S&T and IPR Flashcards by Naveen Kumar (2024)

ISRO Technical Liasion Unit (ITLU)

1. ISRO has two ITLUs:
   
   1. at Washington, USA and
   2. Paris
2. Union Cabinet has approved setting up a third ITLU at Moscow
3. It is mandated to collaborate with Space agencies and industries in Russia and neighbouring countries for mutually synergetic outcomes.

1. Anti satellite missile
2. joint project of DRDO and ISRO
3. carried out from DRDO’s testing range in Odisha’s Balasore.
4. India is only the 4th country to acquire such a specialised and modern capability, and Entire effort is indigenous. Till now, only the US, Russia and China had the capability to hit a live target in space.
5. India had claimed after the test that the debris would decay within 45 days after the event. However, experts tracking the debris created by the event have reported that 40% of it has still not decayed after 4 months f the event

1. Nasa’s Space Debris Sensor orbits the Earth on the International Space Station. The sensor was attached to the outside of the space station’s European Columbus module in December 2017. It will detect millimetre-sized pieces of debris for at least two years, providing information on whatever hits it such as size, density, velocity, orbit and will determine whether the impacting object is from space or a man-made piece of space debris.
2. REMOVEdebris, satellite contain two cubesats that will release simulated space debris so that it can then demonstrate several ways of retrieving them.
3. Deorbit mission: There are two emerging technologies being developed under what’s known as the e.Deorbit mission to grasp the wayward space junk, or to catch it.
4. Other technologies include moving objects with a powerful laser beam.

• The real amount of space debris is said to be between 500,000 and one million pieces as current sensor technology cannot detect smaller objects. They all travel at speeds of up to 17,500 mph (28,162 kmph) fast enough for a relatively small piece of orbital debris to damage a satellite or a spacecraft.
• Russia blew up one of its old satellites in November in a missile test that sparked international anger because of the space debris it scattered around the Earth’s orbit. Recently, a Chinese satellite (Tsinghua Science Satellite) had a near collision with one of the many chunks of debris left by the fallout of this Russian anti-satellite missile test.

1. ISRO has set up a Directorate of Space Situational Awareness and Management
2. The control centre set up at Bangalore; It would also assimilate the tracking data of inactive satellites from indigenous observation facilities
3. aimed at protecting high valued space assets from space debris close approaches and collisions.

1. by DBT
2. Two-phase exercise
   
   1. first phase involves sequencing the complete genomes of nearly 10,000 Indians from all corners of the country and capture the biological diversity of India.
   2. In the next phase, about 10,000 “diseased individuals” would have their genomes sequenced. These vast troves of data sets would be compared using machine learning techniques to identify genes that can predict cancer risk, as well as other diseases
3. data generated would be accessible to researchers anywhere for analysis. This would be through a proposed National Biological Data Centre envisaged in a policy called the ‘Biological Data Storage, Access and Sharing Policy’, which is still in early stages of discussion.

1. Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air missiles (QRSAM)
2. by DRDO
3. developed to replace the ‘Akash’ missile defence system, and has 360-degree coverage.
4. It uses solid fuel propellant and has a strike range of 25-30 km with capability of hitting multiple targets.
5. It is capable of hitting the low flying objects.

1. viral disease that infects the gastrointestinal, respiratory, and central nervous systems.
2. caused by Morbillivirus
3. spread through air and direct and indirect contact with infected animals and materials; Inhaling the virus is the primary method of exposure.
4. prevention: vaccine
5. There is no known cure for CDV.
6. It is closely related to the viruses that cause measles in man and rinderpest in ungulates
7. can’t spread to humans
8. in News:
   
   1. found in dogs around Ranthambore NP
   2. Last yr 20 lions in Gir died coz of it

1. given as ‘prasadam’ at the Murugan temple at Palani has been granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
2. This is the first time a temple ‘prasadam’ from Tamil Nadu has been given the GI tag.
3. The panchamirtham is a combination of five natural substances — banana, jaggery, cow ghee, honey and cardamom. Dates and diamond sugar candies are added for flavour.

1. by IIT Madras
2. The rechargeable iron ion battery has been designed using mild steel as the anode.
3. The iron ion battery is cost-effective and the amount of energy that can be stored in the battery is also high.
4. While lithium ions are the charge carriers in lithium ion battery, the Fe2+ ions perform that function in the case of iron ion battery.
5. When fabricated under controlled conditions, the amount of energy that can be drawn from the iron ion battery is 220 Wh per kg, which is 55-60% of lithium ion battery’s performance.
6. In iron ion battery, vanadium pentoxide is used as the cathode. Vanadium pentoxide was chosen as it has a layered structure with very large spacing between the layers that allows iron ions to easily move in and bind to the interlayers of the cathode and also easily get detached and move back to the anode.
7. Benefits of iron over Lithium:
   
   1. Iron has favourable physico-chemical properties like lithium.
   2. The redox potential of iron ion is higher than lithium ion and the radius of the Fe2+ ion is nearly the same as that of the lithium ion.
   3. Iron is more stable during the charging process and therefore prevents short-circuiting of the batteries. This, when compared with the popular lithium metal-based batteries helps cut down the cost and make it safer to handle.

radar air defence system developed by Iran

It is an improved version of the Gamma, a system of Russian origin.

It has a range of 400 km (250 miles) that could help defend against cruise and ballistic missiles and drones.

1. This was the 53rd flight of ISRO’s PSLV and the first dedicated mission of its commercial arm, NewSpace India Ltd.
2. mission was undertaken under a commercial arrangement with Spaceflight Inc., U.S
3. It carried 19 satellites (Including Brazil’s optical earth observation satellite, Amazonia-1, and 18 co-passenger satellites — five from India and 13 from the U.S.).
   
   • Amazonia-1 is the first fully Brazilian-made satellite, which would help to monitor the Amazon forests. It was injected in sun-synchronous orbit
4. Bhagavad Gita was also sent on board an SD card
5. PSLV is an indigenously-developed expendable launch system of the ISRO, Categorised as medium-lift launchers with a reach up to various orbits, including the Geo Synchronous Transfer Orbit, Lower Earth Orbit, and Polar Sun Synchronous Orbit. controlled from Satish Dhawan Space centre, Sriharikota

1. New Space India Limited (NSIL), is a GoI company under Department of Space.
2. It is second commercial arm of ISRO
3. It differs from ISRO’s existing commercial arm Antrix Corporation. Antrix will handle ISRO’s commercial deals for satellites and launch vehicles with foreign customers. NSIL will deal with capacity building of local industry for space manufacturing.
4. stablishment of NSIL was announced in Budget 2019.
5. One of the mandates of NSIL is to mass-produce and manufacture the SSLV and the more powerful PSLV in partnership with the private sector in India through technology transfers. Its aim is to use research and development carried out by ISRO over the years for commercial purposes through Indian industry partners.

Raman Effect is a change in the wavelength of light that occurs when a light beam is deflected by molecules.

When a beam of light traverses a dust-free, transparent sample of a chemical compound, a small fraction of the light emerges in directions other than that of the incident (incoming) beam.

Most of this scattered light is of unchanged wavelength. A small part, however, has wavelengths different from that of the incident light; its presence is a result of the Raman Effect.

1. Produced by silkworms, it is a silk protein which is known to possess anti-oxidant and other medicinal properties.
2. These properties depend on amino acid composition and secondary metabolites (polyphenols and flavonoids) of sericin.
3. They vary with source of silkworms and their availability depends on the length of sericin peptides obtained during extraction.
4. Uses: It could be used for protection from oxidative damage, edema, erythema, sunburn, premature aging, wrinkling, and skin cancer.

1. NASA’s MMS investigates how the Sun’s and Earth’s magnetic fields connect and disconnect, explosively transferring energy from one to the other in a process that is important at the Sun, other planets, and everywhere in the universe, known as magnetic reconnection.
2. Reconnection limits the performance of fusion reactors and is the final governor of geospace weather that affects modern technological systems such as telecommunications networks, GPS navigation, and electrical power grids.
3. MMS reveals, for the first time, the small-scale three-dimensional structure and dynamics of the elusively thin and fast-moving electron diffusion region.
4. MMS recently made the first precise measurements of an interplanetary shock using high-resolution instruments.

1. The tardigrade, also known as water bear, is among the toughest and most resilient creatures on Earth.
2. The tardigrade can only be seen under a microscope.
3. Half a millimetre long, it is essentially a water-dweller but also inhabits land and, a 2008 study found, can survive in the cold vacuum of outer space.
4. The tardigrade can endure extreme hot and cold temperature levels.
5. They themselves expel water from their bodies and set off a mechanism to protect their cells, and can still revive if placed in water later. The organism is known to “come back to life” on rehydration.
6. The tardigrade derives its name from the fact that it looks like an eight-legged bear, with a mouth that can project out like a tongue.
7. A tardigrade typically eats fluids, using its claws and mouth to tear open plant and animal cells, so that it can suck nutrients out of them.
8. It is also known to feast on bacteria and, in some cases, to kill and eat other tardigrades.
9. canwithstand Gamma radiation, a lack of Oxygen and the intense blast of solar winds. They can also go without foodor water fr over 10 yrs
10. RECENT: the Israeli spacecraft Beresheet attempted to land on the Moon, but crashed. It was carrying a number of items — including thousands of specimens of a living organism called tardigrade.

1. Israel’s First Lunar Lander- Beresheet– was launched on board Falcon 9.
2. Beresheet attempted to become the first Israeli spacecraft, and the first privately-operated mission, to land on the Moon.
3. However, it crashed on the surface. It was carrying a number of items — including thousands of specimens of a living organism called tardigrade.
4. Their arrival on the moon was unexpectedly explosive; Beresheet’s crash landing on April 11 may have scattered the microorganisms onto the lunar surface, raising issue of Inter-planetary Pollution
5. as long as the tardigrades remain on the moon, their chances of spontaneously awakening are low. Without liquid water, the tiny creatures will remain in a tun state. Even if the lunar tardigrades did somehow encounter liquid water while still on the moon, without food, air and a moderate ambient temperature, they wouldn’t last very long once they revived.

1. On August 12, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed a year in service.
2. The NASA probe recently made an extremely close encounter with the Sun. The probe was just 5.3 million miles away from the surface of our star and passed by at a ridiculous speed of 363,660 mph, making it the fastest artificial object ever created. Additionally, the Parker Solar Probe also broke the record for the closest satellite to survive a near pass of the Sun.
3. It also became the first spacecraft to fly through the outer atmosphere of the Sun- ‘Corona’. The spacecraft flew through Corona and sampled magnetic fields and particles there.
4. It is part of NASA’s “Living With a Star” programme that explores different aspects of the Sun-Earth system.
5. It also allowed us to see the planet Venus in color for the first time. The Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) by the American space agency has managed to take pictures of the surface of Venus revealing stunning continents, plains, plateaus and even a layer of Oxygen.
6. The probe seeks to gather information about the Sun’s atmosphere and NASA says that it “will revolutionise our understanding of the Sun”.
7. It is also the closest a human-made object has ever gone to the Sun.
8. three detailed science objectives:
   
   1. Trace the flow of energy that heats and accelerates the solar corona and solar wind.
   2. Determine the structure and dynamics of the plasma and magnetic fields at the sources of the solar wind.
   3. Explore mechanisms that accelerate and transport energetic particles.

● In order to unlock the mysteries of the sun’s atmosphere, Parker Solar Probe will use Venus’ gravity during seven flybys over nearly seven years to gradually bring its orbit closer to the sun.
● The spacecraft will fly through the sun’s atmosphere as close as 3.9 million miles to our star’s surface, well within the orbit of Mercury and more than seven times closer than any spacecraft has come before

1. 700 MHz: suitable for 4G; Premium
2. 800MHz: data coverage
3. 900MHz: GSM soectrum
4. 1800 MHz: used fr voixe ops
5. 2100 MHz: originl band reserved for 3G
6. 2300 MHz: for Wi-Max tech
7. 2500 MHz: Wi Max

Each mission is being led by a lead Ministry and will engage international and national institutional partners, young scientists and industry

1. national language translation: make opportunities and progress in S&T accessible to all in their mother tongue using a combination of machine and human translation
2. Quantum frontier
3. AI and its application in areas such as helathcare, education, agri, smart cities and infra incl smart mobility and transportation
4. National Biodiversity Mission: cataloguing and mapping all lifeforms in India including associated cultural and traditional practices
5. Electric vehicles
6. Bioscience for HUman health:construct comprehensive reference maps of genomes and to understand the dynamics of how exposure to different environments impact our bodies.
7. Waste to wealth- Swachh Bharat, Unnat Bharat
8. Deep ocean exploration and changes in ocean due to CC
9. AGNIi: rovide a platform for innovators to bring their technology ready products and solutions to industry and the market

Launched by Atal Innovation Mission in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) & Venture Center.

AIM-PRIME (Program for Researchers on Innovations, Market-Readiness & Entrepreneurship) is an initiative to promote and support science-based deep-tech startups & ventures across India.

Russian scientists recently launched one of the world’s biggest underwater neutrino telescopes called the Baikal-GVD (Gigaton Volume Detector) in the waters of Lake Baikail, the world’s deepest lake situated in Siberia.

It is one of the three largest neutrino detectors in the world along with the IceCube at the South Pole and ANTARES in the Mediterranean Sea.

It seeks to study in detail the elusive fundamental particles called neutrinos and to possibly determine their sources.

T/F:

1. neutrinos are fundamental particles
2. neutrinos are most abundant particles with mass
3. neutrinos react with almost everything making their detection very difficult
4. neutrinos are impossible to catch
5. neutrinos are of three types
6. neutrinos might not attribut their mass to higgs field.
7. neutrinos are produced during nuclear reactions in the sun

1. T; along with quarks, photons and electrons. cannot be broken down into smaller particles
2. T; second most abundant overall but photons do not have mass
3. F; least interactive
4. F
5. T; three flavours- electron neutrino, muon neutrino and tau neutrino. scientists also postulate possibilty of a fourth flavour- sterile neutrino
6. T
7. T

• InSight is part of NASA’s Discovery Program.
• It will be the first mission to peer deep beneath the Martian surface, studying the planet’s interior by measuring its heat output and listening for marsquakes, which are seismic events similar to earthquakes on Earth. It has recorded multiple marsquakes
• It will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. InSight seeks to answer one of science’s most fundamental questions: How did the terrestrial planets form?

1. Was banned by GoI in 2018 but order stayed by Delhi HC and SC
2. Oxytocin has also been dubbed the hug hormone, cuddle chemical, moral molecule, and the bliss hormone
3. It is a hormone that is made in the brain, in the hypothalamus. It is transported to, and secreted by, the pituitary gland
4. It acts both as a hormone and as a brain neurotransmitter.
5. The release of oxytocin by the pituitary gland acts to regulate two female reproductive functions: Childbirth and Breast-feeding.
6. Its use is especially crucial to prevent new mothers from excessively bleeding after giving birth—a common cause of maternal deaths.
7. Reasons behind the ban are:
   
   1. Misuse in dairy industry: livestock is injected with Oxytocin to make them release milk at a time convenient to farmers.
   2. Oxytocin is also used to increase the size of vegetables such as pumpkins, watermelons, eggplants, gourds, and cucumbers.

1. FEDOR, which stands for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research, the Skybot F-850 is the first humanoid robot to be sent to space by Russia.
2. life-size humanoid robot that will spend 10 days learning to assist astronauts on the International Space Station.
3. robot’s main purpose it to be used in operations that are especially dangerous for humans onboard spacecraft and in outer space.
4. Fedor is not the first robot to go into space. In 2011, NASA sent up Robonaut 2, a humanoid robot that had a similar aim of working in high-risk environments.
5. In 2013, Japan sent up a small robot called Kirobo along with the ISS’s first Japanese space commander.

1. It is an impact based crater on moon named after noted Indian physicist Sisir Kumar Mitra.
2. Mitra led the research in ionosphere–the upper region of the atmosphere–and radiophysics.
3. He was the first to introduce the teaching of radio communication in India.
4. His book, ‘Upper Atmosphere’ published in 1947 is still considered the Bible for research workers in the field of ionosphere.
5. In 1950s, he advocated space research and high altitude rocket research programmes which had been successfully conducted by US and USSR.
6. The name was given by Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN), part of International Astronomical Union (IAU)

1. bowl-shaped landforms created by two processes: volcanism and cratering. There are hundreds of thousands of moon craters ranging from less than a mile across to giant basins called mare, which were once thought to be seas.
2. The largest crater on the Moon is called South Pole-Aitkin Basin. It’s about 1,600 miles across (2,500 kilometers). It’s also among the oldest of the Moon’s impact basins and formed just a few hundred million years or so after the Moon itself was formed.
3. Because of the Moon’s lack of water, atmosphere, and tectonic plates, there is little erosion, and craters are found that exceed two billion years in age.
4. eg. of some craters
   
   1. ​Plato
   2. Copernicus
   3. Kepler
   4. Grimaldi
   5. Mitra

1. Mars and Earth will be on opposite sides of the Sun. Occurs every two yrs
2. Poses issues in space missions around that planet like NASA’s Curiosity rover and InSight lander
3. During solar conjunction, the solar gas can interfere with radio signals when engineers try to communicate with spacecraft at Mars, corrupting commands and resulting in unexpected behaviour from those space explorers.

Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT):

• It is an Indian Government owned telecommunications technology development centre.
• It was established in 1984 with initial mandate of designing and developing digital exchanges.

1. C-Sat-Fi (C-DOT Satellite WiFi):based on the optimal utilization of wireless and satellite communication to extend connectivity to the unserved areas including the remote islands and difficult terrains.
   
   • ideally suited to addressing disasters and emergencies when no other means of communication are available.
   • does not require expensive Satellite Phones and can work on any WiFi-enabled phone.
2. C-DOT’s XGSPON (10 G Symmetrical Passive Optical Network): help in meeting the demands of applications like IPTV, HD Video Streaming, Online Gaming and host of other cloud-based services that necessitate the seamless availability of high bandwidth.
3. C-DOT’s Interoperable Set-Top Box (CiSTB): will revolutionize the experience of the Cable TV operators by offering them a high degree of choice, ease and convenience without having to replace the once installed STB.

T

1. also called Webb or JWST, is a large, orbiting space-based observatory, optimized for infrared wavelengths, which will complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope.
2. It will cover longer wavelengths of light than Hubble and will have greatly improved sensitivity.
3. The longer wavelengths enable JWST to look further back in time to see the first galaxies that formed in the early universe, and to peer inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today. Scientists hope this set-up can detect the light from the very first population of stars in the Universe to switch on more than 13.5 billion years ago.
4. JWST is a joint venture between the US (Nasa), European (Esa) and Canadian space agencies (CSA).
5. It will be a large infrared telescope with an approximately 6.5 meter primary mirror.
6. Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope (HST orbits around the Earth at an altitude of ~570 km above it), Webb will not actually orbit the Earth, instead it will sit at the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point,5 million km away. At the L2 point Webb’s solar shield will block the light from the Sun, Earth, and Moon which will help Webb stay cool, which is very important for an infrared telescope.

1. Dindigul locks are known throughout the world for their superior quality and durability, so much so that even the city is called Lock City.
2. The Kandangi sarees are manufactured in the entire Karaikudi taluk in Sivaganga district. They are characterised by large contrast borders and some are known to have borders covering as far as two-thirds of the saree

1. Scientists say that constant analysis of the virus’s genetic information, combined with epidemiological data, is crucial to providing real-time knowledge about the pathogen’s vagaries.
2. UK was able to use this tracking method to alert the world about the changes in the virus’s biology.
3. Globally the deployment of this technology has been patchy. a Lancet editorial in February pointed out, “the fact that Gambia, Equatorial Guinea, and Sierra Leone have a higher rate of genome sequencing than France, Italy, or the USA, suggests that wealth is not the only determinant of capacity”.
4. India seems to be uder performing. less than 1 per cent of COVID-positive specimens are subjected to genomic sequencing. India has not made optimum use of its facilities. The Delhi-based Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology is reportedly analysing less than 30 per cent of the samples it is equipped to study.

Operate in the millimeter wave spectrum (30-300 GHz) which have the advantage of sending large amounts of data at very high speeds.

Operate in 3 bands, namely low, mid and high frequency spectrum.

Reduced latency will support new applications that leverage the power of 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence.

Increased capacity on 5G networks can minimize the impact of load spikes, like those that take place during sporting events and news events.

Two international bodies produce exposure guidelines on electromagnetic fields. Many countries currently adhere to the guidelines recommended by:

The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, through the International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety.

These guidelines are not technology-specific. They cover radiofrequencies up to 300 GHz, including the frequencies under discussion for 5G.

parliamentary panel on information technology said in a report that India is entirely unprepared to roll out 5G telecom services. Committee finds that inadequate availability of spectrum, high spectrum prices, poor development of use cases, low status of fiberization, non-uniform RoW {right of way} issues, deficient backhaul capacity, etc. are some of the factors coming in the way of rolling out of 5G services in India

India is yet to auction radio waves (spectrum) for 5G.

Department of Telecom had earlier set the target of starting 5G trials in 2019 and roll out the next-generation service in 2020-21.Because of claims by the defence ministry and space department on part of the spectrum that was identified for 5G services, the deadline was missed.

AmbiTAG is India’s first indigenous temperature data logger for cold chain management.

It is an Internet-of-Things (IoT) device that records real-time ambient temperature during the transportation of perishable products, vaccines and even body organs and blood.

Developed by IIT Ropar.

• China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), also known as ‘Artificial Sun’ experiment
• EAST has set a new record in the latest experiment, where it achieved a plasma temperature of 216 million Fahrenheit (120 million C) for 101 seconds. This temp is 7X that of core of the sun
• how was the experiment carried out:
  
  • Experts focused their giant array of almost 200 laser beams onto a tiny spot to create a mega blast of energy – eight times more than they had ever done in the past.
  • Although the energy only lasted for a very short time – just 100 trillionths of a second – the scientists were able to create more energy than they are using.
  • In this experiment, scientists used two isotopes of hydrogen, giving rise to helium.
• China is not the only country that has achieved high plasma temperatures. In 2020, South Korea’s KSTAR reactor set a new record by maintaining a plasma temperature of over 100 million degrees Celsius for 20 seconds.
• The mission mimics the energy generation process of the sun.
• The reactor consists of an advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device located in Hefei, China.
• It is one of three major domestic tokamaks that are presently being operated across the country.
• The EAST project is part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) facility, which will become the world’s largest nuclear fusion reactor when it becomes operational in 2035.
• The ITER project includes the contributions of several countries, including India, South Korea, Japan, Russia and the United States.

1. currently being built at Saint-Paul-les-Durance in southern France
2. will try to replicate reactions that occur on the solar surface to power it and produce that energy on a commercial scale.
3. This is also the most complex engineering feat that will be achieved in the history of humanity.
4. The whole unit will involve over 3,000 tonnes of superconducting magnets, some of which would weigh as large as an aircraft. These will be connected to 200 kilometres long superconducting cables. All this will be kept at a temperature of -269 degrees celsius by the world’s largest cryogenic plant.
5. India’s Larsen and Toubro has developed a massive component for this reactor – a 30 diameter wide cryosat that will completely cover the reactor and help it to keep its temps low when the reactions on the inside get got

• Magellan – a Nasa mission that ended in 1994.
• Venus Express– A European mission- focused on atmospheric science.
• Akatsuki– Japanese spacecraft- focused on atmospheric science.

UPCOMING:

• NASA’s Davinci+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) mission seeks to measure the planet’s atmosphere to gain insight into how it formed and evolved. and determine whether the planet ever had any ocean
• NASA’s Veritas (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy) will map the planet’s surface to understand its geological history and investigate how it developed so differently than Earth.

GEO satellites:

1. about?
2. used in?

1. above equator travelling at the same rate as that of earth, appears stationary wrt a given point. Satellites in GEO cover a large range of Earth so as few as three equally-spaced satellites can provide near global coverage. This is because when a satellite is this far from Earth, it can cover large sections at once.
2. GEO is used by satellites that need to stay constantly above one particular place over Earth, such as telecommunication satellites. This way, an antenna on Earth can be fixed to always stay pointed towards that satellite without moving. It can also be used by weather monitoring satellites, because they can continually observe specific areas to see how weather trends emerge there.

LEO satellites:

1. about?
2. uses?

1. features

• normally at an altitude of less than 1000 km but could be as low as 160 km above Earth.
• LEO satellites do not always have to follow a particular path around Earth in the same way – their plane can be tilted. Thus, more routes available for LEO
• Satellites in this orbit travel at a speed of around 7.8 km per second; at this speed, a satellite takes approximately 90 minutes to circle Earth, meaning the ISS travels around Earth about 16 times a day.

2. most commonly used for satellite imaging, as being near the surface allows it to take images of higher resolution

• also the orbit used for ISS
• However, individual LEO satellites are less useful for tasks such as telecommunication, because they move so fast across the sky and therefore require a lot of effort to track from ground stations.
• Instead, communications satellites in LEO often work as part of a large combination or constellation, of multiple satellites to give constant coverage

MEO satellites:

1. about?
2. uses?

1. also does not need to take specific paths around Earth, and it is used by a variety of satellites with many different applications. Again uses many satellites to act as a net to cover the earth
2. very commonly used by navigation satellites, like the European Galileo system

polar Orbit satellites:

1. about?
2. uses?

1. Satellites in polar orbits usually travel past Earth from north to south rather than from west to east, passing roughly over Earth’s poles. even a deviation within 20 to 30 degrees off the poles is still classed as a polar orbit.
   * Polar orbits are a type of low Earth orbit, as they are at low altitudes between 200 to 1000 km.
2. often used for Earth-mapping, Earth observation, capturing the Earth as time passes from one point, reconnaissance satellites, as well as for some weather satellites. The Iridium satellite constellation also uses a polar orbit to provide telecommunications services.

Sun synchronous Orbit satellites:

1. about?
2. uses?

1. SSO is a particular kind of polar orbit. Satellites in SSO, travelling over the polar regions, are synchronous with the Sun. This means they are synchronised to always be in the same ‘fixed’ position relative to the Sun. This means that the satellite always visits the same spot at the same local time – for example, passing the city of Paris every day at noon exactly.

• This means that the satellite will always observe a point on the Earth as if constantly at the same time of the day, which serves a number of applications; for example, it means that scientists and those who use the satellite images can compare how somewhere changes over time.
• A satellite in a Sun-synchronous orbit would usually be at an altitude of between 600 to 800 km

2. scientists use image series like these to investigate how weather patterns emerge, to help predict weather or storms; when monitoring emergencies like forest fires or flooding; or to accumulate data on long-term problems like deforestation or rising sea levels.

an orbit where, by using relatively little energy from built-in motors, the satellite or spacecraft can move from one orbit to another.

This allows a satellite to reach, for example, a high-altitude orbit like GEO without actually needing the launch vehicle to go all the way to this altitude, which would require more effort

Reaching GEO in this way is an example of one of the most common transfer orbits, called the geostationary transfer orbit (GTO)

For many spacecraft being put in orbit, being too close to Earth can be disruptive to their mission – even at more distant orbits such as GEO.

For example, for space-based observatories and telescopes whose mission is to photograph deep, dark space, being next to Earth is hugely detrimental because Earth naturally emits visible light and infrared radiation that will prevent the telescope from detecting any faint lights like distant galaxies.

Lagrange points, or L-points, allow for orbits that are much, much farther away (over a million kilometres) and do not orbit Earth directly. These are specific points far out in space where the gravitational fields of Earth and the Sun combine in such a way that spacecraft that orbit them remain stable and can thus be ‘anchored’ relative to Earth. If a spacecraft was launched to other points in space very distant from Earth, they would naturally fall into an orbit around the Sun, and those spacecraft would soon end up far from Earth, making communication difficult. Instead, spacecraft launched to these special L-points stay fixed, and remain close to Earth with minimal effort without going into a different orbit.

The most used L-points are L1 and L2. These are both four times farther away from Earth than the Moon – 1.5 million km, compared to GEO’s 36 000 km – but that is still only approximately 1% of the distance of Earth from the Sun.

• DSA project seeks to advance NASA’s spacecraft autonomy capabilities.
• Autonomy is an essential technology for multi-spacecraft missions.
• It allows spacecraft to decide their next activities, as opposed to having the spacecraft send their status to a control station on the ground and await further instructions.
• This autonomous decision-making capability is critical to the success of future deep-space missions with multiple spacecraft.
• The time delay on the round-trip communications and the amount of data that can be sent make it impractical to follow the classic model of receiving status on the ground then commanding, especially for multiple spacecraft.
• Autonomous decision-making would allow multiple spacecraft to share data and make quick decisions together, thus overcoming any latency and bandwidth constraints.

The geostationary satellites used for communication and weather forecasting today are very large and very expensive — and most are still functioning perfectly when they must be disposed of because they run out of fuel.

‘Swarm’ refers to formations of small satellites that can act as alternate or engage in repair and refueling works.

These will be smaller, less expensive, more efficient satellites that work in tandem to accomplish things their bigger brethren never imagined.

“The Swarm” is a sort of janitorial role. These “garbage trucks in space” would remove, repair or refuel the thousands of unused satellites orbiting the earth.

1. inactivated v
2. live-attenuated v
3. mRNA v
4. Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines
5. Toxoid v
6. viral vector v

Pathogens (viruses or bacteria) that cannot multiply cannot cause disease. So inactivating a virus or bacteria, using chemicals like formalin, can convert them into a safe immunogen.

Because inactivated viruses or bacteria do not multiply, we may need to use multiple doses (booster shots) of the vaccine and also give another substance to improve the immune response — this is called an adjuvant. The most common adjuvant is the alum but shark oil suspensions and a few others are also used.

A number of vaccines developed in China, and Covaxin in India are on the inactivated platform.

other vaccines of inactivated type are

1. Hepatitis A
2. Flu (shot only)
3. Polio (shot only)
4. Rabies

• Live vaccines use a weakened (or attenuated) form of the germ that causes a disease.
• Because these vaccines are so similar to the natural infection that they help prevent, they create a strong and long-lasting immune response. Just 1 or 2 doses of most live vaccines can give you a lifetime of protection against a germ and the disease it causes.
• But live vaccines also have some limitations:
• people with weakened immune response, long term health problems or those with organ transplants are vulnerable
• They need to be kept cool, so they don’t travel well.
• used aginst following diseases

1. measles, mumps, rubella (MMR combined vaccines)
2. rotavirus
3. smallpox
4. chickenpox
5. Yellow fever

mRNA vaccines make proteins in order to trigger an immune response. mRNA vaccines have several benefits compared to other types of vaccines, including shorter manufacturing times and, because they do not contain a live virus, no risk of causing disease in the person getting vaccinated.

used in many COVID vaccines

• Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines use specific pieces of the germ—like its protein, sugar, or capsid (a casing around the germ).
• Because these vaccines use only specific pieces of the germ, they give a very strong immune response that’s targeted to key parts of the germ. They can also be used on almost everyone who needs them, including people with weakened immune systems and long-term health problems.
• One limitation of these vaccines is that you may need booster shots to get ongoing protection against diseases.
• These vaccines are used to protect against:

1. hepatitis B
2. HPV
3. Whooping cough
4. Pneumococcal disease

• Toxoid vaccines use a toxin (harmful product) made by the germ that causes a disease. They create immunity to the parts of the germ that cause a disease instead of the germ itself. That means the immune response is targeted to the toxin instead of the whole germ.
• Like some other types of vaccines, you may need booster shots to get ongoing protection against diseases.
• Toxoid vaccines are used to protect against:

1. Diphtheria
2. Tetanus

Viral vector vaccines use a modified version of a different virus as a vector to deliver protection. Several different viruses have been used as vectors, including influenza, vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), measles virus, and adenovirus, which causes the common cold.

In viral-vectored vaccines, a virus is used to carry the target antigen gene into human cells.

Covishield uses a chimpanzee adenovirus (AZD1222 or ChAdOx1), which carries the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

The chimpanzee adenovirus has been used because humans will not have pre-existing antibodies to this adenovirus.

1. It is a Swedish tech tested by India to reduce stubble burning 2. It is a thermal process used to produce high-grade solid biofuels from various streams of woody biomass or agro residues. 3. It involves heating the biomass to temperatures between 250 and 300 degrees Celsius in a low-oxygen atmosphere. During this process the hemi-cellulose in the biomass decomposes, which transforms the biomass from a fibrous low quality fuel into a product with excellent fuel characteristics.

At Pottipuram village in Bodi west hills in theni district, on TN-Kerala border

1. multi-institutional effort
2. under-ground: with rock cover of 1200m
3. will form base for non-accelerator based high energy and nuclear physics research in India
4. jointly funded by DAE + DST
5. Setting up of National Centre for High Energy Physics at Madurai, for the operation and maintenance
6. will hv 2 under-grnd lab caverns with 2 km long access tunnels; will house an Iron Calorimeter (ICAL) for detecting neutrinos

Causes for opposition to the project:

• The project in question falls exactly on the hill slopes of this part of the Western Ghats, which align within it a significant tiger corridor, namely the Mathikettan-Periyar tiger corridor.
• This corridor links the Periyar Tiger Reserve along the Kerala and Tamil Nadu borders and the Mathikettan Shola National Park.
• The proposed project area also ecologically links to the eastern habitats, where Srivilliputhur Meghamalai Tiger Reserve is located. It hosts tigers from this region and helps in genetic dispersal.
• The area is a significant watershed and catchment zone for the rivers Sambhal and Kottakudi.

1. second most widely occurring particle in the universe, only second to photons 2. so abundant among us that every second, there are more than 100 trillion of them passing right through each of us 3. hold the key to several important and fundamental questions on the origin of the Universe and the energy production in stars 4. Another important possible application of neutrinos is in the area of neutrino tomograph of the earth, that is detailed investigation of the structure of the Earth from core on wards. This is possible with neutrinos since they are the only particles which can probe the deep interiors of the Earth.

1. first proposed by Swiss scientist Wolfgang Pauli in 1930 2. occur in three different types, or flavours otbo mass 3. have a tiny mass, but the ordering of the neutrino mass states is not known 4. background from cosmic rays (which interact much more readily than neutrinos) and natural radioactivity will make it almost impossible to detect them on the surface of the Earth. This is the reason most neutrino observatories are located deep inside the Earth’s surface.

1. ESA (Hera is part of an international double-spacecraft collaboration (DART) betn ESAand NASA ) 2. part of Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART); deliberately crash itself into the moonlet at a speed of approximately 6 km per second to change the speed of the moonlet in its orbit around the main body 3. DART) will target Didymoon, a pair of near-Earth asteroids; DART and Hera were conceived together as part of the international ‘Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment’ experiment 4. around 25,000 near-Earth objects (NEOs) that orbit the Sun on a trajectory that brings them close to earth’s orbit; NEOs which are 140 metres or more in size and come within 0.05 AU (astronomical unit) to Earth are classified as ‘potentially hazardous’

● The main aim of the mission is to test the newly developed technology that would allow a spacecraft to crash into an asteroid and change its course.
● DART is a low-cost spacecraft, weighing around 610 kg at launch and 550 kg during impact.
● It also carries about 10 kg of xenon which will be used to demonstrate the agency’s new thrusters called NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster–Commercial (NEXT-C) in space.
● The spacecraft carries a high-resolution imager called Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical Navigation (DRACO).
Images from DRACO will be sent to Earth in real-time and will help study the impact site and surface of Dimorphos.
● DART will also carry a small satellite or CubeSat named LICIACube (Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids). LICIACube is expected to capture images of the impact and the impact crater formed as a result of the collision. It can also capture images of any dust cloud formed during the impact.

● DART will reach its target on September 26, 2022.

Which asteroid will be deflected?

The target of the spacecraft is a small moonlet called Dimorphos (Greek for “two forms”). It is about 160-metre in diameter and the spacecraft is expected to collide when it is 11 million kilometres away from Earth.
Dimorphos orbits a larger asteroid named Didymos (Greek for “twin”) which has a diameter of 780 metres.
The plan:
The spacecraft will navigate to the moonlet and intentionally collide with it at a speed of about 6.6 kilometres per second or 24,000 kilometres per hour. The collision is expected to take place between September 26 and October 1, 2022.

1. Scientists estimate that planet Earth has over 1.5 million unknown viruses, of which about 40-50% can infect humans.
2. Of these, scientists have knowledge of only about 260 pathogens.
3. Getting to know all the others requires money and an acceptance that some form of risk exists in these clusters, especially from unknown viruses that can jump from animals to humans.
4. Importantly, it calls for a mindset willing to concede that life is full of uncertainties, and, second, that money saved by not taking precautions would be less than what’s spent later to tackle an outbreak.
5. In 2018, the WHO released its annual list of pathogens and diseases that urgently required research funding before they turned into a public health crisis. The world’s attention was drawn to something called Disease X, a placeholder name for the next deadly infection. Other names on the list were already proven epidemics, but it was Disease X that jumped out. But nobody committed to spend money on a future IF.

1. Scientists have recently discovered tiny flashes of radio light emanating from all over the Sun, which they say could help in explaining the long-pending coronal heating problem.
2. The data was collected with the help of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescope.
3. The radio lights or signals under study result from beams of electrons accelerated in the aftermath of a magnetic explosion on the Sun.
4. These observations are the strongest evidence till date that the tiny magnetic explosions, originally referred to as ‘nanoflares’. Researchers believe that these explosions could indeed be heating up the corona.

1. The Sun’s corona is the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere.
2. The corona is usually hidden by the bright light of the Sun’s surface. The corona is about 10 million times less dense than the Sun’s surface. This low density makes the corona much less bright than the surface of the Sun.That makes it difficult to see without using special instruments. However, the corona can be viewed during a total solar eclipse.
3. The corona is in the outer layer of the Sun’s atmosphere—far from its surface. Yet the corona is hundreds of times hotter than the Sun’s surface.
4. The corona extends far out into space. From it comes the solar wind that travels through our solar system. The corona’s temperature causes its particles to move at very high speeds. These speeds are so high that the particles can escape the Sun’s gravity.

1. situated in Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, Boolardy Station, Western Australia
2. It is a joint project between an international consortium of organisations to construct and operate a low-frequency radio array.
3. Operating in the frequency range 70–300 MHz, the main scientific goals of the MWA are to detect neutral atomic Hydrogen emission from the cosmological Epoch of Reionization (EoR), to study the sun, the heliosphere, the Earth’s ionosphere, and radio transient phenomena, as well as map the extragalactic radio sky.

1. Core
2. Radiative zone
3. convection Zone
4. Photosphere: photosphere is the deepest layer of the Sun that we can observe directly.It reaches from the surface visible at the center of the solar disk to about 250 miles above that. Temperature decreases in this layer as we move away frm the sun
5. chromosphere: is a layer in the Sun between about 250 miles and 1300 miles above the solar surface. Temp increases in this layer as we move away frm the sun
6. Corona: the outermost layer of the Sun, starting at about 1300 miles above the solar surface. Temp is 500000K to a few millions K. corona cannot be seen with the naked eye except during a total solar eclipse, or with the use of a coronagraph. The corona does not have an upper limit.

1. SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus, that means it infiltrates a healthy cell to multiply and survive.
2. Thus, the RT-PCR test is for the identification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. In this, the RNA is converted to DNA through a process called ‘reverse transcription’ for detecting viruses.
3. core technique behind RT-PCR is PCR, which is abbreviation of Polymerase Chain Reaction by a special enzyme “polymerase”, by which a targeted fragment of DNA is doubled at every cycle of reaction. For example, if there is only one copy of target gene in a test tube, in the first cycle of PCR, there will be two, in second cycle four… and so on. However, this technology can be used only for DNA as starting material. It cannot be directly used for detection of RNA viruses, like a coronavirus. That’s why, RNA needs to be converted into DNA (by another enzyme called Reverse Transcriptase). That’s why the name RT-PCR
4. The SARS-CoV-2 RNA is generally detectable in respiratory specimens during the acute phase of infection.
5. For that upper and lower respiratory specimens (such as nasal, nasopharyngeal) are collected.
6. This sample is treated with several chemical solutions that remove substances, such as proteins and fats, and extracts only the RNA present in the sample.
7. Real-time RT-PCR setup usually goes through 35 cycles, which means that by the end of the process, around 35 billion new copies of the sections of viral DNA are created from each strand of the virus present in the sample.
8. As new copies of the viral DNA sections are built, the marker labels attach to the DNA strands and then release a fluorescent dye, which is measured by the machine’s computer and presented in real-time on the screen. The computer tracks the amount of fluorescence in the sample after each cycle. When the amount goes over a certain level of fluorescence, this confirms that the virus is present.

1. Ant-body tests: if we can detect the presence of specific antibodies in a blood sample, it can be safely presumed that at some point, that individual is exposed to that invader.
2. unlike DNA, antibodies cannot be copied in a test tube, and therefore, this test is generally less sensitive than PCR.
3. In practice, the antibody based test can be performed in most of the pathology laboratories, while RT-PCR needs special instrument, which many labs may not have.
4. anti-Covid-19 antibodies take a duration of 5-8 days to be in sufficient quantities to be detected. thus, in the first week, RT-PCR is the only among the two that can be effective.
5. anti body tests may turn out to be positive fr a few days even after being treated completely since anti-bodies stay in the body fr some time.
6. Thus, antibody tests act as false negative in the early phase and as false positive fr some time after completely being treated.
7. RT-PCR is a conclusive test for a patient who has clinical symptoms and the doctor needs to make a diagnosis if he is suffering with normal flu or Covid-19.
8. if someone wants to collect the data on how many people are exposed to virus in last few weeks or months, irrespective of whether they had symptoms or not, the antibody test will give you the overall “exposure” to virus within community while RT-PCR will be negative

1. may be single or double stranded
2. Notable human diseases caused by RNA viruses include the
   
   • common cold, influenza, SARS, COVID-19,
   • hepatitis C, hepatitis E,
   • West Nile fever, Ebola virus disease,
   • rabies, polio and measles
3. Viruses with RNA as their genetic material which also include DNA intermediates in their replication cycle are called retroviruses
4. Another term for RNA viruses that explicitly excludes retroviruses is ribovirus.
5. RNA viruses generally have very high mutation rates compared to DNA viruses, because viral RNA polymerases lack the proofreading ability of DNA polymerases. This is one reason why it is difficult to make effective vaccines to prevent diseases caused by RNA viruses—diversity is their strength

The Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISAs) based test is used for the detection of antibodies that are produced by the body to fight against antigens or foreign substances.

ELISA-based tests are blood-based tests, which have high sensitivity and specificity.

The body produces Immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG antibodies to fight against a pathogen.

The IgM antibodies are produced in four-seven days after pathogens enter the body.

The IgG antibodies are produced between 10-14 days of the pathogen’s appearance.

1. If the IgG antibody is detected in IgG-ELISA tests, it can be concluded that the person was exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
2. ELISA is also a form of a rapid test. However, other rapid antibody test kits are point-of-care and use a finger-prick method to draw blood. They take much lesser time and do not need a laboratory process to detect antibodies.
3. Both, ELISA-based tests and point-of-care tests are not used for confirming Covid-19 infection and are only used for surveillance purpose.
4. RT-PCR tests are considered as the gold standard for confirming the presence of SARS-CoV-2.

They are certain materials in which application and removal of a magnetic field causes the materials to become warmer or cooler.

Scientists at the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), an autonomous R&D Centre of DST, has developed a rare-earth-based magnetocaloric material that can be effectively used for cancer treatment.

1. UV radiations are normally used to kill microorganisms.
2. Particularly, UV-C, also known as Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is a disinfection method that uses short-wavelength ultraviolet light to kill or inactivate microorganisms by destroying their nucleic acids and disrupting their DNA, leaving them unable to perform vital cellular functions and stops their replication.
3. UVGI is used in a variety of applications, such as food, air, and water disinfection.
4. Few research studies have found that UVC radiation is also effective in killing coronaviruses on various surfaces, but efficiency is variable for different kinds of surfaces depending on their texture.

The most common form of UV radiation is sunlight, which produces three main types of UV rays:

• UVA
• UVB
• UVC

UVA rays have the longest wavelengths, followed by UVB, and UVC rays which have the shortest wavelengths.

While UVA and UVB rays are transmitted through the atmosphere, all UVC and some UVB rays are absorbed by the Earth’s ozone layer. So, most of the UV rays you come in contact with are UVA with a small amount of UVB.

It is a Farmers’ union movement for use of genetically modified seeds.

The Sanghatana has announced that this year they are going to undertake large-scale sowing of unapproved GM crops like maize, Ht Bt cotton, soyabean and brinjal across Maharashtra, even though they are not approved

Farmers who plant such variants will put up boards on their fields proclaiming the GM nature of their crop.

This action will draw attention to the need for introduction of the latest technology in the fields.

In India, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is the apex body that allows for commercial release of GM crops.

Penalty: Use of the unapproved GM variant can attract a jail term of 5 years and fine of Rs 1 lakh under the Environmental Protection Act ,1989.

1. Bt cotton, the only GM crop that is allowed in India, has two alien genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that allows the crop to develop a protein toxic to the common pest pink bollworm.
2. Ht Bt cotton is derived with the insertion of an additional gene, from another soil bacterium, which allows the plant to resist the common herbicide glyphosate. Cost of weeding goes down considerably if farmers grow Ht Bt cotton and use glyphosate against weeds.
3. In Bt brinjal, a gene allows the plant to resist attacks of fruit and shoot borer. In case of Bt brinjal, the cost reduces as the cost of production is reduced by cutting down on the use of pesticides.
4. In DMH-11 mustard, genetic modification allows cross-pollination in a crop that self-pollinates in nature.

• HeiQ Viroblock NPJ03 is an intelligent Swiss textile technology that is added to the fabric during the final stage of the textile manufacturing process. It is a special combination of advanced silver and vesicle technology.
• It has proven effective against SARS-CoV-2, the COVID-19 causing virus
• Suitable for all fiber types, from medical nonwovens (e.g. face masks) to fabrics for clothing and home textiles.
• There are claims that garments treated with HeiQ Viroblock actively inhibit viruses and kill them upon contact, helping to minimize the potential for re-transmission of pathogens through clothing.

1. Enhancement of science and technology levels in the country
2. A national project involving several institutes, academia and industry
3. Improvement of industrial growth
4. Inspiring youth
5. Development of technology for social benefits
6. Improving international collaboration

Boost to industries: Gaganyaan Mission is expected will source nearly 60% of its equipment from the Indian private sector.

Employment: According to the ISRO chief, the Gaganyaan mission would create 15,000 new employment opportunities, 13,000 of them in private industry and the space organisation would need an additional manpower of 900.

Technological Development: Human Space flights are frontier field and will lead to further thrust for technological developments in India

Spurs R&D: HSF will thrust significant research in areas such as materials processing, astro-biology, resources mining, planetary chemistry, planetary orbital calculus and many other areas

Motivation to Youth

National Prestige: India will be the fourth country to launch human space mission.

1. for tracking space objects.
2. Under the project, the ISRO plans to put up many observational facilities: connected radars, telescopes; data processing units and a control centre.
3. They can, among others, spot, track and catalogue objects as small as 10 cm, up to a range of 3,400 km and equal to a space orbit of around 2,000 km.
4. The project will give India its own capability in space situational awareness (SSA) like the other space powers — which is used to ‘predict’ threats from debris to Indian satellites.
5. NETRA’s eventual goal is to capture the GEO where communication satellites operate.
6. The effort would make India a part of international efforts towards tracking, warning about and mitigating space debris.
7. Need: Currently there are 15 functional Indian communication satellites in the geostationary orbit of 36,000 km; 13 remote sensing satellites in LEO of up to 2,000 km; and eight navigation satellites in medium earth orbits.

1. IDRSS, a new satellite series, is planned to track and be constantly in touch with Indian satellites, in particular those in low-earth orbits which have limited coverage of earth.
2. It will be a set of satellites that will track, send and receive information from other Indian Satellites.
3. IDRSS satellites of the 2,000 kg class would be launched on the GSLV launcher to geostationary orbits around 36,000 km away.
4. A satellite in GEO covers a third of the earth below and three of them can provide total coverage.
5. It will also be useful in monitoring launches. The first beneficiary would be the prospective crew members of the Gaganyaan mission of 2022 who can be fully and continuously in touch with mission control throughout their travel.

• USA created world’s first “living machines” — tiny robots built from the cells of the African clawed frog, that can move around on their own. first time ever, “completely biological machines from the ground up”
• can move toward a target, perhaps pick up a payload (like a medicine that needs to be carried to a specific place inside a patient) — and heal themselves after being cut
• neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal”, but “a new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism”.
• application: searching out nasty compounds or radioactive contamination, gathering microplastic in the oceans, travelling in arteries to scrape out plaque

1. India’s telecommunication satellite, in line with INSAT/GSAT satellite series and will replace INSAT-4A in orbit
2. GSAT-30 is configured on ISRO’s enhanced I-3K Bus structure to provide communication services from Geostationary orbit.
3. launch took place from the Spaceport in French Guiana on LV-Ariane 5 VA-251
4. GSAT 30 gives the Indian mainland and islands coverage in the Ku band, and extended coverage in a wider area stretching from Australia to Europe in the lower-frequency C-band.
5. The Ku and C bands are part of a spectrum of frequencies, ranging from 1 to 40 gigahertz, that are used in satellite communications.
6. GSAT-30 will provide DTH TV Services, connectivity to VSATs [Very Small Aperture Terminals] for ATM, stock exchange, television uplinking and teleport services, Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) and e-governance applications.

operate in the same way as regular lithium-ion work

Significance:

• This battery that has five times the capacity of a traditional lithium ion battery. It can retain 99 per cent of its charge even after 200 charge cycles.
• Li-S batteries are also many times cheaper than lithium ion batteries that could bring down the cost of electric mobility.

Issues:

• they had an intrinsic problem with the sulphur electrode, which would break after repeated charge cycles, making its superior capacity redundant.
• The sulphur cathode would break because of expansion and contraction during cycles.
• recently, researchers in Australia re-engineered a Li-S battery to overcome this

piloted by Deptt of atomic Energy and DST

LIGO-India project will be jointly coordinated and executed by three Indian research institutions: IUCAA, Pune; DAE-Insti fr Plasma Research, Ganhinagar and Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore.

LIGO India project aims to move one advanced LIGO detector from Hanford to India.

global LIGO project operates three gravitational-wave (GW) detectors. Two are at Hanford, Washington, north-western US, and one is at Livingston in Louisiana, south-eastern US.

1. Artemis Lunar exploration Programme by NASA ; began in 2011
2. ARTEMIS stands for Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of Moon’s Interaction with the Sun.
3. With the Artemis program, NASA will land the first .woman and next man on the Moon by 2024
4. The main objective is to measure what happens when the Sun’s radiation hits our rocky moon, where there is no magnetic field to protect it.
5. For the Artemis program, NASA’s new rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS) will send astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft a quarter of a million miles away from Earth to the lunar orbit.
6. Once astronauts dock Orion at the Gateway — which is a small spaceship in orbit around the moon — the astronauts will be able to live and work around the Moon, and from the spaceship, astronauts will take expeditions to the surface of the Moon.
7. The agency will fly two missions around the Moon to test its deep space exploration systems. Artemis 1 is aiming to send an uncrewed spacecraft around the moon using a combination of the never-flown Space Launch System rocket, along with the once-flown Orion spacecraft. NASA hopes to extend the program with the moon-orbiting crewed Artemis 2 mission in 2024, then a landing on Artemis 3 in 2025, ahead of other crewed missions later in the 2020s.

by Russia, in 1959

Uncrewed

Luna1 and 2

1. Formed by EACOA (East Asian Core Observatories Association) for the purpose of pursuing joint projects in astronomy within the East Asian region.
2. The intention of EAO is to build and operate facilities, which will enhance and leverage existing and planned regional facilities.
3. It will also raise funding and to build an observatory staff, separate from that of the EACOA institutions.
4. The EAO is chartered as a non-profit Hawaii corporation.
5. Its first task is to assume the operation of the James Clerk Maxwell Submillimetre Telescope (JCMT) on the summit of Maunakea, Hawai`i.
6. It consists of China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea as full members and Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia as ‘observers’.
7. Implications for India (in talks of joining):
   
   • Having India join the group could mean the establishment of new kinds of telescopes — one proposed being in Tibet — that could aid the observation of new black holes and throw light on cosmic phenomena.

1. It is a multilateral treaty dealing with the protection of industrial property in the widest sense.
2. Administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
3. Article 6 of the Paris Convention of 1883 protects armorial bearings, flags and other State symbols of the States part to the convention, including official signs, and hallmarks indicating control and warranty adopted by them.
4. recent context: KVIC is eyeing international trademark for ‘khadi’ under the Paris Convention for protection of industrial property, to prevent any product from masquerading as ‘khadi’ nationally or globally.

1. It is ISRO’s female-looking spacefaring humanoid robot​.
2. It will be used for an unmanned flight of ISRO’s GSLV III rocket in December 2020, which, along with a second unmanned flight in July 2021.
3. Vyommitra, equipped with a head, two arms and a torso, is built to mimic crew activity inside the crew module of Gaganyaan.
4. Functions: Attaining launch and orbital postures, responding to the environment, generating warnings, replacing carbon dioxide canisters, operating switches, monitoring of the crew module, receiving voice commands, responding via speech (bilingual).

Navigation with Indian Constellation

1. NavIC is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1500 km around the Indian mainland.
2. IRNSS would provide two types of services, namely Standard Positioning Services (accuracy: <20m) available to all users and Restricted Services provided to authorised users.
3. its constellation will consist of seven satellites. Three of these will be geostationary over the Indian Ocean. four will be geosynchronous – appearing at the same point in the sky at the same time every day.
4. Each satellite is being tracked by at least one of fourteen ground stations at any given point of time, with a high chance of most of them being visible from any point in India.
5. GPS receivers will not work; need special receivers (yet to be developed)

F

by Qualcomm

1. They are a primitive group of microorganisms that thrive in extreme habitats such as hot springs, cold deserts and hypersaline lakes.
2. These slow-growing organisms are also present in the human gut, and have a potential relationship with human health.
3. They are known for producing antimicrobial molecules, and for anti-oxidant activity with applications in eco-friendly waste-water treatment.
4. Scientists have reported a new archaeon discovered in Sambhar salt lake. It has been named Natrialba swarupiae, after Dr Renu Swarup, secretary, Department of Biotechnology.

1. Astronomers have recently found that the funnelling of matter into a forming star happens at different rates over time, as per the rotating disc of gas and dust theory.
2. Sometimes the forming star swallows up a huge amount of matter, resulting in a burst of activities in the massive star.
3. This is called an accretion burst event.
4. It is incredibly rare: only three such events have been observed, out of all the billions of massive stars in the Milky Way.
5. With rotatin disc theory, the astronomers will be able to develop and test theories to explain how high-mass stars gain their mass.

After the first detection of an accretion burst, in 2016, astronomers from around the world agreed in 2017 to coordinate their efforts to observe more.

This led to the formation of the Maser Monitoring Organisation (M2O).

The primary goal of M2O is to make the atronomy community aware of the importance of Maser monitoring. It is also to increase the number of sources monitored, the number of transitions monitored at, and increase cadence of observation.

1. A maser is the microwave (radio frequency) equivalent of laser. The word stands for “microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”.
2. Masers are observed using radio telescopes and most of them are observed at centimetre wavelength: they are very compact.
3. A maser flare can be a sign of an extraordinary event such as the formation of a star.

Bhuvan Panchayat is part of ISRO’s Space-based Information Support for Decentralised Planning Update project.

This version of the portal will provide database visualisation and services for the benefit of panchayat members, among others.

can be used by public, PRIs and govt as well

Using Bhuvan satellite imagery, hi-resolution database at 1:10,000 scale is applied to identify land use land cover, settlements, road and rail network etc. The portal offers database visualization, data analytics, generation of automatic reports, model-based products and services for Gram Panchayat members and other stake-holders.

1. NASA’s Spitzer Space telescope was launched into solar orbit on August 25, 2003, Spitzer was initially scheduled for a minimum 2.5-year primary mission.
   
   • It retired in Jan 2020, shutting down permanently after 16 yrs
2. It is the last mission of the NASA Great Observatories program, which saw four specialized telescopes (including the Hubble Space Telescope) launched between 1990 and 2003.
   
   • The goal of the Great Observatories is to observe the universe in distinct wavelengths of light.
   • The other observatories in Greta Observatories Program looked at visible light (Hubble, still operational), gamma-rays (Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, no longer operational) and X-rays (the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, still operational).
3. It has a very particular orbit, trailing about 158 million miles behind the Earth to keep it away from interfering heat. In about 53 years, Spitzer’s orbit will take it past our planet. Thereafter, Spitzer will drift off in the opposite direction into the emptiness of space.
4. Spitzer focuses on the infrared band, which normally represents heat radiation from objects. It helps it to see farther as well as see cooler objects
5. Spitzer assisted in the discovery of planets beyond our solar system, including the detection of seven Earth-size planets orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1 as well as detecting a new ring around Saturn etc.

1. It is a car-sized Mars rover designed to explore the crater Jezero on Mars as part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission.
2. It landed on Mars in Feb 2021
3. Perseverance will spend one Mars year (two years on Earth) on the planet during which time it will explore the landing site region.
   
   • The Jezero Crater where it landed was once the site of an ancient river delta — scientists know this because of evidence collected during previous landed and orbital missions that point to wet conditions on the planet billions of years ago.
     
     1. has confirmed (Oct 2021) that it was once a quiet lake, fed by a river 3.7 Bn yrs ago. Also it experienced flash floods
   • If Mars once harboured a warmer atmosphere enabling water to flow in its ancient past (3.5-3.8 billion years ago), and if microbial life had once existed on the Red Planet, it is possible that it exists in “special regions” even today.
4. The rover is carrying with it seven instruments, which include
   
   • an advanced camera system with the ability to zoom,
   • a SuperCam, which is an instrument that will provide imaging and chemical composition analysis, and a spectrometer.
   • MOXIE, which will produce oxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide. If this instrument is successful, then future astronauts (as of now, no human being has kept foot on Mars) can use it to burn rocket fuel for returning to Earth.
     
     • MOXIE, in Sept 2022, has successfully produced the 1st instance of the utilisation of resources in a planet’s atmosphere to meet human needs
     • It works like a tree, splitting carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere to produce pure oxygen. Inside Moxie, Martian air is first filtered in and pressurised. “It is then sent through the Solid OXide Electrolyzer (SOXE), which electrochemically splits the carbon dioxide-rich air into oxygen ions and carbon monoxide. The oxygen ions are isolated and recombined to form breathable, molecular oxygen (O2).
     • The instrument produced 6 grams of oxygen per hour, similar to a moderate-sized tree.
   • Ingenuity, the first helicopter to fly on Mars that will help collect samples from the surface from locations where the rover cannot reach.

Genome (or gene) editing is a way of making specific changes to the DNA of a cell or organism. This allows genetic material to be added, removed, or altered at particular locations in the genome.

It is a three-stage complex mechanism of unwinding, cleaving and rewinding of DNA to bring desirable changes in the genome of any living beings

Genome editing uses a type of enzyme called an ‘engineered nuclease’ which cuts the genome in a specific place.

Engineered nucleases are made up of two parts: A nuclease part that cuts the DNA and A DNA-targeting part that is designed to guide the nuclease to a specific sequence of DNA.

After cutting the DNA in a specific place, the cell will naturally repair the cut.

1. small dna changes
2. removal of a section of DNA
3. insertion of section of DNA: After the DNA has been cut, a modified piece of DNA similar in sequence to the site of the cut is introduced. The cell uses the modified piece of DNA as the template to repair the break, filling the break with a copy of the new DNA

They mainly differ in how they recognise the DNA to cut.

• Protein based: contain a protein that recognises and binds to the target DNA to be cut.
• RNA based: contain a short sequence of RNA that binds to the target DNA to be cut.

Based on this there are several techniques:

• CRISPR-Cas9: One of the most common, cheap and efficient system used for genome editing.

✓ CRISPR is the DNA-targeting part of the system which consists of an RNA molecule, or ‘guide’, designed to bind to specific DNA bases through complementary base-pairing.

✓ Cas9 stands for CRISPR-associated protein 9, and is the nuclease part that cuts the DNA.

• ZFNs (zinc-finger nucleases)

✓ DNA-binding part of ZFNs is made of zinc-finger proteins, with each binding to about three DNA bases.

✓ The nuclease part of ZFNs is normally a FokI nuclease, which cuts the DNA.

• TALENs (Transcription activator-like effector nucleases)

✓ DNA-binding domain of TALENs is made of transcription activator-like effector (TALE) domains.

✓ Like ZFNs, the nuclease part of TALENs is normally a FokI nuclease.

1. research: understanding biology
2. treat disease
3. BT- GM crops
4. Therapeutic cloning: It is a process whereby embryonic cells are cloned to obtain biological organs for transplantation.

1. ethical dilemma: Principal concern include the morality, the eugenics helping the fittest to survive, ongoing clinical debates about informed consent, religious debate, the possible rise of clones, designer babies, and possibly superhumans.
2. safety concern: Slight changes made at the smallest cellular level may lead to unexpected results. What if we manage to wipe out particular disease only to introduce a brand new and even more dangerous one
3. concerns over GM crops for human consumption
4. potential loss to diversity

1. Recently, Department of Biotechnology supported First Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy was conducted.
2. It is a way to get immune cells called T cells (a type of white blood cell) to fight cancer by editing them in the lab so they can find and destroy cancer cells.
3. T cells are taken from the patient’s blood and are changed in the lab by adding a gene for a manmade receptor (called CAR).
4. This helps them better identify specific cancer cell antigens. The CAR T cells are then given back to the patient.
5. It is also sometimes talked about as a type of cell-based gene editing, because it involves altering the genes inside T cells to help them attack the cancer.
6. In order to promote and support development of CAR-T cell technology, BIRAC and DBT have taken initiatives in the last 2 years.

• Several rules, guidelines, and policies backed by the “Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms/ Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells, 1989” notified under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, regulate genetically modified organisms
• National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research involving human participants, 2017, by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and the Biomedical and Health Research Regulation Bill implies regulation of the gene-editing process

1. LiDAR is a remote sensing technology that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (distances) to a target.
2. These light pulses—combined with other data recorded by the airborne system— generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics.
3. It is similar to radar and sonar (that use radio and sound waves, respectively)
4. A lidar instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver
5. Two types of lidar are topographic and bathymetric.
   
   • Topographic lidar typically uses a near-infrared laser to map the land.
   • Bathymetric lidar uses water-penetrating green light to also measure seafloor and riverbed elevations
6. LiDAR surveys can also be use dto map the water requirements in regions as was done recently by WAPCOS, a PSU under min of Jal shakti, i forest areas on assam, bihar, CHH, Goa, JH etc. The survey helped in identifying areas which need GW recharge and recommend water conservation strategies

DABUS, a “creativity” machine, has been recognised as an inventor for a type of food container that improves grip and heat transfer.

It became the first AI to be recognised as inventor

future issues of patent law applicability

AI can perform calculations, analyse data and even generate novel ideas and systems at a far faster pace, and in greater volume, than human minds. In practice, this could mean, for example, that the vaccine for the next pandemic is discovered by a thinking machine.

Using long-distance Wi-Fi technology, high-speed internet could be provided even up to 100 km without any transmission loss.

can be especially useful in remote rural and tribal areas

Recently, Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) has brought high-speed internet to some of the remotest tribal hamlets deep inside the Nilambur jungle in Kerala.

LiFi is a mobile wireless technology that uses light rather than radio frequencies to transmit data.

Radio frequency communication requires radio circuits, antennas and complex receivers, whereas LiFi is much simpler and uses direct modulation methods similar to those used in low-cost infrared communications devices such as remote control units.

benefits:

1. interference free: RF is vulnerable to interference from a wide range of devices such as cordless phones, microwaves and neighbouring Wi-Fi networks. LiFi signals can be defined by the area of illumination, which means interference is much simpler to avoid and even stop altogether. This also means LiFi can be used in RF hostile zones such as hospitals, power plants and aeroplanes.
2. speed and bandwidth: This next generation technology will drive wireless beyond any current capability, opening up unprecedented bandwidth.
3. reliability: provides enhanced reliability enabling interference-free communications and 1000 times the data density, dramatically improving the user experience.
4. security: Light can be contained, and secured in a physical space. LiFi enables additional control as LiFi offers precise localisation for asset tracking and user authentication.

It is a Geospatial Planning Portal for facilitating Gram Panchayat level planning of MGNREGA. It is a new portal under ‘Bhuvan’.

Launched by the Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.

The platform will serve as a repository of assets (Geotags) created under various national rural development programmes i.e. MGNREGA, Integrated Watershed Management Programme, Per Drop More Crop and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, etc.

• nuclear-powered submarine gives a navy the capability to far out into the ocean and launch attacks.
• Unlike conventional submarines, which are generally considered helpful for defensive purposes, the ability of a nuclear-powered submarine to go long distances, at a higher speed, without being detected gives a nation the ability to protect its interests far from its shores.
• A nuclear-powered submarine is classified as an “SSN” under the US Navy hull classification system. A nuclear-powered submarine that can launch ballistic missiles is called an “SSBN”.
• Conventional diesel-engine submarines have batteries that keep and propel — though not very fast — the vessel underwater. The life of these batteries can differ, from a few hours to a few days. The newer Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) submarines have additional fuel cells that allow them to stay underwater for longer and move faster than the conventional vessels. However, the fuel cells are used only at strategic times, when the endurance to remain submerged is needed. Both conventional and AIP subs need to come to the surface to recharge their batteries using the diesel engine. The diesel engine also propels the vessel on the surface. However, the fuel cells of AIP can only be charged at on-land stations, not while at sea.
• The great advantage of an SSN is that its nuclear-powered propulsion gives the submarine a near infinite capacity to stay dived. Since it is propelled by a nuclear-powered engine rather than by batteries, it does not have to emerge on the surface at all, except to replenish supplies for the crew.

1. India is among the six nations that have SSNs. The other five are the US, the UK, Russia, France and China.
2. India has had the capacity since it got the Soviet-built K-43 Charlie-class SSN in 1987. Commissioned with the Red Fleet of the USSR in 1967, it was leased to the Indian Navy, and was rechristened INS Chakra. The submarine was decommissioned in 1991.
3. In 2012 India got another Russian SSN on a 10-year lease, called INS Chakra 2.
4. the first indigenous Indian nuclear submarine, the INS Arihant, was commissioned in 2016. A second Arihant-class submarine, INS Arighat, was secretly launched in 2017, and is likely to be commissioned soon.
5. After it demonstrated the capability to launch nuclear weapons in 2018, the INS Arihant is now classified as a Strategic Strike Nuclear Submarine or SSBN, which means it is a nuclear-powered ballistic submarine. INS Arihant is important because it completes India’s nuclear triad, which means that the country has the capacity to launch nuclear missiles from land, aircraft, and submarine.

It is a highly virulent virus that belongs to Ebola family

It causes haemorrhagic fever and has 24-88 per cent fatality rate.

The disease can be transmitted by direct contact with blood, bodily fluids or tissues of infected persons or wild animals like monkeys and fruit bats.

There is no approved therapy or drug for the disease.

There have so far been 12 major Marburg outbreaks since 1967, mostly in southern and eastern Africa. The latest case, reported from Guinea in the second week of August, is the first one to be reported from western Africa

• Market caps of even relatively unknown companies with covid-19 vaccines have zoomed, as have their revenues and profits. Pfizer surpassed its sales projections for yr 2021-22 in the first half of the yr itself with overall revenue of 33.6Bn$, a 68% jump from previous yr. Moderna’s total revenue zoomed to 6.3Bn$ from just 75Mn$ in the corresponding period of 2020
• In early August, both companies jacked up the price of their vaccines, with their shots now costing between $23.15 and $25.50 a jab
• Astrazenca, that promised to hold price line till the pandemic lasts and thus gives its vaccine jabs @ 2.15$ in EU and 5$ elsewhere, is under pressure of investors to increase their prices
• USA has decided to give the booster shot (3rd shot) in Sept will further exacerbate vaccine inequality.Scientists and health experts have slammed the decision because they say there was no compelling data to show booster shots were necessary. WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan thinks boosters may be required after a year or two; but not at this point, just six months after the primary dose. if 11 high- and upper-middle income countries decide to go for a booster for their populations or even subgroups, this will require an additional 800 million doses. This means the most vulnerable groups worldwide that need the vaccine—frontline health workers and older people—will have to wait far longer
• British PM Boris Johnson recently told his party members that” “the reason we have the vaccine success is because of capitalism, because of greed my friends”.
• It’s a view that conveniently ignores what is widely known these days thanks to a relentless campaign by Nobel Prize winners, academics, health activists and unbiased IP experts: invariably it is research conducted in public institutions that has provided the scientific breakthroughs exploited by the pharmaceutical industry. In the case of mrna vaccines, it was Hungarianborn scientist Katalin Kariko and her dedicated colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania who did the hard slog on harnessing the power of synthetic mrna to fight disease

1. It is a zoonotic virus, meaning that it can spread between animals and people.
2. The organism which causes Nipah Virus encephalitis is an RNA or Ribonucleic acid virus of the family Paramyxoviridae, genus Henipavirus, and is closely related to Hendra virus.
3. Fruit bats, also called flying foxes, are the animal reservoir for NiV in nature.
4. Symptoms: Infection with NiV is associated with encephalitis (swelling of the brain) and can cause mild to severe illness and even death.

• 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for development of asymmetric organocatalysis
• Catalysis is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a catalyst. The major types of catalysts are metals and enzymes. But 2021 Nobel Prize winners developed a third type of catalysis (catalyst)- asymmetric organocatalysis.
• The new catalysts, derived from naturally-occurring chemicals, were greener and cheaper, and ensured that the end product of the chemical reaction was of a specific variety — and did not need to go through a purification process to yield the desired type of compound.
• Working: Organocatalysts bind to the reacting molecules to form short-lived intermediates that are more reactive than the substrate molecules on their own. Being chiral, the catalyst transfers its handedness to the substrate, controlling which side of the intermediate can react further.
• Applications: It has helped streamline the production of existing pharmaceuticals, including paroxetine, used to treat anxiety and depression, and oseltamivir, a respiratory infection medication.

The S-400 Triumf is a mobile, surface-to-air missile system (SAM) designed by Russia.

In October 2018, India signed a 5.43 billion USD deal with Russia for the S-400 Triumf missile system

• It is the most dangerous operationally deployed modern long-range SAM (MLR SAM) in the world, considered much ahead of the US-developed Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD).
• The system can engage all types of aerial targets including aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and ballistic and cruise missiles within the range of 400km, at an altitude of up to 30km.
• The system can track 100 airborne targets and engage six of them simultaneously.
• The radar can detect and track aircraft, rotorcraft, cruise missiles, guided missiles, drones and ballistic rockets within a distance of 600km. It can simultaneously track up to 300 targets.
• Importance for India:
  
  • From India’s point of view, China is also buying the system. China’s acquisition of the S-400 system has been viewed as a “game changer” in the region. However, its effectiveness against India is limited.
  • India’s acquisition is crucial to counter attacks in a two-front war, including even high-end F-35 US fighter aircraft.

The United States threatened India with sanctions under CAATSA.

One reason for American apprehension would be that S-400 collects electronic data from any aircraft it targets. Since India also operates American-made aircrafts such as the AH-64E Apache attack helicopter and the C-17 Globemaster heavy transport aircraft, it cannot risk the data of these aircraft somehow falling into the hands of its erstwhile Russian rivals.

CAATSA

• Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA)‘s core objective is to counter Iran, Russia and North Korea through punitive measures.
• Enacted in 2017.
• Includes sanctions against countries that engage in significant transactions with Russia’s defence and intelligence sectors.

What sanctions will be imposed?

1. prohibition on loans to the sanctioned person.
2. prohibition of Export-Import bank assistance for exports to sanctioned persons.
3. prohibition on procurement by United States Government to procure goods or services from the sanctioned person.
4. denial of visas to persons closely associated with the sanctioned person.

NASA’s first mission to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. Launched in Oct 2021

It is a solar-powered mission.

It is estimated to be over 12 years long, during the course of which the spacecraft will visit eight asteroids covering a distance of about 6.3 billion km to deepen the understanding of the “young solar system”.

The mission is designed to understand the composition of the diverse asteroids that are a part of the Trojan asteroid swarms, to determine the mass and densities of the materials and to look for and study the satellites and rings that may orbit the Trojan asteroids.

the mission is named after ‘Lucy’, a 3.2 million-year-old ancestor who belonged to a species of hominins (which include humans and their ancestors)

These asteroids are believed to be the remnants of the early solar system, and studying them will help scientists understand its origins and evolution, and why it looks the way it does.

• The Trojan asteroids are believed to be formed from the same material that led to the formation of planets nearly 4 billion years ago when the solar system was formed.

Asteroids are divided into three categories.

First, those found in the main asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. This region is estimated to contain somewhere between 1.1-1.9 million asteroids.

The second group is that of trojans (the name comes from Greek mythology), which are asteroids that share an orbit with a larger planet. NASA reports the presence of Jupiter, Neptune and Mars trojans. In 2011, they reported an Earth trojan as well.

The Jupiter asteroids can be found in what are referred to as “swarms” that lead and follow the planet Jupiter along its orbit around the Sun. ‘Lucy’ will reach the first swarm of these asteroids that precede Jupiter by August 2027.

The third classification of asteroids is under Near-Earth Asteroids (NEA), which has orbits that pass close to the Earth. Those that cross the Earth’s orbit are called Earth-crossers. More than 10,000 such asteroids are known, of which over 1,400 are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs).

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on (GRACE-FO) mission is a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ).

GRACE-FO is a successor to the original GRACE mission, which began orbiting Earth on March 17, 2002. The GRACE missions measure variations in gravity over Earth’s surface, producing a new map of the gravity field every 30 days.

• GRACE-FO will continue the work of tracking Earth’s water movement to monitor changes in underground water storage, the amount of water in large lakes and rivers, soil moisture, ice sheets and glaciers, and sea level caused by the addition of water to the ocean.
• These discoveries provide a unique view of Earth’s climate and have far-reaching benefits to society and the world’s population.

Recently launched, It will be the premier industry association of space and satellite companies.

Obj:

• ISpA aims to be a forum of the space industry in the Indian private sector and partner the Government of India and other key stakeholders across space industry segments in making the nation self-reliant in the area as well as to become a global service provider.
• ISpA aims to contribute to the Government of India’s vision of making India Atmanirbhar and a global leader in the space arena, which is fast emerging as the next growth frontier for mankind.

1. ISpA is represented by leading home grown and global corporations with advanced capabilities in space and satellite technologies like Bharti Airtel, Larson & Toubro, Nelco (Tata Group), OneWeb, Mapmyindia etc.
2. according to ISRO, the current size of the global space economy stands at about USD 360 billion. However, India accounts for only about 2% of the space economy with a potential to capture 9% of the global market share by 2030.
3. The association will engage with stakeholders across the ecosystem for the formulation of an enabling policy framework that fulfils the Government’s vision.
4. ISpA will also work towards building global linkages for the Indian space industry to bring in critical technology and investments into the country to create more high skill jobs.

T

U is fed into centrifuge as a gas called Uranium Hexafluoride.

1. S-2-S 2. 350km 3. by DRDO under IGMDP 4. both conventional as well as nuclear

1. second smallest planet in the solar system after Mercury.
2. half the size of Earth;Gravity much weaker
3. much colder than Earth
4. home to the highest mountain and Volcano in our solar system –– a volcano called Olympus Mons. Standing a whopping 24 kilometres high, it’s about three times the height of Mount Everest!
5. Despite being starkly different in many ways, the Red Planet has several Earth-like features– such as clouds, polar ice caps, volcanoes, and seasonal weather patterns.
6. has two moons: Phobos and Deimos
7. a day on Mars: 24 hrs and 37 min; a yr on Mars 687 Earth days
8. In 2018, scientists found evidence of a lake under the planet’s south polar ice cap.
9. The first spacecraft to land on Mars were the Viking Landers, which touched down on the surface in 1976.
10. Atm has high concentration of CO2

UAE’s first-ever interplanetary Hope Probe mission. Sent to Mars. successfully entered Mars orbit in Feb 2021. Also, it is the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission.

aim of creating mankind’s first integrated model of the Red planet’s (Mars) atmosphere.

With the successful Mars orbit insertion, the UAE becomes the fifth entity to reach the Red Planet, joining NASA, the Soviet Union, the European Space Agency and India.

China’s spacecraft Tianwen-1 landed on Mars in Feb 2021 carrying its first Mars rover named Zhurong.

• It became the third country to land on Mars after the US and Soviet Union.
• China’s previous ‘Yinghuo-1’ Mars mission, which was supported by a Russian spacecraft, had failed after it did not leave the earth’s orbit and disintegrated over the Pacific Ocean in 2012.
• The lander from Tianwen-1 has touched down on Utopia Planitia, a large plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars.
• Obj: To conduct scientific investigations into the planet’s soil, geological structure, environment, atmosphere and water. The mission will be the first to place a ground-penetrating radar on the Martian surface, which will be able to study local geology, as well as rock, ice, and dirt distribution.

Launched by China, it is an unmanned spacecraft to bring back lunar rocks, the first attempt by any nation to retrieve samples from the Moon in four decades.

• The Chang’e-5 mission, named after the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon, will seek to collect lunar material to help scientists understand more about the moon’s origins and formation. It will drill 2 meters beneath the moon’s surface and scoop up about 2 kilograms of rocks, in a previously unvisited area in a massive lava plain known as Oceanus Procellarum, or “Ocean of Storms”, and other debris to be brought back to Earth.
• It will help scientists learn about:
  • Moon’s origins,
  • Volcanic activity on its surface and its interior, and
  • When its magnetic field, key to protecting any form of life from the sun’s radiation dissipated.
• If the mission is completed as planned, it would make China only the third country to have retrieved lunar samples, joining the United States and the Soviet Union.
• China made its first lunar landing in 2013.
• Chang’e is a series of lunar probes launched by China National Space administration.
• In January 2019, the Chang’e-4 probe touched down on the far side of the moon, the first by any nation’s space probe.

In april 2021, China launched an unmanned module, named “Tianhe” or “Harmony of the Heavens”, of its permanent space station that it plans to complete by the end of 2022.

Tianhe is one of three main components of what would be China’s first self-developed space station, Tiangong, set to be operational for at least 10 yrs

The Tianhe launch is the first of 11 missions needed to complete the space station, which will orbit Earth at an altitude of 340 to 450 km.

• The only space station currently in orbit is the International Space Station (ISS), from which China is excluded.
  
  • A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting crew members, designed to remain in space for an extended period of time and for other spacecraft to dock.
  • The ISS is backed by the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada
  • ISS is about to expire by 2024, barring funding from its partners. Russia has said recently that it would quit the project from 2025. NASA and the international partners have indicated that the ISS’s operational life could be extended to 2030.
• So far, China has sent two previous space stations into orbit. The Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 were trial stations though, simple modules that allowed only relatively short stays by astronauts.
• China’s space station will be equipped with a robotic-arm over which the US has raised concerns for its possible military applications. The Concern is that this technology “could be used in a future system for grappling other satellites”.

Recently, the Union Minister for Space Jitendra Singh announced in Parliament that India’s first space station would be set up by 2030.

The Indian space station will be much smaller (mass of 20 tonnes) than the International Space Station and will be used for carrying out microgravity experiments (not for space tourism).

● Preliminary plan for the space station is to accommodate astronauts for up to 20 days in space, and the project will be an extension of the Gaganyaan mission.
● It will orbit Earth at an altitude of around 400km.
● ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is working on a space docking experiment (Spadex), a technology that is crucial for making the space station functional

• The first generation of space stations such as Soviet Union’s Salyut 1 and the U.S. Skylab had monolithic designs that consisted of one module with no resupply capability.
• The second generation of space stations, such as Soviet Union’s Salyut 6 and Salyut 7, consisted of a monolithic station, but with ports to allow resupply cargo spacecraft.
• The third generation, which are called modular space stations and now includes the ISS, correspond to those with more than one primary spacecraft that are launched independently and docked in space.

1. NASA has been sending rovers on Mars since 1997 when the Mars Pathfinder Mission was initiated.
2. As the mission turned out to be successful, NASA decided to continue going to Mars to find evidence.
3. Second time, the space organization sent twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity to Mars in 2003.
4. The third attempt was by sending Curiosity in 2012.
5. The latest has been, Perseverance Rover that landed in Feb 2021

In March 2016, scientists in Japan reported about a bacteria, Ideonella sakaiensis, which was able to eat a particular kind of plastic called PET, from which bottles are commonly made, and it could not do so nearly fast enough to mitigate the tens of millions of tons of plastic waste that enter the environment every year.

esp relevant in COVID times

China in Aug 2021 tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic glide vehicle that circled the globe before speeding towards its target.

• The weapon could, in theory, fly over the South Pole. That would pose a big challenge for the US military because its missile defence systems are focused on the northern polar route.

India has been working on this for a few years, and is just behind the US, Russia and China. DRDO successfully tested a Hypersonic Technology Demonstrated Vehicle (HSTDV) in September 2020, and demonstrated its hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology.

According to sources, India has developed its own cryogenic engine and demonstrated it in a 23-second flight. India will try to make a hypersonic cruise missile, using HSTDV.

Sources said only Russia has proven its hypersonic missile capability so far, while China has demonstrated its HGV capacity. India is expected to be able to have a hypersonic weapons system within four years, with medium- to long-range capabilities.

Scramjets are a category of engines designed to handle airflows of speeds in multiples of the speed of sound.

• In an air-breathing scramjet engine, air from the atmosphere is rammed into the engine’s combustion chamber at a supersonic speed of more than Mach two.
• In the chamber, the air mixes with the fuel to ignite a supersonic combustion leading to cruise speeds of hypersonic range of Mach six to seven. So it is called supersonic combustion ramjet or Scramjet.

• Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman who died 70 years ago of cervical cancer, was bestowed a posthumous honour by the World Health Organization (WHO) October 13, 2021.
• Her biopsy samples, collected without her consent or understanding, made possible innumerable breakthroughs in medical sciences and also aided research on the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
• Her ‘cell line’ — the first immortal line of human cells to divide indefinitely in a laboratory — was critical for the development of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, the polio vaccine, drugs for HIV and cancers.
• Called ‘HeLa’ cells, Lack’s bioses were also of paramount importance in research on Parkinson’s disease, reproductive health (including in vitro fertilisation), chromosomal conditions, gene mapping and precision medicine.

fuelcell

Electricvehicle -> uses a source of fuel like Hydrogen and an oxidant to create electricity by an electrochemical process i.e. H2+O2—->electricity + Water

• Ambergris, used for making perfumes, is produced in the stomach of sperm whales when indigestible parts move into the intestines and bind together.
• They slowly become a solid mass, growing over many years. “When the animal vomits the mass, it floats a foot below the surface of the sea.

• Ambergris, used for making perfumes, is produced in the stomach of sperm whales when indigestible parts move into the intestines and bind together.
• They slowly become a solid mass, growing over many years. “When the animal vomits the mass, it floats a foot below the surface of the sea.

• It is a byproduct of the sugar industry.
• Formed from molasses that are a residue of sugarcane processing.
• It is the primary raw material for making alcoholic beverages.

Features:

It is colourless food-grade alcohol that does not have any impurities.

It has a neutral smell and taste and typically contains over 95 per cent alcohol by volume.

Other applications of ENA:

• An essential ingredient in the manufacture of cosmetics and personal care products such as perfumes, toiletries, hair spray, etc.
• Utilized in the production of some lacquers, paints and ink for the printing industry, as well as in pharmaceutical products such as antiseptics, drugs, syrups, medicated sprays.

• Genomics involves the sequencing and analysis of genomes through uses of high throughput DNA sequencing.
• DNA Sequencing is the method that determines the order of the four nucleotides bases (adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine) that make up the DNA molecule and convey important genetic information.

CSIR initiated the Program in April 2019.

It aims to undertake whole genome sequencing of thousands of individuals representing diverse ethnic groups from India.

• The objective is to enable genetic epidemiology and develop public health technologies applications using population genome data.
• The analysis led to the identification of 55,898,122 single nucleotide variants in the India genome dataset.
• Comparisons with the global genome datasets revealed that 18,016,257 (32.23%) variants were unique and found only in the samples sequenced from India. This emphasizes the need for an India centric population genomic initiative.

1. evolutionary analysis betn species or populations
2. Newborn and pediatric disease: it surveys everything from single nucleotide variants to large deletions. Ideally, sequencing would be performed on the patient, both parents, and a sibling (if available).
3. Drug Trials and Pharmacogenomics: tailoring disease treatments to an individual’s genetic makeup.
4. help fight diseases like cancer: we can learn a great deal about the somatic changes underlying rare tumor types.
5. The field of metagenomics involves identification of organisms present in a body of water, sewage, dirt, debris filtered from the air, or swab samples from organisms. Knowing which organisms are present in a particular environment is critical to research in ecology, epidemiology, microbiology, and other fields.
6. help ind ealing with viral outbreaks
7. Forensic investigation

A zero-click attack helps spyware like Pegasus gain control over a device without human interaction or human error.

• So all awareness about how to avoid a phishing attack or which links not to click are pointless if the target is the system itself.
• Most of these attacks exploit software which receive data even before it can determine whether what is coming in is trustworthy or not, like an email client.

India successfully tests nuclear-capable Agni-V ballistic missile.

• The Agni-V Intercontinental-range Ballistic Missile (ICBM) has been developed by the DRDO and Bharat Dynamics Limited.
• The 1,500-kilogram warhead will be placed on top of the three-stage rocket boosters powered by solid fuel.
• The missile can range the whole of Asia, Europe and parts of Africa. Once inducted, Agni-V will be maintained by the Strategic Forces command.
• India has already conducted seven trials of the missile, which has a range of over 5,000 kilometres.
• Range of Agni armoury:
  
  • Agni-I: 700km
  • Agni-II: 2000km
  • Agni-III:3000km
  • Agni-IV: 3200km
  • Agni-V: 5000km

A recent study in Yogyakarta, Indonesia by scientists of World Mosquito Program, suggests that the “Wolbachia method” could be used to significantly reduce the incidence of dengue fever by 77%

This method involves introducing Wolbachia, a type of bacteria, into populations of Aedes aegypti, the mosquito species responsible for spreading dengue.

• When the Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes breed with their wild counterparts, the percentage of mosquitoes carrying the bacterium grows.
• It is not fully understood why the Wolbachia bacterium interferes with the transmission of dengue. One theory is thatthe bacterium prevents dengue viruses from replicating in mosquito cells.

CSIR-NEERI, Nagpur, has come out with firecrackers that have “reduced emission light and sound” and 30% less particulate matter using Potassium Nitrate as oxidant.

Green logo as well as a Quick Response (QR) coding system has been developed for differentiation of green crackers from conventional crackers.

These crackers are named

• Safe Water Releaser, which minimises Potassium Nitrate and Sulphur use, but matches the sound intensity of conventional crackers,
• Safe Minimal Aluminium , where Aluminium use is low and
• Safe Thermite Crackers with low Sulphur and Potassium Nitrate.

• Al: silver and white flames and fireworks
• Ba: Green
• Ca: Orange
• Cesium: indigo
• Cu: blue-green
• Iron: produces sparks
• Potassium: Violet-pink
• Li or Strontium: red
• Mg: White
• Zn: smoke effect

Technical textiles are defined as textile materials and products manufactured primarily for their technical performance and functional properties rather than aesthetic and decorative characteristics.

Depending upon their application areas, Technical Textiles products are divided into 12 broad categories:

• Agrotech: fishing nets, mulc mats
• Buildtech: tarpaulins, canopies
• Clothtech: zip fasteners, shoe laces
• Geotech: Geogrids, geocomposites
• Hometech: mattresses, carpets, blinds
• Indutech: conveyor belts, seat belts
• Mobiltech: airbags, helmets
• Meditech: diapers, sanitary napkins, implants
• Protech: bullet proof jackets, fire retardant apparels
• Sportstech: sports net, artificial turf
• Oekotech: recycling, waste disposal
• Packtech: wrapping fibres, jute sacks

• Indian technical textiles segment constitutes around 6% of the $250 billion global technical textiles market.
• TT constitute 12-15% of the total textile value chain in India (in European countries it is 50%).
• The annual average growth of the segment in India is 12% as compared with world average growth of 4%.

prospects:

• While conventional textiles is export intensive, technical textiles is import intensive industry.
• a huge potential of export of technical textiles particularly in the SAARC countries, where also this industry is not well developed and depends on import
• While production of specialized yarn and fabrics takes place in the large and medium scale but the conversion of these fabrics into finished goods is done in small scale sector and even in cottage sector
• With increase in DI, the consumption of disposable items like, wipes, sanitary napkins, baby diapers, adult diapers, and health care products is expected to increase at an exponential rate.

challenges:

• Lack of specifications and standardization of technical textiles
• Lack of awareness
• Non availability of raw materials and infrastr

• National Textile Policy, 2000: It stated that considering the growing prospects for technical textiles worldwide, priority will be accorded for their growth and development in the country.
• Expert Committee on Technical Textiles: It was created by CG
• Scheme for Growth and Development of Technical Textiles (SGDTT): It was launched in 2007-08, comprising of three main components- Baseline Survey, Awareness Campaigns and Creation of Centres of Excellence
• Technology Mission on Technical Textiles (TMTT): It was launched in 2010-11. Its first component includes standardization, creating accredited common testing facilities and maintaining a resource centre
• Coverage of technical textiles under Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS): All the machinery for production TTs has been covered under TUFS
• De-reservation of sanitary napkins / baby diapers: They were earlier reserved for Small Scale Industry sector. It was hindering the setting up of large scale units in this segment.
• National Technical Textiles Mission launched in 2020

approved by CCEA in 2020

Aim: To position the country as a global leader in technical textiles and increase the use of technical textiles in the domestic market.

Mission will be implemented for four years from 2020-2021 and will have four components:

1. The first component will focus on research and development and innovation and will have an outlay of ₹1,000 crore. The research will be at both, fibre level and application-based in geo, agro, medical, sports and mobile textiles and development of bio-degradable technical textiles.
2. The second component will be for promotion and development of market for technical textiles. The Mission will aim at taking domestic market size to $40 billion to $50 billion by 2024.
3. The third component will focus on export promotion so that technical textile exports from the country reach from the ₹14,000 crore now to ₹20,000 crore by 2021-2022 and ensure 10% average growth every year till the Mission ends.
4. The last component will be on education, training and skill development.

The blending of hydrogen with CNG provides a blended gas termed as HCNG.

• It can be used in place of gasoline, diesel fuel and propane (C3H8) / LPG and its combustion produces fewer undesirable gases.
• Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has also developed specifications (IS 17314:2019) of Hydrogen enriched Compressed Natural Gas (H-CNG) for automotive purposes, as a fuel.

Advantages of HCNG:

• HCNG reduces emissions of CO up to 70%.
• Enables up to 5 % savings in fuel.
• First step towards future Hydrogen economy.
• Engines can be calibrated to release lower amounts of NO.
• Engines need minimum modification to run on HCNG.
• Ideal fuel for high load applications and heavy-duty vehicles.
• Better performance due to higher Octane rating of H2.

Disadvantages of using HCNG:

• Determining the most optimized H2/ NG (Natural Gas) ratio.
• It requires new infrastructures for preparing HCNG.
• Many steps need to be taken for commercializing it at a large scale.
• Current cost of H2 is more than the cost of Natural Gas. So, HCNG’s cost is more than CNG.

Initiatives in India: BIS has also developed specifications (IS 17314:2019) of Hydrogen enriched Compressed Natural Gas (H-CNG) for automotive purposes, as a fuel.

The great space race of the 20th century was kicked off by the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik in 1957.

It was a competition between the world’s great powers, a test of their ideologies, which proved to be a synecdoche of the entire Cold War between the capitalist United States and the socialist Soviet Union.

The space race is on again, but this time, private players are on the power field to take the next leap for mankind and democratise space usage to build commercial value.

This has huge implications for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the space sector in India and is a promising venture for global investors.

Space-related activities in India were started with the setting up of the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) in 1962.

However, The Indian space programme began in November 1969 with the establishment of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

India created the Space Commission and established the Department of Space (DOS) in June 1972 and brought ISRO under the Department of Space in September 1972.

1. Today, the space economy is a $440 billion global sector, with India having less than 2% share in the sector.
2. This is despite the fact that India is a leading space-faring country with end-to-end capabilities to make satellites, develop augmented launch vehicles and deploy inter-planetary missions.
3. While total early-stage investments in space technologies in FY21 were $68 billion, India was on the fourth place with investments in about 110 firms, totaling not more than $2 billion.
4. Antrix: commercial arm of ISRO; handles ISRO’s commercial deals for satellites and launch vehicles with foreign customers
5. New Space India Ltd: second commercial arm of ISRO; deals with capacity building of local industry for space manufacturing.
   
   • One of the mandates of NSIL is to mass-produce and manufacture the SSLV and the more powerful PSLV in partnership with the private sector in India through technology transfers. Its aim is to use research and development carried out by ISRO over the years for commercial purposes through Indian industry partners.
6. Indian Space Association: Recently launched, It will be the premier industry association of space and satellite companies.
7. The government of India has launched in the year 2020 the Indian Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) to promote private investment and innovation in the Indian space industry.

With all the missions being handled by ISRO themselves, the contribution of the private sector in these space programs often goes unrecognised.

1. A large part of the manufacturing of rockets and assets is done by the private sector. Currently, there are more than 500 private companies which partner with ISRO in carrying out various space activities. They provide materials used in manufacturing, mechanical fabrication, electronic fabrication, system development, integration, etc.
2. More and more research institutions have started showing involvement and interest in the space missions.
3. Currently, many of the private entities are involved in equipment and frame manufacturing, with either outsourced specifications or leased licenses.
4. Already 350 plus start-ups such as AgniKul Cosmos, Skyroot Technologies, Dhruva Space and Pixxel have established firm grounds for home-grown technologies with a practical unit of economics.

1. extensive brain drain in India**, which has **increased by 85% since 2005. This can be linked to the bottlenecks in policies which create hindrances for private space ventures and founders to attract investors, making it virtually non-feasible to operate in India.
2. absence of a framework to provide transparency and clarity in laws. The laws need to be broken down into multiple sections, each to address specific parts of the value chain and in accordance with the Outer Space Treaty (or the United Nations resolution, the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies).
3. Another crucial aspect of space law is insurance and indemnification clarity, particularly about who or which entity undertakes the liability in case of a mishap. In several western countries with an evolved private space industry, there is a cap on liability and the financial damages that need to be paid.

Mature space agencies such as NASA, China’s CNSA, Russia’s Roscosmos seek support from private players such as Boeing, SpaceX and Blue Origin for complex operations beyond manufacturing support, such as sending crew and supplies to the International Space Station. These companies have revolutionized the space sector by reducing costs and turnaround time with innovation and advanced technology.

to continue the growth engine, investors need to look up to the sector as the next “new-age” boom and ISRO needs to turn into an enabler from being a supporter.

GoI, in 2020, has created the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe), an independent nodal agency under the Department of Space.

• IN-SPACe is to be established as a single-window nodal agency, with its own cadre, which will permit and oversee the activities of private companies.
  • This is part of reforms aimed at giving a boost to the private sector participating in space-related activities or using India’s space resources.
• Functions:
  • Encourage, promote and handhold the private sector for their participation in the Space Sector.
  • Draw up an integrated launch manifest considering the requirements for ISRO, New Space India Limited(NSIL) and private companies based on priorities and readiness level.
  • Work out a suitable mechanism to offer sharing of technology, expertise and facilities on free of cost wherever feasible or at reasonable cost basis to promote private companies.
    • The government will allow utilising those infrastructures of ISRO which are otherwise not available elsewhere in India.
  • Permit establishment of facilities, within ISRO premises, based on safety norms and feasibility assessment.
    
    • The decision of IN-SPACe shall be final and binding on all stakeholders including ISRO and private players will not be required to seek separate permission from ISRO.

1. IN-SPACe facilitates and support the Private Sector in these ways:
   
   1. Provide technical support
   2. Share cash-intensive facilities with Private Industry
   3. Allow establishing temporary facilities in Department of Space premises
   4. Allow Private players to bid for requirements coming from New Space India Limited (NSIL)
   5. Partner with them in science and space exploration missions

Before Independence, several kingdoms in India were using rockets as part of their warfare technologies. Mysore ruler Hyder Ali started inducting iron-cased rockets in his army in the mid-18th century. By the time Hyder’s son Tipu Sultan died, a company of rocketeers was attached to each brigade of his army, which has been estimated at around 5,000 rocket-carrying troops.

At the time of Independence, India did not have any indigenous missile capabilities. The government created the Special Weapon Development Team in 1958. This was later expanded and called the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), which moved from Delhi to Hyderabad by 1962.

“In 1972, Project Devil, for the development of a medium range Surface-to-Surface Missile was initiated. A large number of infrastructure and test facilities were established during this period. The development of components / systems for Project Devil formed the technology base for the future IGMDP Programme. By 1982, DRDL was working on several missile technologies under the Integrated Guided Missiles Development Programme (IGMDP).

Under the IGMP then headed by A P J Abdul Kalam, first came Prithvi, then Agni. BrahMos, at 2.5-3 times the speed of sound, was among the fastest in the world when developed, After the nuclear blast in 1998, cryogenic etc were not given to us. Kalam and others, they made it a point that they developed it within the country.

• Agni (range around 5,000 ) , is India’s only contender for an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM), which is available with only a few countries. With Agni V ready, he said, India is working on Agni VI and Agni VII, which should have a much longer range.
• Prithvi, although a short-range surface-to-surface missile with a 350 km range, has strategic uses.
• BrahMos, which India developed jointly with Russia, is already operational. It has a 300 km to 500 km range, and is a short-range, ramjet-powered, single warhead, supersonic anti-ship or land attack cruise missile. On nuclear capability, although India does not call BrahMos nuclear, it can be used.
• India’s only nuclear missiles are Prithvi and Agni
• India also tested a anti-satellite system in April 2019. A modified anti-ballistic missile named Prithvi Defence Vehicle Mk 2 was used to hit a low-orbit satellite. It put India only behind the US, Russia and China in this capability.

Among the surface Launched systems:

• ANTI-TANK GUIDED MISSILE Nag: Nag is the only “fire-and-forget ATGM meeting all weather requirements for its range (around 20 km). Recently Heli-Nag was tested, which will be operated from helicopters and will be inducted by 2022. “man-portable ATGMs” are also available.
• Surface to Air MIssile: short-range SAM system Akash has already been inducted in the Army and the Air Force
• Medium-Range SAM: Production of MRSAM systems for the Navy is complete

Air Launched Systems:

• AIR-TO-AIR: Astra, India’s Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM), has been completely tested and is under induction. It has a range of around 100 km, and DRDO is trying to now induct it with more IAF platforms, including the domestically developed light combat aircraft Tejas. A long-range Astra is also being developed, for which initial tests have been conducted. The missile uses solid fuel ramjet technology, which enhances speed, and will have an indigenously-built seeker.
• AIR-TO-GROUND: Rudram, a New Generation Anti-Radiation Missile (NGRAM), has cleared initial tests. With a maximum range of around 200 km, the missile mainly targets communication, radar and surveillance systems of the adversary, and was tested from the Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet last year.

According to a Pentagon report in 2020, China may have either achieved parity, or even exceeded the US in land-based conventional ballistic and cruise missile capabilities.

China’s Hypersonic missile, like the nuclear missiles are more of a deterrence. However, India needs to catch up and create its own deterrence as well.

China has given Pakistan the technology, “but getting a technology and really using it, and thereafter evolving and adopting a policy is totally different”.

• They are a new data structure that is secure, cryptography-based, and distributed across a network. The technology supports cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, and the transfer of any data or digital asset.
• Spearheaded by Bitcoin, blockchains achieve consensus among distributed nodes, allowing the transfer of digital goods without the need for centralized authorization of transactions.

1. The technology allows transactions to be simultaneously anonymous and secure, peer-to-peer, instant and frictionless.
2. It does this by distributing trust from powerful intermediaries to a large global network, which through mass collaboration, clever code and cryptography, enables a tamper-proof public ledger of every transaction that’s ever happened on the network.
3. A block is the “current” part of a blockchain which records some or all of the recent transactions, and once completed, goes into the blockchain as permanent database.
4. Each time a block gets completed, a new block is generated. Blocks are linked to each other (like a chain) in proper linear, chronological order with every block containing a hash of the previous block.
5. Blockchain derives its name from the digital databases or ledgers where information is stored as “blocks’’ that are coupled together forming “chains”. An exact copy of the blockchain is available to each of the multiple computers or users who are joined together in a network and any new information added or altered via a new block is to be vetted and approved by over half the total users.

1. secure:
   
   1. while big banks aer vulnerable to hacking attacks, it is next to impossible to hack into a specific block
2. trust and increased transparency: open ledger makes it impossible to cheat
   
   • Blockchain-powered smart contracts, where every piece of information is recorded can enhance ease of doing business.
   • Blockchain could play a crucial part in health insurance claims management by reducing the risk of insurance claim frauds.
   • The technology can also be used to prevent the sale of spurious drugs in the country by tracking every step of the supply chain network.
   • Critical citizen information like land records, census data, birth and death records, business licenses, criminal records, intellectual property registry, electoral rolls could all be maintained as blockchain-powered, tamper-proof public ledgers.
3. removes intermediary fees
4. increases frequency and efficiency of trades
5. greater ability to customize
6. Can help augment potential of AI and IoT. In an IoT world, thousands of devices would need to rapidly and seamlessly transact with each other in real time.

1. expensive
2. Carbon footprint: massive usage of energy
3. Knowledge of the benefits of distributed ledger technology is still limited.
4. If automated risk management, smart contracts, and similar tools are deployed across a network, cascades of rapid and hard-to-control obligations and liquidity flows could propagate across a network.
5. This interdependence will likely call for creative organizational thinking to address the need for governance and strong risk management

1. Personal Identification
2. combating corruption
3. reduce red tapism: As government agencies currently store data in autonomous centralized databases, they tend not to interoperate in an optimal way. This results in duplication, overlap and contradiction in the information held. Blockchain eliminates this lack of interoperability which generates unnecessary red tape in obtaining relevant information from a user, and makes the process for sharing data between agencies clear and inexpensive.
4. Identity and Land rights: Several governments, including those in Dubai, Estonia, Georgia, and Sweden are making early forays into blockchain-based approaches to securing property rights.
5. Agriculture: Blockchain’s role is to improve the third party involvement by ensuring that they are tracking, collecting and managing data in the best possible way. With blockchain, farmers and distributors are going to get their payments faster than ever
6. Health: With blockchain, healthcare can improve digital healthcare records. It also improves pharmaceutical supply chain management.
7. Governance and Democracy: Blockchain systems such as Ballot Chain can manage online elections with secure and anonymous voting that participants can verify at any time.
8. Env Protection: can track products from the farm to the table, and show whether or not a food product is organic or Fair Trade.
9. Philanthropy and Aid: Billions of dollars are invested in helping the needy. However, these aids are mostly misused due to a lack of transparency. In fact, most of the aid never reaches the intended people. This has also led people to not contribute to these non-profit organizations. Blockchain can solve all of these problems
10. Crowdfunding
11. Education:
    
    1. In a first, the graduating scholars of IIT-Kanpur were awarded their degrees in, a blockchain-based, digital form by the Prime Minister in December 2021.
    2. With greater digitisation, there is an inherent need for more secure and fool-proof systems that can track students’ academic activities as well as provide the required information to all stakeholders. The blockchain can emerge as a viable solution to manage such an integrated DEE. It would be a secure system that ensures educational records remain immutable.
    3. could provide an excellent framework to manage student records ranging from day-to-day information such as assignments, attendance and extracurricular activities, to information about degrees and colleges they have attended.
    4. information about teachers can be safely stored and this would enable an educational institution to monitor faculty performance. The blockchain ledger would provide a time-stamped and tamper-proof record of faculty performance — attendance, student evaluations, number of students opting for their electives, research output and publications. These records could be linked to faculty appraisal systems, thereby ensuring greater accountability.
    5. blockchain can help implement such a multiple-entry-and-exit structure as envisioned by NEP with multidisciplinary, combination of major and micor subjects with flexibility in course duration

”quantum entangled” animal?

Scientists have identified the first ”quantum entangled” animal in history-frozen tardigrade, in a recent study.

• Frozen tardigrade are microscopic multicellular organisms known to tolerate extreme physiochemical conditions through a latent state of life known as cryptobiosis.
• The researchers managed the feat by placing frozen tardigrades between two capacitor plates of a superconductor circuit to form a qubit, the quantum equivalent of a bit.
• Upon contact, they say, the tardigrade changed the qubit’s frequency.
• They then placed this circuit in the vicinity of a second superconductor circuit. Lo and behold, the team observed that the frequency of both qubits and the tardigrade changed in tandem.

Also known as anabiosis, it is a metabolic state of life entered by an organism in response to adverse environmental conditions such as desiccation, freezing, and oxygen deficiency.

• In the cryptobiotic state, all measurable metabolic processes stop, preventing reproduction, development, and repair.
• When environmental conditions return to being hospitable, the organism will return to its metabolic state of life as it was prior to the cryptobiosis.

Xenotransplantation is the process of grafting or transplanting organs or tissues between members of different species.

Recently, Surgeons in the US have transplanted a pig’s heart inside a human patient. This success could potentially end the years-long backlog of people waiting to receive a healthy organ and open up a brave new world of possibilities.

• The transplanted heart was harvested from a pig that had undergone genetic editing that saw scientists remove three genes “that would have led to rejection of pig organs by humans” along with one that would have led to excessive growth of pig heart tissue.
• Further, six human genes that would have facilitated the organ’s acceptance by the human body were inserted into the pig genome, meaning that a total of 10 unique gene edits were carried out in the pig by the US biotech firm Revivicor.

Why pigs?

Pigs are increasingly becoming popular candidates for organ transplantation. This is because their organs are anatomically similar to those of humans. What’s more, porcine components are more tuned for genetic engineering.

Early xenotransplantation attempts:

• A spate of kidney, liver and heart transplants from non-human primates to humans happened in the 1970s. A majority of them failed.
• This is attributed to organ rejection — our immune system rejects agents that are foreign to the body. Surgical complications were also behind the failure.
• In 1984, a human infant received a heart from a baboon. She died 21 days after the transplant.
• Primates fell out of favour in the 1990s because they were susceptible to virus spread. This brought pigs into the spotlight.

Breakthroughs so far:

• In 2017, Chinese surgeons reportedly transplanted pig cornea to restore sight in a human.
• In 2020, US experts attached a genetically-altered kidney to a brain-dead person.

• The pandemic has brought to the fore the fragility of the global supply chain of semiconductor manufacturing.
• The situation is exacerbated by the
  
  • overdependence of the world on East Asia for fab manufacturing,
  • the rising price of silicon, and
  • the China-U.S. trade war.
• Countries are hampering to become self-dependent in chip mfg
  
  • The U.S. has announced a $50 billion package to create foundries there.
  • Japan and Germany have got TSMC (controls 24% of the semiconductor supply chain) to start specialty technology fabs in their respective countries.
• As 5G mobile networks increase driving demand for data-heavy video and game streaming and with many people working from home, the need for more powerful, energy-efficient chips will only grow.
• Considering the current geopolitical dynamics and the fact that semiconductors are at the core of fourth industrial revolution technologies, India needs to get a move on.

India has approved a $10 billion package to incentivise the manufacturing of semiconductors in the country It includes programmes like

1. Semiconductor Fabs and Display Fabs: It will give fiscal support of up to 50% of project cost to eligible applicants to execute the projects.
   
   1. The Centre will work with state governments to establish high-tech clusters with requisite infrastructure in terms of land, semiconductor grade water, to set up at least two greenfield semiconductor fabrication and two display fabrication in the country.
2. Semi-conductor Laboratory (SCL): MeitY will take required steps for modernization and commercialization of Semi-conductor Laboratory (SCL).
3. Compound Semiconductors: The Scheme for setting up of Compound Semiconductors facilities in India shall extend fiscal support of 30% of capital expenditure to approved units. At least 15 such units of Compound Semiconductors and Semiconductor Packaging are expected to be established under this scheme.
4. Semiconductor Design Companies: The Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme shall extend product design linked incentive of up to 50% of eligible expenditure and product deployment linked incentive of 6% – 4% on net sales for five years.
   
   1. Support will be provided to 100 domestic companies of semiconductor design for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductor linked design.
   2. C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing), a scientific society operating under MeitY, will serve as the nodal agency for implementation of DLI scheme.
5. India Semiconductor Mission: In order to drive the long-term strategies for developing a sustainable semiconductors and display ecosystem, a specialized and independent “India Semiconductor Mission (ISM)” will be set up as a specialized and independent Business Division within the Digital India Corporation. ISM will be led by global experts in semiconductor and display industry. It will act as the nodal agency for efficient and smooth implementation of the schemes on semiconductors and display ecosystem.
6. “Chips to start-ups” programme: It would develop 85,000 well-trained engineers. Semiconductor designers would be given the opportunity to launch start-ups. The government would bear 50% of the expense under the design-linked incentive scheme.

1. Getting fab manufacturing will also build on India’s strength in design.
   
   1. We have the largest number of chip designers outside of the U.S. who are working on state-of-the-art systems and technologies.
   2. For example, Karnataka boasts of over 85 fabless chip design houses of various global companies.
   3. The strong expertise of our semiconductor design professionals in EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tools provides solid ground to move towards manufacturing.
2. To create the ecosystem for fab manufacturing, it is important to lock in the demand for semiconductors produced within the country.
   
   1. The total demand for semiconductors stands at $24 billion. This is expected to grow to $80-90 billion by 2030.
   2. However, this demand is for different categories of semiconductors used in various electronic devices and applications.
   3. Considering that initial manufacturing would be in mature tech, it would be ideal to enter into an agreement with the consumers of such semiconductors like automotive manufacturers to ensure that whatever is produced is consumed.
   4. Better still is to get established fab companies to come on their own as they bring with them their demand base.
3. This will give a fillip to the Indian gas, materials, and mines industry and also expand opportunities for semiconductor equipment, spares, and service industry.
4. job creation: It will also create highly skilled employment opportunities to harness the demographic dividend of the country,” .The entire programme would lead to 35,000 high-quality direct jobs and 1 lakh indirect employment.
5. Increase in FDI: The Programme will attract an investment of ₹1.67 lakh crore and lead to production worth ₹9.50 lakh crore

1. Fab clustering, where key semiconductor supply chains and related businesses are in one place to create backward and forward linkages**, would also **play a key role in creating an ecosystem for the semiconductor industry.
   
   1. Such a site should be chosen purely on the ability of the location to act as a force multiplier for the development of such an ecosystem.
   2. It needs to ensure high-quality infrastructure along with uninterrupted power availability with more than 99.7% uptime, connected to two different grids to ensure redundancy.
2. Additionally, a conducive environment needs to be created for women to work night shifts along with zero labour disputes.
3. we need to focus on encouraging Indian manufacturers and start-ups to enter and master complex R&D and manufacturing verticals.
4. We can then ensure that valuable Intellectual Property is created and owned by Indian companies.
5. The semiconductor industry is changing fast as new-age technologies require innovation at the design, material, and process levels. Indian engineers have contributed immensely to this area in multinational companies. We must encourage them to set up their design start-ups with handsome government grants and tax incentives.
6. Premier research institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science should also be asked to work aggressively on R&D in chip designing and manufacturing.
7. Further, the government must focus on emerging technologies like LiDAR and Phased Array in which incumbents do not have a disproportionate advantage and the entry barrier is low.

1. Countless industries have been affected as global demand for semiconductor chips continues to outstrip supply.
2. Chip shortages are expected to wipe out USD 210 billion of sales for carmakers this year, with production of 7.7 million vehicles lost.
3. The semiconductor shortage will severely disrupt the supply chain and will constrain the production of many electronic equipment types.
4. The chip shortage directly impacts consumers as prices of everyday appliances and electronic goods — from TV to smartphones — have increased due to the global supply chain disruption.
5. According to Government data India imports hundred percent of its semiconductors. Challenges faced in setting up semiconductor plants in India:
   
   1. Fabrication plant for expensive to set up, each costing at least 3 to 4 billion dollar
   2. Manufacturing equipment depreciates really quickly
   3. They also take a long time to become profitable
   4. There are other infrastructural issues as well: we experience frequent power cuts and water supply treatment is not upto the mark
6. However India is a strong base for semiconductor chip design, which is a more software or heavy process. Also there is a growing talent pool of engineers in India that are skilled in integrated chip design

1. The stay-at-home shift: This pushed chip demand beyond levels projected before the pandemic. Lockdowns spurred growth in sales of laptops to the highest in a decade.
2. The sudden popularity of cryptocurrencies as also lead more mining operations to come up across the world requiring more processing units
3. Fluctuating forecasts: Automakers that cut back drastically early in the pandemic underestimated how quickly car sales would rebound. They rushed to re-up orders late in 2020, only to get turned away because chipmakers were stretched supplying computing and smartphone giants like Apple Inc.
4. Stockpiling: PC makers began warning about tight supplies early in 2020. Then around the middle of that year, Huawei Technologies Co. began building up inventory to ensure it could survive U.S. sanctions that were set to cut it off from its primary suppliers. Other companies followed suit, hoping to grab share from Huawei.
5. Disasters: A bitter cold snap in Texas in February led to power outages that shut semiconductor plants clustered around Austin. A plant in Japan was damaged by fire in March, disrupting production for months.

1. India is finalising plans to manufacture semiconductor chips in a big way, as a part of its ‘Make in India’ initiative.
2. India as a proof top production linked incentive scheme worth rupees 76000 crores (10 billion dollars) to attract Global chip makers to setup FABs in India. Under the scheme the government will extend physical support of up to 50% of a project’s cost illegible display in semiconductor makers. Of setting the high costs of setting up a plant. Anda previous schemes like in 2017 the Government of aid incentive and incremental sales which wouldn’t have cut the high initial investment for manufacturers. Government said that it expects the scheme to create more than 1 lakh jobs.
3. Chips made locally will be designated as “trusted sources” and can be used in products ranging from CCTV cameras to 5G equipment.
4. In December 2021, India invited an “expression of interest” from chipmakers for setting up fabrication units in the country or for the acquisition of such manufacturing units.
5. India has also launched the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) under which a budget outlay of Rs 3,285 crore is spread over a period of eight years for manufacturing of electronics components and semiconductors.
6. “Chips to start-ups” programme: It would develop 85,000 well-trained engineers. Semiconductor designers would be given the opportunity to launch start-ups. The government would bear 50% of the expense under the design-linked incentive scheme.

China Taiwan the US Japan and South Korea account for nearly all of the semiconductor fabrication in the world. USA is now looking as where to source its chips and India with its low labour costs could be a good alternative to China and Taiwan

1. Law and Order and internal security: For surveillance, situational analysis, crime control, VVIP security, disaster management, etc.
2. Defence: for combat, communication in remote areas, counter-drone solutions, etc.
3. Health: of medicines, collection of samples from remote or epidemic/pandemic-affected areas.
4. Infrastr monitoring: For real-time surveillance of assets and transmission lines, theft prevention, visual inspection/maintenance, construction planning and management, etc
5. Env conservation: Anti-poaching actions, monitoring of forests and wildlife, pollution assessment, and evidence gathering.
6. Disaster Mgmt: To undertake disaster management, incidence response, inspection/maintenance works and project monitoring.
7. entertainment industry
8. Agriculture: insurance, mapping, pesticides and insecticides

China has built an artificial moon research facility that is capable of lowering the gravity level using magnetism.

This research facility is also said to be the first of its kind in the world.

Objective of the project:
The idea is to make gravity “disappear” by using powerful magnetic fields inside a 60cm vacuum chamber.
About the mini moon:
● The mini-moon is about two feet in diameter and the artificial surface has been made with rocks and dust.
● The facility is located in the eastern city of Xuzhou, in Jiangsu province.

Uses, applications and benefits of this facility:
● China plans to use this research facility to test out instruments and technology in a low-gravity environment similar to that of the moon, and see whether its experiments can be successful on the lunar surface.
● The research facility is also expected to help in determining the possibility of human settlement on the moon.

T/F:

1. Lithium is the lightest Metal.
2. Li is a rare metal
3. Li has the lowest specific capacity of any solid element
4. Li explodes when exposed to water and air
5. It is used as a raw material for thermonuclear reactions i.e fusion

1. T; it is the lightest metal and the lightest solid element.
2. T
3. F; highest
4. T; It is highly reactive and flammable, and must be stored in mineral oil
5. T; as a convertor to tritium. The thermonuclear application makes Lithium as “Prescribed substance” under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962

Under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, “Prescribed Substance” means any substance including any mineral which the Central Government may, by notification, prescribe, being a substance which in its opinion is or may be used for the production or use of atomic energy or research into matters connected therewith and includes uranium, plutonium, thorium, beryllium, deuterium or any of their respective derivatives or compounds or any other materials containing any of the aforesaid substances.

The thermonuclear application makes Lithium as “Prescribed substance” under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 which permits AMD for exploration of Lithium in various geological domains of the country.

The name NISAR is short for NASA-ISRO-SAR. SAR here refers to the synthetic aperture radar that NASA will use to measure changes in the surface of the Earth.

Essentially, SAR refers to a technique for producing high-resolution images. Because of the precision, the radar can penetrate clouds and darkness, which means that it can collect data day and night in any weather.

About NISAR:
● It is optimised for studying hazards and global environmental change and can help manage natural resources better and provide information to scientists to better understand the effects and pace of climate change.
● It will scan the globe every 12 days over the course of its three-year mission of imaging the Earth’s land, ice sheets and sea ice to give an “unprecedented” view of the planet.
● It will detect movements of the planet’s surface as small as 0.4 inches over areas about half the size of a tennis court.
● NASA will provide one of the radars for the satellite, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers and a payload data subsystem.

● ISRO will provide the spacecraft bus, the second type of radar (called the S-band radar), the launch vehicle and associated launch services.
● NISAR will be equipped with the largest reflector antenna ever launched by NASA and its primary goals include tracking subtle changes in the Earth’s surface, spotting warning signs of imminent volcanic eruptions, helping to monitor groundwater supplies and tracking the rate at which ice sheets are melting.

OSIRIS-Rex stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer.
● This is NASA’s first mission meant to return a sample from the ancient asteroid Bennu.
● Launched in 2016, it reached its target in 2018.

OSIRIS-REx is bringing back an asteroid sample. It will arrive home in 2023, ejecting a capsule full of samples that may help eager scientists decipher the origin of Earth’s water and life.

NASA has selected a site located in a crater high in Bennu’s northern hemisphere designated “Nightingale”.

The asteroid was discovered by a team from the NASA-funded Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research team in 1999.

Scientists believe that it was formed in the first 10 million years of the solar system’s formation, implying that it is roughly 4.5 billion years old.

● Because of Bennu’s age, it is likely to contain material that contains molecules that were present when life first formed on Earth, where life forms are based on carbon atom chains.
● Because of its high carbon content, the asteroid reflects about four per cent of the light that hits it, which is very low when compared with a planet like Venus, which reflects about 65 per cent of the light that hits it. Earth reflects about 30 per cent.
● It classified as a Near Earth Object (NEO), might strike the Earth in the next century, between the years
2175 and 2199.

OSIRIS REx will bring the sample from Bennu in 2023.

The first modular space station to be assembled in orbit, Mir served as a space laboratory for over 14 years.

Soviet Union’s Mir space station marked the beginning of the third generation of space station design. The name “Mir” can be translated from Russian to mean “peace”, “world” or “village”

About the Vikas engine:
● It is a family of liquid fuelled rocket engines.
● It is used in the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) series of expendable launch vehicles for space launch use.

ISRO) recently conducted a successful qualification test of its High Thrust VIKAS Engine at the ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) in Tamil Nadu’s Mahendragiri, that will power the Gaganyaan Mission

T/F:

1. James Webb Space Telescope aims better understand dark energy in the space.
2. Dark energy makes up about 32% of the universe.
3. It is causing the rate of expansion of our universe to accelerate over time, rather than to slow down

1. T
2. F; 68%
3. T

Everything we see – the planets, moons, massive galaxies – makes up less than 5% of the universe. About 27% is dark matter and 68% is dark energy.

While dark matter attracts and holds galaxies together, dark energy repels and causes the expansion of our universe.

The existence of dark matter was suggested as early as the 1920s, while dark energy wasn’t discovered until 1998.

• James Webb Telescope
• XENON1T experiment
• LUX-Zeplin: next-generation dark matter direct detection experiment
• PandaX-xT experiment: is a dark matter detection experiment at China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL) in Sichuan, China

1. Chandrayaan-1, India’s first mission to Moon, was launched successfully in October 2008
2. The spacecraft was orbiting around the Moon at a height of 100 km from the lunar surface for chemical, mineralogical and photo-geologic mapping of the Moon.
3. Chandrayaan-1 operated for 312 days as opposed to the intended two years but the mission achieved 95% of its planned objectives.
4. Findings:
   
   • Data from the Mineralogy Mapper (M3), one of the instruments on Chandrayaan-1, indicates the presence of hematite at the lunar poles.
     • Hematite (Fe₂O₃) is a mineral which is a form of iron oxide, or rust, produced when iron is exposed to oxygen and water.
   • The sign of this finding is that even though the surface of the moon is known to have iron-rich rocks, it is not known for the presence of water and oxygen, which are the two elements needed to interact with iron to create rust.
     • NASA also found evidence of greater quantities ofmetals such as iron and titanium on the moon’s subsurface.
   • Chandrayaan-1 Moon data indicates that the moon’s poles are home to water that scientists are trying to decipher.
   • Evidence of lunar caves formed by an ancient lunar lava flow
   • Past tectonic activity were found on the lunar surface. The faults and fractures discovered could be features of past interior tectonic activity coupled with meteorite impacts.

found by Chandrayaan Misison

As per scientists at NASA, earth’s oxygen could be driving the formation of hematite. Earth’s magnetotail (elongated region of the magnetosphere of the earth) ferries oxygen to the moon and also blocks 99% of solar wind during certain periods of the moon’s orbit.

• The solar wind, a stream of charged particles that flows out from the sun, bombards earth and the moon with hydrogen.
• Hydrogen makes it harder for hematite to form. It is a reducer, meaning it adds electrons to the materials it interacts with. That’s the opposite of what is needed to make hematite or iron to rust, which requires an oxidizer, which removes electrons.

• On 22 July 2019, India launched Chandrayaan-2, its second lunar exploration mission after Chandrayaan-1 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
• It is a Lunar orbiter, lander, rover type mission.
• Chandrayaan-2 was ISRO’s first attempt to land on any extraterrestrial surface.
• Objective:
  
  • To map the location, and abundance of lunar water.
  • demonstrate the ability to soft-land on the lunar surface and operate a robotic rover on the surface.
• Chandrayaan-2 is an integrated 3-in-1 spacecraft of around 3,877 kg comprising of an Orbiter of the Moon, Vikram (after Vikram Sarabhai) the lander and Pragyan (wisdom) the rover, all equipped with scientific instruments to study the moon.
• The Orbiter will orbit from 100 km away, while the Lander and Rover modules will separate and make a soft-landing on the surface.
• Lander (Vikram) will remain stationary after touching down, will mainly study the moon’s atmosphere. It will also look out for seismic activity.
• Rover (Pragyan): Once on the Moon, the Rover, a six-wheeled solar-powered vehicle, will detach itself and slowly crawl on the surface, making observations and collecting data.
  • It will study the composition of the surface near the lunar landing site, and determine the abundance of various elements.
• Orbiter: While the Lander and Rover are designed to work for only 14 days (1 lunar day), the Orbiter, a 2,379-kg spacecraft with seven instruments on board, would remain in orbit for a year.
  • It is equipped with different kinds of cameras to create high-resolution three-dimensional maps of the surface.
  • It will study the mineral composition on the moon and the lunar atmosphere, and also to assess the abundance of water.

• The Chandrayaan-2 mission, which was lost after it hard landed on the dark side of the Moon in 2019, remains active in the form of its orbiter hovering over the Moon.
• The Orbiter and other instruments of Chandrayaan-2 mission have, in two years, gathered a wealth of new information that has added to our knowledge about the Moon and its environment.
• The mission has given the most precise information about the presence of H2O molecules on the Moon till date
• Presence of Minor elements: Chromium, manganese and Sodium have been detected for the first time through remote sensing. The finding can lay the path for understanding magmatic evolution on the Moon and deeper insights into the nebular conditions as well as planetary differentiation
• .Information about solar flares: Scientists used the Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) onboard Chandrayaan-2 in September 2019 to study the Sun. A large number of microflares outside the active region have been observed for the first time, and according to ISRO, this “has great implications on the understanding of the mechanism behind heating of the solar corona”, which has been an open problem for many decades.
• Exploration of the permanently shadowed regions as well as craters and boulders underneath the regolith, the loose deposit comprising the top surface extending up to 3-4m in depth. This is expected to help scientists to zero in on future landing and drilling sites, including for human missions.

Which of the following have given evidence of presence of water on moon?

1. Chandrayaan 1
2. Chandrayaan 2
3. Lunar Prospector
4. Clementine

Small Satellite Launch Vehicles

The SSLV is intended to cater to a market for the launch of small satellites into low earth orbits.
● It can carry satellites weighing up to 500 kg to a low earth orbit.
● The SSLV is the smallest vehicle at 110-ton mass at ISRO.
● It will take only 72 hours to integrate. Only six people will be required to do the job.
● The cost will be only around Rs 30 crore.
● It is best suited for launching multiple microsatellites at a time and supports multiple orbital drop-offs.

The launch of small satellites has until now been dependent on ‘piggy-back’ rides with big satellite launches on ISRO’s work-horse – the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle which has had over 50 successful launches so far.

Need for?

• Launch of small satellites into low earth orbits has become significant in recent years on account of the need for developing countries, private corporations, and universities for small satellites.
• About 15 to 20 SSLVs would be required every year to meet the national demand alone.

• A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instructions per second (MIPS). Since 2017, there are supercomputers which can perform over 10¹⁷ FLOPS
• A supercomputer is not simply a fast or very large computer: it works in an entirely different way, typically using parallel processing instead of the serial processing that an ordinary computer uses. Instead of doing one thing at a time, it does many things at once.
• Supercomputers play an important role in the field of computational science, and are used for a wide range of computationally intensive tasks in various fields, including quantum mechanics, weather forecasting, climate research, oil and gas exploration, molecular modeling (computing the structures and properties of chemical compounds, biological macromolecules, polymers, and crystals), and physical simulations (such as simulations of the early moments of the universe, airplane and spacecraft aerodynamics, the detonation of nuclear weapons, and nuclear fusion). They have been essential in the field of cryptanalysis
• examples of application
  
  • IBM Blue Gene/P computer has been used to simulate a number of artificial neurons equivalent to approximately one percent of a human cerebral cortex, containing 1.6 billion neurons with approximately 9 trillion connections
  • NOAC uses supercomputers to crunch hundreds of millions of observations to help make weather forecasts more accurate
  • Supercomputers used different simulations to find compounds that could potentially stop the spread of COVID-19

• History:
  
  • India had faced difficulties in the 1980s when trying to purchase supercomputers for academic and weather forecasting purposes. USA had declined India’s offers to buy supercomputers citing threat of them being used in weapons development. As a result, in 1987, GoI decided to promote an indigenous supercomputer development programme.
  • resulted in creation of ‘CHIPPS’ by C-DOT, ‘Flosolver’ by NAL, ‘Anupam’ series by BARC etc.
  • GoI proposed to commit 2.5 billion USD to supercomputing research during the 12th FYP
• National Supercomputing Mission
• National Knowledge Network: to create a cluster of geographically-distributed high-performance computing centers linked over a high-speed network, connecting various academic and research institutions across India
• By October 2020, the first assembled in India supercomputer had been installed. The first supercomputer assembled indigenously, called Param Shivay, was installed in IIT (BHU). Similar systems Param Shakti and Param Brahma were installed at IIT-Kharagpur and IISER, Pune. They are equipped with applications from domains like Weather and Climate, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Bioinformatics, and Material science.
• As of November 2020 when ranking by number of supercomputer systems in the TOP500 list, India is ranked 63rd in the world, with the PARAM Siddhi-AI being the fastest supercomputer in India
• India has developed an indigenous server (Rudra), which can meet the High-Performance Computing (HPC) requirements of all governments and PSUs. This is the first time that a server system was made in India, along with the full software stack developed by C-DAC.
• A new dimention has now been added in India’s march towards leadership position in supercomputing with the convergence of HPC and Artificial Intelligence (AI). A 200 AI PF Artificial Intelligence supercomputing system has been created and installed in C-DAC, which can handle incredibly large-scale AI workloads increasing the speed of computing-related to AI several times. PARAM Siddhi - AI, the high-performance computing-artificial intelligence (HPC-AI) supercomputer, has achieved global ranking of 62 in TOP 500 most powerful supercomputer systems in the world

• announced in 2015, with an aim to connect national academic and R&D institutions with a grid of more than 70 high-performance computing facilities at an estimated cost of ₹4,500 crores over the period of seven years.
• It supports the government’s vision of ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives.
• While in Phase I, 30 percent value addition is done in India that has been scaled up to 40 percent in Phase II.
• being implemented and steered jointly by DST and DeitY through the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
• It is also an effort to improve the number of supercomputers owned by India.
• Under NSM, the long-term plan is to build a strong base of 20,000 skilled persons over the next five years who will be equipped to handle the complexities of supercomputers. The mission has created the next generation of supercomputer experts by training more than 4500 HPC aware manpower and faculties till date. To expand the activities of the HPC training, four NSM Nodal Centres for training in HPC and AI have been established at IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, IIT Goa and IIT Palakkad.
• evaluation:
  
  • Infrastructure planned in NSM Phase I has already been installed and much of Phase II will be getting in place soon. Phase III, initiated this year, will take the computing speed to around 45 Petaflops.
  • skewed funding for the mission during the initial years slowed down the overall pace of building supercomputers. Only 16.67 % of the total budget of Rs 4,500 crore, has been utilised until 2019 for execution of the mission.

The Objective of the NKN is to inter-connect all knowledge institutions across the country through high speed data communication network to encourage sharing of resources and collaborative research. These would cover Institutions comprising of all Universities, Institutions of Higher Learning, and Research.

salient features of the NKN are:

• Establishing an ultra high-speed national information network for the country.
• Connecting all major knowledge institutions (Universities & Research Institutions) for knowledge creation, collation and dissemination.
• Enabling sectoral virtual networks in various application areas (Agriculture, Health, Education, E-governance and Grid Computing).
• Link to Global Networks to collaborate with the research communities across the globe

Current status:

• 1745 links to Institutions have been commissioned and made operational. This includes 389 links to institutions under NMEICT, which have been migrated to NKN.
• 515 NKN links have been connected to NIC district centers across India.

● ‘Gain of function’ is a field of research focused on growing generations of microorganisms, under conditions that cause mutations in a virus.
● These experiments are termed ‘gain of function’ because they involve manipulating pathogens in a way that they gain an advantage in or through a function, such as increased transmissibility.

● There is also ‘loss-of-function’ research, which involves inactivating mutations, resulting in a significant loss of original function, or no function to the pathogen.
● Such experiments allow scientists to better predict emerging infectious diseases, and to develop vaccines and therapeutics.

How is it carried out?
Gain of function research may use genetic engineering or serial passaging.
1. Genetic engineering involves ‘editing’ the genetic code to modify the virus in a way predetermined by the scientists.
2. Serial passaging involves allowing the pathogen to grow under different circ*mstances and then observing the changes.

Issues related to the research:

1. Gain-of-function research involves manipulations that make certain pathogenic microbes more deadly or more transmissible.
2. Gain-of-function research reportedly carries inherent biosafety and biosecurity risks and is thus referred to as ‘dual-use research of concern’ (DURC).

Relevance:

● The discussion around gain of function research came back to focus recently, after a report argued that the possibility of the virus accidentally leaking out of the Wuhan Institute of Virology could not be entirely dismissed.
● While scientists had earlier ruled out the possibility of the virus being ‘genetically engineered’, a recent report said serial passaging may have led to the evolution of the virus during an ongoing gain of function research project in the Chinese city.

How is it regulated in India?
All activities related to genetically engineered organisms or cells and hazardous microorganisms and products are regulated as per the “Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms/Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells Rules, 1989”.
● In 2020, the Department of Biotechnology issued guidelines for the establishment of containment facilities, called ‘Biosafety labs’.
● The notification provides operational guidance on the containment of biohazards and levels of biosafety that all institutions involved in research, development and handling of these microorganisms must comply with.

NASA has launched its new Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD).
● It is the agency’s first-ever laser communications system.
● The LCRD will help the agency test optical communication in space.

About LCRD:
LCRD is a technology demonstration that will pave the way for future optical communications missions

Advantages of optical communications systems:
● Optical communications systems are smaller in size, weight, and require less power compared with radio instruments.
● A smaller size means more room for science instruments.
● Less weight means a less expensive launch.
● Less power means less drain on the spacecraft’s batteries.
● With optical communications supplementing radio, missions will have unparalleled communications capabilities.

Laser VS radio:
Laser communications and radio waves use different wavelengths of light.
● Laser uses infrared light and has a shorter wavelength than radio waves. This will help the transmission of more data in a short time.

● optical communications will help increase the bandwidth 10 to 100 times more than radio frequency systems?

Facial recognition is a biometric technology that uses distinctive features on the face to identify and distinguish an individual.
● AFRS works by maintaining a large database with photos and videos of peoples’ faces. Then, a new image of an unidentified person — often taken from CCTV footage — is compared to the existing database to find a match and identify the person.

● utilises Ai and neural network

Benefits of facial recognition:

1. Improves outcomes in the area of Criminal identification and verification.
2. Easy identification amongst crowds.
3. Boosts the police department’s crime investigation capabilities.
4. Helps civilian verification when needed. No one will be able to get away with a fake ID.

Recent usage in India: From March 2022, passengers will be able to use a face scan as their boarding pass at four airports in the country. Airports at Varanasi, Pune, Kolkata and Vijaywada will be the first to roll-out the facial recognition technology-based biometric boarding system, and the service will go live from March 2022. Thereafter, the technology will be scaled up in a phased manner across various airports in the country.

Concerns

1. Absence of specific laws or guidelines poses a huge threat to the fundamental rights to privacy and freedom of speech and expression because it does not satisfy the threshold the Supreme Court had set in its landmark privacy judgment in the ‘Justice K.S. Puttaswamy Vs Union of India’ case.
2. Many institutions have not conducted “privacy impact assessment” prior to deployment of the facial recognition system (FRS).
3. Function creep: A function creep happens when someone uses information for a purpose that is not the original specified purpose (Police got permission to use the FRS by an order of the Delhi High Court for tracking missing children. Now they are using it for wider security and surveillance and investigation purpose, which is a function creep).
4. This might lead to an over-policing problem or problems where certain minorities are targeted without any legal backing or any oversight as to what is happening.
5. Mass surveillance: If someone goes to a protest against the government, and the police are able to identify the person, then there might be repercussions.
6. The basis of the AFRS is a Cabinet note of 2009. But the Cabinet note is not a legal substance, it’s a procedural note at best. So it does not form a valid legal system based on which the AFRS can be built.

In 2019, PepsiCo sued some Indian farmers based in Gujarat for cultivating the FC5 potato variety, which has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips.
● Withdrawing the lawsuits the same year, the New York-based company said it wanted to settle the issue amicably.
● Later, Kavitha Kuruganti, a farmers’ rights activist, petitioned the PPVFR (Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights) Authority for revocation of intellectual protection granted to PepsiCo’s FC5 potato variety, saying that India’s rules do not allow a patent on seed varieties.

note that Section 39 of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act,2001 specifically says that a farmer is allowed to grow and sell any variety of crop or even seed as long as they don’t sell branded seed of registered varieties.

Recent development:

The PPV&FR Authority has revoked a PVP (Plant Variety Protection) certificate granted to PepsiCo India Holding (PIH) on a potato variety (FL-2027) on various grounds.
This included the following:
● The grant of the certificate of registration had been based on incorrect information furnished by the applicant.
● The certificate had been granted to a person not eligible for protection.
● The grant of the certificate of registration was not in the public interest

● Enacted by India in 2001 adopting sui generis system.
● It is in conformity with International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), 1978.
● The legislation recognizes the contributions of both commercial plant breeders and farmers in plant breeding activity and also provides to implement TRIPs in a way that supports the specific socio-economic interests of all the stakeholders including private, public sectors and research institutions, as well as resource-constrained farmers.
Objectives of the PPV & FR Act, 2001:
● To establish an effective system for the protection of plant varieties, the rights of farmers and plant breeders and to encourage the development of new varieties of plants.
● To recognize and protect the rights of farmers in respect of their contributions made at any time in conserving, improving and making available plant genetic resources for the development of new plant varieties.
● To accelerate agricultural development in the country, protect plant breeders’ rights; stimulate investment for research and development both in public & private sector for the development new of plant varieties.
● Facilitate the growth of seed industry in the country which will ensure the availability of high-quality seeds and planting material to the farmers.

Rights under the Act:

• Breeders’ Rights: Breeders will have exclusive rights to produce, sell, market, distribute, import or export the protected variety. Breeder can appoint agent/ licensee and may exercise for civil remedy in case of infringement of rights.
• Researchers’ Rights: Researcher can use any of the registered variety under the Act for conducting experiment or research. This includes the use of a variety as an initial source of variety for the purpose of developing another variety but repeated use needs prior permission of the registered breeder.
• Farmers’ Rights:
  1. A farmer who has evolved or developed a new variety is entitled for registration and protection in like manner as a breeder of a variety;
  2. Farmers variety can also be registered as an extant variety
  3. A farmer can save, use, sow, re-sow, exchange, share or sell his farm produce including seed of a variety protected under the PPV&FR Act, 2001 in the same manner as he was entitled before the coming into force of this Act provided farmer shall not be entitled to sell branded seed of a variety protected under the PPV&FR Act, 2001;

4. Farmers are eligible for recognition and rewards for the conservation of Plant Genetic Resources of land races and wild relatives of economic plants;
5. There is also a provision for compensation to the farmers for non-performance of variety under Section 39 (2) of the Act, 2001 and
6. Farmer shall not be liable to pay any fee in any proceeding before the Authority or Registrar or the Tribunal or the High Court under the Act.

A GI is primarily an agricultural, natural or a manufactured product (handicrafts and industrial goods) originating from a definite geographical territory.

● Typically, such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness, which is essentially attributable to the place of its origin.

Security:
Once the GI protection is granted, no other producer can misuse the name to market similar products. It also provides comfort to customers about the authenticity of that product.

Who is a registered proprietor of a geographical indication?
● Any association of persons, producers, organisation or authority established by or under the law can be a registered proprietor.
● Their name should be entered in the Register of Geographical Indication as registered proprietor for the Geographical Indication applied for.

How long the registration of Geographical Indication is valid?
● The registration of a geographical indication is valid for a period of 10 years.
● It can be renewed from time to time for further period of 10 years each.

In India, Geographical Indications registration is administered by the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 which came into force with effect from September 2003. The first product in India to be accorded with GI tag was Darjeeling tea in the year 2004-05.

Context:
An application seeking Geographical Indication (GI) tag for the Arunachal Pradesh Apatani textile product has been filed by a firm, Zeet Zeero Producer Company Ltd.

Apatani weave:
● The Apatani weave comes from the Apatani tribe living at Ziro, the headquarters of Lower Subansiri district.
● The woven fabric of this tribe is known for its geometric and zigzag patterns and for its angular designs.
● The tribe predominantly weaves shawls known as jig-jiro, and jilan or jackets called supuntarii.
● The people use leaves and plant resources for organic dyeing of the cotton yarns in their traditional ways. And only women folk are engaged in weaving.

1. No one can manufacture or sell any food products or food ingredients derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) without prior approval.
2. Specifies norms that labs will need to adhere for testing GM foods.
3. The proposed regulations will apply to “Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) or Genetically Engineered Organisms (GEOs) or Living Modified Organism (LMOs) intended for direct use as food or for processing.”
4. The regulations’ ambit will include food products that may have been made using food ingredients or processing aid derived from GMOs, even if GM content is not present in the end-product.
5. Genetically Modified Organisms or Genetically Engineered Organisms “shall not be used as an ingredient” in infant food products.
6. The draft also proposes labeling norms for food products that contain one per cent or more than one percent of GMO content.

Issue:

The Draft proposed that all food products having individual genetically engineered ingredients of 1% or more will be labeled as “Contains GMO/ingredients derived from GMO”. Activists claimed this as a tacit approval to import of GM food instead of prohibiting them.

An Annual Phenomenon.

● The debris that forms this meteor shower originates from a small comet called 55P/Tempel-Tuttle in the constellation Leo, which takes 33 years to orbit the sun.
● The Leonids are considered to be a major shower that features the fastest meteors, which typically travel at speeds of 71 km per second

Meteor Shower vs Storm:
Every 33 years, a Leonid shower turns into a meteor storm, which is when hundreds to thousands of meteors can be seen every hour.
● A meteor storm should have at least 1,000 meteors per hour. In 1966, a Leonid storm offered views of thousands of meteors that fell through the Earth’s atmosphere per minute during a period of 15 minutes.
● The last such storm took place in2002.

• India is a member of the World Trade Organisation and committed to the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS Agreement).
• India is also a member of World Intellectual Property Organization, a body responsible for the promotion of the protection of intellectual property rights throughout the world.
• India is also a member of the following important WIPO-administered International Treaties and Conventions relating to IPRs.
  • Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure
  • Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
  • Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization
  • Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
  • Patent Cooperation Treaty
  • Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks- Madrid Protocol
  • Washington Treaty on Intellectual Property in respect of Integrated Circuits
  • Nairobi Treaty on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol
  • Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms
  • Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities.

• The National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy 2016 was adopted in May 2016 as a vision document to guide future development of IPRs in the country.
• It’s clarion call is “Creative India; Innovative India”.
• It encompasses and brings to a single platform all IPRs, taking into account all inter-linkages and thus aims to create and exploit synergies between all forms of intellectual property (IP), concerned statutes and agencies.
• It sets in place an institutional mechanism for implementation, monitoring and review. It aims to incorporate and adapt global best practices to the Indian scenario.
• Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, has been appointed as the nodal department to coordinate, guide and oversee the implementation and future development of IPRs in India.
• The ‘Cell for IPR Promotion & Management (CIPAM)’, setup under the aegis of DIPP, is to be the single point of reference for implementation of the objectives of the National IPR Policy.
• India’s IPR regime is in compliance with the WTO’s agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

Objectives

• IPR Awareness: Outreach and Promotion - To create public awareness about the economic, social and cultural benefits of IPRs among all sections of society.
• Generation of IPRs - To stimulate the generation of IPRs.
• Legal and Legislative Framework - To have strong and effective IPR laws, which balance the interests of rights owners with larger public interest.
• Administration and Management - To modernize and strengthen service-oriented IPR administration.
• Commercialization of IPRs - Get value for IPRs through commercialization.
• Enforcement and Adjudication - To strengthen the enforcement and adjudicatory mechanisms for combating IPR infringements.
• Human Capital Development - To strengthen and expand human resources, institutions and capacities for teaching, training, research and skill building in IPRs.

Achievements under new IPR policy

• Improvement in GII Ranking: India’s rank in the Global Innovation Index (GII) issued by WIPO has improved from 81st in 2015 to 52nd place in 2019.
• Strengthening of institutional mechanism regarding IP protection and promotion.
• Clearing Backlog/ Reducing Pendency in IP applications: Augmentation of technical manpower by the government, has resulted in drastic reduction in pendency in IP applications.
  • Automatic issuance of electronically generated patent and trademark certificates has also been introduced.
• Increase in Patent and trademark Filings: Patent filings have increased by nearly 7% in the first 8 months of 2018-19 vis-à-vis the corresponding period of 2017-18. Trademark filings have increased by nearly 28% in this duration.
• IP Process Re-engineering Patent Rules, 2003 have been amended to streamline processes and make them more user friendly. Revamped Trade Marks Rules have been notified in 2017.
• Creating IPR Awareness: IPR Awareness programs have been conducted in academic institutions, including rural schools through satellite communication, and for industry, police, customs and judiciary.
• Technology and Innovation Support Centres (TISCs): In conjunction with WIPO, TISCs have been established in various institutions across different states.

• Section 3(d) of the Indian Patent Act 1970 (as amended in 2005) does not allow patent to be granted to inventions involving new forms of a known substance unless it differs significantly in properties with regard to efficacy.
  • This means that the Indian Patent Act does not allow evergreening of patents.
  • This has been a cause of concern to the pharma companies. Section 3(d) was instrumental in the Indian Patent Office (IPO) rejecting the patent for Novartis’ drug Glivec (imatinib mesylate).
• Issue of Compulsory licencing (CL): CL is problematic for foreign investors who bring technology as they are concerned about the misuse of CL to replicate their products. It has been impacting India-EU FTA negotiations.
  • CL is the grant of permission by the government to entities to use, manufacture, import or sell a patented invention without the patent-owner’s consent. Patents Act in India deals with CL.
  • CL is permitted under the WTO’s TRIPS (IPR) Agreement provided conditions such as ‘national emergencies, other circ*mstances of extreme urgency and anti-competitive practices’ are fulfilled.
• India continues to remain on the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR’s) ‘Priority Watch List’ for alleged violations of intellectual property rights (IPR).
  • In its latest Special 301 report released by the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the US termed India as “one of the world’s most challenging major economies” with respect to protection and enforcement of IP.
• Data Exclusivity: Foreign investors and MNCs allege that Indian law does not protect against unfair commercial use of test data or other data submitted to the government during the application for market approval of pharmaceutical or agro-chemical products. For this they demand a Data Exclusivity law.
• Enforcement of the Copyright act is weak, and piracy of copyrighted materials is widespread.

Zeolites are highly porous, 3-D meshes of silica and alumina. In nature, they occur where volcanic outflows have met water. Synthetic zeolites have proven to be a big and low-cost boon.

One biomedical device that has entered our lexicon during the pandemic is the oxygen concentrator. This device has brought down the scale of oxygen purification from industrial-size plants to the volumes needed for a single person. The chemistry here is tailored to the task of separating oxygen from nitrogen in air.

T/F:

1. GM seed companies must mandatorily obtain permission from Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee for conducting field trials of GM crops in India.
2. GM Cotton is the only GM crop which was given permission for field trial and commercial cultivation in India.

1. F; Though the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee is the apex regulator of GM crops, it is mandated that trials of GM crops obtain permission from States.
2. F; It was the only GM crop to have received permission for commercial cultivation but ~20 crops have been given permission for field trials in India.

B

Norovirus, which infects people across age groups, is a bug similar to the diarrhoea-inducing rotavirus. Disease outbreaks typically occur aboard cruise ships, in nursing homes, dormitories, and other closed spaces.
The initial symptoms of Norovirus are vomiting and/or diarrhoea, which show up one or two days after exposure to the virus.
Norovirus is highly contagious, and can be transmitted through contaminated food, water, and surfaces. The primary route is oral-faecal. One may get infected multiple times as the virus has different strains. Norovirus is resistant to many disinfectants and heat up to 60°C. Therefore, merely steaming food or chlorinating water does not kill the virus. The virus can also survive many common hand sanitisers.
It is the most common pathogen implicated in outbreaks of gastrointestinal disease (inflammation of the stomach and intestines), according to the World Health Organization.

● ASF is a highly contagious and fatal animal disease that infects domestic and wild pigs, typically resulting in an acute form of hemorrhagic fever.
● It was first detected in Africa in the 1920s.
● The mortality is close to 100 per cent, and since the fever has no cure, the only way to stop it spreading is by culling the animals.
● As of now, there is no approved vaccine, which is also a reason why animals are culled to prevent the
spread of infection.

Recent Context: African Swine Fever (ASF) is spreading widely in Vietnam and is hurting the local farming industry, forcing the culling of three times the number of hogs culled last year.

African Swine fever vs Classical Swine Fever

African swine fever (ASF) and classical swine fever (CSF) are highly contagious viral diseases of pigs. They are clinically similar, and cannot be definitively distinguished from each other in the field. Laboratory testing is required to confirm a diagnosis. Although the diseases appear similar, they are caused by completely unrelated viruses.

Both ASF and CSF affect pigs only, and do not infect humans and other livestock.

Quantum communication is one of the safest ways of connecting two places with high levels of code and quantum cryptography that cannot be decrypted or broken by an external entity.
● If a hacker tries to crack the message in quantum
communication, it changes its form in such a manner that would alert the sender and would cause the message to be altered or deleted.

Typical encryption relies on traditional mathematics and while for now it is more or less adequate and safe from hacking, the development of quantum computing threatens that.
● Quantum computing refers to a new era of faster and more powerful computers, and the theory goes that they would be able to break current levels of encryption.
● QKD works by using photons — the particles which transmit light — to transfer data.
● QKD allows two distant users, who do not share a long secret key initially, to produce a common, random string of secret bits, called a secret key.
● Using the one-time pad encryption this key is proven to be secure to encrypt and decrypt a message, which can then be transmitted over a standard communication channel.

Significance of this technology:
● The encryption is “unbreakable” and that’s mainly because of the way data is carried via the photon. A photon cannot be perfectly copied and any attempt to measure it will disturb it. This means that a person trying to intercept the data will leave a trace.
● The implications could be huge for cybersecurity, making businesses safer, but also making it more difficult for governments to hack into communication

Recent Context:

In a major step forward towards satellite-based quantum communication, scientists from Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre and Physical Research Laboratory successfully demonstrated quantum entanglement.
● Using real-time Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), they conducted hack-proof communication between two places separated by 300 meters.

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a secure communication method for exchanging encryption keys only known between shared parties. The communication method uses properties found in quantum physics to exchange cryptographic keys in such a way that is provable and guarantees security.
● The technology enables two communicating sides to come up with random secret keys shared by both of them and known exclusively to them, so only they can use it to encrypt and decrypt messages, thus achieving a very highly-secure communication.

How it works?
● QKD works by transmitting millions of polarized light particles (photons) over a fiber optic cable from one entity to another.
● Each photon has a random quantum state, and collectively all the photons create a bit stream of ones and zeros.
● When a photon reaches its receiving end, it’ll travel through a beam splitter, which forces the photon
to randomly take one path or another into a photon collector.
● The receiver will then respond to the original sender with data regarding the sequence of the photons sent, and the sender will then compare that with the emitter, which would have sent each photon.
● Photons in the wrong beam collector are discarded, and what’s left is a specific sequence of bits. This bit
sequence can then be used as a key to encrypt data.

What makes QKD unbreakable?
The security of QKD stems from the ability to detect any intrusion on the QKD transmission. Because of the unique and fragile properties of photons, any third party (or eavesdropper) who tries to read or copy the photons in any way will change the photons’ state.
● The change will be detected by the endpoints, alerting them that the key has been tampered with and must be discarded.
● A new key is then transmitted. Moreover, since the keys generated are truly random, they are protected from future hacking attempts.

Rather than traveling through underground cables, satellite internet is internet service that’s beamed from satellites in orbit. A dish receiver mounted near your home (usually on your roof) picks up the signal and sends it to your modem to be translated into a usable internet connection.

The best part about satellite internet is its availability. Since the signal comes from space, it can be picked up anywhere , provided you have a clear view of the sky. This makes satellite internet an ideal choice—and often the only choice—for people in rural areas that lack cable or fiber access.

eg. OneWeb, Starlink; recently Jio has formed a joint-venture with Luxembourg-based SES to deliver satellite broadband services across India.

Satellite internet suffers from higher latency than other types of connections, like cable or fiber, because it has a longer distance to travel (all the way from space). This shows up for you as a slight delay between performing an action and seeing the result.

This usually isn’t super noticeable, but one area that it can be an issue is with online gaming

Satellite internet pricing tends to be higher than other types of service for a given speed

Satellite internet tends to be the best choice in two specific scenarios: you live in a rural area, or you want an internet connection with you while you travel.

An NFT is a unique, irreplaceable token that can be used to prove ownership of digital assets such as music, artwork, even tweets and memes.
Anything that can be converted into a digital form can be an NFT.
● Everything from your drawings, photos, videos, GIF, music, in-game items, selfies, and even a tweet can be turned into an NFT, which can then be traded online using cryptocurrency.

What makes NFTs unique from other digital forms is that It is backed by Blockchain technology.
● NFT transactions are recorded on blockchains, which is a digital public ledger, with most NFTs being a part of the Ethereum blockchain.

How do NFTs work?
NFT works on blockchain as it gives users complete ownership of a digital asset.
● For instance, if you’re a sketch artist, and if you convert your digital asset to an NFT, what you get is proof of ownership, powered by Blockchain.

Differences between NFT and Cryptocurrency:
Cryptocurrency is a currency and is fungible, meaning that it is interchangeable.
● For instance, if you hold one crypto token, say one Ethereum, the next Ethereum that you hold will also be of the same value. But NFTs are non-fungible, that means the value of one NFT is not equal to another. Every art is different from other, making it non fungible, and unique

Satish Dhawan Space Centre - SDSC (formerly Sriharikota Range - SHAR) is a rocket launch centre (spaceport) operated by ISRO. It is located in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. Sriharikota Range was renamed in 2002 after ISRO’s former chairman Satish Dhawan.

Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) is located in Sriharikota, a spindle-shaped barrier island on the east coast of Andhra Pradesh. Features like a good launch azimuth corridor for various missions, nearness to the equator (benefiting eastward launches), and large uninhabited area for a safety zone make it an ideal spaceport

Prior to its acquisition for ISRO by the Government of India, it was a firewood plantation of Eucalyptus and Casuarina trees. This island is affected by both south-westerly and north-easterly monsoons, but heavy rains come only in October and November. Thus many clear days are available for out-door static tests and launchings

SHAR is linked to Sullurupeta by a road across Pulicat Lake.

First flight-test of ‘Rohini-125’, a small sounding rocket which took place on 9 October 1971 was the first rocket launch from SHAR.

The SHAR facility now consists of two launch pads, with the second built in 2005. The second launch pad was used for launches beginning in 2005 and is a universal launch pad, accommodating all of the launch vehicles used by ISRO. The two launch pads will allow multiple launches in a single year, which was not possible earlier.

Earth observation satellites are the satellites equipped with remote sensing technology.

eg. RESOURCESAT- 2, 2A, CARTOSAT-1, 2, 2A, 2B, RISAT-1 and 2, OCEANSAT-2, Megha-Tropiques, SARAL and SCATSAT-1, INSAT-3DR, 3D, etc.

It was lost during a failed launch in Aug 2021

• It was capable of imaging the entire country four to five times every day.
• It was riding on a GSLV rocket (GSLV-F10), which has a new payload carrier designed to significantly reduce aerodynamic drag and thus carry larger payloads.
• The rocket was supposed to deposit the satellite in the geostationary transfer orbit, from where the satellite’s onboard propulsion system will guide it to a geostationary orbit, 36,000 km from earth’s surface.
• EOS-03, part of the new generation of earth-observation satellites, was meant to provide almost real-time images of large parts of the country.
  • The images could be used for monitoring natural disasters likefloodsand cyclones, water bodies, crops, vegetation and forest cover.
• EOS-03 was being sent ahead of EOS-02 which has been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• EOS-01:
  
  • In November 2020, ISRO had launched EOS-01, the first in the series of new earth observation satellites that bear a new generic naming system.
    • It was launched by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the third generation launch vehicle of India.
  • It is intended for applications in agriculture, forestry and disaster management support.
• EOS-04
  
  • successfully launched onboard a PSLV in Feb 2022
  • EOS-04 is a radar imaging satellite capable of providing high-quality images under all weather conditions

1. SLV
2. ASLV
3. PSLV
4. GSLV
5. SSLV
6. Reusable Rockets

• The first rocket developed by ISRO was simply called SLV, or Satellite Launch Vehicle.
• SLV and ASLV both could carry small satellites, weighing up to 150 kg, to lower earth orbits.

Augmented SLV

• SLV and ASLV both could carry small satellites, weighing up to 150 kg, to lower earth orbits.
• ASLV operated till the early 1990s before PSLV came on the scene.

• PSLV’s first launch was in 1994, and it has been ISRO’s main rocket ever since. Today’s PSLV, however, is vastly improved and several times more powerful than the ones used in the 1990s.
  
  • It is the first Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages.
• PSLV is the most reliable rocket used by ISRO till date, with 52 of its 54 flights being successful.
  
  • It successfully launched two spacecraft – Chandrayaan-1in 2008 and Mars Orbiter Spacecraftin 2013 – that later traveled to Moon and Mars respectively.

• GSLV is a much more powerful rocket, meant to carry heavier satellites much deeper into space. Till date, GSLV rockets have carried out 18 missions, of which four ended in failure.
• It can take 10,000-kg satellites to lower earth orbits.
• The indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS), forms the third stage of GSLV Mk II.
• Mk-III versions have made ISRO entirely self-sufficient for launching its satellites.
  
  • Before this, it used to depend on the European Arianne launch vehicle to take its heavier satellites into space.
• ISRO currently uses two launch vehicles – PSLV and GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle), but there are lots of different variants of these.

• SSLV is targeted at rising global demand for the launch of small and micro-satellites.
• SSLV is meant to offer cost-effective launch services for satellites up to 500 kg.
• It is supposed to carry an indigenous earth observation satellite EOS-03 into space.

• The future rockets are meant to be reusable. Only a small part of the rocket would be destroyed during the mission.
• The bulk of it would re-enter the earth’s atmosphere and land very much like an airplane, and can be used in future missions.
• Reusable rockets would cut down on costs and energy, and also reduce space debris, which is becoming a serious problem because of the large number of launches.
• Fully-reusable rockets are still to be developed, but partially-reusable launch vehicles are already in use.
• ISRO has also developed a reusable rocket, called RLV-TD (Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator) which has had a successful test flight in 2016.