# Amazonia-1

• Indian space research organisation on sunday successfully launched Brazil’s optical Earth observation satellite Amazonia-1.

• The rocket also carried 18 co-passengers satellites- five from India and 13 from the US-from Satish Dhawan space centre at sriharikota.

• The satellites were carried on board the PSLV-c51, the 53rd flight of ISRO’s launch vehicle.

• It is also the first dedicated mission of ISRO’s commercial arm, newspace India ltd.

• The mission was undertaken under a commercial arrangement with spaceflight Inc. US.

# Johnson & Johnson vaccine

• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on saturday cleared a Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine.

• It is a one shot vaccine rather than two.

• The FDA said J&J vaccine offered 85% protection against the severe illness.

# Covaxin

• The Indian Institute of chemical technology (IICT), a council for scientific and industrial research (CSIR) lab, played a role in development of covaxin.

• “Covaxin” is an indegenous vaccine developed by bharat biotech based in Hyderabad.

• This vaccine is a highly purified, whole virion, Inactivated SARS-COV-2.

# Srilankan Airforce

• The Suryakiran aerobatic team (SKAT) and the Sarang helicopter display team, along with light combat aircraft, of IAF will perform at an airshow at the Galle face in colombo.

• This show has been organised as part of the 70th anniversary of the SLAF.

• This is the first performance for the SKAT team outside India, since it was resurrected in 2015.

# 4G spectrum

• Much awaited 4G spectrum auction kicks off from monday.

• Analysts do not expect large scale bidding and expect operators to bid conservatively with a focus on renewal of expiry spectrum.

• A total of 2251.25 MHZ of airwaves across 700 MHZ, 800 MHZ, 900 MHZ, 1800MHZ, 2100 MHZ, 2300 MHZ, 2500 MHZ  frequency bands with a total value of 3.92 lakh crore at reserve price will be put up for bidding.