Artemis 2 update, Winter Olympics, AI and Trade

Episode 75: Artemis II Delay, Winter Olympics, AI in Stock Market & US-India Trade Relations

Welcome to episode 75 of Takaro! Join us as we discuss the latest headlines from around the world, including the delay of the Artemis II moon mission due to hydrogen leaks, the exciting events at the Winter Olympics in Italy, and the influence of AI on the global stock market. We also touch on the warming trade relations between the US and India, including the reduction of tariffs and India's commitment to buying US goods. Stay tuned till the end for this week's quiz question about India's luge Olympian!

00:00 Introduction and Episode Overview
00:44 Artemis II Mission Update
04:12 Winter Olympics Highlights
07:02 AI's Impact on the Stock Market
10:27 US-India Trade Relations
13:55 Quiz Time and Conclusion

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Transcript

Kiran Menon 0:00

mics. Camera action. Welcome to episode 75, Debbie. It is episode 75 of Takaro.

Debkanya 0:10

Very very cool. And thank you to everyone who's joined us again to listen to what's happening around the world. We try and break it down for you. We try and keep it simple and we try and bring you the most important headlines. This is the 75th episode that we are doing And this one's a good episode because I think we we are trying to cover a few different stories in this episode.

Kiran Menon 0:32

We're not gonna cover 75 stories, but we're gonna cover four. A mix between science, technology, politics, trade. Oh, man. It's, it's,

Debkanya 0:44

Let's start with the first one

Kiran Menon 0:46

mm-hmm.

Debkanya 0:47

story uh one that we mentioned in our previous episode that we were very excited about was about how we are going to head back towards the moon

Kiran Menon 0:56

Mm-hmm.

Debkanya 0:57

Artemis II, that's facing some problems now isn't it?

Kiran Menon 1:02

Yeah, so I mean, it's still on, Artemis two is still on, it is still gonna send, uh, humans to the moon, not to land on the moon, but just to, you know, circle the moon and, do a lot of experiments. But. The mission, which was supposed to launch I think a couple of days ago in early Feb, is now being pushed to at least March. So it's at least a month, month and a half delay, which is sad. But you know what's interesting is Artemis one also was postponed very, very similarly. Artemis one was again, to do a lot of tests, uh, but it did not have people. But even that flight or that mission was, was kind of postponed.

Debkanya 1:45

And the reason for the postponement the reason is a tiny tiny tiny little obstacle and that is hydrogen.

Kiran Menon 1:54

The lightest. Lightest, isn't it? Lightest element Hydrogen.

Debkanya 1:59

Yes it is Kiran. Hydrogen is the lightest element. It's the lightest gas uh in fact the lightest element in the periodic table And

Kiran Menon 2:06

you have to research that?

Debkanya 2:08

of course I did You think I remember everything from science class like many many years ago

Kiran Menon 2:12

Yeah. It's such cool things like,

Debkanya 2:14

you don't remember everything You can always look it up and it's always good to refresh your memory and

Kiran Menon 2:20

yep,

Debkanya 2:21

new things or relearn old things and make them new things right

Kiran Menon 2:25

yep. And in fact, look for the blooper which will get cut in this episode.

Debkanya 2:31

This will also get cut in this episode coming back

Kiran Menon 2:34

so, so what's interesting about hydrogen is that it is so small and so light, but it is also the reason why they use it, because it actually has a big, uh, thrust factor in the sense that when you light up hydrogen, it creates, I think one of the highest amounts of trust along with oxygen when both of them combine. So, which is why it's used in space missions because you want the least amount of fuel or the least amount of elements that you can use in order to propel yourself the most. And because, you know, it is a long, long, long journey. So, which is why hydrogen is critical. It is extremely tough to maintain, manage, but it is critical, uh, contain as well.

Debkanya 3:20

yeah exactly I think that's what happened here because I think they found that there was a leak uh in the fuel system and the some of the hydrogen which is so so light and so so so efficient but also extremely difficult to keep together. And you cannot take any chances in a mission like this. Absolutely no chance because you are talking about the safety of your crew. You're talking about lots and lots of money that is that has gone into this mission to make it a success. So you'd rather test and test and test again and make sure everything is in place and proper before you give it a go ahead. So Artemis II postponed because of a tiny little molecule tiny little gas but it's going to be back hopefully by March.

Kiran Menon 4:03

So we'll keep you posted on that like we said, we would the last week around as well, in fact, talking about things flying into the atmosphere. We have the Winter Olympics that are, that have just started, and the reason I say.

Debkanya 4:19

into the atmosphere Kiran

Kiran Menon 4:20

because one of the most exciting, uh, events in the Winter Olympics, at least for me, is the ski jumps. They are incredible. I don't know if you've seen ski jumps, but they're these massive, I mean, and if you haven't, go look for videos of ski jumpers, right?

Debkanya 4:38

It's already started Feb sixth to Feb 22nd. It's happening in two locations in Italy in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo

Kiran Menon 4:44

It's a proper noun.

Debkanya 4:44

So I can say it any way I want. But correct me if I'm saying it absolutely ..Incorrectly. India is going to be at the Winter Olympics. Yes We always participate I mean usually not across all the different sports because you know we don't have that many athletes who participate in the Winter Olympics

Kiran Menon 5:02

Yep.

Debkanya 5:02

this year we have two people who are participating One, Khan who's uh a male alpine skier who's in the men's slalom. the second is a cross country skier called stands in oop who's in the Men's 10 kilometer freestyle. So you have two people who we can be who we should be rooting for wish them all the very best and I hope they bring back a medal uh in the Winter Olympic. This the other cool thing that happened Was now before every Olympics the Olympic torch is lit. Now This is a tradition that's been followed for many many many many years right from the beginning. It's a sacred tradition where the Olympic flame is lit in the in Olympia in Greece in an ancient in a temple uh the temple of Hera specifically. It's lit there and then the flame travels to the place where the Olympics is gonna take place. And it is Carried by many athletes like I I think almost a thousand different sportspeople

Kiran Menon 5:58

From different countries. Yeah.

Debkanya 6:00

different countries Yeah Representing their countries Carry and run with this torch uh across you know different cities and bring it to where the Olympics is gonna take place And this year we had Abhinav Bindra. remember we've spoken about him He's our only Olympic individual O Olympic gold medalist. He had the honor of actually carrying the Olympic torch as well this year.

Kiran Menon 6:23

Okay, cool. So keep your eyes peeled and. End specifically for Arif Khan and Stenzin Lundup. Alpine skiing is a really, really exciting sport as well. It's when, and the men slalom is basically where you start at the top of the hill and you have to go all the way down through these flags, you'll see red and blue flags that you have to kind of weave yourself through and get to the bottom the fastest person. So it's a really, really fast sport. Um, cross country is where, you know, they're just kind of going through different parts, flat land, up, down through the forest, even sometimes on top of frozen lakes. So, yeah, If you can see videos of, uh, you know, the Winter Olympics, do that and, let us know which one was most exciting for you.

Debkanya 7:02

From that very very fun freezing cold story We are coming to a slightly different type of story We're talking about the stock market We're talking about ai we are talking about in

Kiran Menon 7:16

Why are you not excited about this?

Debkanya 7:18

Winter sports versus stock market. Okay maybe maybe as exciting because things do go up and down and up and down like a rollercoaster

Kiran Menon 7:26

Oh, yeah.

Debkanya 7:27

too

Kiran Menon 7:28

Correct. Exactly. See, well put, yeah. We we're talking about, specifically the fact that AI is now playing havoc with the stock market globally and last week. It's, it's kind of tied to a lot of things, right? The stock market works very closely with what's happening around the world. So when there are tariffs, then the stock market reacts when there are tariffs taken away. The stock market reacts. Last week, Anthropic. Which is, uh, one of the largest AI companies today, along with OpenAI. OpenAI has ChatGPT, and Anthropic has Claude. Anthropic just released something called Claude Cowork. Which is, seen as a major big step into AI automating a lot of things in the business world and also in our own lives, right? Traditionally when you think, when you think about workflows, automation, you really think about IT services. India is a major, major, major IT services hub for the world. I'm sure you've heard of companies like Wipro and Infosys and Tata Consulting Services and so on and so forth. All of them are in the IT services space. So India is one of the largest employers in that space. Now. All these company shares, all the Indian company shares dropped dramatically. Dramatically last week because Anthropic launched Claude Cowork. And the reason is very, very simple.

Debkanya 8:51

Like that uh portmanteau word that you just made right now.

Kiran Menon 8:55

Which was.

Debkanya 8:56

Dramastically -Dramatically plus drastically Becomes dramastically. I

Kiran Menon 9:00

Excellent.

Debkanya 9:01

use that word more often.

Kiran Menon 9:02

Okay, done. So, Anthropic's Claude Cowork dramastically changes the way we think about automation, right? Because generally a company, if they wanted to create something, they would, uh, hire a Wipro or an Infosys to kind of create that software. But over here. This Cloud cowork has started showing signs that it can actually do that without, um, you know, having to hire a Wipro or a TCS or an Infy, and that's what the stock market assumed. Now it's just initial reaction. A lot of people have come back saying, Hey, you know, AI is great, but you will still need humans. You will still need humans to come in and integrate multiple, pieces of software and so on and so forth. So it had a major impact on the IT stocks. The reason we are talking about this is because iT is a big, big part of India's economy. And so it will have an impact on even the people who are employed by these companies over the next couple of years. Right. So, uh, exactly. Will, will they have to reduce their headcount? Will they have to increase more? Will they have to change the type of people who are in these companies and think about it, you know, these are companies who each employ one lakh plus people. So it's a pretty big deal and um, may not be as exciting as Winter Olympics or, you know, mission to the moon, but, uh, it is very, very, very close to home and very important for, for a lot of us. And also related to that is the fact that, um, US and India are friends again. So

Debkanya 10:35

Yes I know

Kiran Menon 10:36

Yeah, it's crazy.

Debkanya 10:37

from being freezing cold that relationship was freezing cold and now suddenly it's warming up and thawing completely. So that's a good sign.

Kiran Menon 10:44

Yeah. And uh, I dunno. I mean, it's like the stock market. One day they're up, one day they're down, everything is following the same.

Debkanya 10:52

they're not

Kiran Menon 10:53

Exactly. It's all following the exact same path. So you see how the story is connected, all the stories in today's episode. Um, but yeah, so Donald Trump decided that he would cut India's tariffs from 50%, which is what he had put it as India tariffs. Right. Because India said as a punishment, because India said, we will not stop buying Russian oil. But it dropped to now 18% last week because India said, okay, we will not buy as much Russian oil. So this is a major deal for, you know, the Indian economy because that means. Goods, Indian goods can now be sold in the US Again, it won't be impacted by high prices. Things like, you know, pharmaceuticals, medicines, gems, diamonds, jewelry, aircraft parts, all of those can actually be even almost zero from a tariff perspective. And in fact, India has also reduced a of tariffs on, well, even agricultural produce from which is.

Debkanya 12:03

Yeah and people are worried about that right

Kiran Menon 12:06

Yeah.

Debkanya 12:06

ultimately India's economy depends a lot on agriculture It

Kiran Menon 12:10

Good.

Debkanya 12:10

A lot on the wellbeing of our farmers. If our farmers don't get a good deal when they're selling their goods um then they struggle and then they suffer and it's gonna be a huge problem for our economy. So while India has said that you know the talk is that we have actually protected our agriculture We have protected our farmers by saying that Hey we are not gonna open up the market and buy Too many goods from

Kiran Menon 12:33

Yeah. Yeah.

Debkanya 12:34

but some of them we will like a few things that are anyway being imported into the country. For example seed and nut oils and things like that. Things that we don't produce too much of We anyway imported so we'll keep you know working on that But the

Kiran Menon 12:47

Yeah.

Debkanya 12:48

uh we will not uh you know remove taxes or start importing from the US for example.

Kiran Menon 12:53

India has also committed to buying up to $500 billion of US goods. And Yeah, and that includes things like defense. A lot of, missiles and aircraft parts and even energy and things like that. Right. So that's a major commitment where India is committing to spend $500 billion on US products.

Debkanya 13:16

Over the next five years. Yes

Kiran Menon 13:18

Over the next five years,

Debkanya 13:19

yeah I

Kiran Menon 13:19

correct? Correct.

Debkanya 13:20

of money A big big commitment to make And I think

Kiran Menon 13:22

Yeah.

Debkanya 13:23

sure Trump is particularly happy about that one. In a way you know India is saying that we are on track If we do this then we will be on track to actually advance our own defense and advance our

Kiran Menon 13:33

Yeah.

Debkanya 13:33

you know in in terms of technology and grow as a as a country. You know Both parties seem to be happy at this stage and like we said they're back to being friends again. But we know this is all very very political. signaling to the world that India and US are working together again which is an important thing.

Kiran Menon 13:49

Correct. It's very, very important from a strategic geopolitical perspective. But that also brings us to the end of this week's episode, and so of ending it with trade and economy and politics. Uh, let's go back to sports.

Debkanya 14:09

I

Kiran Menon 14:09

So this week's,

Debkanya 14:11

winter sports Yes

Kiran Menon 14:12

think so, so this week's quiz question, do we have something from the winter sports side of things, Debbie?

Debkanya 14:18

Absolutely. I was prepared for this one

Kiran Menon 14:20

Ooh.

Debkanya 14:21

One sport that we did not actually talk about at all when we were speaking about it earlier uh that we did very very well in in fact was The sport called luge. The question this week is who is the first Indian to compete in luge, who participated in six consecutive winter Olympics from 98 to 2018 And he also is the youngest luge Olympian in history. So very very cool that an Indian holds that uh record.

Kiran Menon 14:53

Yep.

Debkanya 14:54

The options that we give we are giving you are Option one Abhinav Bindra Option two Arif Khan three Shiva Keshavan and option four Neha Ahuja.

Kiran Menon 15:07

Excellent. Very cool question.

Debkanya 15:10

who is the first Indian to compete in luge? Kiran do you know what luge is by the way Let's let's tell people what luge is right

Kiran Menon 15:17

Yeah,

Debkanya 15:17

a cool sport.

Kiran Menon 15:19

It's, it's very cool and, uh, in fact. Wasn't there a movie around it as well?

Debkanya 15:26

I remember there was one movie that I loved which is around Bob Sleighing. It's called Cool Runnings

Kiran Menon 15:30

Oh, that was, that was Bob slaying. Yeah. Cool. Running is so cool. Yeah.

Debkanya 15:36

if you haven't watched Cool Runnings please

Kiran Menon 15:38

Yeah. Where the Jamaicans come.

Debkanya 15:40

weekend

Kiran Menon 15:40

the Jamaicans come and compete in Winter Olympics. The reason it's so funny, guys, is because India has not generally been a, you know, winter Olympics, uh, sort of country, right? We don't have that many skiing slopes we like in South India. Where would you go skiing? Never. Right. Even in North India, it's only

Debkanya 15:59

have snow India

Kiran Menon 16:00

does. It does. It does, but it's, yeah,

Debkanya 16:04

Jamaica is like a tropical island. There is absolutely no snow It's

Kiran Menon 16:08

Yeah.

Debkanya 16:08

and there are beaches and sand and it's hot

Kiran Menon 16:11

Yeah.

Debkanya 16:11

that's the best part about this movie because there's a team from Jamaica that learns how to use a Bob sleigh and goes competing in the Winter Olympics. It's a

Kiran Menon 16:19

And it's very funny. It's very funny. But yeah, luge, you were talking about luge.

Debkanya 16:24

Yeah so Luge is not like Bob Sleighing. Bob Sleighing is a team sport where you are all jumping into this little sleigh and and it's a high speed sliding sport okay. Luge is where you're on this little platform and you have to lie supine. Supine basically means you lie on your back your feet are in front and you go sliding down these little you know what do you call them They're like

Kiran Menon 16:44

It's like, think of a, you know when you go to a water park and you have those massive slides which go all the way around and you know, it goes up and down and round, but this you're doing on snow and ice. Yeah.

Debkanya 16:56

ice on

Kiran Menon 16:57

Yeah,

Debkanya 16:58

ice and it's

Kiran Menon 16:58

yeah,

Debkanya 16:59

speed and it's super cool

Kiran Menon 17:01

yeah.

Debkanya 17:01

found out today Kiran that there is another version of this of this sport which is called Skeleton which is where you

Kiran Menon 17:08

oh, that's on the road. Oh, is it? Okay. Okay. Okay.

Debkanya 17:11

You're with

Kiran Menon 17:11

Oh, wow.

Debkanya 17:12

You are lying on your tummy instead of lying on

Kiran Menon 17:14

Oh, and your head is facing front and you're going that way. Yeah, I think I've seen that too.

Debkanya 17:20

Yeah

Kiran Menon 17:21

I didn't know it was called skeleton.

Debkanya 17:22

yeah that's what I just found out. So luge is supine Skeleton is where the athlete lies on their stomach and his headfirst.

Kiran Menon 17:30

Wow, that's crazy. So again, who is the youngest luge Olympian who happens to be an Indian? let's now get to what most people are waiting for. Last week's quiz question and what the right answer is. We were talking about octopuses is last week, and uh, who was the famous octopus who predicted the results of eight matches during the 2010 FIFA World cup. The options were Hank, Paul, Kraken or the Octopus King. We got a whole bunch of, uh, answers. You know what was interesting that we, is that the only two answers that we got from everyone was Hank and Paul. There was no Kraken, there was no Octopus King. So yeah, that's that's interesting.

Debkanya 18:16

close

Kiran Menon 18:17

Yeah, the right answer is Paul the Octopus, who predicted eight matches and their results during the 2010

Debkanya 18:29

also the

Kiran Menon 18:29

the World Cup final.

Debkanya 18:31

which was between Netherlands and Spain 0-1

Kiran Menon 18:31

Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Debkanya 18:35

yeah Paul got that right.

Kiran Menon 18:37

Excellent. So. Paul is the answer, and our lucky winner is 11-year-old Levi Joseph. Congratulations Levi!

Debkanya 18:49

Well done Levi! Well done And you are going to get Takaro Kids t-shirt as well as a gift card from us so keep it up. Keep listening. For all those of you who want to participate in this week's quiz you know what to do. You have to either go onto www.takarokids.com, send in your answer there or you can get someone to help you get onto Instagram and send us a DM with the correct answer and we will pick not the first, not the second, not the third. We will pick one lucky winner. You have to get the answer right though And we will pick one winner from the lot to win that week's this week's quiz Question.

Kiran Menon 19:30

Until next week it is. Bye.