By: D.K Choudhary
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Vehicle launches 10 satellites into Orbit
i. The American rocket manufacturing company SpaceX launched 10 satellites into orbit on a two stage Falcon 9 Rocket on January 14, 2017 from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast. The satellites were a part of the NEXT Mission of the communications company Iridium.
ii. The rocket took off at 9:54 AM local time and after few minutes the first stage of the rocket landed successfully on a platform in the Pacific Ocean while 75 minutes after launch the mission was complete with the Iridium payload safely in orbit.
iii .This was SpaceX’s first flight after four months, when one of its one of its Falcon 9 vehicles exploded on a Florida launchpad in Cape Canaveral in September 2016 destroying $ 200 million Amos-6 communications satellite.
iv. Before the flight, SpaceX conducted a static fire test of the Falcon 9 vehicle on January 5, 2017 and the company finally received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to launch and land its Falcon 9 vehicle for the upcoming mission.
v. The FAA launch license gives SpaceX permission to launch the next seven rockets for the Iridium NEXT mission which aims to put 70 satellites into orbit for Iridium.
App named ‘SEZ India’ launched by Commerce Ministry
i. The Commerce Secretary has launched a mobile app named ‘SEZ India‘ for Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
ii. SEZ India app will be used for SEZ Developers & Units transactions and track the status.
iii. The app is available on Android Platform and it has 4 sections.
1.SEZ Information: This section will contain the information about the SEZ Act, 2005, SEZ 
Rules, 2006, MOCI Circulars, details of SEZs and Units etc
2.Trade Information: This section will gives access to important information / tools such as Foreign Trade Policy, Hand Book of procedure , Duty Calculator , Customs & Excise Notification and MEIS Rates.
3.Contact Details: This section will contain the contact details of all Development Commissioners Office, DGFT, DG System, DGCI & S and SEZ online.
4.SEZ Online Transaction: This is a dynamic submenu that tracks the Bill of Entry / Shipping Bill processing status and also does verification. The app also helps the Importers / Exporters to track the status of ‘Bill of Entry / Shipping Bill” integration and processing in the EDI system of the ICEGATE.
Keys:
♦ First Minister of Commerce and Industry : Syama Prasad Mukherjee.
♦ Current Minister of Commerce and Industry : Nirmala Sitharaman
Tamil Nadu Gov launched mobile app ‘pinakin’ for Tourism
i. Tamil Nadu government lead by O.Panneerselvam has launched a mobile application ‘Pinakin‘ to provide information of famous destinations in Tamil Nadu.
ii. The app will provide information on world heritage tourist spots like Mammalapuram, the Big Temple in, Thanjavur and Gangai Konda Cholapuram and soon it will include other places in the state.
iii. The application compatible for both Android and iOS devices.
Heritage sites in Tamil Nadu :
♦ Airavateshwarar Temple at Darasuram, Brihadeeswarar Temple at Thanjavur and Mahabalipuram
