News in Short

• The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh scored a 10-day reprieve today as the assembly session was adjourned without an anticipated trust vote until March 26 over coronavirus.
• The opposition BJP, which is confident of overthrowing the ruling Congress, has gone to the Supreme Court, which is likely to hear the matter tomorrow.
• The resignation of 22 Congress MLAs has brought the state government on the brink of collapse. The MLAs, who flew to Bengaluru are expected to follow Jyotiraditya Scindia into the BJP.

• A joint Russian-European mission to send a rover to Mars has been postponed by two years because its final phase has been compromised by the coronavirus outbreak in Europe.
• The launch of the second ExoMars mission was initially planned for July or August of this year. But the two space agencies said they were now postponing its launch until a date between August and October 2022.
• The mission plans to place a rover vehicle, the Rosalind Franklin, on the surface of the red planet to help scour it for signs of past life.

• The extreme heat on the planet Mercury likely helps make ice on its polar regions, according to a study.
• The researchers said while asteroids may have delivered most of Mercury's water, the planet's extreme daytime heat, combining with its ultracold polar craters could also be acting as an "ice-making chemistry lab".
• According to the scientists, minerals in Mercury's surface soil contain what are called hydroxyl groups (OH), which are generated mainly by the subatomic particles protons.
• Extreme heat helps to free up these hydroxyl groups, energise them to smash into each other, and produce water molecules and hydrogen.

• Researchers have provided new estimates for how the Earth generates a magnetic field around it based on processes happening within the liquid portion of its mantle.
• According to the researchers, for long it was held that the Earth's liquid outer core has always been the source of the dynamo that generates its magnetic field.
• Earlier, scientists held that magnetic fields form on the Earth and other planets that have liquid, metallic cores, rotate rapidly, and experience conditions that make the convection of heat possible.

• Ace Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal ended his decade long wait for a title, producing a sensational performance to win the ITTF Challenger Plus Oman Open.
• Despite being a game down, the 37-year-old Indian recovered well to outclass top seeded Marcos Freitas of Portugal 6-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 17-15 in the summit clash.
• Earlier in the semi-finals, Sharath pulled off a stunning come-from-behind victory against Russia's Kirill Skachkov.