Daily Current Affairs for TNPSC : August 29, 2016

All you Need to know about Unified Payment Interface

UPI is a payment system that allows money transfer between any two bank accounts by using a smartphone.UPI allows a customer to pay directly from a bank account to different merchants, both online and offline, without the hassle of typing credit card details, IFSC code, or net banking/wallet passwords.

• Steps to get started with UPI: Download the app from Play Store and install in phone; 2. Set app login; 3. Create virtual address; 4. Add your bank account; 5. Set M-Pin; and 6. Start transacting using UPI

• How safe is UPI? It is safe as the customers only share a virtual address and provide no other sensitive information.
• What kind transactions can be performed via UPI? Merchant payments, remittances, bill payments among others.
• Is there a per transaction limit? The per transaction limit is Rs.1 lakh.
• How exactly does one make a payment transaction? A user can make an in-app payment for goods or services purchased online. For instance a site allows purchase of a movie-on-demand. User clicks buy, the site/app triggers the UPI payment link and is taken to the pay screen of the UPI app, where the transaction information is verified and a click followed by entry of a secure PIN completes the purchase.

ISRO successfully test-fires scramjet engine

The Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV), a sounding rocket (research rocket) with a solid booster carrying advanced scramjet engines, was successfully flight-tested from the launch pad of the Sathish Dhawan Space Centre, also known as Sriharikota Range (SHAR), at Sriharikota on Sunday.

Things to know about the Scramjet Engine

• India is the fourth country to demonstrate the testing of Scramjet engine
• The scramjet engine is used only during the atmospheric phase of the rocket’s flight.
• Scramjet engines will help bringing down launch cost by reducing the amount of oxidiser to be carried along with the fuel.
• Scramjet engines designed by ISRO uses hydrogen as fuel and the oxygen from the atmospheric air as the oxidiser.
• The test-flight is maiden short duration experimental test of ISRO’s scramjet engine with a hypersonic flight at Mach 6 (six times the speed of sound).
• Two scramjet engines were “hugging” the rocket on its sides and when the rocket reaches a height of 11 km the scramjet engines would start breathing air.
• The ATV rocket weighed 3,277 kg during lift-off.

NASA's Juno probe completes first Jupiter flyby

NASA’s solar-powered Juno spacecraft has successfully executed its first flyby of Jupiter, our solar system’s most massive planet. During its first flyby, Juno passed just 4,200 kilometres above the planet’s clouds. It was the closest contact ever achieved by a man-made probe with Jupiter.

Key Facts:

• During this flyby, it was for the first time Juno had its entire suite of science instruments activated. During this closest approach, Juno passed about 4,200 kilometres above Jupiter’s clouds and travelled at speed of 208,000 kilometres per hour with respect to the planet.
• There are 35 more close flybys of Jupiter planned during Juno’s mission scheduled to end in February 2018. About Juno spacecraft The unmanned Juno spacecraft launched on August 5, 2011, from Florida, US. It had arrived at Jupiter on July 4, 2014.
• Juno is the first solar-powered mission designed by NASA to see beneath Jupiter’s clouds. It had travelled 2.7 billion kilometres since its launch to reach Jupiter. It has nine instruments on board to study atmosphere, gravity, magnetic field and possible existence of solid core in Jupiter.
• Juno will also map Jupiter’s gravity and magnetic fields and also track how much water is present in the atmosphere. It will have mission life of 20 months from July 2016 to Feb 2018.
• In its mission life, the spacecraft will circle the Jupiter 37 times before finally making a death plunge in 2018 in order to avoid accidentally crashing onto one of the planet’s moons.

Nico Rosberg wins 2016 Belgian Grand Prix

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg from Germany has won the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix of Formula One. It was Rosberg’s overall tenth championship title of F1 in his career and the sixth win in the 2016 season. Earlier, he has also won Australian Grand Prix, Bahrain Grand Prix, Chinese Grand Prix and Russian Grand Prix.

• 2016 Belgian Grand Prix was the thirteenth race of the 2016 season of Formula One in which total 11 teams had participated. The race was run on Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps