Current affairs 22 August 2023

India secures Second Rank at 16th IOAA in Chorzów, Poland.

• India has secured Second Rank at the 16th International Olympiad 2023 on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) in Poland With Four Gold and One Silver Medal.
• The United Kingdom clinched the lead with five Golds.
• A total of 236 students from 50 nations participated at the Olympiad.
• Rajdeep Mishra from Kota, Rajasthan, Koduru Tejeswar from Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, Md. Sahil Akhtar from Kolkata, West Bengal, Akarsh Raj Sahay from Nagpur, Maharashtra were awarded Gold medals.

Russia’s first lunar mission in decades crashes into the moon.

• Russia’s first lunar mission in decades has ended in failure with its Luna 25 spacecraft crashing into the moon’s surface.
• The incident, a blow to Russia’s space ambitions, happened after communication with the robotic spacecraft was interrupted.
• The measures taken to search for the device and get in contact with it did not yield any results.
• According to a “preliminary analysis,” Luna-25 “switched to an off-design orbit” before the collision.

Nitin Gadkari to launch the Bharat New Car Assessment Programme.

• Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari launches the Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (Bharat NCAP) to improve road safety through raising the safety standards of motor vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes in India.
• Aim: To provide a tool to the car customers to make a comparative assessment of crash safety of motor vehicles available in the market.
• Under Bharat NCAP, car manufacturers can voluntarily offer their cars for testing as per the Automotive Industry Standard (AIS) 197.

R Praggnanandhaa first Indian after Anand to reach semifinals of FIDE 2023.

• R Praggnanandhaa, the first Indian after Viswanathan Anand to reach the semifinals of the FIDE World Cup 2023, defated his higher-ranked opponent, Fabiano Caruana, in Baku.
• Out of four Indians, who had made it to the quarterfinals, Praggnanandhaa remains the only Indian in the fray.
• No Indian has reached the last four stage of the Chess World Cup, except Anand, who won the first two editions of the tournament in 2000 and 2002.

Indian Navy submarine, INS Vagir to reach Fremantle, Australia.

• Indian Navy’s fifth Kalvari class submarine, INS Vagir, will reach Fremantle, Australia on 20 Aug 2023.
• INS Vagir will participate in various exercises with Royal Australian Navy (RAN) units on the West Coast of Australia.
• On the East coast of Australia, Indian Naval ships and aircraft is involved in Exercise AUSINDEX 23 from 22-24 Aug 2023.
• The RAN submarine and Indian Naval P8i aircraft are scheduled to exercise with INS Vagir.