The American space agency NASA successfully landed its  fifth rover 'Perseverance' on Mars yesterday in a deep crater near the planet's equator called Jezero. It touched down the surface of Mars after successfully overcoming a risky landing phase known as the seven minutes of terror. The six-wheeled vehicle will now spend at least the next two years drilling into the local rocks, looking for evidence of past life.

About the size of an SUV, it weighs a ton, is equipped with a seven feet long robotic arm, has 19 cameras, two microphones and a suite of cutting-edge instruments to assist in its scientific goals. It has a laser spectrometer on board that will be able to examine rocks using different wavelengths of energy.

Starting from summer, it will attempt to collect around 30 rock and soil samples in sealed tubes, to be eventually sent back to Earth sometime in the 2030s for lab analysis.

The rover is only the fifth ever to set its wheels down on Mars. This feat was first accomplished in 1997 and all so far have been American.

CSIR-CDRI is celebrating its 70th Annual Day on the 17th February, 2021. On his opening remark Director CSIR-CDRI, Professor Tapas Kundu welcomed the dignitaries of the program and briefed about the achievements of institute in the reporting year.

Dr Shekhar Mande, Director General, CSIR and Professor Sandeep Verma, Secretary, SERB, DST, Government of India also congratulated the staff on Institute's 70th Annual Day.   

On this occasion, ‘Atal National Colloquium on Healthcare and Innovation’, a series of lectures from highly eminent persons, to commemorate Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji’s vision and support for ‘Vigyan’ and CSIR-CDRI was inaugurated by Hon'ble Union Minister Health & Family Welfare, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences and Vice President CSIR, Dr. Harsh Vardhan.

Director General, CSIR inaugurated ‘Common Research and Technology Development Hub (CRTDH)' supported jointly by DSIR and CSIR online. The objectives of the CRTDH are (1) To set up and operate a Pharmaceutical Formulation Development and National Clinical Trial Batch Production Facility and (2) To establish and operate a Unit for GLP-compliant Pre-clinical and Clinical Bioanalysis (PK, BA, BE) and Drug Testing (DTL). It will be helpful for Clinical Trial Centers, Pharma Industry, MSME and Academia for advance research.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of key projects of power and urban sector in Kerala tomorrow through video conferencing. He will inaugurate the 320 KV Pugalur - Thrissur Power Transmission Project. It is a Voltage Source Inverter based High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Project and has India's first HVDC link featuring state-of-the-art VSC technology. Built at a cost of 5070 crore rupees, it will facilitate transfer of 2000 MW power from the western region and help meet the growth in load for the people of Kerala.  

The Prime Minister will also dedicate to the nation the 50 MW Kasaragod Solar Power Project. It has been developed under the National Solar Energy Mission. Mr Modi will lay the foundation stone of the Integrated Command and Control Centre at Thiruvananthapuram. Projected to be built at a cost of 94 crore rupees, it is being set up to host Smart Solutions for Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation, and will act as a common point of action during emergency situations to facilitate coordinated action.

Besides, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of the Smart Roads Project in Thiruvananthapuram. The project will be undertaken at an estimated cost of 427 crore rupees. A Water Treatment Plant at Aruvikkara will also be inaugurated  by him. It will boost supply of drinking water to people of Thiruvananthapuram and help avoid disruption of drinking water supply to the city in the event of maintenance work in the existing treatment plants in Aruvikkara.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the Mahabahu-Brahmaputra, lay the foundation stone of Dhubri-Phulbari Bridge and perform Bhoomi Poojan for construction of Majuli Bridge Assam today through video conferencing. In a tweet, Mr Modi said it is a landmark day for Assam’s development journey as the Mahabahu-Brahmaputra initiative will be launched.
 
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Mansukh Mandaviya, DoNER minister Dr. Jitendra Singh and Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad K Sangma will be present on the occasion. More from our Guwahati correspondent:

Today's event of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give a  much needed boost for large numbers of people in Assam and Meghalaya in terms of better connectivity . The launch of Mahabahu-Brahmaputra will be marked by the inauguration of the Ro-Pax vessel operations between Neamatighat  and Majuli , North and South Guwahati and Dhubri-Hatsingimari . It also includes shilanyas for construction of tourist jetties at 4 locations to promote employment and river tourism. The programme is aimed at providing seamless connectivity to the Eastern parts of India and includes various development activities for the people living around River Brahmaputra and River Barak.The Ro-Pax services will help in reducing the travel time by providing connectivity between banks and thus reducing the distance to be travelled by road. The Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of the longest river bridge of the country over the Brahmaputra between Dhubri in Assam and Phulbari in Meghalaya .  The 19 kilometer long 4 lane bridge will reduce the distance of 205 kilometer to be travelled by road to 19 kilometer only. Apart from that, the Prime Minister will perform bhumi pujan for the much awaited  8 km long  Jorhat -  Majuli bridge. This bridge will connect river island Majuli with mainland Assam

The ex-head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, will be sworn in as Italian Prime Minister today. He has secured the support of almost all the main political parties, following the collapse of the previous administration last month. He has already named his cabinet after meeting the Italian president yesterday.

Italy is still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and is also facing its worst economic crisis in decades. In this regard, Draghi, an economist with experience at the highest levels of the European Union and as governor of the Bank of Italy is being seen as a safe pair of hands.

World Radio Day (WRD) is being celebrated across the Globe today. The day was proclaimed by the member states of UNESCO in 2011 and subsequently adopted by the United Nations General Assembly as an International Day.  According to UNESCO, radio is a powerful medium for celebrating humanity and constitutes a platform for democratic discourse.
 
Radio has the ability to reach out to the widest audience, in the process having the ability to shape a society's experience of diversity and providing a platform for everyone to be represented and heard. The theme of World Radio Day 2021, "New World, New Radio", will highlight the services rendered by the radio medium throughout the crisis.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the World Sustainable Development Summit-2021 at 6.30 this evening through video conferencing. The theme of the summit is ‘Redefining Our Common Future: Safe and Secure Environment for All’.

President of Guyana Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, James Marape, Speaker of the People’s Majlis of Maldives,  Mohamed Nasheed,  Deputy Secretary General, United Nations, Amina J. Mohammed and Union Minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar will take part in the summit.

Leaders around the world have offered condolences to the families of the victims of a glacial burst in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand that led to massive flooding in the state.
 
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed solidarity with India over the flash floods leading to the disappearance of several people. In a tweet, President Macron said, their thoughts are with the people who have been affected by the glacier burst and their families.
 
The US State Department has also offered condolence to the families of victims. In a tweet, it said, they grieve with the family and friends of the deceased and extend their hopes for a speedy and full recovery for the injured.
 
Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it is saddened by the news of death and missing of many individuals due to the flash floods in Uttarakhand.

Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India celebrated its 23rd Foundation Day on 3rd February.

On this occasion, Dr. Vladimir Ryabinin, Executive Secretary, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO and Assistant Director-General of UNESCO delivered the prestigious ‘INCOIS Foundation Day Lecture’ on "United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (Ocean Decade)". Dr. M. Rajeevan, Secretary, MoES and Chairman, INCOIS Governing Council presided over the events. Dr. Srinivasa Kumar, Director, INCOIS welcomed the dignitaries and the attendees and introduced the distinguished guests Dr. Rajeevan and Dr. Ryabinin in his opening remarks.

He also outlined the major achievements of INCOIS in the past one year which helped INCOIS to remain as one of the world leaders in the field of operational oceanography .
In the presidential address, Dr. M. Rajeevan congratulated INCOIS on its 23rd Foundation day and appreciated the services and research and development activities of INCOIS, which are benefiting millions of common people directly and indirectly. Dr. Rajeevan also suggested that INCOIS should strive constantly to improve the quality and out-reach of its services and spearhead the ocean modeling activities in the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that Chauri Chaura incident was not a single incident of setting fire to a Police Station, but it was the collective manifestation of the angst against the British rule. Mr Modi said that martyrs of Chauri Chaura may not have been given the desired place in history but their sacrifice is immortal. He said that their blood is in the soil of our country and will keep inspiring us.
 
Inaugurating the Chauri Chaura centenary celebrations in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Modi said that we are entering into 75 years of our freedom and this centenary is an occasion to pay homage to our great freedom fighters.
 
The Prime Minister also released a postal stamp dedicated to the Chauri Chaura Centenary. The day marks the 100 years of historic Chauri Chaura incident in our freedom struggle.
 
The Prime Minister said that Centenary Celebration is a commendable initiative by Uttar Pradesh Government to register the Chauri Chaura incident in the history of our country. He said that the attempts to connect the year-long celebrations with local art, culture and self-reliance will be a tribute to our freedom fighters.