1. ISRO successfully launches PSLV-C58 XPoSat mission
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) kicked off the new year with the launch of the PSLV-C58 X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) on January 1, 2024. The PSLV, in its 60th mission, lifted off at 9.10 a.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, and 22 minutes later launched the XPoSat into an eastward low inclination orbit.
XPoSat is the first dedicated scientific satellite from the ISRO to carry out research in space-based polarisation measurements of X-ray emission from celestial sources. It carries two payloads, namely POLIX (Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays) and XSPECT (X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing). POLIX has been developed by Raman Research Institute (RRI) Bengaluru and XSPECT by Space Astronomy Group of URSC, Bengaluru.
2. Mangaluru court grants bail to Aadhaar Enabled Payment System fraud case accused
First Additional District and Sessions Judge, Dakshina Kannada, H.S. Mallikarjuna Swamy granted bail to 23-year-old Madan Kumar alias Ayush Kumar, an accused in the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) fraud, on December 30. A native of Bihar, Kumar was among three persons arrested by Mangaluru police in connection with fraudulent withdrawal of ₹1 lakh between September 11 and 16 from the accounts of a couple from Mangaluru.
The accused have been charged with taking imprints of the finger prints of the couple from documents related to a property they had registered at the Manglauru sub-registrar’s office on September 1, 2023, and used them to withdraw money ranging between ₹10,000 and ₹50,000 from various accounts using AEPS.
3. WATCH | Newly laid bitumen surface on Sakleshpur-Maranahalli stretch of NH 75 washed away after 8 months
About ₹12 crore spent on laying a fresh coat of bitumen on the 10-km stretch of Bengaluru-Mangaluru National Highway 75 from Sakleshpur to Maranahalli appears to have been washed away within eight months despite the absence of heavy rains during this monsoon.
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is widening NH 75 to four lanes between Hassan and Maranahalli, had got the battered Sakleshpur-Maranahalli stretch repaired in April 2023 after a huge public outcry. The stretch had been in a pathetic condition ever since landslides affected the region in 2018.
