Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)

The team, led by Pierre Maxted of the Keele University in Staffordshire of UK, discovered five new Jupiter-like planets that orbits very close to their host stars. The discovered planets exhibits similar characteristics that of our solar systems biggest planet.

Engineers belonging to the University of Utah, the USA, discovered a new kind of 2D semiconducting material for electronics that is made up of the elements tin and oxygen or tin monoxide (SnO).

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched astronomy satellite ASTRO-H from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture.

The satellite was launched on-board the H-IIA rocket, which was previously known as the New X-ray Telescope (NeXT), and is expected to operate in low Earth orbit for three years.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully tested high-thrust cryogenic engine CE-20 at its Propulsion Research Centre in Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched the country’s sixth Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS)-1F, on board the trusted launch vehicle PSLV C-32.

The other four IRNSS satellites which were launched

• IRNSS-1A Mission launched by PSLV C-22 in July 2013

• IRNSS-1B Mission launched by PSLV C-24 in April 2014

• IRNSS-1C Mission launched by PSLV C-26 in October 2014

• IRNSS-1D Mission launched by PSLV C-27 in March 2015

ZikaVac vaccines

Indian biotechnology company Bharat Biotech claimed that it has achieved a breakthrough in developing a vaccine to fight the mosquito-borne Zika virus. Bharat Biotech developed world’s first, two promising candidates ZikaVac vaccines for Zika infection.

The company is probably the first in the world to file for global patent for the two vaccines.

NASA’s New Horizons mission spotted the nitrogen ice glaciers on Pluto appeared to carry numerous isolated hills which are likely to be the fragments of water ice, as per the press release of NASA.

The first machine harvestable chickpea variety, NBeG 47 was released in Andhra Pradesh. It was released by International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (ICRISAT).

The US space agency NASA announced that the first flight of its new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), carrying 13 CubeSats and an uncrewed Orion Spacecraft will be launched in 2018.

The Union Cabinet gave in-principal approval to the Laser Interferometer Gravitationalwave Observatory (LIGO) - India project to study gravitational waves.

LIGO-India is a part of the IndIGO (Indian Initiative in Gravitational-wave Observations) initiative and seeks to move one Advanced LIGO detector from Hanford to India.

Spatial Technology

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base in the USA.

National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) under Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and North East Centre for Technology Application and Research (NECTAR) to use spatial technology for monitoring and managing National Highways.

An international team of scientists led by Indian-American Sukanya Chakrabarti devised a new method, galactoseismology, to detect dwarf galaxies dominated by dark matter. The method also explains ripples on the outer disk of the galaxy.

Scientists at Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) in Hisar on claimed to have successfully produced a cloned buffalo offspring Cirb Gaurav.

CIRB Director Dr. Inderjeet Singh stated that the scientists achieved the success on 11 December 2015.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) announced discovery and assignment of elements with atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118. The decision was taken by the IUPAC as the four elements met the discovery of elements of the IUPAP/IUPAC Transfermium Working Group (TWG) 1991 Discovery Criteria.

Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO)

Konstantin Batygin and Michael E. Brown, the researchers at the California Institute of Technology claimed it as a possible ninth planet and their research papers were published in The Astronomical Journal with the title ‘Evidence for a distant Giant Planet in the Solar System.’

Japanese astronomers’ team discovered the second largest black hole in Milky Way.

They mapped high-velocity compact cloud called CO-0.40-0.22 with a mass 100000 times that of the Sun around 200 light years away from the centre of the Milky Way.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that it had formalized its ongoing program for detecting and tracking near-Earth objects (NEOs) as the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO).

Main functions of PDCO:

- It will supervise all NASA-funded projects to find and characterize asteroids and comets that pass near the orbit of the Earth around the sun.

- It will also issue notices of close passes and warnings of any detected potential threats, based on credible science data.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) 1-E satellite. The satellite will provide navigation, tracking and mapping services to the Indian sub continent.

The satellite is the fifth of the IRNSS constellation. It was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR), Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on-board the PSLV-C31.

A mosquito-borne virus called Zinka was in news. It was found that the virus is spreading rapidly through the American continent.

The first case was confirmed in Texas, USA when a traveler returning from Latin America.

Science and Technology

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has successfully launched the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Jason-3 Ocean-monitoring satellite. It was launched from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base and the satellite has been successfully
inserted it in the desired orbit. 
Widest Planet System comprising of lonely planet 2MASS J2126 and its distant star TYC 9486-927-1 discovered
Intelsat, the commercial satellite giant, announced that Inteslat 29e, the first of the Intelsat EpicNG high throughput satellites, was successfully launched. The satellites were launched from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 vehicle.
Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for monitoring mining activity through satellite technology. The MoU was signed by IBM Controller General R K Sinha and NRSC Director V K Dadhwal in the presence of joint secretary, Union Ministry of Mines, Subhash Chandra.
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) launched Algorithm Trading Test Environment (ATTE) service in partnership with Symphony Fintech Solutions Pvt Ltd.The BSE is Asia’s oldest stock exchange and, at present, is the world’s fastest stock exchange with a speed of 6 microseconds.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) launched a 2.8 billion US dollar appeal to reach 43 million children in humanitarian emergencies worldwide on 26 January 2016.

31 countries signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) to boost transparency in the functioning of multinational enterprises (MNEs) by allowing automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports by tax administrators.

Iran and Airbus signed two agreements covering new aircraft orders and a comprehensive civil aviation co-operation package. The agreement includes purchase of 118 new Airbus aircrafts.

Union Ministry of Science and Technology and a consortium of top UK research institutions signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for establishment of a joint India-UK collaboration programme in crop science.

Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the proposal for loan of 150 million US Dollars to Iran for the development of Chabahar Port.