ISSUE 392 =12-03-2021

38 12/03/2021 NEWS LITERATURE POLITICS FASHION ART & CULTURE KIDS RELIGION FILMS
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NASA rover captures
Martian sounds for 1st time
Washington : The Mars rover from
NASA has sent first-ever audio readings like
the mesmerising sound of Martian wind,
captured from its SuperCam instrument,
back home.
The instrument delivered audio data to the
French Space Agency's operations center in
Toulouse that includes the first audio of laser
zaps on another planet.
"It is amazing to see SuperCam working
so well on Mars. When we first dreamed up
this instrument eight years ago, we worried
that we were being way too ambitious. Now,
it is up there working like a charm," Roger
Wiens, principal investigator for
Perseverance's SuperCam instrument, said in
a statement on Wednesday.
Obtained only about 18 hours after landing,
when the mast remained stowed on the
rover deck, the first file captures the faint
sounds of Martian wind.
The wind is more audible, especially
around the 20-second mark, in the second
sound file, recorded on the rover's fourth
Martian day, or sol.
SuperCam's third file, from Sol 12,
includes the zapping sounds of the laser
impacting a rock target 30 times at a distance
of about 10 feet.
Some zaps sound slightly louder than others,
providing information on the physical
structure of the targets, such as its relative
hardness.
This is also the first time an instrument
has used Raman spectroscopy anywhere
other than on the Earth.
"Raman spectroscopy is going to play a
crucial role in characterising minerals to gain
deeper insight into the geological conditions
under which they formed and to detect
potential organic and mineral molecules that
might have been formed by living organisms,"
said Olivier Beyssac, research director
at the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales
(CNES) in Paris.
SuperCam was developed jointly by the
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in
New Mexico and a consortium of French
research laboratories under the auspices of
the CNES. "SuperCam truly gives our rover
eyes to see promising rock samples and ears
to hear what it sounds like when the lasers
strike them. This information will be essential
when determining which samples to
cache and ultimately return to Earth through
our groundbreaking Mars Sample Return
Campaign," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate
administrator for science at NASA headquarters
in Washington.
A key objective for Perseverance's mission
on Mars is astrobiology, including the
search for signs of ancient microbial life.
The rover will characterise the planet's
geology and past climate, pave the way for
human exploration of the Red Planet, and be
the first mission to collect and cache Martian
rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
'Around 40% urban
Indians want bridging
of gender pay gap'
New Delhi : Around 40 per
cent of urban Indians want the
bridging of gender pay gap,
according to a survey by Ipsos,
in collaboration with the Global
Institute for Women's
Leadership at King's College
London.
Further, six in 10 (60 per
cent) urban Indians believe that
there needs to be a transparency
in compensation of the workforce
at the same level, an Ipsos
statement said. "Gender pay gap
is more pronounced in the unorganized
sector, in India. Most
organisations in the corporate
world are striving for a gender
neutral ecosystem, which compensates
on merit, education and
calibre, and not by one gender
over another," said Amit
Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India.
He added that India has
shown a lot of progress in providing
fairness in compensation
and hiring as it is governed by
set norms.
On Day 50, Biden gets $1.2T relief
package amid signs of recovery
New York, March 11 (IANS) On the
50th day US President Joe Biden has
been in office, Congress gave him two
victories: the $1.9 trillion Covid-19
relief package that was fought for and
the confirmation of a key member of his
cabinet, Attorney General Merrick
Garland. Biden is also buoyed by signs
of a recovery after more than a year of
the deadly ravage of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The biggest financial aid package
since the Great Depression of the
1930s, the bill passed by the House of
Representatives against total
Republican opposition on Wednesday
seeks to pull the nation from the depths
of the coronavirus pandemic by infusing
money into the economy at large and
into the pockets of individuals.
Calling the bill a "consequential and
transformative legislation", Speaker
Nancy Pelosi said, "This is a momentous
day in the history of our country."
Twenty Republicans joined the
Democrats in the Senate to confirm
Garland as the nation's top law enforcement
official. Despite the title of attorney
general, the position is more similar
to that of the home minister as the official
will control agencies like the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and
Drug Enforcement Agency and the
enforcement of laws.
The Senate also confirmed Michael
Regan to a cabinet post as the administrator
of the Environment Protection
Agency. He is the first African
American to head the agency.
The nation sees signs for optimism
with 370,000 jobs coming back last
month, the stock markets hitting record
highs, nearly 19 per cent of the population
receiving at least one dose of the
COVID-19 vaccine and students returning
to schools.
The seven-day new COVID-19
infection rate has also come down from
254,000 two months ago to 65,000.
The RealClear Politics average of
polls has Biden with 53.7 per cent job
approval. The immediate visible impact
of the American Rescue Plan, as the aid
package is called, will be direct payments
of $1,400 to about 85 per cent of
the people. It will also lower some
health insurance premiums, extend
unemployment payments, give housing
and utility assistance and provide monetary
help to many families with children.
The Plan will provide small businesses,
restaurants and entertainment
venues with loans and grants, help
schools, bailout states and cities, assist
public transportation and fund infrastructure
projects. "This legislation is
about giving the backbone of this nation
-- the essential workers, the working
people who built this country, the people
who keep this country going -- a
fighting chance," said Biden, who will
sign it into law on Friday. He asserted
that the package would "cut child poverty
in half". Vice President Kamala
Harris said, "It is a very important day
for the children of America, the families
of America and small businesses."
Republicans put a united front
against it both in the Senate last week
and in the House on Wednesday asserting
that it was too big and covered matters
unrelated to the pandemic.
"It's a laundry list of left-wing priorities
that predate the pandemic and do
not meet the needs of American families,"
asserted Kevin McCarthy, the
Republican Party leader in the House.
One of the Republican objections
was over sending the $1,400 relief payments
to convicted criminals in prison.
The only victory for the Republicans
was the removal of a provision for a
national minimum wage of $15 per
hour, which they claimed would lead to
higher unemployment as businesses
would reduce their workforce.
The Senate parliamentarian -- the
legal expert advising the body -- ruled
that the wage portion could not be
included in the bill if it was to be considered
a part of the budget process
requiring only a simple majority to pass.
Other types of legislation require 60
votes in the 100-member Senate where
the two parties have an equal number of
members and the vice president has the
casting vote.
This is the third COVID-19 relief
package. The first passed in March last
year was claimed to be worth $2.2 trillion
but ended up being only $1.78 trillion.
Another relief package of $900 billion
was passed in December. The
Democrats had proposed a payment of
$1,200 to the people, but Republicans
opposed it and settled for $600.
Then-President Donald Trump, however,
said in a populist outburst that it
should be raised to $2,000 and the
$1,400 payment in the third relief package
is to reach the amount he had proposed.
The confirmation was a comeback of
sorts for Garland, who had been nominated
for a Supreme Court judgeship by
former President Barack Obama. But
Republicans in the Senate had blocked
it from being taken up for consideration.
The continuing investigations into
Biden's son Hunter's tax issues will now
come under him and he has said that he
will not interfere with it.