The week in tech: Mercedes-Benz EV breaks 1,000-km barrier

Elon Musk’s Tesla could soon face stiff competition from the likes of Mercedes-Benz. Earlier this week, a Mercedes-Benz prototype electric car drove from Germany to the French Riviera on a single charge. More on this below and other developments that made news in the world of science and technology.

OnePlus teases the OnePlus 10R 5G

After recently launching the highly anticipated One Plus 10 Pro, smartphone maker OnePlus released a teaser – earlier this week – to its next two devices that will hit the Indian market. Both the OnePlus 10R 5G and the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G are expected to be launched in an event on 28 April. From the details in the public domain so far, it seems the former will support the much talked about 150W SUPERVOOC charging. Meanwhile, the Nord CE 2 Lite 5G is expected to have a massive 5,000 mAh battery.

Bellatrix Aerospace’s green milestone

Bengaluru-based space transportation company Bellatrix Aerospace successfully tested the country’s first high-performance green propulsion system for satellites, which is considered a greener alternative to conventional hydrazine-based satellite propulsion systems. According to a Times of India report, this test comes at a time when various stakeholders are considering banning hydrazine due to its toxic impact. According to the ToI report, the company developed the green monopropellant with guidance from the department of aerospace engineering at the Indian Institute of Science.

Tencent to block Chinese gamers' access to foreign games

This week brought more trouble for the gaming community in China as the country's largest social and gaming firm said late on Wednesday that it will – on May 31 – shut down a service that allowed Chinese gamers to access overseas platforms to play unapproved foreign games. According to a Reuters report, Tencent will update its games speed booster mobile and desktop apps to new versions that would only support games operating in China. The move comes days after China lifted a nine-month freeze on gaming licences, the Reuters report adds.

FILE PHOTO: People visit Tencent's booth at the World 5G Exhibition in Beijing, China November 22, 2019.  (REUTERS)

Mercedes-Benz electric vehicle breaks 1,000 km-barrier

Could Mercedes-Benz soon give Elon Musk’s Tesla a run for its money? A Mercedes-Benz AG electric car drove more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) from Germany to the French Riviera on a single charge earlier this week. According to a Bloomberg report on the development, the EQXX prototype rode from Sindelfingen near Stuttgart via Switzerland and Italy to the Mediterranean coastal town of Cassis. The sedan’s lightweight chassis and aerodynamic profile allowed it to complete the trip with a battery half the size of Mercedes’s EQS flagship electric vehicle. Further, the report adds, the prototype made the trip at speeds of as fast as 87 miles per hour and had 15% of charge left at the end of its trip.

An artist's impression of the Emirates Mars Mission, which entered the Mars orbit on 9 February 2021. (Press handout)

A week of space collaborations and more

Earlier this week, the Emirates Mars Mission, the first interplanetary exploration undertaken by an Arab nation, finalised a science data analysis collaboration initiative with US space agency Nasa’s MAVEN Mars Mission. This movie aims to pave the way towards greater scientific collaboration and data exchange between the two missions, a news release said. While the MAVEN completed its Mars orbit insertion in 2014, the Emirates Mars Mission’s Hope Probe entered the Mars orbit on 9 February 2021 and is studying the relationship between the upper layer and lower regions of the Martian atmosphere.

In a more significant announcement, the European Space Agency (ESA) on Wednesday ended cooperation with Russia on three missions to the Moon due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, following a previous decision to do the same for a Mars mission, an AFP report said. The ESA said it would “discontinue cooperative activities” on Luna-25, 26 and 27, a series of Russian lunar missions on which the European agency had aimed to test new equipment and technology.

– Compiled by Nitin Sreedhar

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