The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on Sunday that the country’s Mars probe Tianwen-1 has travelled more than 400 million km and is expected to enter the Red Planet’s orbit next month.The probe had flown in space for 163 days and was about 130 million km from Earth and about 8.3 million km from Mars, reports Xinhua news agency. According to the CNSA, the probe is functioning stably and is scheduled to slow down before entering Mars orbit in more than a month and preparing itself to land on the Red Planet. Since its launch on July 23, 2020, the Mars probe has captured an image showing both Earth and the Moon, as well as taking several selfies. It has carried out three orbital corrections, a deep-space manoeuver and self-checks on multiple payloads.
Desalination breakthrough could lead to cheaper water filtration: Study
During a recent research, scientists might have a breakthrough in their hands by producing clean water at a lower cost. This could lead to solving a complex problem that has baffled scientists for decades, until now. Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and Penn State in partnership with DuPont Water Solutions solved an important aspect of this mystery, opening the door to reduce costs of clean water production. The researchers determined desalination membranes are inconsistent in density and mass distribution, which can hold back their performance. Uniform density at the nanoscale is the key to increasing how much clean water these membranes can create.
Facebook drops ‘likes’ button from public pages
Facebook Inc has dropped the “likes” button from its redesigned public pages used by artists, public figures and brands, the social media company said on Wednesday, Jan 6. Facebook Pages will only show followers and have a dedicated News Feed where users can join conversations, interact with peers and engage with fans, the company said in a blog post. “We are removing Likes and focusing on Followers to simplify the way people connect with their favorite Pages,” Facebook said about the redesign.