In an announcement made on 22 May 2015, Technology giant IBM is planning to set up its second data centre in India to cater to the demand from various sectors including financial services and government. The US-based firm already has a data centre in which city in India?: Mumbai
Explanation: The US-based firm has made a USD 1.2 billion investment in cloud centres across major markets globally and since 2007, IBM has invested more than USD 7 billion in 17 acquisitions to accelerate its cloud initiatives. Thus, Last year, Microsoft had also announced plans to offer its commercial and cloud services - Azure and Office 365 - from three local data centres by the end of 2015 and also in October last year, IBM announced the expansion of its global cloud network with its cloud centre in Mumbai. IBM has centers across London, Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Melbourne, Toronto, Dallas and Raleigh.
What is the name given to India’s first space observatory which has been developed at ISRO’s Satellite Centre in Bangalore that has tentative launch date in October 2015?: AstroSat
Explanation: AstroSat is a 1,650-kg spacecraft that would orbit Earth equatorially at 650 km and study distant stars, galaxies, black holes and other cosmic objects. The final success will put India in an elite orbit with the U.S., Europe, Russia and Japan. Looking to achieve this achievement final assembly of AstroSat was completed during May 2015 and it has been switched on. However, till now all the previous national satellites carried small astronomy-related devices, but this will be the first time that a spacecraft with a dedicated satellite for major space probes has been developed.
Google and Twitter have announced the renewing of partnership to display tweets in search results. When was this a tie-up was ended?: 2011
Explanation: The deal will start with search results within the Google app and mobile Web, with a desktop version coming. Therefore, it will allow Google to get more real-time results in its search queries, and help Twitter boost engagement after a period of sluggish user growth which has weighed on its stock price. The two firms had a similar arrangement dating back to 2009, but tweets disappeared from Google search results in 2011. Microsoft's Bing search engine has a similar function of integrating Twitter messages. "It's important to note that this is NOT tweets coming into Google for the first time, or the first time since the last formal deal ended.
A Proton-M carrier Russian rocket carrying a which country’s satellite malfunctioned and crashed in Siberia soon after launch on 16 May 2015, the latest in a series of mishaps for Russia's space industry.?: Mexican Satellite
Explanation: The third stage of the rocket carrying the MexSat-1 communications satellite suffered a problem about 500 seconds after launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Russia's workhorse Proton rocket, known at the time under its UR-500 code, made its first test flights in the mid-1960s. It was originally designed as an intercontinental ballistic missile to carry a nuclear warhead targeting the Soviet Union's Cold War foe the United States. But it was never deployed as a nuclear weapon. Russia has been haunted by accidents which have tarnished its reputation as also in July 2013, a Proton carrier rocket carrying three navigation satellites worth around $200 million crashed shortly after lift-off from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome.
What is the name given to a new state of matter that was developed in the lab and reported discover by a team of scientists from Tohoku University (Japan). This new substance is expected to prove a game changer for the way we use and produce energy?: Jahn-Teller metal
Explanation: The new state of matter exhibited the properties of an insulator, superconductor, metal, and magnet all in one. This discovery was made by an international team of physicists, chemists, and material scientists when tested the phase properties of a new type of material that they had created in the lab, they discovered something they had never seen before – a substance. During the study the team came across a phase shift that transformed the material from an insulator into a conductor – a process called the “Jahn-Teller Effect”, that was first predicted in 1937 and thus the team has named this substance “Jahn-Teller metal”. The results of this study were released in Science Advances journal in April 2015.
Which online company will invest Rs 1,000 crore in the over-7-acre campus at Hyderabad that will create over 6,000 jobs. Thus, this centre of company will be next biggest office outside of US?: Google
Explanation: Brand Hyderabad' has managed to woo global tech giant Google to set up its biggest facility outside the US. The tech giant has currently four offices in India. An MoU was inked by Google's global head (facilities and workplaces) David Radcliffe and Telangana IT minister K T Rama Rao at the Google headquarters in Mountain View on 12 May 2015. Along with this Google agreed to make Hyderabad the first Indian city to be fully covered by 'Street View'. Subsequently, Street View will be extended to other major cities and towns of Telangana as well. Google Street View is a technology that provides a 360 degree panoramic view of an area and is featured in Google Maps and Google Earth. It was initially launched in the US in 2007 and thereafter has been extended to geographies like Canada and Europe. However, its applications have been limited in India so far to just some popular tourist sites like Taj Mahal and Qutub Minar among others, in partnership with the Archaeological Survey of India.
On 12 May 2015, Indian Railways schedules will now be available on which feature on Google Maps?: Google Transit
Explanation: Google Transit is part of Google Maps which is more comprehensive, accurate and useful for millions of people around the world who take buses, trains, metros or trams to their next destination. Thus, it helps in planning public transport trips efficiently, and is available through Google Maps app on any Android or iOS device, as well as on the desktop. The current update will allow access to information for 12,000 trains, as well as updated details for bus and metro routes from Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi and Pune. Google Maps has public transportation schedules for more than one million transit stops worldwide in 2,800 cities, including New York, London, Tokyo and Sydney.
In a step towards tackle the electricity issue and aiming to ensure uninterrupted power supply to its consumers, Tata Power has introduced which system in Haldia in West Bengal?: Islanding system
Explanation: Islanding system: In case of breakdowns in grid, the islanding automatically isolates itself from the rest of the grid and ensures that generating units continue to function. This system was developed in consultation with West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company and West Bengal State Load Despatch Center and approved by Eastern Regional Power Committee. Islanding system is already operation in Mumbai and Jamshedpur to protect customers and equipping them with reliable, uninterrupted power.
In a very quiet ceremony on that kept the shutterbugs and journalists out, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) handed over which series of airplanes to defence minister Manohar Parrikar and Air chief marshal Anup Raha to be use by Indian Air Force (IAF) for the training purpose?: Tejas Series Production-1 (LCA-SP1)
Explanation: The plane that was first conceived 32 years ago and after 32 years of frustration and waiting now finally aircraft will now be finally used by the Indian Air Force (IAF). However, still this version of the aircraft will lack the latest electronic warfare suite, which was integrated into one of the LCAs two weeks ago, mid-air refueling and long-range missiles capabilities, among other things that the FOC-configuration aircraft will boast of. The LCA-SP1 flew for the first time on October 1, 2014 commanded by Air Commodore (retd) K A Muthanna and is in its initial operational clearance (IOC) configuration and not the FOC (final operational clearance), which is expected only early next year.
In which state, India’s first satellite-controlled solar power plant was inaugurated on 6 May 2015?: Punjab
Explanation: India’s first-ever satellite-controlled solar power plant was opened in Lalpur village in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district is around 160 km from Chandigarh. The plant has been established by Aditya Medisales, which is part of the Sun Pharma Group. Plant was built at a cost of Rs. 35 crore, thus the project will produce 4.2 MW of electricity. The main feature of the plant is that plant uses the ‘Single Axis Tracking East West Tilt Technology’, which follows the path of the sun during the day to generate 8% more units of electricity compared to solar power plants having traditional fixed type structures.
