The Perseverance rover managed to capture the phenomenon of Earth occultation by the moon Phobos in the Martian sky. The footage was taken on July 2, 2026, at 19:05 local Martian time, while the rover was located in Jezero Crater.
The Perseverance rover managed to capture the phenomenon of Earth occultation by the moon Phobos in the Martian sky. The footage was taken on July 2, 2026, at 19:05 local Martian time, while the rover was located in Jezero Crater.
The photograph was taken using the Mastcam-Z camera. This observation marks the first instance of such a phenomenon being recorded directly from the surface of Mars. It is worth noting that an occultation occurs when an object closer to the observer blocks a more distant object, unlike eclipses where one object enters the shadow of another.
At the time of the recording, Phobos, which has an irregular shape and an average diameter of 27 kilometers, was partially illuminated. It was located at a distance of about 7,8 thousand kilometers from Mars. Meanwhile, Earth, visible as a bright point, was situated at a much greater distance—314 million kilometers from the planet.
Starting September 4th, Google will begin the gradual withdrawal of its voice assistant, Google Assistant, from operation. After this transition period is complete, the service will cease to function, and its features on Android devices will be taken over by the AI assistant Gemini.
The company has already notified users about the upcoming discontinuation of Google Assistant support. It is important to note that after the complete shutdown, it will not be possible to restore Assistant as the default assistant.
These changes will affect a range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, smartwatches on the Wear OS platform, as well as headphones and cars using Android Auto via a connected smartphone. However, car owners equipped with a built-in Google system will not be affected by these changes; Assistant will continue to work in such vehicles after September 4th.
Google clarified that the transition process will occur in phases and may last several weeks, meaning the service shutdown will not happen simultaneously for all users. Previously, support for Google Assistant was expected to end by the end of 2025, but the timeline was subsequently postponed to 2026. Nevertheless, until the complete shutdown, users can temporarily revert to using Google Assistant within the Gemini app.
American billionaire Elon Musk published a video on social media platform X on Thursday showing the moment a part of a SpaceX rocket collided with the Moon. According to CBC, this is a rare occurrence where a man-made object collides with the Moon, and it happened very early on Wednesday.
The European Southern Observatory confirmed this collision the day before in a statement on LinkedIn. The observatory reported that earlier that same day, the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket impacted the Moon. As part of a joint observational project, the VLT telescope detected spectral lines (chemical traces) of sodium and lithium in the impact cloud, which persisted for 5-10 minutes after the impact. The statement noted that the sodium likely originated from lunar regolith, while the lithium could have come from the rocket itself.
However, it was established that the presented video is not a real recording but a simulation created using artificial intelligence (AI). Although the collision itself has been confirmed by tracking center data, it has not yet been captured with images. Furthermore, the CEO of SpaceX commented on the clip, stating that it is a fake created using artificial intelligence.
The original video creator, Valuetainment, also reported the rocket's collision with the Moon, emphasizing that the video was AI-generated to create visual context. According to Valuetainment, the discarded upper stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 hit the Moon at a speed approximately seven times the speed of sound, releasing energy comparable to about three tons of TNT. It is assumed that the impact created a crater about 30 meters in size, which cannot be seen with the naked eye from Earth.
India's digital transformation has gone far beyond simple digitization; organizations across all sectors are modernizing their infrastructure, rethinking service delivery methods, and creating systems capable of handling growing volumes of data and users. Cloud technologies have become a central element of this shift, affecting government agencies and the public sector as well as research institutions and enterprises.
As the adoption of cloud solutions accelerated, companies required partners to help navigate this transition. The task was no longer just about moving workloads to the cloud; it involved modernizing legacy systems, strengthening security measures, enhancing reliability, and building infrastructure ready for future growth.
For AppSquadz, this changing landscape opened opportunities to expand its market role. Founded in 2014 by Chandrakant Agrawal and Priyanka Agarwal, AppSquadz was initially a technology company specializing in developing digital products and applications. Over time, client requests increasingly focused on cloud migration, infrastructure modernization, and managed services.
This led to a significant milestone in 2019 when AppSquadz became an official AWS partner. This partnership allowed the company to deepen its cloud expertise and support clients aiming to create secure and scalable technological environments. In 2020, AppSquadz achieved the status of AWS Advanced Consulting Partner, and later AWS Premier Tier Services Partner, reflecting the organization's growing capabilities in cloud consulting, migration, security, and managed services.
Today, cloud transformation is a key part of the company's work in the government, healthcare, public sector, and corporate business spheres. Furthermore, AppSquadz's innovation and AI implementation division—AI Labz—helps organizations turn artificial intelligence into real business value. With over 12 years of experience providing technology to global enterprises, AI Labz offers a combination of expertise in generative AI, intelligent automation, data analytics, and MLOps to create practical, scalable, and results-oriented AI solutions.
Some of AppSquadz's largest cloud transformation projects have been implemented in the public sector, where reliability and scale are critical. One such project involved collaboration with the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT), the state's regional IT agency. Supporting numerous government departments required infrastructure capable of handling diverse loads while maintaining uninterrupted access to digital services.
AppSquadz migrated legacy systems to AWS and implemented a managed cloud environment designed to ensure secure data governance, application scalability, and continuous service delivery. This implementation allowed departments to operate on a unified cloud platform while simultaneously increasing the speed and efficiency of digital service provision.
The company conducted a similar transformation for the Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation (MPSeDC), which serves over 200 government departments across the state. The cloud infrastructure helped improve operational efficiency, accelerate application deployment, and provide a more scalable foundation for e-governance services. The architecture was integrated with security and compliance protocols to support critical government operations.
Some government initiatives operate at the scale of Common Service Centers (CSCs)—a program of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology that provides digital services through over five hundred thousand centers across India. These centers play a vital role in expanding access to government programs, healthcare, education, and financial services, especially in rural areas.
Managing infrastructure of this magnitude requires systems that can adapt to fluctuating demand without disrupting service delivery. AppSquadz built and managed a cloud environment that ensured the reliable operation of CSCs within its nationwide network. Automatic scaling capabilities allowed the infrastructure to handle peak loads, and cloud migration helped modernize legacy systems without compromising citizen services. This project demonstrates how cloud infrastructure has become an integral part of India's digital public infrastructure ecosystem.
Cloud transformation often requires balancing scale with trust. The Quality Council of India (QCI), which oversees national initiatives such as the ZED certification program and the DigiReady platform, needed infrastructure capable of supporting its growing nationwide reach. AppSquadz migrated and managed these platforms on AWS, creating an environment designed for reliability, scalability, and transparency. This implementation helped support large enterprise workloads while ensuring the security and sustainability of certification and compliance processes.
For organizations managing nationwide programs, the ability to scale operations without compromising trust is becoming increasingly important. The use of cloud technologies extends far beyond traditional enterprise applications. The Indian Council of Medical Research - National Institute of Immunology (ICMR-NIIH), one of India's leading medical research institutions, faced challenges in storing and processing large volumes of genetic and molecular research data.
To address these challenges, AppSquadz developed a cloud strategy using AWS services, including AWS HealthOmics. This enabled researchers to access the computational resources necessary to analyze complex datasets while adhering to strict security and regulatory requirements.
As organizations expand their digital presence, security is becoming an increasingly crucial aspect of the cloud technology discussion. One example is Mjunction Services Limited, a joint venture of SAIL and Tata Steel, which manages one of India's largest B2B e-commerce platforms. AppSquadz implemented advanced cloud security architecture using AWS and Palo Alto Networks technologies to enhance threat detection, expand monitoring capabilities, and strengthen the protection of high-value business transactions. This deployment increased network traffic visibility, reduced compliance gaps, and helped protect mission-critical business systems operating at scale. Such projects highlight the growing convergence between cloud adoption and cybersecurity investments.
As its client base expanded, AppSquadz launched the BharatWide initiative to strengthen engagement with organizations across India. This initiative focuses on building relationships with clients, partners, and industry stakeholders in cities such as Mumbai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai. Through direct interaction, the company aims to better understand regional business needs and support the adoption of cloud technologies across a wider range of industries and geographical regions.
Over the past six years, AppSquadz has focused on enhancing its cloud capabilities, working in government, healthcare, research, and corporate environments, helping organizations modernize infrastructure, improve resilience, strengthen security, and prepare for future growth. As cloud adoption deepens across various sectors, demand for scalable and secure digital infrastructure is expected to grow. AppSquadz positions itself to support this transition, helping organizations move from legacy systems to cloud environments capable of sustaining the next phase of India's digital economy.
