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Adani Group will invest $100 billion (roughly Rs. 8,14,200 crore) over the next decade, primarily in new energy and digital space that includes data centres, Chairman Gautam Adani said on Tuesday, as the group bets big on India growth story.

As much as 70 percent of this investment will be in the energy transition space, Adani, the world’s second-richest person, said as he continued to reveal bit by bit the group’s new energy plans.

The ports-to-energy conglomerate will add 45 gigawatts of hybrid renewable power generation capacity and build 3 Giga factories to manufacture solar panels, wind turbines and hydrogen electrolyser.

“As a Group, we will invest over $100 billion of capital in the next decade. We have earmarked 70 per cent of this investment for the energy transition space,” Adani, founder and chairman of Adani Group, said at the Forbes Global CEO conference in Singapore.

Starting off with a modest commodities business in 1988, the 60-year-old tycoon surpassed Jeff Bezos of Amazon, French business magnate Bernard Arnault and American businessman Bill Gates to become the world’s second-wealthiest person with a fortune of $143 billion (roughly Rs. 11,64,000 crore).

With interests spanning sea ports, airports, green energy, cement and data centres, the combined market capitalisation of the group’s listed companies is $260 billion (roughly Rs. 21,16,300 crore).

The group is already the world’s largest solar player.

“In addition to our existing 20 GW renewables portfolio, the new business will be augmented by another 45 GW of hybrid renewable power generation spread over 100,000 hectares of land – an area 1.4 times that of Singapore. This will lead to commercialisation of three million metric tonne of green hydrogen,” he said.

It will also build 3 Giga factories – one for a 10 GW silicon-based photovoltaic value-chain that will be backward-integrated from raw silicon to solar panels, a 10GW integrated wind-turbine manufacturing facility, and a 5 GW hydrogen electrolyser factory.

“Today, we can confidently state that we have a line of sight to first – become one of the least expensive producers of the green electron — and thereafter — the least expensive producer of green hydrogen,” he said.

Digital space, he said, seeks to benefit from the energy transition adjacency.

“The Indian data centre market is witnessing explosive growth. This sector consumes more energy than any other industry in the world and therefore our move to build green data centres is a game-changing differentiator,” he said.

The group plans to interconnect data centres through a series of terrestrial and globally linked undersea cables drawn at its ports and build consumer-based super-apps that will bring hundreds of millions of Adani’s B2C consumers on one common digital platform.

“We also just finished building the world’s largest sustainability cloud that already has a hundred of our solar and wind sites running on it — all off a single giant command and control centre that will soon be augmented by a global A-I lab,” he said.

These new businesses will add to the burgeoning Adani empire which already is the largest airports and sea ports operator in India. It is the nation’s highest valued FMCG company, the second-largest cement manufacturer and the largest integrated energy player.

“The point I would like to make is that — India is full of incredible opportunities. The real India growth story is just starting.

“This is the best window for companies to embrace India’s economic resurgence and the incredible multi-decade tailwind the world’s largest and most youthful democracy offers. India’s next three decades will be the most defining years for the impact it will have on the world,” he added.

Commenting on China, Adani said once the champion of globalisation, that country is facing challenges.

“I anticipate that China – that was seen as the foremost champion of globalisation – will feel increasingly isolated. Increasing nationalism, supply chain risk mitigation, and technology restrictions will have an impact,” Adani said.


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Voyager 2’s Flyby Sheds Light on Uranus’s Magnetic Mystery

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Voyager 2's Flyby Sheds Light on Uranus's Magnetic Mystery

A recent analysis of 38-year-old data from NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft has provided fresh insights into the unique magnetosphere of Uranus, according to a study published on November 11 in Nature Astronomy. During Voyager 2’s 1986 flyby, Uranus’ magnetosphere was found to be unexpectedly distorted by a blast of solar wind. The findings suggest that the planet’s magnetic field behaves unlike any other in the solar system.

Findings Highlight Unusual Magnetic Structures

Jamie Jasinski, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and California Institute of Technology, and lead author of the study, noted that Voyager 2’s timing happened to coincide with an intense solar wind event, a rare occurrence near Uranus. This compression of Uranus’s magnetosphere, seen only around 4% of the time, is thought to be responsible for the unique measurements Voyager captured. Had the spacecraft arrived even a week earlier, Jasinski observed, these conditions would likely have been different, possibly leading to alternative conclusions about Uranus’s magnetic characteristics.

Unlike Earth, Uranus exhibits a complex “open-closed” magnetic process, influenced by its extreme axial tilt. This tilt subjects Uranus to highly variable solar wind effects, resulting in a magnetosphere that opens and closes cyclically.

Implications for Future Uranus Exploration

The study’s conclusions go beyond Uranus itself, offering insights into the magnetic behaviours of its outermost moons, including Titania and Oberon. These moons, it turns out, lie within Uranus’s magnetosphere rather than outside it, making them candidates for investigations into subsurface oceans through magnetic field detection. As Jasinski highlighted, these conditions would simplify detecting any magnetic signatures that suggest liquid beneath the moons’ icy surfaces.

While Voyager 2 remains the only mission to visit Uranus, the study’s findings underscore a growing interest in exploring the ice giant in greater detail.

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Tajikistan rock shelter reveals ancient human migration routes

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Tajikistan rock shelter reveals ancient human migration routes

Archaeologists have uncovered a rock shelter in Tajikistan’s Zeravshan Valley that was occupied by multiple human species, including Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Homo sapiens, for over 130,000 years. Discovered along the Zeravshan River in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor (IAMC), this site, known as Soii Havzak, provides new insight into the migration patterns of ancient humans. Researchers believe the IAMC may have facilitated interactions between these groups, offering clues about how they lived and possibly coexisted in Central Asia.

Discovery Along the Zeravshan River

A team led by Dr Yossi Zaidner, senior lecturer at the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, recently excavated the site. Evidence of various human occupations was found, including stone tools and animal bones dating from 150,000 to 20,000 years ago. Zaidner noted that Central Asia’s IAMC could have served as a natural migration route, allowing distinct human populations to cross paths. “This discovery is crucial for understanding ancient human presence in Central Asia and how different human species may have interacted here,” he stated in a press release.

Significance for Human Migration and Interaction

Artifacts from Soii Havzak, including stone blades, rock flakes, crafted flints, and signs of fire use, suggest repeated use of the shelter by different human groups. The find highlights Central Asia’s significance in ancient migration routes, with the Zeravshan River likely serving as a pathway for early humans as they dispersed across continents.

A Pathway for Ancient Civilisations

Beyond its prehistoric importance, the Zeravshan Valley later became a key route on the Silk Road, linking distant civilisations such as China and Rome. Researchers expect further studies at Soii Havzak to shed light on the broader implications of this region in ancient human migration and cross-cultural interactions, aiming to deepen understanding of human history and evolution during the Middle Paleolithic era.

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NASA’s Juno shows Jupiter’s storms and moon Amalthea up close

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NASA’s Juno shows Jupiter’s storms and moon Amalthea up close

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has delivered breathtaking images of Jupiter, highlighting the planet’s swirling, multicoloured storms and unique moons. During Juno’s 66th close flyby on October 23, the spacecraft approached the planet’s polar regions and captured close-up views of its fifth-largest moon, Amalthea. The raw images collected by JunoCam have since been processed by citizen scientists, who enhanced colours and contrasts to reveal Jupiter’s atmospheric details in a new light.

Spectacular Details of Jupiter’s Storms Revealed

Citizen scientist Jackie Branc processed one of Juno’s most striking images, showcasing a region on Jupiter called a Folded Filamentary Region (FFR), located near the planet’s subpolar areas. FFRs are known for their complex cloud patterns, which include white billows and fine, thread-like filaments. This recent image captures Jupiter’s stormy atmosphere with an emphasis on these fine details, giving scientists and the public alike a vivid view of the planet’s dynamic weather systems.

Juno’s data, available to the public online, allows enthusiasts and researchers to adjust image features such as contrast and colour balance. This collaborative effort has enabled a range of perspectives on Jupiter’s atmospheric bands, turbulent clouds, and powerful vortices.

Amalthea: A Close-Up of Jupiter’s Unique Moon

Juno also captured images of Amalthea, a small, potato-shaped moon only 84 kilometres in radius. In images processed by Gerald Eichstädt, the white balance was adjusted to distinguish Amalthea from the blackness of space, presenting the moon in stark relief. This view of Amalthea, with its rugged, irregular shape, adds to our understanding of Jupiter’s complex satellite system.

Launched in 2016, the Juno mission was originally planned to conclude in 2021, but its mission has been extended, with plans to end in September 2025. When its mission concludes, Juno will plunge into Jupiter’s atmosphere, marking the end of its successful exploration journey.

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