Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 12 September 2019 launched 'Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana' (an ambitious pension scheme) for farmers from Ranchi. PM said, 'this scheme will connect Jharkhand with India & the world.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21456-pradhan-mantri-kisan-maan-dhan-yojana
#PradhanMantri #KisanMaanDhanYojana #NarendraModi #LIC #PMKMDY

Second 'Netra' for IAF
The Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) handed over the second airborne warning plane, Netra, to the Indian Air Force on 11 September 2019.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21455-second-netra-for-iaf
#Netra #IAF #DRDO #AEWC #aircraft #MarshalRaghunath #AirCommand

Water discovered for first time in habitable exoplanet
Water has been discovered for the first time in the atmosphere of an exoplanet with Earth-like temperatures that could support life as we know it, scientists revealed.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21454-water-discovered-for-first-time-in-habitable-exoplanet
#Water #habitable #NASA #ARIEL #gas #atmosphere #Earth

Anti-tank missile successfully test-fires
The indigenously-developed Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) was successfully tested by the Defence Research Development Organization in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21453-anti-tank-missile-successfully-test-fires
#Antitank #missile #MPATGM #Israeli #DRDO #AndhraPradesh

India jumps in world tourism index
India clocked the biggest improvement among the top performers in global tourism, jumping from 40th in 2017 to 34th in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019 published by the World Economic Forum.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21452-india-jumps-in-world-tourism-index
#India #tourismindex #WorldEconomicForum #GDP #UAE #WEF

First woman athlete for Padma Vibhushan
The Indian Sports Ministry sent the list of recommendations for this year’s Padma Awards, naming six-time world champion MC Mary Kom for Padma Vibhushan and ace shuttler PV Sindhu for Padma Bhushan.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21451-first-woman-athlete-for-padma-vibhushan
#MaryKom #PadmaVibhushan #BWF #BharatRatna #woman #athlete

China launched three new satellites
China successfully launched three satellites, including a resource satellite, on 12 September 2019 into planned orbits which will help in disaster prevention, urban construction and monitor polar regions and global climate change.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21450-china-launched-three-new-satellites
#China #satellites #CAST #BNU1 #orbits #CarrierRocket #TSLC

Today's Headlines - 03 August 2023
ISRO rocket debris on Australian shore
GS Paper - 3 (Space Technology)

A large object found on the shores of western Australia a couple of weeks ago has been confirmed to be the debris of an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) rocket, the Australian Space Agency said. ISRO has agreed with the assessment, saying the debris could be from one of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rockets. The ISRO said the agency was still to decide on the future course of action.

Are such incidents normal?

Junk from space objects falling to the earth are not unheard of. Most such incidents involve relatively small fragments from rockets that survive the friction of the atmosphere.
These usually do not make big news, also most of the time the space junk falls into oceans thus posing little danger to human populations.
But there have been a few highly publicised falls as well. In recent times, a large chunk of a 25-tonne Chinese rocket fell into the Indian Ocean in May 2021.
The most famous such case remains that of the Skylab space station, a predecessor to the currently operational International Space Station, which disintegrated in 1979.
Large chunks from this disintegration fell into the Indian Ocean, some of them falling on land in Western Australia.

Isn’t it dangerous?

The threat to life and property from falling space junk is not negligible. Even when falling into the oceans, which is more likely since 70 per cent of the earth’s surface is ocean, large objects can be a threat to marine life, and a source of pollution.
However, there are no recorded incidents of these falling objects causing any appreciable damage anywhere on the earth. When they have dropped over land, so far, it has been over uninhabited areas.

What happens if these objects cause damage?

There are international regulations governing space debris, which include junk falling back on the earth.
Most space-faring countries are signatories to the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects.
This convention is one of the several international agreements that complement the Outer Space Treaty, the overarching framework guiding the behaviour of countries in space.
The Liability Convention deals mainly with damage caused by space objects to other space assets, but it also applies to damage caused by falling objects on earth.
The Convention makes the launching country “absolutely liable” to pay compensation for any damage caused by its space object on the earth or to a flight in air. The country where the junk falls can stake a claim for compensation if it has been damaged by the falling object.
In the current case, if the PSLV junk had caused any damage in Australia, India could have been liable to pay compensation, even if the object fell into the ocean and was then swept to the shores.
The amount of compensation is to be decided “in accordance with international law and the principles of justice and equity”.
This provision of the Convention has resulted in compensation payment only once so far — when Canada sought damages from the then Soviet Union, for a satellite with radioactive substance that fell into an uninhabited region in its northern territory in 1978. The Soviet Union is reported to have paid 3 million Canadian dollars.

#upsc #news #headline #ISRO #rocket #australian #space #technology #PSLV #satelite #launch #Vehicle #atmosphere #Indian #ocean #western #marine #earth #damage #countries #liability #canada #soviet #canadian #dollars #territory #shores #satellite

Today's Headlines - 25 August 2023
Experiments after Chandrayaan-3’s landing
GS Paper - 3 (Space Technology)

After rolling down a ramp from the Chandrayaan-3 lander, the six-wheel, 26-kg rover, which is capable of slowly moving up to 500 metres, began its job of lunar exploration. The landing happened at lunar dawn, and the six payloads on board the lander and rover was started collecting data soon after to get as much science as possible in the single lunar day or 14 Earth days for which they will remain operable.

Mission experiments

The lander has four experiments on board.

The Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA) will study the electrons and ions near the surface of the moon and how they change over time.
The Chandra’s Surface Thermo physical Experiment (ChaSTE) will study the thermal properties of the lunar surface near the polar region. Chandrayaan-3 has landed around 70 degree south latitude, the closest that any spacecraft has reached to the lunar South Pole.
The Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) will measure the lunar quakes near the landing site and study the composition of the Moon’s crust and mantle.
The LASER Retroreflector Array (LRA) is a passive experiment sent by NASA that acts as a target for lasers for very accurate measurements for future missions.
There are two scientific experiments on the rover

The LASER Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) will determine the chemical and mineral composition of the lunar surface.
The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) will determine the composition of elements such as magnesium, aluminium, silicon, potassium, calcium, titanium, and iron in the lunar soil and rocks.
Discovery of water

The southern polar region of the Moon is known to have deep craters that remain in permanent darkness, with a high likelihood of having water-ice.
Perhaps the most important discovery made by instruments on board Chandrayaan-1 was the discovery of water and hydroxyl (OH) molecules in the Moon’s thin atmosphere (exosphere) as well as on the lunar surface.
India’s Moon Impact Probe (MIP) — a payload that was deliberately crashed on the lunar surface near the South Pole — helped study the concentration of water and hydroxyl molecules in the lunar atmosphere.
Another payload called mini-SAR helped detect the subsurface deposits of water-ice in the permanently shadowed regions within the craters near the South Pole.
A third payload developed by NASA called Moon Mineralogy Mapper or M3 also helped detect these molecules on the surface of the Moon.
Chandrayaan-2, which was designed to further study the water on the Moon, helped in separately identifying the water and the hydroxyl molecules, and mapping water features across the Moon for the first time.

#upsc #news #headline #experiments #chandrayaan #landing #spacetechnology #exploration #lunardawn #missionexperiments #board #radio #anatomy #hypersensitive #atmosphere #RAMBHA #electrons #ChaSTE #latitude #southpole #ILSA #landingsite #LRA #NASA #LIBS #magnesium #aluminium #silicon #potassium #calcium #titanium #iron #lunarsoil #OH #MIP #miniSAR

Today's Headlines - 01 September 2023
Super Blue Moon of Raksha Bandhan
GS Paper - 3 (Science and Technology)

The Raksha Bandhan full moon on 30-31 August was unusual: it was both a “blue moon” and a “super moon” and therefore, a “Super Blue Moon”, a rare trifecta of astronomical events.

What is a supermoon?

The orbit of the moon around the earth is not circular; it is elliptical, that is, an elongated or stretched-out circle. It takes the moon 27.3 days to orbit the earth.
It is 29.5 days from new moon to new moon, though. This is because while the moon is orbiting the earth, both the earth and the moon are also moving around the sun — and it takes additional time for the sun to light up the moon in the same way as it does at the beginning of every revolution around the earth.
The new moon is the opposite of the full moon — it is the darkest part of the moon’s invisible phase, when its illuminated side is facing away from the earth.
The point closest to earth in the moon’s elliptical orbit is called perigee, and the point that is farthest is called apogee.
A super moon happens when the moon is passing through or is close to its perigee, and is also a full moon. (This happens with a new moon as well, just that it is not visible.
A full moon occurs when the moon is directly opposite the sun (as seen from earth), and therefore, has its entire day side lit up. The full moon appears as a brilliant circle in the sky that rises around sunset and sets around sunrise. The moon appears ‘full’ not just on Purnima, but also on the night before and after the full moon night.
What is a blue moon?

Though the expression “once in a blue moon” implies a rare or unusual occurrence, a blue moon is not that rare an astronomical phenomenon.
There are a couple of definitions of a blue moon, but the one that is most commonly understood — and is endorsed by NASA — describes the situation when a full moon is seen twice in a single month.
Because the new moon to new moon cycle lasts 29.5 days, a time comes when the full moon occurs at the beginning of a month, and there are days left still for another full cycle to be completed.
Such a month, in which the full moon is seen on the 1st or 2nd, will have a second full moon on the 30th or 31st. According to NASA, this happens every two or three years.
The first full moon of August 2023 occurred on 1 August. That was also a super moon, but the super moon of 30-31 August will be bigger because the moon is now closer to the perigee.
Will the moon actually appear blue?

No. Sometimes, smoke or dust in the air can scatter red wavelengths of light, as a result of which the moon may, in certain places, appear more blue than usual. But this has nothing to do with the name “blue” moon.
Speaking of colours, you may have noticed that the moon appears more yellow/ orange when it is lower in the sky (closer to the horizon).
This is because moonlight travels for longer through the atmosphere at this stage, and along the way, more of the shorter, bluer wavelengths of light are scattered, leaving more of the longer, redder wavelengths.
NASA points out that dust or pollution can end up deepening the reddish colour of the moon.

#upsc #news #headline #superbluemoon #rakshabandhan #science #technology #fullmoon #supermoon #trifecta #astronomicalevents #orbit #earth #newmoon #ellipticalorbit #apogee #purnima #phenomenon #air #wavelength #yellow #orange #atmosphere #NASA #dust #pollution #reddishcolour