2.61 T Science and Tech Flashcards
2.IT
3D Printing
3D printing is the process of printing 3 Dimensional solid objects with the aid of computer/printer
It is also called “Additive Manufacturing” because 3D printed object is created by laying down successive layers
of manufacturing material on each other until the entire object is created.
Objects printed in this way are extremely precise.
This technology has limitless possibilities and can create almost anything with just raw material and a computer
generated model.
5G
5G is wireless communication technology based on third-generation partnership project (3GPP).
It is next generation mobile networks technology after 4G LTE networks.
It is expected to offer enhanced mobile broadband.
The 5G technology will offer far greater upload and download speed available at present.
High data speed offered by 5G network will help cloud systems to stream software updates, music, and
navigation data to driverless cars.
Moreover, it holds the key to growth of artificial intelligence (AI) systems and enhance IoT.
As per the OECD Committee on Digital Economic Policy, 5G technologies rollout will help in increasing GDP,
creating employment and digitizing the economy. Why in news? 5G technology was tested by Airtel and Huawei in Gurugram
ARPAN 3.0
ARPAN 3.0 stands for Army Record Office Process Automation 3.0
It is a new automation software for Defence Security Corps personnel to ease personal documentation and all
issues related to their progression.
It will provide soldiers of Indian Army easy access to their service records including pay and leave details and
transfer and postings among others.
As of now, all these records are maintained manually, which is a time-consuming exercise.
The software provides valuable data for decision and policy making for the Defence Security Corps Directorate.
Artificial Intelligence
What is artificial intelligence?
Artificial intelligence is the branch of computer science concerned with making computers behave like humans.
In contrast to normal hardware and software, artificial intelligence enables a machine to perceive and respond to
its changing environment.
The artificial intelligence machines learn automatically like humans during their processing by assimilating
large volumes of information
The artificial intelligence market is estimated to touch $153 billion in 2020 and expected to grow at a
compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 45.4% from 2016 to 2022.
It is also widely seen as major challenge in generation of employment as many companies are likely to depend
more on it to cut down on human resources.
Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS)
BBPS is an integrated bill payment system offering interoperable and accessible bill payment service to
customers through a network of agents, enabling multiple payment modes and providing instant confirmation of
payment.
The BBPS initiative aims to provide a major push to digital payments as it is a big step forward in formalizing
the bill payment system in the country.
Under the BBPS framework, a customer will be able to pay several bills such as electricity, telephone, water, gas,
and DTH television at a single location—physical or electronic—and receive instant confirmation once the
payment is made.
Nearly 45 crore bills are permitted under BBPS. Payments through BBPS can be made using cash, transfer
cheques and electronic modes.
Bill aggregators and banks, who will function as operating units, will carry out these transactions for the
customers.
At present the bulk of transactions on BBPS are of electricity bills.
It contributes to about 180 million bills per month out of which only 10% is digital.
Why in news? The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has received final nod from the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) to function as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) and operate the Bharat Bill
Payment System (BBPS).
Blockchain Technology
It is a decentralised digital ledger that records transactions on thousands of computers globally in such a way
that the registered transactions cannot be altered retrospectively.
It is a secured way of conducting online transactions and its use removes the characteristic of infinite
reproducibility from a digital asset.
In case of cross border remittances, its use enables instant transfer of money as against the current system that
takes about a week for the same.
It is an incorruptible digital ledger for storing data across a peer-to-peer network.
Information is held on blockchain through shared database which can be accessed on real-time basis.
This database is not stored on physical servers but on cloud, which makes it easy to store unlimited data.
Blockchain technology is not controlled by any single entity and has no single point of failure.
It is transparent and incorruptible. It is kind of self-auditing ecosystem of digital value and blockchain network automatically checks every
transaction that happens in it.
Application:
It is the technology behind crypto-currencies.
Each block comprises of a hash pointer that acts as a link to a previous block. Along with those it comprises of a
timestamp and transaction data.
Blockchains are resistant technologies to modification of the data.
It can also be used in smart contracts, supply chain management logistics, sharing economy, crowdfunding,
governance, file storage and date management and IoT.
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks
In DDoS attacks, malware first creates network of bots — called botnet and then uses botnet to ping single server
beyond its capacity at same time.
As number of pings are far beyond server’s capacity, server crashes and denies service to its consumers.
Malwares like Saposhi, Reaper and Mirai are primarily are used for DDoS attacks.
For example, if large botnet attacks server of fleet cab provider, its server will crash, and scores of consumers
will be unable to avail of its services, causing chaos in daily commuting as well as massive losses to the company.
Geo-fencing
Geo-fencing is a feature in a software program that uses the global positioning system (GPS) or radio
frequency identification (RFID) to define geographical boundaries.
Geo-fencing allow an administrator to set up triggers so when a device enters (or exits) the boundaries defined
by the administrator, an alert is issued.
Many geo-fencing applications incorporate Google Earth, allowing administrators to define boundaries on top of
a satellite view of a specific geographical area.
Other applications define boundaries by longitude and latitude or through user-created and Web-based maps.
Locky Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to block access to computer system until sum of money is
paid to unlock it.
Locky ransomware is being circulated through massive spam campaign in which spam emails with common
subject lines target computers by locking them and demanding ransom for restoring access to users.
It first surfaced in 2016.
It encrypts files on victims’ PCs and adds a .locky file extension.
The attackers then demand ransom in Bitcoin payment to unlock the files.
It is demanding ransom of half bitcoin, which at present rate is equivalent to over Rs 1.5 lakh.
Why in news? CERT-In has issued an alert about spread of Locky.
Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications
Unlike person-to-person (P2P) communication, M2M technologies involve communication between two
devices.
The technology is basis for automated information exchange between machines.
It enables wired and wireless devices to talk to each other using sensors.
It is also a key component of the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) revolution.
TRAI acknowledged its potential in National Telecom Policy 2012.
Applications of self-communicating machines using M2M communications can be deployed in new-age
infrastructure projects and various industry verticals such as smart cities, smart grids, smart homes, smart
transportation and smart heath sectors.
Why on news? TRAI has recommended delicensing of chunk of spectrum in few bands to facilitate smooth
roll-out of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications.
Mihir : High Performance Computing Facility
Mihir is a high performance computer system (HPC) or supercomputer
Inaugurated by Ministry of Earth Science (MoES) in NOIDA
The HPC will provide facility for improving weather/climate forecasts.
It is country’s largest HPC facility in terms of peak capacity and performance.
It also propelled India’s ranking to Top 30 in the list of HPC facilities in world.
Mihir HPC facility will improve following services
o Weather forecasts at block level over India which can predict extreme weather events.
o High resolution seasonal and extended range forecasts of active and break spells of Monsoon.
o Very high resolution coupled models for prediction of cyclones with more accuracy and lead time.
o Ocean state forecasts including marine water quality forecasts at very high resolution.
o Tsunami forecasts with greater lead time.
o Air quality forecasts for various cities.
o Climate projections at very high resolution.
Petya Ransomware
Petya is a ransomware, similar to the Wannacry ransomware.
It follows the WannaCry’s pattern and locks up the computer data and cripples the Enterprise services in the
corporate sector.
The ransomware demands $300 Bitcoins as ransom to unlock computer’s files.
Pratyush Supercomputer
It is India’s fastest super computer
India’s first multi-petaflops computer
It will help India with better forecasts in terms of monsoon, extreme events, cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes, air
quality, lightning, fishing, hot and cold waves, flood and drought among others.
Quantum computing
Quantum computer is computer design which uses principles of quantum physics to increase computational
power beyond attainable limits of traditional computer.
It employs complex principles of quantum mechanics to store information in ‘qubits’ (quantum bit) instead of
the typical binary ‘bits’ of 1 and 0.
Qubit is two-state quantum-mechanical system, such as the polarization of a single photon (either vertical
polarization or horizontal polarization). Qubit allows for far greater flexibility than the binary system.
It works faster because of way such circuits are designed and can do intensive number-crunching tasks much
more efficiently than the fastest comparable computers.
For instance, quantum computer require 3.5 million fewer steps to sort billion numbers compared to traditional
machine and it can find the solution in only 31,623 steps.
Quantum Computing help in solving complex computing physics problems, which were earlier not possible on
traditional computers.
Quantum computers have been built on small scale and work continues to upgrade them to more practical
models. Internationally, Canada’s D-Wave Systems, is pioneer in developing quantum computers and has sold
machines to Lockheed Martin and Google.
Why in news? The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is planning to fund project to develop
quantum computers in order to tap into the next big advance in computing technology.
Saposhi Malware
It is a new Malware that can take over electronic devices and use them for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
attacks.
Saposhi Malware is capable of taking over electronic devices and turning them into bots (device taken over by
malware) which can then be used for any purpose, including DDoS attacks which, with enough firepower, can
cripple entire industries.
Suicide Games
Why in news?
The Supreme Court asked government to set up a panel of experts to block virtual dare games like Blue Whale
Challenge which has allegedly led to several suicidal deaths.
The apex court also sought the government’s response on a plea seeking to firewall such life threatening/violent
games existing in the cyber world like ‘Choking game’, ‘Salt and Ice Challenge’, ‘Fire Challenge’, ‘Cutting
challenge’, ‘Eyeball challenge’ and ‘Human Embroidery game’.
What is a Firewall? Firewall is a system designed to prevent unauthorised access to or from a private network by
controlling incoming and outgoing network traffic.
The Blue Whale Challenge: The Blue Whale Challenge is reportedly a suicide game in which the player is given
certain tasks to complete over a period of 50 days and the final task leads him or her to commit suicide. The player is
also asked to share photos after finishing each challenge.
SurfNet
It is a software that can create three dimensional (3D) models from 2D photographs.
It is an artificial intelligence software.
In an advance version it can allow future robots to navigate in the real world.
It utilizes machine learning to analyze 2D shapes and convert them into projected 3D forms.
In addition to transforming 2D shapes, the technology can also merge two shapes into one another.
The technology becomes more refined over time as the AI learns more about the shapes.
UMANG App
The Union Government launched new all-in-one mobile application called UMANG with an aim to make
Government services accessible on mobile phone of the citizens.
The UMANG app offers 162 services from 33 state and central government departments and four states under a
one-single platform.
The term UMANG stands for Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance.
It was launched to promote Digital India program and to drive mobile e-governance in India.
The app was developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and National eGovernance Division (NeGD).
It supports 13 Indian languages and caters to on-demand scalability.
It provides all pan India e-Governance services like Aadhaar, PAN, booking gas cylinder, PF account and
Digilocker on one single platform.
Miscellaneous
Bio toilets
What are Biotoilets?
The environment-friendly bio-toilets for passenger coaches were developed jointly by Indian Railways and
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
In the bio-toilet fitted coaches, human waste is collected in bio digester tanks below the toilets and is
decomposed by a consortium of anaerobic bacteria.
By the process of hydrolysis, acetogenesis, acidogenesis and methanogenesis, the anaerobic bacteria
converts human faecal matter into water and small amount of gases (including methane).
Why in news?
Indian railways aims to install human waste discharge free biotoilets in all its coaches and the same would
be completed by September 2019.
It will help in proving cleanliness and hygiene besides preventing
corrosion of the tracks.
It is part of the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Cloud Seeding
Cloud seeding is a form of weather modification
It is a way of changing the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds
How? by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter the
microphysical processes within the cloud
Why? The usual intent is to increase precipitation (rain or snow), but hail and fog suppression are also widely
practiced in airports
Chemicals used: In cloud seeding, either dry ice, or more commonly, silver iodide aerosols are sprayed into
the upper part of clouds to try to stimulate the precipitation process and form rain
Cloud seeding also occurs due to ice nucleators in nature, most of which are bacterial in origin
Mechanism: Since most rainfall starts through the growth of ice crystals from super-cooled cloud droplets
(droplets colder than the freezing point, 32 deg. F or 0 deg. C) in the upper parts of clouds, the silver iodide
particles are meant to encourage the growth of new ice particles
The history of cloud seeding has experienced uncertain results because it can never be known whether a cloud
that rains after seeding might have rained anyway
This is because seeding is performed on clouds that look like they have some potential for producing rain
FASTags
FASTag is a radio frequency identification device that enables cashless transaction at toll plazas without
stopping the vehicle at the toll plazas.
It employs RFID technology for making toll payments directly from the pre-paid account linked to it.
This system aims to remove logistic inefficiencies at toll plazas and has the potential of saving Rs 60,000 crore
in terms of time and fuel bills.
Hyperloop Technology
What is Hyperloop Technology?
Theoretical concept of hyperloop is mooted by maverick techno-entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2013.
Hyperloop technology promises to move people and goods through low-pressure tubes far faster than
commercial air travel, within earthly confines, of course.h
continuous steel tubes which are held at partial vacuum.
The pod which sandwiches the passenger compartment between an air compressor upfront and a battery
compartment in the rear is supported by air caster skis at the bottom.
The skis float on a thin layer of air provided under high pressure, eliminating rolling resistance and allowing for
movement of the pods at high speeds. These capsules are expected to be driverless with estimated speeds of
1,000 km/h.
Linear induction motors that are placed along the tube control the speed of the pod. Electronically-assisted
acceleration and braking determines the speed of the capsule.
Why is it important?
Developments in traditional high speed railway technology have not made much progress in recent years. From steam
to diesel to electric, locomotives have come up against the physical constraints of weight and drag. Frictional losses too
come into play when a vehicle relies on wheels. As speeds accelerate, mechanical wear and tear leads to high
maintenance costs. Maglev (magnetic levitation), which was expected to provide a solution has not gained traction.
High-power consumption, accidents and technical challenges have hampered its progress.
In Hyperloop, during the pod’s journey, an inlet fan and compressor push high pressure air from the nose to tail. This
action and the partial vacuum which eliminates most of the drag, boosts the speed. Low power consumption and
reliance on existing infrastructure after re-engineering, are big positives.
Advantages
Hyperloop is two-to-three times faster than fastest high-speed rail and claimed to have speeds even greater than
commercial air travel.
It has smaller civil engineering footprint, with no direct emissions or noise compared to railways.
Hyperloop system’s capital cost per mile is 60% that of high-speed rail, and is less expensive to operate.
Furthermore, Hyperloop departures could happen with a low frequency of a pod every 20 seconds which is not
possible in railways.
Challenges
It requires heavy investments and therefore effective public and private sector coordination is prerequisite for
implementing it.
It consumes high-power compared to railways.
Technical challenges and accidents may hamper its progress.
Why in news?
AP government is planning to connect Vijayawada and Amaravati by a Hyperloop Project.
The Virgin Group led by Richard Branson has signed an intent agreement with Maharashtra Government to
build world’s first hyperloop
transportation system between Mumbai and Pune
India Neutrino observatory
It is a particle physics research project under construction to primarily study atmospheric neutrinos in a 1,300
meters (4,300 ft) deep cave
Located in Bodi west Hills, Tamil Nadu. (See map, hills, rivers nearby)
Underground project
Jointly supported by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Department of Science and Technology
(DST)
What are neutrinos?
Neutrinos are second most widely occurring particle in universe
Neutrinos are found in three forms (e, mu and tau).
It is charge less (electrically neutral), thereby enabling it to travel through planets, stars, rocks, human bodies
without any interaction; and
This characteristic has opened new domains for humanity
Why in news?
Environment Ministry has given approval to INO Project.
Kilogram
Till now, the kilogram is the only one among units of measures pegged to real object.
It was pegged to a cylinder (shown in fig) made up of 90% platinum and
10% iridium (In India, salt-shaker-sized cylinder weighing exactly a kilogram in National Physical Laboratory
was used as ideal measure of kilogram since 1957.
It was serving as reference for variety of industries to keep their weights accurate.
But this cylinder’s weight in kilogram is known to fluctuate due to surface contamination with time, making it
tricky to define its exact mass.
The new measure for kilogram from 2019 will be derived from constants of nature that are all interdependent.
It will be set by value of Planck constant in combination with definitions of meter and second.
Kibble balance will be used to make accurate measures of Planck constant.
Kibble balance is set of scales, which uses force produced by current-carrying wire in magnetic field to balance
weight of mass.
Project Insight
It is a project launched by Union Finance Ministry to monitor high value transactions and detect tax evaders
using technology with a view to curbing circulation of black money.
It will use data mining, big data analytics to scoop out tax evaders from social media platforms to deduce
mismatches between spending pattern and income declaration.
The linking of PAN (Permanent Account Number) with Aadhaar will be key identifier to be used by IT
Department to link and analyse various transactions relating to tax payers.
The integrated information technology platform will help in catching tax evaders in non-intrusive manner using
technology and without traditional intrusive methods like search and seizure.
It will use technology to allow government collate databases of IT forms, IT returns, TDS/TCS statements and
Statement of Financial Transactions received from financial institutions.
Raman Effect
What is Raman Effect?
Some part of light beam after passing through a transparent medium gets scattered.
This phenomenon of scattering of light is termed as Raman Scattering and the cause of scattering is called the
Raman Effect.
The wavelength of these scattered rays is different from that of the incident rays of light.
Thi phenomenon was explained/discovered by Indian physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (CV Raman)
on February 28, 1928.
This discovery was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.
Feb 28 is observed as National Science Day in India
Sodium Nitrite
Sodium Nitrite is a white crystalline powder.
It is an oxidising and also a reducing agent.
It is mostly used in the pharmaceutical and dye industries, lubricants, construction chemicals, rubber blowing
agent, meat processing, and textiles.
Why in news? India has imposed a five-year anti-dumping duty on Sodium Nitrite imports from China.
Space
Aditya L1 Mission
It is India’s first solar mission
It will be launched in 2019
It will study the sun’s outer most layers:
o Photosphere (soft and hard X-ray),
o Chromosphere (UV) and
o Corona (Visible and NIR)
It will collect data about coronal mass ejection, which will also yield information for space weather prediction
It is a joint venture between ISRO and physicists from other institutes of India.
Aditya- L1 satellite will be placed in the halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the sun-earth
system
Utility: The data from Aditya mission will be immensely helpful in discriminating between different models for
the origin of solar storms and also for constraining how the storms evolve and what path they take through the
interplanetary space from the Sun to the Earth
Objectives of mission
Study dynamic nature of sun’s outer most layers, the corona and the chromosphere, and collect data about
Coronal Mass Ejections (CME).
Study on origin of solar storms and their path through the interplanetary space from the Sun to the Earth.
The studies will also focus on collection of information for space weather prediction.
ASPIRE
ASPIRE stands for Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment.
It is a supersonic parachute developed by NASA.
The test of ASPIRE was meant to mimic conditions that spacecraft will experience during red planet entry,
descent and landing (EDL).
Asteroids
Asteroids are small, airless rocky worlds revolving around the sun that are too small to be called planets. They
are also known as planetoids or minor planets.
In total, the mass of all the asteroids is less than that of Earth’s moon. But despite their size, asteroids can be
dangerous. Many have hit Earth in the past, and more will crash into our planet in the future.
What Are The Differences Between An Asteroid, Comet, Meteoroid, Meteor and Meteorite?
Asteroid: A relatively small, inactive, rocky body orbiting the Sun.
Comet: A relatively small, at times active, object whose ices can vaporize in sunlight forming an atmosphere
(coma) of dust and gas and, sometimes, a tail of dust and/or gas.
Meteoroid: A small particle from a comet or asteroid orbiting the Sun.
Meteor: The light phenomena which results when a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere and vaporizes; a
shooting star.
Meteorite: A meteoroid that survives its passage through the Earth’s atmosphere and lands upon the Earth’s
surface.
Where asteroids are located?
Most asteroids lie in a vast ring between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Not everything in the main belt is an asteroid, for instance, comets have recently been discovered there,
and Ceres, once thought of only as an asteroid, is now also considered a dwarf planet.
Many asteroids lie outside the main belt. For instance, a number of asteroids called Trojans lie along Jupiter’s
orbital path.
Three groups — Atens, Amors, and Apollos — known as near-Earth asteroids orbit in the inner solar system and
sometimes cross the path of Mars and Earth
BeiDou Navigation System
BeiDou Navigation System (BNS):
BNS is 2nd generation of the Chinese navigational system seen as rival to the US’s Global Positioning System
(GPS)
The system comprises total 35 satellites in two separate satellite constellations
o Limited test system (operational since 2000)
o A full-scale global navigation system which is currently under construction.
The BNS became operational in December 2011 in China with the constellation of 10 satellites of the system
On its completion in 2020, the system will provide services to global customers.
After completion, the navigation system would become an equivalent of the US Global Positioning System,
Europe’s Galileo and Russia’s Glonass.
Applications:
o Civilian services: Navigation, messaging, transportation and weather forecasting sectors.
o Military applications: Ensure privacy for its military communications and missile launches by
reducing the dependence on US operated GPS
Black Hole
Black hole refers to the remains of a supergiant star that has collapsed into itself.
It is so dense and has a gravitational field so intense, that light itself cannot escape from it.
Breakthrough Listen Project
BLP is US$100-million global astronomical initiative launched in 2015 by Internet investor Yuri Milner and
cosmologist Stephen Hawking.
It has teams from around the world to find signs of intelligent life in universe.
The 10-year programme aims to survey 1,000,000 closest stars to Earth by scanning entire galactic plane of
Milky Way.
It will listen for messages from the 100 closest galaxies at 10 billion different frequencies originated beyond our
galaxy
Breakthrough Starshot
Breakthrough Starshot is a comprehensive space program launched under the US $100 million Breakthrough
Initiatives, announced by Yuri Milner and Stephen Hawking to develop and launch practical interstellar space
missions.
The program aims to demonstrate proof of concept for light-propelled spacecraft that could fly at 20 per cent of
light speed.
Its main objective is to send one-gram chips to star systems beyond the solar system in search of extraterrestrial
intelligence
Copernicus programme
It is the world’s largest single earth observation programme directed by European Commission in
partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA).
It aims at achieving global, continuous, autonomous, high quality, wide range Earth observation capacity.
It provides wide range of applications like climate change, ocean, land and atmosphere monitoring as well as
support in forecasting, management and mitigation of natural disasters.
Its full, free and open data policy has proven its merits and allowed development of thriving user base in Europe
and beyond.
Why in news? EU will provide free access to data of this program to India
Goldilocks Zone
It refers to a habitable zone in the planetary system where the temperature is neither too high nor too low.
Such conditions could allow for the presence on the planet’s surface of liquid water – a key ingredient for life.
If a planet is too close to the star it orbits, any water on the surface quickly boils off, forming a steam
atmosphere.
If the planet is too far from the star, any water on the surface freezes.
The habitable zone (or “Goldilocks zone”) is the range of orbital distances from a star at which liquid water can
exist on the surface of a planet.
This range of distances changes depending on the size and temperature of the star.
Earth is in the habitable zone of the sun – one of the reasons our planet has liquid water like oceans and lakes.
GOLD and ICON Missions
GOLD and ICON are space missions of NASA.
Both will be launched in 2018.
They will team up to explore the ionosphere, located 96 km above Earth’s surface.
GOLD stands for Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD)
ICON stands for Ionospheric Connection Explorer
The two missions will be complementary to each other.
ICON will launched in low-Earth orbit (LEO) located at 560 km above Earth, like a close-up camera.
GOLD will be launched in geostationary orbit over Western Hemisphere, about 35,398 km above earth.
It will help in full-disk view of ionosphere and upper atmosphere beneath it every half hour.
The two missions can cooperate with each other when ICON passes through GOLD’s field of view and each
mission can get snapshot of same region.
This overlap in their data will make it easier to identify reasons for changes in upper atmosphere at a given time.
One of missions’ goals is to measure how upper atmosphere changes in response to hurricanes and geomagnetic
storms.
GOLD will also explore how upper atmosphere reacts to geomagnetic storms, which are temporary disturbances
of Earth’s magnetic field caused by solar activity.
At night, GOLD will examine disruptions in ionosphere, which are mainly dense, unpredictable bubbles of
charged gas that appear over equator and tropics, sometimes interfere with radio communications.
Gravitational Waves
Gravitational waves are oscillations in the fabric of space-time, moving at the speed of light and caused by the
acceleration of massive objects.
They can be generated, for example, by supernovas, neutron star binaries spiralling around each other, and pairs
of merging black holes.
Hypothesised by Albert Einstein a century ago
These were first seen last year by the ground-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
(LIGO)
Why they are useful?
These waves will be particularly useful for studying black holes (the existence of which was first implied by
Einstein’s theory) and other dark objects, because they’ll give scientists a bright beacon to search for even when
objects don’t emit actual light.
With this, mapping the abundance of black holes and frequency of their mergers could get a lot easier.
Since they pass through matter without interacting with it, gravitational waves would come to Earth carrying
undistorted information about their origin.
They could also improve methods for estimating the distances to other galaxies.
GSAT-6A
GSAT-6A is high power S-band communication satellite with a mission life of about 10 years.
It was placed in Geosynchronous orbit of Earth.
It weighs 2066 kg and is most powerful home-made communication satellite till date.
It is similar to GSAT-6, a high power S-band communication satellite that was launched back in 2015.
It will provide mobile communication to India through multi beam coverage facility.
It will also provide platform for developing technologies such as demonstration of S-Band Unfurlable Antenna,
handheld ground terminals and network management techniques that could be useful in satellite based mobile
communication applications.
It will be also designated for military use especially in remotest areas of the country.
Special feature of GSAT-6A:
o It has 6-metre-wide umbrella-like antenna that will be unfurled in space.
o The antenna is thrice as broad as antennas generally used in ISRO satellites.
o It will enable mobile communication from anywhere via hand-held ground terminals.
o It will require small ground station as regular communication satellites with smaller antenna require
much larger ground stations.
S-Band
S-band is electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). It is very useful and is used
globally for 4G service and is extremely valuable for mobile broadband services. It crosses conventional boundary
between Super High Frequency (SHF) and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) bands at 3.0 GHz.
GSAT-17
It is a communication satellite
The satellite will be an addition to the current fleet of 17 Indian communication satellites that are already
providing services from space
It will also provide meteorological and satellite-based data.
Launched by Ariane-5 launch vehicle from the Guiana Space Center at French Guiana.
Hyperspectral Imaging Satellite (HySIS)
HySIS
It is an Earth Observation Satellite by ISRO
The HySIS satellite has critical chip called an “optical imaging detector array’” indigenously developed by ISRO.
Its launch will allow ISRO to enter the domain of operational hyperspectral imaging from earth orbit.
HySIS satellite developed by ISRO can see in 55 spectral or colour bands from 630 km above ground.
It can be used for a range of applications from monitoring the environment, crops, looking for oil and minerals,
military surveillance.
Hyperspectral Imaging
Hyperspectral imaging or hyspex imaging (imaging spectroscopy) combines the power of digital imaging and
spectroscopy.
It collects and processes information from across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Hyspex imaging enables distinct identification of objects, materials or processes on Earth by reading the
spectrum for each pixel of a scene from space.
The hyspex technology is still an evolving science.
It has ability to add a new dimension to plain-vanilla optical imagers.
InSight Mission
InSight is NASA’s Discovery Program mission dedicated to exploring the deep interior of Mars.
It will place stationary lander equipped with seismometer and heat transfer probe on surface of Mars to study
red planet’s early geological evolution.
It is terrestrial planet explorer that will address one of most fundamental issues of planetary and solar system
science.
It will help in understanding processes that shaped rocky planets of inner solar system (including Earth) more
than four billion years ago.
The robotic lander will perform a radio science experiment to study internal structure of Mars by deploying
seismometer and a burrowing heat probe.
It will measure Mar’s vital signs such as pulse (seismology), temperature (heat flow probe) and reflexes
(precision tracking).
It will let scientists understand how different its crust, mantle and core are from Earth.
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit.
Its first component launched into orbit in 1998, and the ISS is now the largest human-made body in low Earth
orbit.
The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct
experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and other fields.
Five different space agencies representing 15 countries built the $100-billion International Space Station and
continue to operate it today. NASA, Russia’s Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities (Roscosmos), the
European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are the
primary space agency partners on the project.
IRNSS (NAVIC)
About IRNSS:
IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian
region and 1500 km around the Indian mainland. Simply put, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System
(IRNSS) is similar to the GPS (global positioning system) of the US, Glonass of Russia and Galileo of Europe as well as
China’s Beidou. It consists of a constellation of seven satellites.
Features:
1. It is a constellation of total 7 satellite launched in space and a ground facility on land to receive signals from
space satellites. 3 of its satellite Located in Geostationary orbit and 4 are inclined to geosynchronous orbit.
However full NAVIC system has 9 satellite, 2 on ground in standby mode.
2. It covers whole India and region surrounding it up to 1500 km.
3. It provide accuracy up to 20m as claimed by ISRO.
4. Its apogee(farthest point) is 20,657km and Perigee is 284 km
5. The satellite weighs average 1330 kg approx. and each have solar panels to generate 1400wt.
6. A master control facility is set up on land to receive signals from these satellites.
What areas will it cover?
1. Primary Service Area: To provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region
extending up to 1500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area.
2. Extended Service Area: It lies between primary service area and area enclosed by the rectangle from Latitude 30
deg South to 50 deg North, Longitude 30 deg East to 130 deg East.
What all services are provided?
IRNSS would provide two types of services, namely
1. Standard Positioning Services available to all users and
2. Restricted Services provided to authorised users. (Encrypted)
Significance:
1. India became one of the 5 countries having their own navigation system like GPS of USA, GLONASS of Russia,
Galileo of Europe and BeiDu of China. So India dependence on other countries for navigation purposes reduces.
2. It give real time information for 2 services i.e standard positioning service open for civilian use and Restricted
service which may be encrypted for authorised user like for military. Currently we uses GPS system of USA for
navigation.
3. It will help to mitigate the disaster effects by providing information of disaster timing, safe location and also
help the disaster relief management to make earlier plans and save the lives of people in India as well as up to
1500 km around it.
4. It will help the mariners for far navigation and fisherman for get information about the valuable fisheries
location and any disturbance in Sea.
5. It will help to make friendly relations with others countries by providing real time information during any
calamity or disaster for mitigate its after effect and for making early plans
Applications of IRNSS:
Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation.
Disaster Management.
Vehicle tracking and fleet management.
Integration with mobile phones.
Precise Timing.
Mapping and Geodetic data capture.
Terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travelers.
Visual and voice navigation for drivers.
IRNSS-1I
The IRNSS-1I is overall eighth satellite to join ISRO’s NavIC navigation satellite constellation.
It replaced IRNSS-1A, the first of seven navigation satellites of IRNSS series that was rendered ineffective after
its three rubidium atomic clocks failed.
IRNSS-1I was made by Bengaluru-based Alpha Design Technologies in collaboration with ISRO.
The IRNSS-1I was having lift-off weight of 1,425 kg and has life span of 10 years.
It carried two types of payloads: Navigation and Ranging.
They are L5 and S-band navigation payloads and C-band ranging payloads.
It also has corner cube retroreflectors for LASER ranging.
It will be stationed in Geosynchronous Orbit at 36,000 km height.
Juno
NASA’s spacecraft
JUNO is an acronym for Jupiter Near-polar Orbiter
Entered into the orbit of Jupiter
It will orbit Jupiter from pole to pole, 5,000 kilometres above planet’s cloud
Launched by NASA as part of its New Frontiers program in 2011 to study Jupiter’s composition, gravity field,
magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere
Unmanned spacecraft
Juno is not the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter. It is second spacecraft to orbit Jupiter, after Galileo
probe which had orbited the planet from 1995–2003. Galileo probe in its mission had found evidence of
subsurface saltwater on Jupiter’s moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto
It is powered by solar energy.
The primary goals of the mission are to find out whether Jupiter has a solid core, how its atmosphere and
magnetosphere formed, and whether there is water in the gas cloud shrouding the planet.
KalamSat
It is world’s lightest satellite weighing only 64 grams
It is designed by an Indian Student and launched by NASA
KalamSat is a 3-D printed satellite.
This is the first time that 3-D printing technology is used to make satellites
The purpose behind the launch of KalamSat was to demonstrate the performance of 3D-printed carbon fibre
Kepler Space Telescope
It is an unmanned space observatory
Launched in 2009 by NASA
It aims to detect Earth-like planets in the Milky Way galaxy
It does not probe the environmental conditions of planets
It works by observing a dimming in the light of a star, known as a transit, each time an orbiting planet passes in
front of it
Why in news? It has discovered 10 earth like planets outside our solar system.
Lagrange point
What is Lagrange points and halo orbit?
Lagrange points are the locations in space where the combined gravitational pull of two large masses roughly
balance each other. Any small mass placed at that location will remains at constant distances relative to the large
masses. There are five such points in Sun-Earth system and they are denoted as L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5.
A halo orbit is a periodic three-dimensional orbit near the L1, L2 or L3
Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave observatory
LIGO is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory to detect gravitational waves.
A new gravitational wave detector to measure ripples in the fabric of space and time is set to be built in India by
2025.
World’s third LIGO detector.
It will be built in collaboration with universities from across the globe.
It will significantly improve the ability of scientists to pinpoint te sources of gravitational waves and analyse the signals.
other 2 ligos are in USA
Mars Orbitor Mission (MOM)
MOM stands for Mars Orbitor Mission (Mangalyan)
Launched by ISRO in 2013
Launched via PSLV-XL C-25
The MOM entered into the orbit of Mars on September 2014.
It is India’s first interplanetary mission and ISRO has become the fourth space agency to reach Mars, after
the Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space Agency.
The mission is a “technology demonstrator” project to develop the technologies for designing, planning,
management, and operations of an interplanetary mission.
Why in news? It has completed 1000 days in Mars orbit, 5 times more than its expected lifetime.
NISAR
NISAR stands for NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar Mission
Aims to study the hazards and global environmental changes
Slated to launched in 2020-21
NISAR is a dual frequency (L & S Band) Radar Imaging Satellite. It will be the first radar imaging satellite to
use dual frequency.
Will be launched in a Sun Synchronous Low -Earth
It is designed to observe and take measurements of some of the planet’s most complex processes,
including ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse, and natural hazards such as earth quakes, tsunamis,
volcanoes and landslides.
The satellite is likely to be launched from India aboard an Indian launch vehicle.
Applications:
o NISAR would provide info about a place more frequently. For Ex. If the present satellite take 23 to 25 days to revisit a particular spot and give the next round of info about it, NISAR would provide the repeat info in two to five days.
o Objectives:
Estimation of soil moisture.
Agriculture and forest biomass
Estimation of glacier
Snow and possibility of landslide
Orion Spacecraft
It is being developed by NASA.
It is a powerful, advanced launch vehicle for a new era of human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit.
It is designed to take astronauts to deep space destinations such as the Moon and Mars.
Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability,
sustain the crew during the space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.
Orion will launch on NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS)
SLS will launch crews of up to four astronauts in the agency’s Orion spacecraft on missions to explore multiple,
deep-space destinations
Offering more payload mass, volume capability and energy to speed missions through space than any current
launch vehicle, SLS is designed to be flexible and evolvable and will open new possibilities for payloads, including robotic scientific missions to places like Mars, Saturn and Jupiter
OSIRIS-Rex
Primary aim of the mission is to study asteroid 101955 Bennu, a carbonaceous asteroid.
NASA’s project
OSIRIS-Rex stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer.
OSIRIS-Rex will travel for two years on a journey to Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid about the size of a small
mountain
It will return with dirt samples from Bennu to Earth
NASA scientists feel that the Bennu asteroid hold clues to the origin of the solar system and the source of water
and organic molecules found on Earth
Parker Solar Probe
It is NASA’s mission to explore Sun’s outer atmosphere.
Aims:
o To trace how energy and heat move through solar corona.
o To explore what accelerates solar wind as well as solar energetic particles.
o Determine structure and dynamics of magnetic fields at sources of solar wind.
o Explore dusty plasma near Sun and its influence on solar wind and energetic particle formation.
It will be a robotic spacecraft.
It is named after solar astrophysicist Eugene Parker, first spacecraft of NASA to be named after living person.
Will be launched in 2018.
In its seven-year mission, PSP will explore Sun’s outer atmosphere and make critical observations to answer
questions about physics of stars.
Its data will also be useful in improving forecasts of major eruptions on Sun and subsequent space weather
events that impact technology on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space.
Point Nemo
It is considered the most remote place on Earth (at about 2400 km from any spot of land in middle of the South Pacific Ocean).
It is often used to crash-land defunct satellites and thus is called the spacecraft cemetery.Between 1971 and mid-2016, space agencies all over the world have dumped between 260 and 300 spacecraft
into the region
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
PSLV is third generation launch vehicle indigenously designed and developed by ISRO.
It is one of world’s most reliable and versatile workhorse (launch vehicles) with 39 consecutively successful
missions by June 2017.
It is four stages launch vehicle and first Indian rocket to be equipped with liquid stages.
It can take up to 1,750 kg of payload to Sun-Synchronous Polar Orbits (SSPO) of 600 km altitude and payload of
1,425 kg to Geosynchronous and Geostationary orbits.
Four Stages:
o The uppermost stage or fourth stage of PSLV comprises of two Earth storable liquid engines.
o The third stage is solid rocket motor that provides upper stages high thrust after the atmospheric phase of
the launch.
o Second stage of PSLV uses an Earth storable liquid rocket engine, known as Vikas engine, developed by
Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre.
o The first stage uses the S139 solid rocket motor that is augmented by 6 solid strap-on booster.
Pulsars
Pulsars are highly magnetized, rotating neutron stars that emit a beam of electromagnetic radiation.
They are spherical, compact objects that are about the size of a large city but contain more mass than that of the
sun.
Scientists are using pulsars to study extreme states of matter, search for planets beyond Earth’s solar system and
measure cosmic distance.
Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS)
It is Japanese version of GPS.
It is also called Michibiki system. Michibiki means guidance in Japanese.
It is intended for civilian use, with a claimed positioning accuracy down to mere centimetres.
The QZSS constellation of 8 satellites will trace out a figure-8 pattern over Japan, the Western Pacific, and
Australia.
The Michibiki system can cover the Asia-Oceania region and works with the US-operated GPS to provide higher
level of precision than previously possible with fewer satellites in visible range.
It will become operation in 2018 with four satellites focusing on country and wider region.
It will provide global positioning and timing services across frequencies ranging from 1575.42 MHz to 2 GHz.
Saraswati
A team of Indian astronomers have identified previously unknown, extremely large supercluster of galaxies
called Saraswati
Saraswati supercluster is one of the largest known structures in the nearby universe.
It is 4 billion light years away from Earth and may contain the mass equivalent of over 20 million billion suns.
It has 43 galaxies that may contain thousands of suns, besides having billions of stars, planets, other bodies,
gases and dark matter.
It is estimated to be stretched over 650 million light years in distance.
The discovery of Saraswati supercluster will help astronomers in understanding galaxy formation and evolution,
effect of superclusters on environment of the galaxies.
What is a Supercluster?
A supercluster is a chain of galaxies and galaxy clusters.
It is bound by gravity consisting of tens of thousands of galaxies.
It often stretches several hundred times the size of clusters of galaxies.
Thus, it can be said, galaxies are made of billions of stars and planets and grouped into clusters.
These clusters of galaxies, in turn, are grouped together to form superclusters.
The Milky Way, the galaxy in which earth is located is part of a supercluster called the Laniakea
Supercluster.
SpaceX
SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation) is aerospace manufacturer and space transport services
company headquartered in California, US.
It was founded in 2002 by Internet tycoon Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and former PayPal entrepreneur
with the goal of creating the technologies to reduce space transportation costs and enable colonization of Mars.
SpaceX has developed the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch vehicles, both designed to be reusable, thus reducing the
cost of launch.
It also has developed Dragon spacecraft to supply cargo to ISS. It is also developing manned version of Dragon.
In 2008, SpaceX had created history by launching first privately funded, liquid-propellant rocket Falcon 1 to
reach orbit in 2008.
It also became first privately funded company to successfully launch, orbit and recover spacecraft (Dragon) in
2010.
It was also first private company to send a spacecraft to ISS, in 2012.
