Monday 7 March 2016
Amazon India planning to launch digital wallet
BENGALURU: Amazon India is firming up plans to launch a digital wallet as part of its efforts to build an online payments business, potentially through acquisitions, four people familiar with the development said.
Amazon's largest domestic rival Flipkart launched its digital walletlast week as online payments increasingly become pivotal in the race for dominance in India's ecommerce market, giving Internet companies greater control over transactions.
Amazon India is "looking at multiple acquisitions (in online payments). It is a major focus area and the company is trying to figure out what it needs to do", one of the sources said, adding that the company has initiated acquisition talks with digital wallet and payments startups.
Amazon bought Noida-based payments services provider Emvantage in February, its first acquisition in India. The launch of Amazon's digital wallet in India is likely a quarter away, another source said, declining to be identified as the others. Amazon previously launched a digital wallet in the United States, its home turf, in 2014 but shut it in six months.
Former Citibanker Sriraman Jagannathan, whom Amazon India hired in February to head its payments business, is likely to spearhead the launch of the digital wallet, said one of the people familiar with the plans. Jagannathan was instrumental in launching telecom operator Bharti Airtel's digital wallet, Airtel Money, in 2012.
"Building own wallet helps it restrict access to customer data in the company's ecosystem and monetise customer insights," said another person familiar with Amazon India's plans.
Amazon did not comment specifically on whether it plans to launch a digital wallet, only saying that it was "always exploring" acquisitions. "Payments are key to the e-commerce ecosystem," said Srinivas Rao, director at Amazon Payments India, in an emailed statement.
"Developing a trusted, frictionless and ubiquitous payments ecosystem is critical to our customer-centric philosophy and we will invest in building the capabilities to drive our strategy."
Currently, Amazon India uses its gift cards as pre-paid instruments for buying on its online marketplace, offering customers the option to top up these cards for up to Rs 10,000, which is the limit applicable to digital wallets under Indian regulations. This month, during its 'Super Value Day' sale, the e-tailer offered customers cashbacks on Amazon.in gift cards if they shopped for a specified minimum amount.
Amazon India's gift cards are powered by Bengaluru-based startup QwikCilver Solutions, in which Amazon picked up a minority stake in 2014. One source said Amazon may use QwikCilver, which has a licence to operate a semi-closed loop wallet, to launch its digital wallet. Adoption of digital wallets has been fairly quick in India.
The number of digital wallet transactions more than doubled to 153.11 million in the latest October-December quarter from 65.96 million in the corresponding year-earlier period, Reserve Bank of India data show. In value terms, the jump was to Rs 5,539 crore from Rs 2,226 crore.
Paytm, which is backed by China's Alibaba Group, is the largest digital wallet business in India with more than 120 million users. Rivals include Snapdeal-owned Freecharge and cab aggregator Ola's Ola Money, besides independent entities MobiKwik, Oxigen and Citrus.
Flipkart last week launched Flipkart Money, following its acquisition of FX Mart last year for Rs 48.5 crore. Flipkart's service is aimed at helping with refunds on cash-on-delivery transactions initially. Cash-on-delivery payments still account for a majority of Indian e-tailing transactions and on an average, 15% of e-commerce shipments end up in returns, according to experts tracking the industry.
"From the perspective of e-tailing companies, wallets don't bring new customers. (But) because friction of transaction is very high on mobile right now, from a merchant perspective it makes sense to offer all choices for payments," said Sanjay Swamy, managing partner at early-stage investment firm Prime Venture Partners.
Sunday 6 March 2016
Digital has the potential to change our lives, governance
The world has never been more digital as it is now, and it is increasingly becoming even more so. As more and more people get connected to the Internet, the nature of work; why, even the nature of life as we know it is changing.
This is as much true of India as it is of any other country. Even so, the ‘Digital India’ programme has explicitly declared it as official; the aim is to bring the benefits of digitization to aid the citizenry in as many ways as possible – more services, delivered faster, remotely, securely, transparently and 24x7x365.
Communication technologies have not only made it possible to deliver services to almost anyone, but also to offer better quality of service as broadband speed keeps increasing with improved wireline and wireless technology.
India’s efforts at deploying the Internet to improve services are only beginning to take root; probably the earliest and currently most widespread availability and use of it at the common man’s level is in railway reservations. With the unique, biometric-based identification enabled by the Aadhaar card, the ability of the government to offer more services of all kinds to its citizens has improved manifold.
With this, it can reach out to its citizens to and ensure that they receive services and schemes they are eligible for, enable and deliver pensions, subsidies and other benefits, deploy tele-medicine services, remotely, securely, quickly, transparently and in a scalable manner.
The Digital India programme is being largely built around the Aadhaar card and as the Indian economy – currently at a pace of growth that is envied by other nations – grows into a mightly one, the benefits of digitization to the country at large are unparalleled. This has been recognized by the government, which is now at work on spreading accessibility to several programmes, some among them being the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Atal Pension Yojana, Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana and the Digital Locker initiative, using the Internet in an unprecedented manner and pace.
India is one of the fastest growing markets for smartphones and with the market opening up in tier-2 and tier-3 towns, it will provide a big push for M-Governance initiatives. Marrying the ubiquity of mobile technology with governance systems and processes in the past has resulted in benefits for citizens and the government alike. Some examples are monitoring and improving election and project implementation, optimizing traffic flows, crime prevention, discouraging corruption to name a few.
Universal access to mobile connectivity is expected to come about by 2018. On the strength of such an infrastructure being established, it is expected that by 2017, government programmes will reach 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats and Post Offices across the country, with both serving as multiservice Centres.
In some cases, starting online portals will help citizens pay taxes of various kinds and that itself is of huge help in avoiding time wastage and enabling such tasks to be carried out remotely and at any time or day. In other cases, a bit more use of technology is necessitated such as in the Digital Locker initiative, while in yet others, online examinations facilitate both state and central government educational programmes.
Obviously, some uses of digitization, as in using tele-medicine to build a physically healthier populace and in disbursing pensions, gain precedence because of their humanitarian nature. Such efforts at deploying digital technology are continuing at a faster pace, enabled by improvements in communication technologies.
Clearly, digitization has started to change the nature of government-citizen interaction. It has had a slow take-off, having been limited by a lower Internet penetration but has gathered steam.
As the reach of the Internet steamrolls across the country – just look at how many Internet-based startups we now have (for hotel rooms, ethnic wear, buying and selling vehicles and the like) - business increases, spreading if not prosperity itself, at least empowering individuals and resulting in more financial and economic activity.
Merely having its existing public welfare programmes as Internet-based as possible is a grand exercise, given the size and spread of our large population. However, as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana shows, greater financial inclusion is also possible by leveraging the Internet.
The aim of Digital India is enabling technology to improve the standard of living in all respects: either by enabling e-commerce, speeding up the granting of clearances and licences for ‘Make in India’ programmes, empowering citizens, distributing pensions remotely, accessibility to benefits such as subsidies and many others. As the economy grows bigger and business activity rises, individuals and thus society stands to benefit as never before from digital technology. India is officially at work on it now.
China plans mission to land a probe on Mars in 2021
BEIJING: China plans to land a probe on Mars in 2021 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of founding of the ruling-Communist Party of China and a decade after its first failed mission in 2011, after which India, US, Russia and EU stole the march.
"China is likely to launch a Mars probe in 2020. After months of flying, the probe is expected to land in Mars at the 100th anniversary of the CPC. If successful, it will be a present from people working in the aerospace field," Ye Peijian, a top official of China's space programme, said.
"The probe is expected to reach Mars in 2021 after a flight of seven to ten months," Ye was quoted as saying by the official media here.
The Communist Party, the sole governing party of China, was founded in 1921.
The Communist Party, the sole governing party of China, was founded in 1921.
Ye said China has accumulated enough experience from its moon project.
"Our team accomplished the moon exploration project in 2013 as part of the Chang'e-3 mission," he said.
"Our team accomplished the moon exploration project in 2013 as part of the Chang'e-3 mission," he said.
In November 2015, China unveiled a model of its orbiter and landing rover at the China International Industry Fair in Shanghai.
"Up till now we have made a breakthrough on the communication issue with a distance of 400 million kms. The main difficulty would be landing on Mars," Ye said.
China's earlier mission to send a probe to the Red Planet in a joint mission with Russia failed in 2011.
"Up till now we have made a breakthrough on the communication issue with a distance of 400 million kms. The main difficulty would be landing on Mars," Ye said.
China's earlier mission to send a probe to the Red Planet in a joint mission with Russia failed in 2011.
So far, only the US, the former Soviet Union, the European Space Agency and India have successfully carried out Mars exploration missions.
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the main contractor of China's space missions, said yesterday that the Mars exploration is among the 10 major orders that Long March 5, the country's next-generation heavy lift rocket, has received so far.
Other orders include the Chang'e-5 lunar probe mission that is expected to bring back soil from the moon around 2017, and the much-anticipated space station's core module that will be launched around 2020.
The launch vehicle is slated to make a maiden flight later this year.
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the main contractor of China's space missions, said yesterday that the Mars exploration is among the 10 major orders that Long March 5, the country's next-generation heavy lift rocket, has received so far.
Other orders include the Chang'e-5 lunar probe mission that is expected to bring back soil from the moon around 2017, and the much-anticipated space station's core module that will be launched around 2020.
The launch vehicle is slated to make a maiden flight later this year.
The size and structure of the Mars probe will be similar to Chang'e-3, China's first lunar lander that was launched in 2013, though there are many differences, Ye said.
"There are many challenges in front of us. But, I think it is likely we will send the probe to Mars given our all-out efforts, the know-how we gained from past missions and everybody's support," he said.
"There are many challenges in front of us. But, I think it is likely we will send the probe to Mars given our all-out efforts, the know-how we gained from past missions and everybody's support," he said.
Google to sign up telcom operators to provide internet to remote parts of the country
BENGALURU: Internet search engine giant Google, which last year reorganised itself as Alphabet, is currently in talks with a number of local telecom operators to kickstart its ambitious Google Loon project, months after chief executive Sundar Pichai managed to secure support for the project from the government.
Last year, Google set up an office in India for its late-stage investment fund Google Capital.
"Google Capital is here (in India). Google Ventures is only a matter of time... India actually has 50 Series-A investors, we only have five Series-D investors. So, there is a gap in late-stage investing and we decided to close that gap. What are the gaps? How can we as a company help address those gaps? So, that's the lens that we apply — we just don't want to do that because you have something," said Anandan, the managing director for Google South East Asia and India.
"Google Capital is here (in India). Google Ventures is only a matter of time... India actually has 50 Series-A investors, we only have five Series-D investors. So, there is a gap in late-stage investing and we decided to close that gap. What are the gaps? How can we as a company help address those gaps? So, that's the lens that we apply — we just don't want to do that because you have something," said Anandan, the managing director for Google South East Asia and India.
For now, Google wants to focus only on mentoring early-stage startups, instead of immediately setting up Ventures. Anandan said that Google Capital would increase the pace of investments in India. "So for earlystage we said, instead of ventures, let's focus on mentoring.
The reality is that there are enough people writing cheques. We want to improve the quality of the founders and the products," said Anandan, who is an active angel investor with dozens of startup investments and also used to head Dell's India operations.
"(Google Capital has) done four investments here. We've just hired someone from Google Capital here.
You're going to see us do more and more investments here," he said. For the Loon project -- the balloon-powered program that aims to provide internet access to remote parts of the country -- Google is currently in talks with local telcos such as BSNL as it looks to pilot the program in India, according to people aware of the discussions, who declined to be named. Anandan declined to comment on the service providers that Google is in talks with.
"To me Loon works — but at a simplistic level, it is infrastructure in the sky. And we'll partner with a local telco. Because the actual provisioning of the service is done by a local telco. So, we're talking to a number of local telcos.
We can't do a Loon pilot without partnering with a local telco. We are talking to a number of them," he said. "The government has been very supportive — we are working on a pilot and we are working our way through it. In India, the important thing is to work through things," he added.
Google is also "looking into the 6% equalisation levy," Anandan said. Last week, the government imposed the 6% levy to indirectly tax companies such as Google and Facebook, a development which could set the stage for taxation of cross-border digital transactions and potentially drive up costs for advertisers.
Inventor of modern email, Ray Tomlinson, dies
Raymond Tomlinson, the inventor of modern email and selector of the "(at)" symbol, has died at age 74.Raytheon Co., his employer, on Sunday confirmed his death; the details were not immediately available.
Email existed in a limited capacity before Tomlinson in that electronic messages could be shared amid multiple people within a limited framework. But until his invention in 1971 of the first network person-to-person email, there was no way to send something to a specific person at a specific address.The first email was sent on the ARPANET system, a computer network that was created for the U.S. government that is considered a precursor to the Internet. Tomlinson also contributed to its development.
At the time, few people had personal computers. The popularity of personal email wouldn't take off until years later but has become an integral part of modern life.
"It wasn't an assignment at all, he was just fooling around; he was looking for something to do with ARPANET," Raytheon spokeswoman Joyce Kuzman said of his creation of network email.
Tomlinson once said in a company interview that he created email "mostly because it seemed like a neat idea." The first email was sent between two machines that were side-by-side, according to that interview.
He said the test messages were "entirely forgettable and I have, therefore, forgotten them." But when he was satisfied that the program seemed to work, he announced it via his own invention by sending a message to co-workers explaining how to use it.
Tomlinson chose the "(at)" symbol to connect the username with the destination address and it has now become a cultural icon.
Why that symbol? Kuzman said Tomlinson was looking at the keyboard and needed something that would not otherwise be part of the address and that seemed to be a logical solution.
"It is a symbol that probably would have gone away if not for email," she said.
MoMA's Department of Architecture and Design added the symbol into its collection in 2010, with credits to Tomlinson.
Tomlinson held electrical engineering degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was also an inductee to the Internet Hall of Fame and recipient of numerous awards and accolades but was described as humble and modest.
"People just loved to work with him," Kuzman said. "He was so patient and generous with his time. ... He was just a really nice, down-to-earth, good guy."
Tomlinson was hired by Bolt Beranek and Newman, known as BBN, in 1967. It was later acquired by Raytheon Co., where he still worked at the time of his death as a principal scientist. He lived in Lincoln, Massachusetts, where he raised miniature sheep. Attempts to contact his family were unsuccessful.
While more general email protocols were later developed and adopted, Tomlinson's contributions were never forgotten.
"He was pretty philosophical about it all," Kuzman said. "And was surprisingly not addicted to email."
Friday 4 March 2016
Nasa Plans to Set Record for Longest-Ever Scientific Balloon Flight
US space agency Nasa is planning to set a record for the longest ever flight for a scientific balloon to be launched in New Zealand next month.
Nasa's Balloon Programme team was on the
cusp of expanding theenvelope in high-altitude, heavy-lift ballooning with
its super pressure balloon (SPB) technology, an agency statement said
on Friday.
Nasa experts are in the South
Island resort town of Wanaka, preparing for the fourth flight of
a 532,000-cubic-metre balloon with the goal of an ultra-long-duration
flight of up to 100 days, Xinhua news agency reported.
The launch of the pumpkin-shaped,
football stadium size balloon was scheduled for sometime after April
1.The SPB was made from almost 8 hectares of polyethylene film and would
ascend to a nearly constant float altitude of 33.5 km.
The balloon would travel eastward
carrying a 1,025 kg payload of tracking, communications and
scientific instruments, and was expected to circumnavigate the globe once
every one to three weeks, depending on wind speeds in the
stratosphere.The current SPB flight duration record is 54 days and was set in
2009.
Longer duration flights enabled longer
observations of scientific phenomena, the ability to survey more sources,
and more time to observe weak or subtle sources, while such
mid-latitude flights were essential for making observations at
night, a requirement for certain types of scientific investigations.
These two aspects combined with the
relatively low-cost of balloon missions could make the SPB a competitive
platform for a number of scientific investigations that would otherwise
need to launch into orbit.As the balloon travels around the Earth, it
might be visible from the ground - particularly at sunrise and sunset.
NASA plans supersonic passenger jet
WSHINGTON : US space agency NASA announced that it is planning to build a supersonic passenger jet which will be as quiet and efficient as possible, the media reported on Tuesday.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on Monday said that it has awarded a first contract, worth $20 million, to the US company Lockheed Martin to develop a preliminary design of the aircraft, EFE news reported.
Despite using a jet engine, which traditionally causes loud noise, the sound levels produced by the new aircraft would be minimal. The new design would also meet the requirements for reduction of pollution as it would optimize fuel consumption.
"NASA is working hard to make flight greener, safer and quieter," said Bolden.
The design and the construction of the new supersonic aircraft will take a few years and NASA estimates that first flight tests would start around 2020.
Commercial supersonic flights were cancelled when British Airways and Air France ceased their Concorde operations in 2003. The Concorde aircraft was capable of travelling at a maximum speed of 2.180 kph, more than twice the speed of sound.
The safety and profitability of the aircraft, known as the "White Bird", became questionable following the crash of a Concorde in Paris in 2000, which killed all 113 people on board.
Google is building a mysterious radio transmitter in the desert of New Mexico
Google is building a giant radio transmitter in the desert, but no-one knows what it's for.The latest Google project was spotted by Hackaday, who came across a public Federal Communications Commission (FCC) document, filed on 23 February, which shows the company is applying for an experimental radio license.
The license relates to a planned project at Spaceport America, a rarely-used spaceport near the mysteriously-named city of Truth or Consequences in New Mexico, around 35 miles from the Mexican border.
The document doesn't reveal too much about the shadowy project, since Google requested the details be kept from the public in order to protect their commercial interests.
However, it does say the planned transmitters will be used for "highly directional" and powerful transmissions, over a range of frequencies typically used for communications devices and wireless routers.
As Popular Mechanics notes, one of the transmitters is in the 70 to 80GHz range, a band which is often used for high-bandwidth communications. This transmitter is a huge 96.4 kilowatts, and Google wants it to be able to focus in very narrow directions.
Google won't say what these massively powerful transmitters are for, but many speculate they're either tied to Project Skybender, a secretive plan to beam high-speed 5G internet to the ground from flying drones, or Project Loon, an ongoing experiment in bringing internet to people in remote areas via a network of high-altitude balloons.
Alternatively, it could be an entirely new project altogether. Without sneaking into the spaceport, we might not know more until Google chooses to reveal some details.
Vivo launches Xplay 5, world's first smartphone with 6GB RAM
NEW DELHI: Chinese smartphone maker vivo has launched its flagship device Xplay 5. The company has introduced two variants of the smartphone, one with 6GB RAM and Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and the other with 4GB RAM and Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor.
On the specifications front, the Vivo Xplay 5 features a 5.43-inch QHD display with 2560x1440 pixels resolution protected with a coating of Corning Gorilla Glass on top. The smartphone offers dual sim functionality and runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system.
It comes equipped with a 16MP rear camera with dual tone LED flash and an 8MP front facing snapper for selfies. The handset also incorporates a fingerprint sensor and offers 4G, LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS as connectivity options. The smartphone packs a 3,600 mAh battery and will be available in Champagne Gold and Rose Gold colour options.
The company has priced the Vivo Xplay5 Ultimate Edition with 6GB RAM with Snapdragon 820 SoC is priced at $654, whereas the 4GB RAM with Snapdragon 652 variant costs $564.
On the specifications front, the Vivo Xplay 5 features a 5.43-inch QHD display with 2560x1440 pixels resolution protected with a coating of Corning Gorilla Glass on top. The smartphone offers dual sim functionality and runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system.
It comes equipped with a 16MP rear camera with dual tone LED flash and an 8MP front facing snapper for selfies. The handset also incorporates a fingerprint sensor and offers 4G, LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS as connectivity options. The smartphone packs a 3,600 mAh battery and will be available in Champagne Gold and Rose Gold colour options.
Last month, vivo launched its Y51L affordable handset in the Indian market, which is assembled at the company's Greater Noida manufacturing facility. Vivo Y51L has a 5-inch IPS screen and runs on Android Lollipop-based FunTouch OS 2.5 operating system. It is powered by the 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 410 processor with 2GB and comes with 16GB internal storage and 128GB microSD card support.
Thursday 3 March 2016
Bill Gates richest in world, Mukesh Ambani at 36th: Forbes
NEW YORK: Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates continued his reign as the world's richest person with a net worth of $ 75 billion, according to Forbes' annual ranking of billionaires, with Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani leading the pack of 84 Indian billionaires in 2016.
Forbes' 2016 list of the World's Billionaires includes 1,810 billionaires, down from a record 1,826 a year ago.
Their aggregate net worth is $6.48 trillion, $570 billion less than last year.
Gates remains the richest person in the world with a net worth of $75 billion, despite being $4.2 billion poorer than a year ago. He has been number one for 3 years in a row and topped the list 17 out of 22 years.
Forbes said Ambani, 58, has retained his position as India's richest person despite shares of his oil and gas giant Reliance Industries taking a hit due to lower oil prices.
He is ranked 36th on the list with a net worth of $20.6 billion, the magazine said, adding that "the $62.2 billion (revenues) firm is likely to resume buying crude oil from Iran after the lifting of sanctions."
Occupying the second spot on the list is Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega, founder of closing retail giant Zara and the richest man in Europe.
On the third spot is billionaire philanthropist and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu (4) and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (5).
Ambani leads a pack of 84 billionaires from India, with pharma magnate Dilip Shanghvi (rank 44 and $16.7 billion networth), Wipro Chairman Azim Premji (55 with $15 billion networth) and HCL co-founder Shiv Nadar (88 and $11.1 billion networth) coming in among the top 100 billionaires.
Other prominent Indian billionaires include ArcelorMittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal (135), Bharti Airtel's Sunil Mittal (219), ports and power magnate Gautam Adani (453), matriarch Savitri Jindal (453), Bajaj Group's Rahul Bajaj (722), Infosys chairman emeritus N R Narayana Murthy (959) and Mahindra Group's chief Anand Mahindra (1577).
Forbes' 2016 list of the World's Billionaires includes 1,810 billionaires, down from a record 1,826 a year ago.
Their aggregate net worth is $6.48 trillion, $570 billion less than last year.
Gates remains the richest person in the world with a net worth of $75 billion, despite being $4.2 billion poorer than a year ago. He has been number one for 3 years in a row and topped the list 17 out of 22 years.
Forbes said Ambani, 58, has retained his position as India's richest person despite shares of his oil and gas giant Reliance Industries taking a hit due to lower oil prices.
He is ranked 36th on the list with a net worth of $20.6 billion, the magazine said, adding that "the $62.2 billion (revenues) firm is likely to resume buying crude oil from Iran after the lifting of sanctions."
Occupying the second spot on the list is Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega, founder of closing retail giant Zara and the richest man in Europe.
On the third spot is billionaire philanthropist and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu (4) and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (5).
Ambani leads a pack of 84 billionaires from India, with pharma magnate Dilip Shanghvi (rank 44 and $16.7 billion networth), Wipro Chairman Azim Premji (55 with $15 billion networth) and HCL co-founder Shiv Nadar (88 and $11.1 billion networth) coming in among the top 100 billionaires.
Other prominent Indian billionaires include ArcelorMittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal (135), Bharti Airtel's Sunil Mittal (219), ports and power magnate Gautam Adani (453), matriarch Savitri Jindal (453), Bajaj Group's Rahul Bajaj (722), Infosys chairman emeritus N R Narayana Murthy (959) and Mahindra Group's chief Anand Mahindra (1577).
Asteroid 2013 TX68 may impact Earth in 2017: Nasa
LONDON: Nasa has dramatically changed its mind about the risks posed by asteroid 2013 TX68, a 100ft-wide rock which is currently heading towards Earth.
Nasa's initial estimate showed the whale-sized space rock may skim past Earth at just 11,000 miles (17,000 km), which is around 21 times closer to Earth than the moon, but Nasa admitted this estimate may be widely inaccurate and the asteroid may also pass Earth as far out as 9 million miles (14 million km).
Now, a new prediction for 2013 TX68, first spotted when it flew by Earth two years ago, is that it will fly by roughly 3 million miles (5 million kilometers) from our planet.
Nasa noted that additional observations of asteroid 2013 TX68 have been obtained, refining its orbital path and moving the date of the asteroid's Earth flyby from March 5 to March 8.
The observations, from archived images provided by the Nasa-funded Pan-STARRS asteroid survey, enabled scientists at Nasa's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to refine their earlier flyby and distance predictions, reconfirming that the asteroid poses no threat to Earth.
"We already knew this asteroid, 2013 TX68, would safely fly past Earth in early March, but this additional data allow us to get a better handle on its orbital path," said Paul Chodas, manager of CNEOS.
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