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Subject: Science and Technology

  • Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV)

    The DRDO has successfully demonstrated the hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology with the flight test of the Hypersonic Technology Demonstration Vehicle (HSTDV).

    Take note of close dissimilarities between Ramjet and Scramjet engines.

    About HSTDV

    • HSTDV is an unmanned scramjet vehicle with a capability to travel at six times the speed of sound.
    • The scramjets are a variant of a category of jet engines called the air-breathing engines.
    • The ability of engines to handle airflows of speeds in multiples of the speed of sound gives it a capability of operating at those speeds.
    • Hypersonic speeds are those which are five times or more than the speed of sound.
    • The unit tested by the DRDO can achieve upto six times the speed of sound or Mach 6, which is well over 7000 km per hour or around two km per second.

    Its development

    • The DRDO started on the development of the engine in the early 2010s.
    • The ISRO has also worked on the development of the technology and has successfully tested a system in 2016. DRDO too has conducted a test of this system in June 2019.
    • The special project of the DRDO consisted of contributions from its multiple facilities including the Pune headquartered Armament and Combat Engineering Cluster.

    Back2Basics: Ramjet V. Scramjet

    • A ramjet is a form of air-breathing jet engine that uses the vehicle’s forward motion to compress incoming air for combustion without a rotating compressor.
    • Fuel is injected in the combustion chamber where it mixes with the hot compressed air and ignites.
    • A ramjet-powered vehicle requires an assisted take-off like a rocket assist to accelerate it to a speed where it begins to produce thrust.
    • Ramjets work most efficiently at supersonic speeds around Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound) and can operate up to speeds of Mach 6.
    • However, the ramjet efficiency starts to drop when the vehicle reaches hypersonic speeds.
    • A scramjet engine is an improvement over the ramjet engine as it efficiently operates at hypersonic speeds and allows supersonic combustion. Thus it is known as Supersonic Combustion Ramjet or Scramjet.

  • Vitamin-D Deficiency

    The pandemic-induced lockdown has confined people to their houses for five months now. The resultant lack of sunlight, followed by rains, has brought down the vitamin D levels to the lowest.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2014:

    Q.Consider the following pairs:

    Vitamin Deficiency:: Disease

    1. Vitamin C::Scurvy
    2. Vitamin D:: Rickets
    3. Vitamin E:: Night blindness

    Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 3 only

    (c) 1, 2 and 3

    (d) None

    What is Vitamin-D?

    • Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that has myriad positive effects on several systems in the body.
    • Unlike other vitamins, it functions like a hormone and every cell in your body has a receptor for it.
    • It is sparsely found in certain fatty fish and fortified dairy products, and it is extremely difficult to get the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of 600-800 IU from diet alone.

    There are two main forms of vitamin D in the diet:

    – Vitamin D2 (Ergocalciferol) — found in plant foods like mushrooms.
    – Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) — found in animal foods like salmon, cod and egg yolks.

    Common signs and symptoms of the deficiency

    Vitamin D deficiency is incredibly common and most people are unaware of it, as the symptoms are subtle and nonspecific.

    – Getting sick or infected often with common cold and flu, because of a weak immune system.
    – Fatigue and tiredness
    – Bone and muscle pains
    – Depression
    – Impaired wound healing
    – Bone loss and osteoporosis

    Sources of Vit. D

    • Sunlight is the best natural source of vitamin D. Sunlight synthesizes cholesterol into Vitamin D3.
    • Usually, 20 to 30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 am and 3 pm is adequate to meet daily requirements, in places with minimum pollution levels.

  • Black Holes Merger

    Billions of years ago, a collision between two black holes sent gravitational waves rippling through the universe. In 2019, signals from these waves were detected at the gravitational wave observatory LIGO (United States) and the detector Virgo (Italy).

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Recently, scientists observed the merger of giant ‘blackholes’ billions of light-years away from the Earth. What is the significance of this observation?

    (a) ‘Higgs boson particles’ were detected.

    (b) ‘Gravitational waves’ were detected.

    (c) Possibility of inter-galactic space travel through ‘wormhole’ was confirmed.

    (d) It enabled the scientists to understand ‘singularity’.

    Why in news?

    • The cause of curiosity is the mass of one of the parent black holes, which defies traditional knowledge of how black holes are formed.

    What exactly was detected?

    • It was a signal from a gravitational wave, a relatively new field of discovery.
    • Gravitational waves are invisible ripples that form when a star explodes in a supernova; when two big stars orbit each other; and when two black holes merge.
    • Travelling at the speed of light, gravitational waves squeeze and stretch anything in their path.

    Detecting gravitational waves

    • Gravitational waves were proposed by Albert Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity over a century ago.
    • It was only in 2015, however, that the first gravitational wave was actually detected — by LIGO. Since then, there have been a number of subsequent detections of gravitational waves.
    • The signal detected at LIGO and Virgo, as described by the LIGO Collaboration, resembled “about four short wiggles” and lasted less than one-tenth of a second.

    Where did it come from?

    • Subsequent analysis suggested that GW190521 had most likely been generated by a merger of two black holes. The signal likely represented the instance that the two merged.
    • It was calculated to have come from roughly 17 billion light-years away, and from a time when the universe was about half its age.

    Some questions to verify

    • The findings led to further questions.
    • One of the two merging black holes falls in an “intermediate-mass” range — a misfit that cannot be explained by traditional knowledge of how black holes form.

    Why is it unusual?

    • All the black holes observed so far belong to either of two categories.
    • One category ranges between a few solar masses (one solar mass is the mass of our Sun) and tens of solar masses. These are thought to form when massive stars die.
    • The other category is of supermassive black holes. This range from hundreds of thousands, to billions of times that of our sun.
    • According to traditional knowledge, stars that could give birth to black holes between 65 and 120 solar masses do not do so — stars in this range blow themselves apart when they die, without collapsing into a black hole.

    Observing for the first time

    • In the merger leading to the GW190521 signal, the larger black hole was of 85 solar masses —well within this unexpected range, known as the pair-instability mass gap.
    • It is the first “intermediate-mass” black hole ever observed. (In fact, the smaller black hole to is borderline, at 66 solar masses.)
    • The two merged to create a new black hole of about 142 solar masses. Energy equivalent to eight solar masses was released in the form of gravitational waves, leading to the strongest ever wave detected by scientists so far.

    Possible reasons for its formation

    • The researchers suggest that the 85-solar-mass black hole was not the product of a collapsing star, but was itself the result of a previous merger.
    • Formed by a collision between two black holes, it is likely that the new black hole then merged with the 66-solar-mass black hole — leading to gravitational waves and the signal received by LIGO and Virgo.

  • [pib] Global Innovation Index 2020

    India has climbed 4 spots and has been ranked 48thby the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in the Global Innovation Index 2020 rankings.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2016:

    Q.India’s ranking in the ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’ is sometimes seen in the news. Which of the following has declared that ranking?

    a) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

    b) World Economic Forum

    c) World Bank

    d) World Trade Organization (WTO)

    About the Global Innovation Index

    • The GII is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation. It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and World Business a British magazine.
    • It is published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the WIPO, in partnership with other organisations and institutions.
    • It is based on both subjective and objective data derived from several sources, including the International Telecommunication Union, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.
    • The GII is commonly used by corporate and government officials to compare countries by their level of innovation.
    • The theme of the 2019 GII is Creating Healthy Lives – The Future of Medical Innovation, which aims to explore the role of medical innovation as it shapes the future of healthcare.

    Components of GII

    Five input pillars capture elements of the national economy that enable innovative activities under GII are:

    1. Institutions,
    2. Human capital and research,
    3. Infrastructure,
    4. Market sophistication, and
    5. Business sophistication.

    Two output pillars capture actual evidence of innovation outputs:

    1. Knowledge and technology outputs and
    2. Creative outputs

    India’s performance this year

    • In midst of the COVID -19 pandemic, it comes as uplifting news for India and is a testament of its robust R&D Ecosystem.
    • India was at the 52nd position in 2019 and was ranked 81st in the year 2015.
    • The WIPO had also accepted India as one of the leading innovation achievers of 2019 in the central and southern Asian region, as it has shown a consistent improvement in its innovation ranking for the last 5 years.

  • Issues with the Gopalakrishnan Committee Report

    The article highlights the importance of non-personal data collected by the government and lack of any reference to it in the Gopalakrishnan Committee report.

    Background

    • The Committee of Experts on the Non-Personal Data Governance Framework headed by K Gopalakrishnan has recommended making privately held non-personal data “open”.
    •  This has raised concerns about state interference in the private data ecoystem.

    Importance of data collected by government agencies

    • The report is a missed opportunity to address the governance frameworks around data created by government agencies.
    • Some of the most important non-personal data sets are held by the government, or result from taxpayer funding.
    • Such data can be useful in either framing public policy or creating and providing new services.

    Why government data should be open to citizens: 5 Reasons

    • First, the state should be transparent about information that it has. This will improve accountability.
    • Second, if taxpayer money has funded any of the data sets, then it is an obligation of the state to return the fruits of that funding to the taxpayer.
    • Third, by permitting the reuse of government data sets, we avoid the need for duplication.
    • Fourth, government data sets, curated according to publicly verified standards, can lead to increased confidence in data quality and increased usage.
    • Finally, free flow of information can have beneficial effects on society in general.

    Government policies promoting openness of data

    • The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, mandates the disclosure of government data on a suo moto basis.
    • One of the nine pillars of the Digital India Policy is “information for all”.
    • The National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP), 2012 requires all non-sensitive information held by public authorities to be made publicly accessible in machine readable formats (subject to conditions).
    • The government has also set up an Open Government Data Platform to provide open access to data sets held by ministries and other agencies of the government.
    • Various States have also either created their own data portals or have provided data sets to the Open Government Data Platform.

    Challenges in making the data open to society

    • There are two reasons for our failure to create an open data-based society.
    • The first is lack of clarity in some of the provisions of the NDSAP or the relevant implementation guidelines.
    • The second is the inability to enforce guidelines appropriately.
    • Data sets released by governments are often inconsistent, incomplete, outdated, published in non-machine readable or inconsistent formats, include duplicates, and lack quality (or any) metadata, thereby reducing re-usability.

    Issues with Gopalakrishnana Committee Report

    • The Gopalakrishnan Committee could have evaluated what is going wrong with existing policies and practice pertaining to government data.
    • The report is a missed opportunity to address the governance frameworks around non-personal data sets in a country created by government agencies, or those resulting from taxpayer money.
    • The report largely focuses on the dangers posed by data collection by private sector entities.
    • This has raised concerns about state interference in the private data ecoystem.
    • Many of the concerns that should be addressed in the report that are central to the governance of the data ecosystem have remained in the background.
    • For instance, India’s cybersecurity framework continues to be inadequate, while even the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee report of 2018 highlighted the need to restrict the growing power of the state to carry out surveillance.

    Consider the question “What are the key recommendation made by the Gopalakrishnan Committee for the regulation of non-personal data? What are the shortcomings in of the report in your opinion?”

    Conclusion

    Since data governance is a relatively new concept in India, the government would be better served in taking an incremental approach to any perceived problems. This should begin with reforming how the government itself deals with citizens’ data.

  • Pinaka Missile System

    The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed contracts with three Indian companies for supply of six regiments of the Pinaka Rocket System to be deployed along borders with Pakistan and China.

    Following things are crucial to know about the Pinaka Missile System:

    1) It’s development and manufacture

    2) Fire Range and other capabilities

    3) Latest technology enhancement

    Pinaka Missile System

    • Pinaka is an indigenously developed rocket system named after Lord Shiva’s mythological bow.
    • It is used for attacking the adversary targets prior to the close-quarter battles which involve smaller range artillery, armoured elements and the infantry.
    • The development of the Pinaka was started by the DRDO in the late 1980s, as an alternative to the multi-barrel rocket launching systems of Russian make, called like the ‘Grad’, which are still in use.
    • After successful tests of Pinaka Mark-1 in late 1990, it was first used in the battlefield during the Kargil War of 1999, quite successfully.
    • Subsequently, multiple regiments of the system came up over the 2000s.

    Its versions and capabilities

    • The Pinaka, which is primarily a multi-barrel rocket system (MBRL) system, can fire a salvo of 12 rockets over a period of 44 seconds.
    • One battery of the Pinaka system consists of six launch vehicles, accompanied by the loader systems, radar and links with network-based systems and a command post.
    • It can neutralize an area one kilometre by one kilometre.
    • The Mark-I version of Pinaka has a range of around 40 kilometres and the Mark-II version can fire up to 75 kilometres.
    • The Mark-II version of the rocket has been modified as a guided missile system by integrating it with the navigation, control and guidance system to improve the end accuracy and increase the range.
    • The navigation system of the missile is linked with the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System.

  • What is Carbon-14 (C14) Battery?

    A California-based company has made a self-charging battery, which can run for 28,000 years on a single charge, by trapping carbon-14 (C14) nuclear waste in artificial diamond-case.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.The known forces of nature can be divided into four classes, viz. gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force. With reference to them, which one of the following statements is not correct?

    (a) Gravity is the strongest of the four

    (b) Electromagnetism act only on particles with an electric charge

    (c) Weak nuclear force causes radioactivity

    (d) Strong nuclear force holds protons and neutrons inside the nuclear of an atom.

    What is C14?

    • Carbon-14 (14C), or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons.
    • There are three naturally occurring isotopes of carbon on Earth: carbon-12, which makes up 99% of all carbon on Earth; carbon-13, which makes up 1%; and carbon-14, which occurs in trace amounts.
    • Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues (1949) to date archaeological, geological and hydrogeological samples.

    C14 battery

    • The battery works by generating electricity on its own from a shower of electrons as a result of radioactive decay scattered and deposited in the artificial diamond-case.
    • The battery can be used in electric vehicles, mobile phones, laptops, tablets, drones, watches, cameras, health monitors and even sensors.
    • It is also said to be extremely safe and tamper-proof as it is coated with a non-radioactive diamond which prevents radiation leaks.

    Best example of nuke waste recycling

    • It is estimated that 33 million cubic metres of global nuclear waste will cost over $100 billion to manage and dispose of.
    • And a lot of this waste is graphite that is one of the higher risks of radioactive waste and one of the most expensive and problematic waste to store.

    Its applications

    • The company says its battery can be used to powerhouses, and that any excess electricity generated can be sold to the grid.
    • As the new battery need not be replaced, it can be installed in hard to reach places like pacemakers and implants, where a regular change of battery is not possible.
    • Another area of use is space electronics. The battery is said to power space equipment in rockets.
    • It can power the electrical needs of space crafts, like providing power to cockpits and assisting launch into the upper atmosphere.

  • [pib] Historic City of Hampi

    The Ministry of Tourism organised their latest webinar titled Hampi- Inspired by the past; Going into the future under Dekho Apna Desh Webinar series.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Building ‘Kalyaana Mandapas’ was a notable feature in the temple construction in the kingdom of-

    (a) Chalukya

    (b) Chandela

    (c) Rashtrakuta

    (d) Vijayanagara

    Facts about Hampi

    • Its name is derived from Pampa which is the old name of the Tungabhadra River on whose banks the city is built.
    • In 1336 CE, the Vijayanagara Empire arose from the ruins of the Kampili kingdom.
    • It grew into one of the famed Hindu empires of South India that ruled for over 200 years.
    • The Vijayanagara rulers fostered developments in intellectual pursuits and the arts, maintained a strong military and fought many wars with sultanates to its north and east.
    • They invested in roads, waterworks, agriculture, religious buildings and public infrastructure.
    • The site used to be multi-religious and multi-ethnic; it included Hindu and Jain monuments next to each other.
    • The buildings predominantly followed South Indian Hindu arts and architecture dating to the Aihole-Pattadakal styles.
    • The Hampi builders also used elements of Indo-Islamic architecture in the Lotus Mahal, the public bath and the elephant stables.

    Major attractions

    • One of the major attractions of Hampi is the 15th Century Virupaksha temple which is one of the oldest monuments of the town.
    • The main shrine is dedicated to Virupaksha, a form of Lord Shiva.
    • Hemkunta Hill, south of the Virupaksha temple contains early ruins, Jain temples and a monolithic sculpture of Lord Narasimha, a form of Lord Vishnu.
    • At the eastern end, there is the large Nandi in stone; on the southern side is the larger than life Ganesha.
    • Large single stone carvings seem to have been the fashion of the day in Hampi, for there is a large image of Narasimha (6.7m high), the half-lion half-man incarnation of God, as well as a huge linga.

  • Space industry and challenges

    The article analyses opportunities and challenges the outer space technology offers to us.

    Emerging trends in space industry

    • The price for reaching low Earth orbit has declined by a factor of 20 in a decade.
    • It enhances human space travel possibilities by leveraging new commercial capabilities.
    • According to a Bank of America Report, the $350 billion space market today will touch $2.7 trillion by 2050.
    • Starlink, the constellation being constructed by SpaceX to provide global Internet access, plans more than 10,000 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit. 
    •  In a decade, 80,000 such satellites could be in space compared to less than 3,000 at present.
    • Companies such as Planet, Spire Global and Iceye are using orbital vantage points to collect and analyse data to deliver fresh insights in weather forecasting, global logistics, crop harvesting and disaster response.
    • Space could prove attractive for high-tech manufacturing too.
    • In short, an exciting new platform is opening up for entrepreneurs.

    3 Challenges

    1) Governance of outer space

    • Framework for governance of outer space as it becomes democratised, commercialised and crowded is becoming obsolescent.
    • The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 enshrines the idea that space should be “the province of all mankind” and “not subject to national appropriation by claims of sovereignty”.
    • The Rescue Agreement, Space Liability Convention, and the Space Registration Convention expanded provisions of the Outer Space Treaty.
    • The Moon Treaty of 1979 was not ratified by major space-faring nations.
    • Space law does not have a dispute settlement mechanism, is silent on collisions and debris, and offers insufficient guidance on interference with others’ space assets.
    • These gaps heighten the potential for conflict in an era of congested orbits and breakneck technological change.

    2) Acknowledging role of non-state entities

    • The legal framework related to outre space is state-centric, placing responsibility on states alone.
    • However, non-state entities are now in the fray for commercial space exploration and utilisation.
    • Some states are providing frameworks for resource recovery through private enterprises.
    • Some scholars and governments view this as against the principle of national non-appropriation, violating the spirit if not the letter of the existing space law.
    • The lack of alignment of domestic and international normative frameworks risks a damaging free-for-all competition for celestial resources involving actors outside the space framework.

    3) The arms race in outer space

    • The space arms race is difficult to curb, especially since almost all space technologies have military applications.
    • For example, satellite constellations are commercial but governments could acquire their data to monitor military movements.
    • Investment in technologies that can disrupt or destroy space-based capabilities is under way.
    • Despite concerns about military activity in outer space for long, not much progress has been made in addressing them.
    • The UN General Assembly passes a resolution on Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space since 1982.
    • The current geopolitical situation does not hold hope for addressing concerns of a space arms race.

    Need for space legislation in India

    • India has invested enormous resources in its space programme through the Indian Space Research Organisation.
    • More importantly, our space assets are crucial for India’s development.
    • The proposed involvement of private players and the creation of an autonomous body IN-SPACe for permitting and regulating activities of the private sector are welcome efforts.
    • However, the space environment that India faces requires us to go beyond meeting technical milestones.
    • We need a space legislation enabling coherence across technical, legal, commercial, diplomatic and defence goals.

    Consider the question “Outer space technology is expanding its horizon day by day. However, there are certain challenges the expansion of the space technology faces. What are these challenges and suggest ways to deal with such challenges.”

    Conclusion

    Our space vision also needs to address global governance, regulatory and arms control issues. As space opens up our space vision needs broadening too.

  • ASTROSAT Satellite

    ASTROSAT, India’s first multi-wavelength satellite observatory, has detected an extreme ultraviolet (UV) light from a galaxy which is 9.3 billion light-years away from Earth.

    Try out:

     

    Consider the following statements regarding the AstroSat:

    1)AstroSat is India’s multi-wavelength space telescope.
    2)ASTROSAT mission is that enables the simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of various astronomical objects with a single satellite.
    3)ASTROSAT observes the universe in the optical and high energy X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

    Which of the following above statements is true?

    a.1 and 2
    b.2 and 3
    c.1 and 3
    d.1, 2 and 3

    AUDFs01

    • AstroSat has detected extreme-UV light from a galaxy, called AUDFs01, 9.3 billion light-years away from Earth.
    • The galaxy is located in the Hubble Extreme Deep field, through AstroSat.
    • This is a very important clue to how the dark ages of the universe ended and there was light in the universe.

    About ASTROSAT

    • AstroSat is India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength space telescope. It was launched on a PSLV-XL on 28 September 2015.

    It is the first dedicated Indian astronomy mission aimed at studying celestial sources in X-ray, optical and UV spectral bands simultaneously.

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    Find some time to scroll through recent ISRO missions and discoveries.

    ISRO Missions and Discoveries