Current Affairs - Technology

The Shenzhou-20 mission was launched by China as part of its ongoing efforts to develop and utilize its space station, Tiangong. This marked the 15th crewed spaceflight under the Shenzhou program. The launch took place from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre using a Long March-2F rocket. China's space ambitions have continued to grow, as evidenced by collaborative mentions such as Pakistan's future astronaut participation. This mission highlights China's rising stature in space exploration and its continued investment in crewed missions.

China hosted a groundbreaking event where humanoid robots raced alongside human participants in the Yizhuang half-marathon held in Beijing. A total of 21 robots from companies such as DroidUP and Noetix Robotics took part in the 21 km race. One of the standout performances came from a robot named Tiangong Ultra, which completed the marathon in 2 hours and 40 minutes. While the robots couldn’t match the human winner’s time of 1 hour and 2 minutes, the event showcased China's strides in robotics and artificial intelligence, highlighting the integration of technology into public and sporting events.

The 'AI Careers for Women' initiative is a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and Microsoft, aiming to address gender disparity in the tech sector. This program targets 20,000 women from Tier-II and Tier-III towns across six Indian states, offering them a 240-hour AI-focused curriculum developed in alignment with industry standards. Implemented through a hub-and-spoke model, the initiative leverages 30 Centres of Excellence and 150 spoke centres to deliver the training. Microsoft’s involvement underscores its commitment to fostering diversity and empowering women with skills necessary for leadership and innovation in India’s digital economy.

The Ironwood chip is the latest innovation from Google, representing its 7th generation Tensor Processing Unit (TPU). Purpose-built to run cutting-edge AI workloads like Large Language Models (LLMs) and Mixture of Experts (MoEs), Ironwood exemplifies the shift toward proactive AI that generates insights autonomously. It boasts remarkable performance, with the ability to support over 9,000 chips per pod and deliver 42.5 Exaflops—far surpassing traditional supercomputers. The chip also doubles the performance per watt compared to its predecessor, thanks to energy-efficient liquid cooling. As part of Google Cloud’s Hypercomputer architecture, Ironwood is pivotal in scaling AI applications across platforms like Search, YouTube, and DeepMind.

The NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission represents a landmark partnership between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Scheduled for launch in June 2025, this Earth observation satellite will use advanced dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar to monitor key environmental changes such as ice sheet melting, forest cover dynamics, and seismic activity. The mission is designed to deliver highly precise data, capable of detecting surface changes as small as 1 cm, making it instrumental for tracking natural disasters and climate impacts. ISRO’s role in this collaboration includes contributing to the launch vehicle and vital payload components, reinforcing its global standing in space science.