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Subject: Basic Sciences

  • Arms Race towards Hypersonic Weapons

    China recently tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile while Russia announced that it had successfully test-launched a Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile in early October.

    What are Hypersonic Weapons?

    • The speed of sound is Mach 1, and speeds upto Mach 5 are supersonic and speeds above Mach 5 are hypersonic.
    • They are manoeuvrable weapons that can fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, five times the speed of sound.
    • A number of other countries – including Australia, India, France, Germany, and Japan—are developing hypersonic weapons technology.

    Features of HSWs

    • Trajectory: Ballistic Missiles are long-range missile that leaves the earth’s atmosphere before re-entry, pursuing a parabolic trajectory towards its target
    • Maneuverability: HSW travel within the atmosphere and can manoeuvre midway which combined with their high speeds make their detection and interception extremely difficult.
    • Stealth: Radars and air defences cannot intercept them till they are very close. They can penetrate most missile defences and further compress the timelines for response by a nation under attack.

    Types of Hypersonic Weapons

    There are two classes of hypersonic weapons:

    1. Hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV): They are launched from a rocket before gliding to a target.
    2. Hypersonic cruise missiles (HCM): They are powered by high-speed, air-breathing engines, or scramjets, after acquiring their target.

    Where does the US stand?

    • The US has active hypersonic development programs.
    • It is said to be lagging behind China and Russia because most US hypersonic weapons are not being designed for use with a nuclear warhead.
    • It is in process of developing prototypes to assist in the evaluation of potential weapon system concepts and mission sets.

    Hypersonic program in India

    • HSTDV program: India is developing an indigenous, dual-capable hypersonic cruise missile as part of its Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) program.
    • Capacity: India operates approximately 12 hypersonic wind tunnels and is capable of testing speeds of up to Mach 13.
    • In-operation: The DRDO has successfully tested a Mach 6 scramjet in June 2019 and September 2020 using the demonstrated scramjet engine technology.

    DRDO has validated many associated crucial technologies such as:

    1. Aerodynamic configuration for hypersonic maneuvers
    2. Use of scramjet propulsion for ignition and sustained combustion at the hypersonic flow
    3. Thermo-structural characterization of high-temperature materials
    4. Separation mechanism at hypersonic velocities has been validated

    Conclusion

    • There are rising tensions between the US, China and Russia worsening the geopolitical situation worldwide.
    • The focus for hypersonic weapons is only set to accelerate more countries to invest significant resources in their design and development.

    Back2Basics:

     

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  • Dhawan-1: India’s first privately developed Cryogenic Rocket

    Skyroot Aerospace successfully tested Dhawan-1 last month. It became the country’s first privately developed fully cryogenic rocket engine.

    Dhawan-1

    • The indigenous engine was developed using 3D printing with a superalloy.
    • It runs on two high-performance rocket propellants — liquid natural gas (LNG) and liquid oxygen (LoX).
    • This was after successfully designing and developing the solid propulsion rocket engine, the first private firm in the country to do so.

    Other projects by Skyroot

    • Skyroot is working simultaneously on different stages of both solid propulsion and liquid propulsion engines.
    • It is named after eminent scientists, like Kalam (Abdul Kalam) series for the former and Dhawan (Satish Dhawan).
    • The launch vehicles are named after Vikram Sarabhai.

     

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  • Ericsson Mobility Report on 5G Subscriptions

    India 5G subscriptions are set to reach 500 mn by 2027, said Ericsson in its report.

    Ericsson Mobility Report

    • The report has added that the total number of smartphone subscriptions is expected to be 810 million at the end of 2021.
    • It is projected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 7%, exceeding 1.2 billion by 2027.

    5G penetration in India

    • 5G telecom services are likely to account for 39% of mobile subscriptions or about 500 million subscriptions in India at the end of 2027.
    • 4G is expected to remain the dominant technology in India in 2027.
    • 4G subscriptions are expected to reduce from 68% of mobile subscriptions in 2021 to 55% in 2027 as subscribers migrate to 5G.
    • However, 4G subscriptions are forecast to drop from 790 million in 2021 to 710 million in 2027, showing an annual average decline of 2%.

    Back2Basics: 5G Technology

    • 5G or fifth generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks.
    • It mainly works in 3 bands, namely low, mid and high-frequency spectrum — all of which have their own uses as well as limitations.

    Three bands of 5G

    • The low band spectrum has shown great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet and data exchange, the maximum speed is limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
    • This means that while telcos can use and install it for commercial cellphones users who may not have specific demands for very high-speed internet, the low band spectrum may not be optimal for specialised needs of the industry.
    • The mid-band spectrum, on the other hand, offers higher speeds compared to the low band but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals.
    • Telcos and companies, which have taken the lead on 5G, have indicated that this band may be used by industries and specialized factory units for building captive networks that can be molded into the needs of that particular industry.
    • The high-band spectrum offers the highest speed of all the three bands, but has extremely limited coverage and signal penetration strength.
    • Internet speeds in the high-band spectrum of 5G have been tested to be as high as 20 Gbps (gigabits per second), while, in most cases, the maximum internet data speed in 4G has been recorded at 1 Gbps.

     

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  • Cryptocurrencies regulation across the World

    The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 was listed for introduction in Parliament’s Winter Session.

    About the Bill

    • The bill aims to create a facilitative framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India”.
    • It seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses.

    How are cryptocurrencies regulated in countries around the world?

    The stance of countries and regulators has ranged from:

    1. A total ban on these financial assets Ex. China
    2. Allowing them to operate with some regulations
    3. Allowing virtual currency trading in the absence of any guidelines Ex. El Salvador
    • Governments and regulators remain divided on how to categorize it as a currency or asset — and how to control it from an operational point of view.
    • The evolution of the policy and regulatory response has been uncharacteristically discordant, with no apparent coordination in the responses of countries.

    Among the countries that haven’t issued detailed regulations, there are those that have recognized and defined these currencies.

    [A] CANADA

    • It defines virtual currency  under its Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Regulations, as:

    (a) a digital representation of value that can be used for payment or investment purposes that is not a fiat currency and that can be readily exchanged for funds or for another virtual currency that can be readily exchanged for funds; or

    (b) a private key of a cryptographic system that enables a person or entity to have access to a digital representation of value referred to in paragraph (a).

    • The Canada Revenue Authority (CRA) generally treats cryptocurrency as a commodity for purposes of the country’s Income Tax Act.

    [B] ISRAEL

    • Israel in its Supervision of Financial Services Law includes virtual currencies in the definition of financial assets.
    • The Israeli securities regulator has ruled that cryptocurrency is a security subject, while the Israel Tax Authority defines cryptocurrency as an asset and demands 25% on capital gains.

    [C] GERMANY

    • In Germany, the Financial Supervisory Authority qualifies virtual currencies as “units of account” and therefore, “financial instruments”.
    • It considers Bitcoin to be a crypto token given that it does not fulfill typical functions of a currency.
    • However, citizens and legal entities can buy or trade crypto assets as long as they do it through exchanges and custodians licensed with the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority.

    [D] UNITED KINGDOM

    • In the UK, Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, do not consider crypto assets to be currency or money.
    • It further notes that cryptocurrencies have a unique identity and cannot, therefore, be directly compared to any other form of investment activity or payment mechanism.

    [E] UNITED STATES

    • In US different states have different definitions and regulations for cryptocurrencies.
    • While the federal government does not recognize cryptocurrencies as legal tender, definitions issued by the states recognize the decentralized nature of virtual currencies.

    [F] THAILAND

    • In Thailand, digital asset businesses are required to apply for a license, monitor for unfair trading practices, and are considered “financial institutions” for anti-money laundering purposes.

    Conclusion

    • While most of these countries do not recognize cryptocurrencies as legal tender, they do recognize the value these digital units represent.
    • Almost all countries consider their functions as either a medium of exchange, unit of account, or a store of value (any asset that would normally retain purchasing power into the future).
    • Like India, several other countries have moved to launch a digital currency backed by their central bank.

     

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  • Shale and its potential in India

    Cairn Oil & Gas has announced that it is partnering US-based Halliburton to start shale exploration in the Lower Barmer Hill formation, Western Rajasthan.

    What is Shale oil?

    • Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution.
    • These processes convert the organic matter within the rock (kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas.
    • The refined products can be used for the same purposes as those derived from crude oil.

     How does it differ from conventional crude oil?

    • The key difference between shale oil and conventional crude is that the former, also called ‘tight oil’, is found in smaller batches, and deeper than conventional crude deposits.
    • Its extraction requires creation of fractures in oil and gas rich shale to release hydrocarbons through a process called hydraulic fracking.

    What is fracking?

    • Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside.
    • Water, sand and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well.
    • The process can be carried out vertically or, more commonly, by drilling horizontally to the rock layer, which can create new pathways to release gas or used to extend existing channels.
    • The term fracking refers to how the rock is fractured apart by the high-pressure mixture.

    Shale production in the world

    • Russia and the US are among the largest shale oil producers in the world.
    • With a surge in shale oil production in the US, it has played a key role in turning the country from an importer of crude to a net exporter in 2019.

    Shale reserves in India

    • As per the US EIA 2015 report, India has got technically recoverable shale gas of 96 trillion cubic feet.
    • The recoverable reserves are identified in Cambay, Krishna – Godavari, Cauvery, Damodar Valley, Upper Assam, Pranahita – Godavari, Rajasthan and Vindhya Basins.
    • The ONGC has drilled the first exploratory shale gas well in Jambusar near Vadodara, Gujarat, in Cambay basin during October 2013.

    What are the prospects of shale oil exploration in India?

    • Currently, there is no large-scale commercial production of shale oil and gas in India.
    • Shale oil and gas exploration faces several challenges other than environmental concerns around massive water requirements for fracking and potential for ground water contamination.
    • State-owned ONGC had, in 2013, started exploration and, by the end of FY21, assessed shale oil and gas potential in 25 nomination blocks.
    • But it has reduced investments over the past few years after only getting limited success in shale exploration efforts.

     

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  • Was it really a black hole that the EHT imaged in 2019?

    A new research says that M87* which was imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is not necessarily a black hole but could even be a naked singularity with a gravitomagnetic monopole.

    About M-87*

    • In 2019, astronomers of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) captured the first ever image of a supermassive black hole (M87*) which was located at the centre of a galaxy Messier 87.
    • This black hole was calculated to be 6.5 billion times the Sun’s mass and is 55 million light years away from the Earth.
    • The discovery set the world of astronomy on fire and also found a mention in the “popular information” section of the announcement of the Nobel Prize in physics for 2020.
    • Andrea Ghez and Rheinhard Genzel were awarded half the share of the prize for their study of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, Sagittarius A*.

    A black hole has two parts:

    1. Singularity at its core– a point that is infinitely dense, as all the remnant mass of the star is compressed into this point.
    2. Event horizon – an imaginary surface surrounding the singularity, and the gravity of the object is such that once anything enters this surface, it is trapped forever.
    • Not even light can escape the pull of the singularity once it crosses the event horizon.
    • That is why, we cannot see the singularity at the heart of a black hole but only see points outside the event horizon.
    • Hence, all the physics happening within the black hole’s event horizon is indeed blocked from the view of the observer.

    What is the recent explanation of M87*?

    Ans. Naked Singularity

    • When stars much more massive than the Sun reach the end of their lives, they collapse under their own gravity, and the product of this collapse is a black hole.
    • In many scenarios of stellar collapse, the event horizon does not form, and the singularity is exposed to the outside, without any event horizon shielding it.
    • This is called naked singularity.

    Monopoles and gravity

    • In the nineteenth century, James Clerk Maxwell unified electricity and magnetism as one combined phenomenon, showing that light is an electromagnetic wave.
    • But there is an asymmetry between electricity and magnetism.
    • While positive and negative electric charges can be found to exist independently, the poles of a magnet are always found in pairs, north and south bound together.
    • There is an analogy between gravitational force and electromagnetism to say that mass is like electric charge and can exist independently, thus it can be called a “gravito-electric charge”.

    But then, what is the gravito-magnetic charge?

    • In 1963, Newman, Tamburino and Unti (NUT) proposed a theoretical concept called a “gravito-magnetic charge” also called a gravitomagnetic monopole.
    • The new research has shown that M87* could be a black hole (with or without gravitomagnetic monopole) or a naked singularity (with or without gravitomagnetic monopole).

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. “Event Horizon” is related to:

    (a) Telescope

    (b) Black hole

    (c) Solar glares

    (d) None of the above

     

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    Back2Basics: Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)

    • The EHT project is an international partnership formed in 2012.
    • It is a network of 10 radio telescopes on four continents that collectively operate like a single instrument nearly the size of the Earth.
    • Its main objective is to directly observe the immediate environment of a black hole.

     

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  • What is Leonid’s Meteor Shower?

    The annual Leonid’s Meteor Shower has begun.

    Try this question from CSP 2014:

    Q.What is a coma, in the content of astronomy?

    (a) Bright half of material on the comet

    (b) Long tail of dust

    (c) Two asteroids orbiting each other

    (d) Two planets orbiting each other

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”8v5gmesm0l” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

    What is Leonid Meteor Shower?

    • Meteor showers are named after the constellation they appear to be coming from.
    • The Leonids originate from the constellation Leo the Lion– the groups of stars that form a lion’s mane.
    • They emerge from the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which requires 33 years to revolve once around the Sun.
    • These meteors are bright and among the fastest moving– travelling at speeds of 71 km per second.
    • During this year’s showers, peaks of around 10 to 15 meteors are expected to be seen every hour.
    • The Leonid showers include fireballs– bright and large meteors than can last longer than average meteors, and “earthgazers”– meteors which appear close to the horizon with colourful and long tails.

    What is a meteor shower?

    • On its journey around the Sun, the Earth passes through large swathes of cosmic debris.
    • The debris is essentially the remnants of comets — great frigid chunks of matter that leave behind dirty trails of rocks and ice that linger long after the comets themselves have passed.
    • As the Earth wades through this cloud of comet waste, the bits of debris create what appears from the ground to be a fireworks display in the sky — known as a meteor shower.
    • Several meteor showers can be seen around the year. According to NASA, over 30 meteor showers occur annually and are observable from the Earth.

    Back2Basics:

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  • Iran has enriched over 210 kg of Uranium to 20%

    Iran’s atomic agency has said that its stockpile of 20% enriched uranium has reached over 210 kilograms, the latest defiant move ahead of upcoming nuclear talks with the West.

    What is Uranium Enrichment?

    • It is a process that is necessary to create an effective nuclear fuel out of mined uranium.
    • It involves increasing the percentage of uranium-235 which undergoes fission with thermal neutrons.
    • Nuclear fuel is mined from naturally occurring uranium ore deposits and then isolated through chemical reactions and separation processes.
    • These chemical processes used to separate the uranium from the ore are not to be confused with the physical and chemical processes used to enrich the uranium.

    Why is enrichment carried out?

    • Uranium found in nature consists largely of two isotopes, U-235 and U-238.
    • Natural uranium contains 0.7% of the U-235 isotope.
    • The remaining 99.3% is mostly the U-238 isotope which does not contribute directly to the fission process (though it does so indirectly by the formation of fissile isotopes of plutonium).
    • The production of energy in nuclear reactors is from the ‘fission’ or splitting of the U-235 atoms since it is the main fissile isotope of uranium.
    • Naturally occurring uranium does not have a high enough concentration of Uranium-235 at only about 0.72% with the remainder being Uranium-238.

     

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  • Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)

    In Chile’s dry Atacama Desert, stargazers are scanning the clear night skies to detect the existence of life on other planets and study so-called ‘dark energy’. Central to the race to peer into distant worlds is the GMT.

    Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)

    ⦁ The GMT is a ground-based extremely large telescope under construction.
    ⦁ It is US-led in partnership with Australia, Brazil, and South Korea, with Chile as the host country.
    ⦁ It will consist of seven 8.4 m (27.6 ft) diameter primary segments, that will observe optical and near infrared (320–25000 nm) light.
    ⦁ It will have the resolving power of a 24.5 m (80.4 ft) primary mirror and collecting area equivalent to a 22.0 m (72.2 ft) one which is about 368 square meters.
    ⦁ It is expected to have a resolving power 10 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope.

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    Bakc2Basics: Hubble Space Telescope

    ⦁ The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation.
    ⦁ It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versatile, renowned both as a vital research tool and as a public relations boon for astronomy.
    ⦁ It is said to be the “most significant advance in astronomy since Galileo’s telescope.
    ⦁ It captures images of deep space playing a major role in helping astronomers understand the universe by observing the most distant stars, galaxies and planets.

  • Katol L6 Chondrite Meteorite

    Last month, researchers from the Geological Survey of India collected some meteorite fragments near the town of Katol in Nagpur in 2012. Studying this, IIT Kgp researchers have unravelled the composition expected to be present in the Earth’s lower mantle which is at about 660 km deep.

    Katol L6

    • Initial studies revealed that the host rock was mainly composed of olivine, an olive-green mineral.
    • Olivine is the most abundant phase in our Earth’s upper mantle.
    • Our Earth is composed of different layers including the outer crust, followed by the mantle and then the inner core.

    Key findings: Presence of Bridgmanite

    • The study reported for the first time, presence of veins of the mineral bridgmanite, which is the most abundant mineral in the interior of the Earth, within the Katol L6 Chondrite meteorite.
    • Bridgmanite consists of magnesium, iron, calcium aluminium oxide and has a perovskite structure. It is the most volumetrically abundant mineral of the Earth’s interior.
    • It is present in the lower mantle (from 660 to 2700 km), and it is important to understand its formation mechanism to better comprehend the origin and evolution of planetary interiors.

    What is the hypothesis of moon-formation?

    The discovery of Bridgmanite in Katol L6 adds evidence to the Moon-forming giant impact hypothesis.

    • The Moon-forming giant impact hypothesis occurred nearly 4.5 billion years ago.
    • The Earth collided with a planet the size of Mars named Thela.
    • The force of this impact was so huge as to melt the Earth down from the surface to a depth of 750 km to 1,100 km.
    • The hypothesis goes that this caused the Earth to be bathed in a magma ocean, and the ejecta from the collision led to the formation of the Moon.

    Note: Earth was an ocean of magma in the past.  The heavier iron and nickel went to the core while the lighter silicates stayed in the mantle.

    Future prospect of the study

    • This finding could help investigations of high-pressure phase transformation mechanisms in the deep Earth.

    Back2Basics: Interior of Earth

    Earths Structure

    ​​The earth is made up of three different layers: the crust, the mantle and the core.

    The crust

    This is the outside layer of the earth and is made of solid rock, mostly basalt and granite. There are two types of crust; oceanic and continental. Oceanic crust is denser and thinner and mainly com​posed of basalt.  Continental crust is less dense, thicker, and mainly composed of granite.

    The mantle

    The mantle lies below the crust and is up to 2900 km thick.  It consists of hot, dense, iron and magnesium-rich solid rock. The crust and the upper part of the mantle make up the lithosphere, which is broken into plates, both large and small.

    The core

    The core is the centre of the earth and is made up of two parts: the liquid outer core and solid inner core. The outer core is made of nickel, iron and molten rock. Temperatures here can reach up to 50,000 C.

     

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