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- A convoy carrying aid for 50,000 people reached the northern Syrian city of Manbij on 7th march in the first such delivery from government-held territory, the United Nations said.
- The UN and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent sent 37 trucks loaded with "862 metric tons of food, non-food items, education materials, nutrition and medical supplies", it said.
- "This is the first time we manage to deliver assistance to Manbij through Aleppo," a government-held city in northern Syria, Fran Equiza, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, was quoted as saying.
- Manbij is a former Islamic State (IS) group stronghold now held by a military council affiliated to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-Arab force supported by a US-led coalition.
- One in five people living in Manbij have been internally displaced from other parts of Syria, Equiza said on Twitter.
- The UN said the delivery would "cover the (food) needs of 50,000 people for approximately 30 days", and provide enough medicine and medical supplies to treat 81,000 people.
- In December, Ankara threatened to launch a new offensive to dislodge the People's Protection Units (YPG) a Kurdish militia that forms the backbone of the SDF, but is considered a terrorist group by Turkey from its borders.
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- Two NASA astronauts are scheduled to carry out the first ever all female spacewalk in history on March 29.
- NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch will share the credit of performing the spacewalk at the International Space Station, CNN reported.
- The two will receive support on the ground by Canadian Space Agency flight controller Kristen Facciol.
- “I just found out that I’ll be on console providing support for the first all female spacewalk with @AstroAnnimal and @Astro_Christina and I cannot contain my excitement,” Facciol said in a tweet.
- The March 29 spacewalk is second in a series of three planned spacewalks, NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz told CNN.
- “Anne also will join Nick Hague for the March 22 spacewalk. And of course, assignments and schedules could always change,” Schierholz added.
- While McClain is currently on the ISS, Koch is set to blast off on March 14 to reach the space station.
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- NASA has captured unprecedented photos of the interaction of shockwaves from two supersonic aircraft, part of its research into developing planes that can fly faster than sound without thunderous “sonic booms”.
- When an aircraft crosses that threshold around 1,225 kilometers (760 miles) per hour at sea level it produces waves from the pressure it puts on the air around it, which merge to cause the ear-splitting sound.
- In an intricate maneuver by “rock star” pilots at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, two supersonic T-38 jets flew just 30 feet (nine meters) apart below another plane waiting to photograph them with an advanced, high-speed camera, the agency said.
- The rendezvous at an altitude of around 30,000 feet yielded mesmerizing images of the shockwaves emanating from both planes.
- With one jet flying just behind the other, “the shocks are going to be shaped differently”, said Neal Smith of AerospaceComputing Inc, an engineering firm that works with NASA, in a post on the agency’s website.
- “This data is really going to help us advance our understanding of how these shocks interact.”
- Sonic booms can be a major nuisance, capable of not just startling people on the ground but also causing damage like shattered windows and this has led to strong restrictions on supersonic flight over land in jurisdictions like the United States.
- The ability to capture such detailed images of shockwaves will be “crucial” to NASA’s development of the X-59, the agency said, an experimental supersonic plane it hopes will be able to break the sound barrier with just a rumble instead of a sonic boom.
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- The power ministry 7th march said two more electrical appliances microwave ovens and washing machines will now be assigned star ratings based on their energy efficiency metrics.
- The star labelling programme have been formulated by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), as part of its mandate, under the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, a power ministry statement said.
- "The programme will now include these two appliances for grant of star rating in terms of their energy performance.
- Initially, the programme for above two appliances will be implemented on a voluntary basis and will be valid up to December 31, 2020," the statement said.
- The programme is aimed at improving energy efficiency in household appliances to reduce energy bills of common consumers.
- The BEE has also revise the criteria for washing machine for inclusion of water efficiency in addition to energy performance for grant of star rating.
- The ministry has estimated savings of over three billion units of electricity at consumer-end through adoption of star-rated microwave ovens and washing machines by 2030.
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