Recently, scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST) have developed a state-of-the-art numerical code that generates new grids of transmission spectra for hot Jupiters --a class of gas giant exoplanets that are inferred to be physically similar to Jupiter but that have very short orbital periods. This can help probe the exoplanetary atmosphere furthering our eternal quest for our friend in the universe.

Prof. Sengupta and Mr. Chakrabarty from IIA developed the numerical code by solving the multiple equations based on energy transfer in the form of electromagnetic radiation of the non- zero scattering albedo (the measure of the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation). The code developed will provide an accurate analysis and interpretation of those spectra and hence probe the exoplanetary atmosphere. Their work has been published in the Astrophysical Journal.

The systematic scientific quest for ‘habitable’ planets and hence a possible answer to the eternal query of mankind –if we are alone or if life is a common phenomenon in the Universe,’ rekindled with the discovery of a Jupiter sized planet orbiting a Sun-like star 51 Pegasi in 1995 by Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of Geneva Observatory. Soon, astronomers of various countries started hunting for new planets by using all available ground-based telescopes as well as dedicated telescopes in space.

Consequently, a large number of extra-solar planets orbiting stars of various kinds were discovered mainly by using transit photometry, a method that detects distant planets by measuring the minute dimming of a star as an orbiting planet passes between it and Earth. The passage of a planet between a star and Earth is called a transit, and radial velocity methods and the diversity in the physical properties of these planets revolutionized the concept on planets, planetary systems, and their formation. The next step was to probe the atmosphere of these exoplanets and to search for bio-signature in their atmosphere.

While planetary transit photometry provides important physical properties of exoplanets, it cannot explore the planetary atmosphere. It is the transmission spectroscopic method that can probe the physical and chemical properties of the atmosphere of exoplanets having a near edge-on orientation. During the transit epoch of an exoplanet across its parent star, a part of the starlight passes through the planetary atmosphere. The interaction of this star-light with the atmospheric material through absorption and scattering is imprinted on top of the stellar spectra.

A correct interpretation of these transmission spectra needs a comparison with a consistent theoretical model that incorporates all the physical and chemical processes in the planetary atmosphere. Today a few tens of gaseous exoplanet atmospheres have been probed in the optical and near-infrared through transit observations with the Wide Field Camera 3 onboard the Hubble Space Telescope.

Spectra were obtained for a number of hot Jupiters, and the synthetic spectra were compared with the available observed spectra obtained by using Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space telescope. In the near future, the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, ARIEL space telescope, and the Thirty Metre Telescope will be able to obtain high-resolution transmission spectra of exoplanets during transit spectra.

India-European Union Flagship Call on Integrated Local Energy Systems was announced at India Smart Utility Week 2020 on 4th March 2020 in the presence of Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology (DST) and European Union Ambassador to India Mr. Ugo Astuto.  

This partnership between the Indian and European Union will help in Clean Energy, and Climate and this partnership will foresee strengthened cooperation in energy research and innovation, mainly in renewable energy and its integration in the energy system. The collaboration can make energy supply cleaner, more efficient, and affordable to all.

This Indo-EU flagship call is fully in line with both the European Union’s and India’s involvement in Mission Innovation (MI), a global initiative of 24 countries and the European Commission (on behalf of the European Union), committed to reinvigorate and accelerate global clean energy innovation with the objective to make clean energy widely affordable.

This Indo-EU Flagship call will give novel solutions encompassing local integration across various energy vectors and increase the share of renewables in the energy mix and high energy efficiency.

Scientists at International Advanced Research for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad, an autonomous R&D Centre of Department of Science and Technology (DST) have developed Polymer Electrolyte Membrane fuel cells (PEMFC).

PEMFC, in its entireness, have an advantage of operational capability at low-temperatures with applications in decentralised power generation systems. Through intense R&D efforts in the area of fuel cell technologies, ARCI at its Centre for Fuel Cell Technology, Chennai has developed in-house PEMFC systems in the power range of 1 to 20 kiloWatt (kW) and demonstrated the same in stationary (1-20 kW) and transport applications (1,3,5 kW).  Emergency Operation Centres (EOC) backed with 10 kW system along with fuel cell stack (providing sustainable electricity using hydrogen gas without the need of grid power), air moving subsystems, power control devices and control and monitoring system is being planned as a natural disaster management measure.

PEMFC stack of 5 kW capacity

Natural disasters are consequences of calamities like earthquake, landslide, cyclone, flood, tsunami, and so on that affects human activities. Tamil Nadu is generally affected by five to six cyclones every year, of which two to three are severe. There has been a paradigm shift in the focus of Disaster Management, from response-centric (rescue, relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction) to laying greater emphasis on the other elements of disaster management cycle (prevention, mitigation, and preparedness) as a means to avert the impact of future emergencies.

The Government of Tamil Nadu places equal importance on both the approaches and is keen to develop a robust disaster management system. The latest concept in disaster management all over the World is about conversion of Control Rooms to Emergency Operation Centres (EOC). EOCs respond immediately during an emergency situation with State-of-the-Art communication systems. This helps in providing immediate support during the Golden Hour of the disaster.

Hence, the State Government decided to look at the prospect of converting the existing Control Room to EOC backed with 10 kW system along with fuel cell stack, air moving subsystems, power control devices and control and monitoring system. Fuel cell systems offer a potential benefit in terms of providing sustainable electricity using hydrogen gas without the need of grid power as required by conventional battery backup systems. Recently, ARCI demonstrated the feasibility of providing power to EOCs. PEMFC stack with a capacity of 5kW has been installed on the mobile truck and demonstrated on December 5, 2019, at Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority (TNSDMA). Dr J. Radhakrishnan, Commissioner, Revenue Administration, and Disaster Management, witnessed the demo and appreciated the prowess of PEMFC technology. 

Pune, India, 2 March 2020:   KPIT, a global leader in automotive software and mobility solutions, has announced the winners of KPIT Sparkle 2020 among 30 select teams who presented their ideas on transformative solutions in mobility and energy. Teams from Army Institute of Technology, Pune, won the gold award of Rs 5 Lakhs while both Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru jointly won silver awards of Rs 2.5 Lakhs. 

Highlighting that necessity of innovation to reach the end destination,  Dr. Anil Kakodkar, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Chief Guest at the occasion pointed out that innovation could be a technology, a product, a process, but should add value and create something that is of utility.

Emphasising the role of the Department of Science and Technology in encouraging Science Technology and Innovation he said, “In terms of science technology and innovation indicators India has done great in terms of scientific publications, we are certainly the best in terms of the rate of growth in scientific publication, and that is clearly because of the efforts of the Department of Science and Technology over the period of last 10 or 15 years, and in the last 4-5 years we actually see in results.”

Dr. Anita Gupta, Adviser & Associate Head (Innovation & Entrepreneurship) DST, underlined the need to focus on innovation of excellence in multiple domains.

KPIT Sparkle is an innovation platform that nurtures, mentors, and supports aspiring entrepreneurs and connects them with incubators in the ecosystem to transform their inventive ideas into viable products.

KPIT Sparkle, an annual national-level contest, cultivates a culture of innovation by inspiring students from the STEM (science, technology, engineering, management) streams to identify and solve real-life problems in sustainability by designing new technology-enabled solutions. It also encourages and facilitates students to secure intellectual property for their solutions.

This year, KPIT Sparkle featured two competitions including i Innovate, a design and development challenge, which received more than 3000 ideas from over 20,000 students across more than 1000 colleges in India and the i can crack IT challenge, which invited students and faculty members from science, engineering, design and management colleges, and universities to solve industrial problems provided by a team of technical experts from KPIT.

The programme provided students of undergraduate, post-graduate, and Ph.D. courses from science, engineering, design, and management colleges and universities across India with an opportunity to develop smart, safe, and clean solutions for the energy and transportation sectors. The Top 30 teams presented working prototypes of their solutions at the grand finale held at the Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering (PCCOE) on 1 March 2020.

“The mobility ecosystem is evolving, and it needs skilled talent to be able to cater to consumer demands. With our strong reputation as a technology disrupter for the automotive industry, KPIT is strongly positioned to contribute as the creator of new-age talent in the mobility ecosystem. KPIT Sparkle facilitates the academia and the industry to join forces and promote innovation with solutions led by new talent.” He added, “KPIT Sparkle is setting new benchmarks in innovation every year. The projects help make cities smarter with clean, green and intelligent technologies in energy and mobility,” said Ravi Pandit, Chairman, KPIT Technologies,

Dr. Unnat Pandit, Program Director, Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog and Dr. Anita Gupta, Adviser & Associate Head (Innovation & Entrepreneurship), Department of Science & Technology (DST) were special guests at the event.

The team from the Army Institute of Technology, Pune won the gold award of Rs. 5,00,000 for designing a modified vertical axis wind turbine, inspired by an airplane nose design that increases the efficiency in extracting energy from the turbine. The system has six nose structures, each separated by cavities to let the channelised air through from one side to the other, resulting in a reduction of opposite drag force to give a net efficiency of 22.3%. It has applications in both the commercial and industrial sectors.

Two teams won the silver awards of Rs. 2,50,000 each. Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, designed a novel technology to harvest renewable energy from hydrokinetic energy by taming vortex-induced vibrations, which are otherwise traditionally considered as destructive. The team from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, for designing a bi-functional material for making the eco-friendly rechargeable zinc-air battery for electric vehicles more efficient.

St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering, Kanyakumari, won the most popular award for designing a photobioreactor to enhance biomass productivity from microalgae growth by producing bio-hydrogen through the dark fermentation method, which is environmentally friendly and cost-effective.

Himanshu Sharma, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Goam AnupKanare, VidyaPrasarni Sabha’s College of Engineering & Technology, Pune, PrajaktaPokharnikar, AkhileshMagdum, Prof.MadhuraRaste, AnnasahebDange College of Engineering & Technology, Sangli, ShreyasThombare and Prof. Sanjay Mohite, D.Y Patil Institute of Engineering & Technology, Pune won I Can Crack IT award of Rs 50,000 each.

KPIT partnered with the Centre for Innovation Incubation & Entrepreneurship (CIIE), IIM Ahmedabad; Incubation Cell, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai; Science and Technology Park, University of Pune; Bhau Institute of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership, College of Engineering Pune; Aartech (AIC), one of the first corporate Atal Incubation Centres established under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM); Sandip Incubators (AIC); and Forge to provide incubation opportunities to deserving ideas.

KPIT Sparkle 2020 has been associated with DST; NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM); All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE); India Design Council; National Institute of Design; and ONGC Energy Centre as its knowledge partners.