current affairs 19 October 2021 (In English)

NASA launches Lucy mission to study Jupiter Trojan asteroids.

The US space agency NASA has launched a 1st of its kind mission called Lucy Mission to study the Trojan asteroids of Jupiter.
Lucy's mission life is 12 years, during which the spacecraft will fly by a total of eight ancient asteroids to study the evolution of the Solar System.
These would include one main-belt asteroid and seven Jupiter Trojan asteroids.
The Lucy mission will mark NASA's first solo spacecraft mission in history to explore so many different asteroids.
The Lucy probe was launched on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Jupiter's Trojan asteroids are two large groups of space rocks, which scientists believe are remnants of the primary material that formed the outer planets of the Solar System.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Observatory has revealed the persistent presence of water vapor in Jupiter's icy moon Europa.
However, the presence of water vapor atmosphere is found only in one hemisphere.
The findings could help further explore whether Europa's atmosphere could support life.
The result is based on Hubble observations spanning from 1999 to 2015.

In Punjab, CM Charanjit Channi launched a new scheme named Mera Ghar Mere Naam on October 17, 2021, which aims to provide ownership rights to people living in houses within the red streak of villages and cities.
The land area which is a part of village settlement and is used only for non-agricultural purposes is known as red streak.
The state government will undertake drone survey of residential properties, both in rural and urban areas for digital mapping, following which all eligible residents would be given the property cards, after proper identification or verification, to confer proprietary rights upon them in a time-bound manner.
The property card will serve the purpose of the registry for which they can get loans from banks or even sell their properties.

NITI Aayog and UNDP India have collaborated to launch a handbook titled NITI Aayog-UNDP Handbook on Sustainable Urban Plastic Waste Management to promote sustainable management of plastic waste in the country.
The handbook is a repository of 18 case studies/best practices and examples from cities in India, including 4 cities in Southeast Asia, that face similar infrastructure and plastic waste challenges.

This book will enable urban local bodies to learn from the successful business and service models covered under this booklet to plan efficient plastic waste management in their cities.

The Adani Group formally took over the operations, management and development control of the international airport at Thiruvananthapuram on October 14, 2021.
Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is the first of the four international airports in Kerala.
The airport was established in 1932 and till now it was owned and operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).