidence for Planet Nine, leaving theorists puzzled over how this planet could end up in such a distant orbit. Planet Nine circles our Sun at a distance of about 64 billion to 225 billion kilometres, or 400-1,500 astronomical units. This places it far beyond all the other planets in our solar system. Researchers conducted millions of computer simulations in order to consider three possibilities. The first and most likely involves a passing star that tugs Planet Nine outward. Such an interaction would not only nudge the planet into a wider orbit but also make that orbit more elliptical. Researchers find only a 10 per cent probability, at best, of Planet Nine landing in its current orbit. The planet would have had to start at an improbably large distance to begin with. The study was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.Link: http://iopscience.iop.org
5 May, 2016: Oil giant ExxonMobil started a new venture that could make carbon-dioxide capture a more economically attractive way to fight global warming. ExxonMobil's new agreement with FuelCell Energy aims to develop technology for capturing carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants using fuel cells. The idea is that the fuel cells could generate the additional electricity needed for the carbon-capture process, eliminating at least part of what has been seen as a burdensome cost in the process. FuelCell Energy is a specialist in fuel-cell technology, which converts waste gases into energy. The company believes it has developed a solution to combining carbon capture and fuel-cell technology in a way that could pay for itself with power generation. The power plant exhausts would be delivered to the fuel cell, which would use some of the exhaust for generating power while concentrating the carbon dioxide, making capture easier. The process would also eliminate around 70% of smog-producing nitrogen oxides from power plants. Link: http://corporate.exxonmobil.com/en
6 May, 2016: The world's most powerful proton smasher is preparing for its biggest run yet which scientists hope will uncover new particles that could dramatically change our understanding of the Universe. Late last year, before CERN shut down its Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for a technical break, two separate teams of scientists said they had discovered anomalies that could possibly hint at the existence of a mysterious new particle. The discovery of a new particle could prove the existence of extra space-time dimensions, or explain the enigma of dark matter. The LHC, housed in a 27-kilometre (17-mile) tunnel straddling the French-Swiss border, has shaken up physics before. In 2012 it was used to prove the existence of the Higgs Boson, the long-sought maker of mass, by crashing high-energy proton beams at velocities near the speed of light. A year later, two of the scientists who had in 1964 theorised the existence of the God particle, earned the Nobel physics prize for the discovery. Recently LHC underwent a two-year upgrade. Link: http://home.cern
7 May, 2016: A bizarre crocodile-sized hammerhead-creature, that lived 242 million years ago in today's southern China, may have been the earliest known example of a plant-eating marine reptile. The fossil , discovered in 2014, has a poorly preserved head, but seems to have a flamingo-like beak. Scientists said that the 'beak' is actually part of a hammerhead-shaped jaw apparatus, which it used to feed on plants on the ocean floor. The name, Atopodentatus unicus, hints at its muddled past - it is Latin for 'unique strangely toothed'. Not only does this discovery solve the mystery of the strange-toothed animal, but it also provides an example of the first herbivorous marine reptile. The jaw structure is clearly that of an herbivore. It has similarities to other marine animals that ate plants with a filter-feeding system, but Atopodentatus is older than them by about eight million years. Atopodentatus also tells story about the world's largest mass extinction 252 million years ago. The study was published in the journal Science. Link: http://advances.sciencemag.org
8 May, 2016: The central government's premier research institution, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is joining hands with the former agriculture minister Sharad Pawar-led Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI), Pune, to develop drought tolerant genetically modified (GM) sugarcane that will need less water for cultivation. The final call will be of the central regulator, Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)- of the environment ministry. So far, GM brinjal has not been allowed commercial release even after getting the regulator's nod in India whereas the similar transgenic variety is being cultivated by neighbouring Bangladesh. GM sugarcane in water stressed areas can offer hope in Maharashtra and other parts of India. The research body, nevertheless, appears to be preparing for the future. Under the existing procedure, once the RCGM approves a transgenic variety of any crop it goes to the GEAC for getting permission for field trials. At present, only GM Cotton (Bt Cotton) is allowed for commercial cultivation in India. Link: https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org
9 May, 2016: Scientists have gotten to the root of the carrot, genetically speaking. Researchers have sequenced the genome of the carrot, an increasingly important root crop worldwide, identifying genes responsible for traits including the vegetable's abundance of vitamin A, an important nutrient for vision. The genome may point to ways to improve carrots through breeding, including increasing their nutrients and making them more productive and more resistant to disease, pest and drought, the researchers said. The vitamin A in carrots arises from their orange pigments, known as carotenoids. The study identified genes responsible for carotenoids as well as pest and disease resistance and other characteristics. In addition to eyesight, vitamin A also is important for immune function, cellular communication, healthy skin and other purposes. The researchers sequenced the genome of a bright orange variety of the vegetable called the Nantes carrot, named for the French city. The study who led the study published in the journal Nature Genetics.Link: http://www.nature.com
10 May, 2016: A transit of Mercury over the disc of the Sun took place today afternoon and was visible from India after a gap of about ten years. The transit of Mercury is a phenomenon in which the planet will be seen as a small black dot travelling from one end of the solar disc to the other. It is seen when mercury passes between the Sun and the Earth and it happens only when the three are lined up. Mercury appears as a dot on the solar disc because its angular size is very small compared to that of the Sun as seen from Earth. The transit of mercury will be visible from most of Asia (except south eastern parts and Japan), Europe, Africa, America, America, Arctic and most of the Pacific Ocean. The transit will be visible in India after ten years and the next it will be visible in the country after a long gap of 16 years in 2032. Finally the transit ends when the disc of Mercury is externally tangent with the Sun (egress exterior). The transit of Mercury is relatively a rare phenomenon, occurs 13 or 14 times in a century, mostly in the months of May and November. Link: https://web.archive.org
11 May, 2016: A new species of Ceropegia has been collected from the lateritic hill Pokkunnu, near Nanminda in Kozhikode district of Kerala. The new species is named Ceropegia nampyana, in honour of Professor Santhosh Nampy, Department of Botany, University of Calicut, Kerala, for his valuable contribution to the field of Angiosperm taxonomy, who guided the first author to the field of taxonomical research. It is so far known from the type locality only. About 30 individuals were located. Flowering and fruiting after monsoon; flowers and fruits were collected in October. According to IUCN criteria, the species falls under the category Data Deficient (DD). The genus Ceropegia L. includes more than 200 species distributed in the Old World ranging from South East Asia, India, Madagascar, Tropical Arabia, Canary Islands and Africa except the Mediterranean region, New Guinea and Northern Australia. The report of the new species is published in International Journal of Advanced Research. Link: www.journalijar.com
12 May, 2016: An international study led by IISc researchers has found evidence that Indian landmass may have drifted away from Madagascar 90 million years ago and floated across the Indian Ocean to join the Asian landmass (Eurasia continent). The researchers determined the timing of suturing (formation and re-formation of continents) by radioactive dating of minerals like zircon, monazite within the suture. They took samples of rocks from the lands in Asia joined by the suture zone and studied their mineral composition for the presence of compounds like metal oxides (Eg: aluminium oxide and iron oxide) and elements like calcium and manganese.They were studying the theory that India (along with Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Australia and Antarctica together called eastern Gondwana) broke off a very long time ago from Africa and South America (western Gondwana) - a concept first put forward in 1979, but still a matter of debate. A recent paper had also linked the Mercara suture zone with the Bestimisaraka suture zone in Madagascar. Link: http://www.newsforafrica.com
13 May, 2016: An experimental malaria vaccine has been found to protect a small number of healthy people from infection for more than one year after immunization. The vaccine, known as the PfSPZ Vaccine, was developed and produced by US-based pharmaceutical company Sanaria. NIAID researchers and collaborators at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore conducted the clinical evaluation of the vaccine, which involved immunisation and exposing willing healthy adults to the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium falciparum in a controlled setting. The parasites that cause malaria are transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. The PfSPZ Vaccine is composed of live, but weakened P. falciparum sporozoites the early developmental form of the parasite. Previous research showed the PfSPZ Vaccine to be highly protective three weeks after immunisation. For the phase one clinical trial, the researchers enrolled 101 healthy adults aged 18 to 45 years who had never had malaria. Link: http://www.sanaria.com
14 May, 2016: China has opened its first deep-sea research institute which experts said will be meaningful for resource exploitation and improvements to naval technology. The Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering (IDSSE) located in Sanya, Hainan province passed an acceptance inspection and began official operations today. The IDSSE is the first scientific research base for study of the deep seas and is also China's first public platform for deep-sea research and technological experiments. Since 2012, Chinese scientists have participated in several research projects related to the South China Sea, including scientific voyages in the area. Deep-sea research will also have military uses, as studies on complex marine environments can help improve naval technology, which is usually the most advanced military technology in a country. The mother ship for a new deep-sea submersible was delivered to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. It is expected to dive to the Mariana Trench for a mission. Link: http://download.springer.com
15 May, 2016: French astrophysicist Andre Brahic, one of the discoverers of Neptune’s rings, died in Paris at the age of 73. An expert on the solar system, in 1984 he launched a programme which led to the discovery, with US astronomer William Hubbard, of the rings around the gaseous planet Neptune. Born into a modest family in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1942, Brahic's family originated from the coal mining village of Petit-Brahic in the Banne commune of southern France. Brahic was first introduced into the field of astrophysics by Evry Schatzman, one of the foremost astrophysicist in France at the time. In the 1980s, Brahic became a specialist in exploring the Solar System NASA Voyager program and the Cassini spacecraft. It was his interest in Saturn and its rings which led him to launch his Neptune research. Neptune’s outermost ring is divided into three arcs to which Brahic gave the names Liberte, Fraternite and Egalite. In 1990 an asteroid was named Brahic-3488, in his honour. Brahic wrote several books including 'Worlds Elsewhere; Are We Alone'. Link: http://www.minorplanetcenter.net
16 May, 2016: Delhi is not the most polluted city in the world any more, according to the World Health Organisation's (WHO) urban air quality database released today. In fact, it now ranks 11th among 3,000 cities in 103 countries in terms of PM 2.5 (fine, particulate pollution) and 25th in terms of PM 10 (coarse pollution particles) levels. This is though a considerable improvement since 2014 when Delhi was ranked the most polluted city in terms of PM 2.5 levels, WHO had monitored only 1600 cities last time. Zabol in Iran is the most polluted city in the world. Gwalior and Allahabad are a close second and third in terms of PM 2.5, which is associated with more serious health impacts than PM 10. Patna and Raipur rank 6th and 7th. Totally, four Indian cities are among the world's ten most polluted, 10 out top 20 are also in India. In WHO's 2014 report, 13 out of 20 most polluted cities were in India. Delhi's annual PM 2.5 mean for 2013 (second half) is 122 mg per cubic metres according to WHO's report compared to 153 mg per cubic metres as per WHO's previous report. Link: http://www.who.int
17 May, 2016: The International Space Station, the space laboratory that showcases cooperation between Russia and the United States, today orbited Earth for the 100,000th time. Travelling at an altitude of about 250 miles (400 kilometres) and a speed of about 17,500 miles (28,000 kilometres) per hour, the space station circles the Earth once every 90 minutes. Its "anniversary orbit" lasted from 7:35 am to 9:10 am Moscow time (0435 to 0610 GMT). This is a significant milestone and is a tribute to this international partnership made up of the European Space Agency, of Russia, Canada, Japan and the United States. Williams is on his third ISS mission and is currently on board the station with fellow Nasa astronaut Timothy Kopra, Britain's Tim Peake and Russians Yury Malenchenko, Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka. The first section of the ISS station called Zarya or Dawn in Russian, was launched into space more than 17 years ago on November 20, 1998. The first crew to inhabit the station American astronaut Bill Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko arrived in 2000, since when it has been continually occupied. Link: https://www.nasa.gov
18 May, 2016: Helen Sharman, the first Briton in space, celebrated the 25th anniversary of the event this week at Imperial College London, where she now works as Operations Manager in the Department of Chemistry. She also celebrated at the Science Museum. On 18th May 1991, Dr. Sharman, together with Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Anatoly Artsebarsky lifted off for the Mir space station on the Soyuz TM-12 mission, which lasted eight days. Dr. Sharman’s tasks included agricultural and medical tests, photographing the British Isles, and taking part in an amateur radio hookup with British schoolchildren. The twenty-fifth anniversary was celebrated with her Russian colleagues as well as about a dozen astronauts. Earlier this week, on 18th May, she was reunited with the spacesuit she wore in 1991. On 20th May, Dr. Sharman returned to the Science Museum to commemorate the day she and her crew members docked with Mir. Other European astronauts as well as her original Soviet crew joined her in the celebration. Sergei Krikalev holds the record for the second-longest time spent non-stop in space- 803 days. Krikalev was one of the people who helped train the astronaut Tim Peake, who is currently in Space Station. Link: http://www.helensharman.com
19 May, 2016: In a first, scientists have directly observed magnetic reconnection, a fundamental process in nature that may be key to learning more about the cosmos and help protect future deep space missions as we journey farther from our planet. When two sets of magnetic fields connect, an explosive reaction occurs. As the magnetic fields realign and snap into a new formation, they send particles zooming off in jets. The effects of this sudden release of particles and energy such as giant eruptions on the Sun, the aurora, radiation storms in near-Earth space, high energy cosmic particles that come from other galaxies have been observed throughout the solar system and beyond. However, scientists have never been able to witness the phenomenon of magnetic reconnection directly. The mission, the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS), is made of four identical spacecraft that NASA launched in March last year. They fly in a pyramid formation to create a full 3D map of any phenomena they observe. The 25 sensors will be collecting thousands of observations. Link: http://mms.gsfc.nasa.gov
20 May, 2016: The World-first Scanning Helium Microscope has been built by Australian researchers who feel it could open doors for many new discoveries by allowing scientists to scrutinize materials without disturbing them. Paul Dastoor of University of Newcastle who has been working on the Scanning Helium Microscope (SHeM) for two decades said the new microscope will enable scientists to study human, animal and plant samples, as well as computer chips and pharmaceutical drugs, without damaging or changing them. The scanning helium microscope means the samples will be analysed in their true state for the first time ever and every time a new microscope was developed there had been enormous scientific advances. SHeM could be useful in major industries such as solar energy, defence, explosives and information technology. SHeM could help with the clean-up of toxic or even radioactive spills, without harming the surrounding flora or fauna. The possibilities were endless in the areas of biology and pharmaceuticals.Link: https://www.newcastle.edu.au
21 May, 2016: The State broadcaster, Doordarshan’s one-hour documentary titled, ‘Whispers of Warming’ has won the best documentary film award at the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union TV Award competition held in Krabi, Thailand. The one-hour documentary film on climate change has been directed by Anoop Khajuria, Assistant Director of Programme, Doordarshan It attempts to tell the story of the people who inhabit the western Himalayas and are being impacted by the climate change due to global warming. The film has documented the phenomenon of climate change through the perceptions of people in the State of Jammu and Kashmir and focused on their struggle to adapt to changing weather conditions. The documentary revolves around the theme of climate change in the Ladakh division of the western Himalayas. It competed with 40 films from 20 countries across the world. India is a major stake holder in the Paris Declaration on climate change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Link: http://www.indiantelevision.com
22 May, 2016: Two Indian American scientists, Ramesh Raliya and Pratim Biswas, at Washington University in St Louis have found a sustainable way to boost agricultural production in keeping with the increasing global population, during their research on the use of nanoparticle technology in agriculture. Their epoch-making invention of an eco-friendly alternative to conventional phosphorus-rich fertilizers is expected to usher in a new age of organic farming. Pratim Biswas at Washington University in St Louis is a professor of environmental engineering science and Ramesh Raliya is a research scientist. Both in the School of Engineering and Applied Science discovered that the use of zinc oxide nanoparticles in farming would not only improve the growth of food crops but also save water bodies from the polluting effects of phosphorus deposits. The study is published in Washington University’s Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. Link: http://pubs.acs.org
23 May, 2016: The first technology demonstrator (TD) launch of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), or the spaceplane in popular parlance, took place from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota. Visually, the RLV-TD is a rocket-aircraft combination measuring about 17 m, whose first stage is a solid propellant booster rocket and the second stage is a 6.5 m long aircraft-like winged structure sitting atop the rocket. In RLV-TD that is awaiting launch at SHAR, the first stage, weighing about 9 tonnes, is merely the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3) flown in the 1980s. The vehicle took off like a rocket and the RLV was taken to a height of 70 km and where the booster will release the vehicle for its manoeuvres. The test is, therefore, termed as Hypersonic Experiment 1 (HEX-1). However, the ultimate objective of the RLV programme of ISRO is to enable the vehicle traverse a very wide range of flight regimes from Mach 0 to Mach 25 based on air-breathing propulsion for achieving two-stage-to-orbit capability. Link: http://www.isro.gov.in
24 May, 2016: In a new study, it has been revealed that the Bene Israel community in the western part of India carries genetic proof of the Jewish roots. The community too has identified itself as Jewish. According to their oral history, the Bene Israel people descended from 14 Jewish survivors of a shipwreck on India's Konkan shore. The exact timing of this event and the origin and identity of the Jewish visitors are unknown. Some date the event to around 2,000 years ago. Others estimate that it took place in 175 BCE. But others still believe their Jewish ancestors arrived as early as the 8th century BCE. The research team based their study on data from the Jewish HapMap project, an international effort led by Harry Ostrer of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, to determine the genetic history of worldwide Jewish diasporas. They used sophisticated genetic tools to conduct genome-wide analyses on the genetic markers of 18 Bene Israel individuals. It is published on PLOS ONE. Link: http://journals.plos.org
25 May, 2016: Psilocybin , the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms, may one day be an effective treatment for patients with severe depression. It will be useful to treat patients who fail to recover using other therapies. A small-scale pilot study of psilocybin's use in cases of treatment-resistant depression showed it was safe and effective. Of 12 patients given the drug, all showed some decrease in symptoms of depression for at least three weeks. Magic mushrooms grow worldwide and have been used since ancient times, both for recreation and for religious rites. British researchers led by David Nutt, a professor of neuro-psychopharmacology at Imperial, have been exploring the potential of psilocybin to ease severe forms of depression in people who don't respond to other treatments. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that some 350 million people worldwide are affected by depression, a common mental disorder characterized by sadness. The results, published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal.Link: http://www.thelancet.com
26 May, 2016: The Europa ocean on Jupiter's icy moon may have the Earth-like balance of chemical energy necessary for life, even if the moon lacks volcanic hydrothermal activity, a new NASA study suggests. Europa is strongly believed to hide a deep ocean of salty liquid water beneath its icy shell. Whether the Jovian moon has the raw materials and chemical energy in the right proportions to support biology is a topic of intense scientific interest. The answer may hinge on whether Europa has environments where chemicals are matched in the right proportions to power biological processes. Life on Earth exploits such niches. Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California compared Europa's potential for producing hydrogen and oxygen with that of Earth, through processes that do not directly involve volcanism. The balance of these two elements is a key indicator of the energy available for life. The oxygen production is about 10 times higher than hydrogen production. The research was published in Geophysical Research Letters. Link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com
27 May, 2016: Awarded annually, the Medal of Science recognises individuals who have made outstanding contributions to science, engineering and mathematics. A 65-year-old Indian American scientist will receive the ‘National Medal of Science’ award from U.S. President Barack Obama this week, the White House. Rakesh K Jain, a professor of tumour biology at Massachusetts General Hospital in the Harvard Medical School, will receive the award from Obama along with 16 other recipients of the ‘National Medals of Science and National Medals of Technology and Innovation’ today. The award function was initially scheduled for January 22 but was postponed due to a major snow storm. Awarded annually, the Medal of Science recognises individuals who have made outstanding contributions to science, engineering and mathematics. The National Medal of Science was created by statute in 1959 and is administered for the White House by the National Science Foundation. Link: http://www.uspto.gov
28 May, 2016: India will get an indigenously-built supercomputer next year as part of the government's Rs 4,500-crore programme aimed at taking India into an elite league of nations who have made advancements in the field. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing that built India's first supercomputer, Param , is handling the project, said Ashutosh Sharma, secretary in the ministry of science and technology. The government had, in March 2015, approved the plan of the National Supercomputing Mission, under which 80 supercomputers will be built in the next seven years. The new supercomputers will be kept in different institutes across the country. A supercomputer can be used for various purposes like climate modeling, weather forecast, discoveries of drugs among others. Currently, countries like the US, Japan, China and the European Union account for a major share of the top supercomputing machines in the world. Link: http://www.cdac.in
29 May, 2016: National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA) has deployed a bread loaf-sized Miniature X-Ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS) CubeSat from an airlock on the International Space Station to study the Sun's soft x-rays that can affect our communications systems.MinXSS will operate for up to 12 months and the data will also help scientists understand the physics behind solar flares. The soft X-rays carry information about the temperature, density and chemical composition of material in the Sun's atmosphere, allowing scientists to trace how events like flares and other processes heat the surrounding material in the Sun's atmosphere. CubeSats are a new, low-cost tool for space science missions. Instead of the traditional space science missions, CubeSats are designed to take narrowly targeted scientific observations, with only a few instruments. MinXSS was launched via the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative programme on December 6 last year aboard Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft through NASA's Commercial contract. Link: http://lasp.colorado.edu
30 May, 2016: China will launch its first experimental quantum communication satellite in July, whose communications cannot be intercepted, as per Chinese Academy of Sciences. It will be the first quantum communication through a satellite in the world. Quantum communication boasts ultra-high security as a quantum photon can neither be separated nor duplicated. It is hence impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack the information transmitted through it, Pan said. The CAS's project includes launch of a satellite and building of four ground stations for quantum communication and one space quantum teleportation experiment station. Upon completion, the satellite will be able to establish quantum optical links simultaneously with two ground bases thousands of kilometres apart. Chinese scientists have taken five years to develop the first quantum satellite. It will be transported to Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in June.Link: http://english.cas.cn
31 May, 2016: China will send lunar probe Chang'e 5 to land on the moon and return with samples in the second half of 2017. According to State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND), it will be the first time a Chinese probe will land on the moon, collect samples and return to Earth, and the third stage of China's lunar exploration endeavour. The first stage of the lunar expedition was achieved by sending Chang'e 1, a circumlunar satellite, in 2007. China then landed its first lunar probe Chang'e 3 on the surface of the moon in 2013. Beijing is also planning to be the first country to land on the far side of the moon. That mission will be carried out by Chang'e-4, a backup for Chang'e-3, and is due to be launched in 2018, according to SASTIND. It also plans to orbit Mars, land and deploy a rover around 2020. The country will also unveil a new generation of carrier rockets including Long March 5 and 7 in 2016, along with other new satellites and spacelabs. Link: http://www.clep.org.cn
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