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Subject: Science and Technology

  • Discovery Program investigations by NASA

    NASA announced it has selected four Discovery Program investigations to develop concept studies for possible new missions.

    What are the new missions?

    • Two proposals are for trips to Venus, and one each is for Jupiter’s moon Io and Neptune’s moon Triton.
    • After the concept studies are completed in nine months, some missions ultimately may not be chosen to move forward.

    DAVINCI+

    • DAVINCI+ stands for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus.
    • This will analyse Venus’s atmosphere to understand how it was formed and evolved, and if it ever had an ocean.
    • This will advance understanding of the formation of terrestrial planets.

    IVO

    • Io Volcano Observer is a proposal to explore Jupiter’s moon Io, which is extremely volcanically active.
    • This will try to find out how tidal forces shape planetary bodies.
    • The findings could further knowledge about the formation and evolution of rocky, terrestrial bodies and icy ocean worlds in the Solar System.

    TRIDENT

    This aims to explore Neptune’s icy moon, Triton, so that scientists can understand the development of habitable worlds in the Solar System.

    VERITAS

    Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy will aim to map Venus’s surface to find out why Venus developed so differently from Earth.

  • The ‘Pale Blue Dot’

     

    The Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the NASA published a new version of the image of Pale Blue Dot.

    Pale Blue Dot

    • The ‘Pale Blue Dot’ is one of the most iconic images in the history of astronomy.
    • It shows Earth as a single bright blue pixel in empty space within a strand of sun rays, some of which are scattering from and enlightening the planet.
    • The original image was taken by the Voyager 1 mission spacecraft on February 14, 1990 when it was just beyond Saturn.
    • At the behest of astronomer Carl Sagan, the cameras were turned towards Earth one final time to capture the image.
    • After this, the cameras and other instruments on the craft were turned off to ensure its longevity.

    About Voyager 1

    • Voyager 1 is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977.
    • Having operated for more than 42 years, the spacecraft still communicates with the Deep Space Network to receive routine commands and to transmit data to Earth.
    • At a distance of 148.67 AU (22.2 billion km) from Earth as of January 19, 2020 it is the most distant man-made object from Earth.
    • The probe’s objectives included flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, and Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

    The Family Portrait of the Solar System

    • The Pale blue dot image was a part of series of 60 images designed to produce what the mission called the ‘Family Portrait of the Solar System’.
    • This sequence of camera-pointing commands returned images of six of the solar system’s planets, as well as the Sun.

  • Conservation plan for Konark Sun Temple

    A plan to restore and preserve the nearly 800-year-old Konark Sun Temple in Odisha would be drawn up soon. Among the potential choices before the government would be to fill in more sand or to remove all the sand andput in place alternate support.

    Konark Sun Temple

    • Konark Sun Temple is a 13th-century CE Sun temple at Konark about 36 kilometres northeast from Puri on the coastline of Odisha, India.
    • The temple is attributed to king Narasinga Deva I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty about 1250 CE.
    • Dedicated to the Hindu Sun God Surya, what remains of the temple complex has the appearance of a 100-foot (30 m) high chariot with immense wheels and horses, all carved from stone.
    • Once over 200 feet (61 m) high, much of the temple is now in ruins, in particular the large shikara tower over the sanctuary; at one time this rose much higher than the mandapa that remains.
    • The structures and elements that have survived are famed for their intricate artwork, iconography, and themes, including erotic kama and mithuna scenes.
    • Also called the Surya Devalaya, it is a classic illustration of the Odisha style of Architecture or Kalinga Architecture.
    • Declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1984 it remains a major pilgrimage site for Hindus, who gather here every year for the Chandrabhaga Mela around the month of February.

    Earlier restoration efforts

    • It had been filled with sand and sealed by the British authorities in 1903 in order to stabilize the structure, a/c to ASI.
    • A scientific study was carried out by the Roorkee-based Central Building Research Institute from 2013 till 2018 to ascertain the temple’s structural stability as well as the status of the filled-in sand.
    • The sand filled in over 100 years ago had settled, leading to a gap of about 17 feet.  However the structure was found to be stable.

  • In news: Yaravirus

    In a lake in Brazil, researchers have discovered a virus that they find unusual and intriguing.

    Yaravirus

    • The Yaravirus infects amoeba and has genes that have not been described before, something that could challenge how DNA viruses are classified.
    • It has a puzzling origin and phylogeny (evolutionary relationship).
    • Because of the Yaravirus’s small size, it was unlike other viruses that infect amoeba and they named it as a tribute to Yara, the “mother of waters” in the mythological stories of the Tupi-Guarani indigenous tribes.
    • The virus does not infect human cells, according to the researchers.

  • SuperCam on Mars Rover 2020

     

    In its mission to Mars this summer, NASA is sending a new laser-toting robot called SuperCam as one of seven instruments aboard the Mars 2020 rover.

    SuperCam

    • Called SuperCam, the robot is used for studying mineralogy and chemistry from up to about 7 metres away.
    • It might help scientists find signs of fossilized microbial life on Mars.
    • SuperCam packs what would typically require several sizable pieces of equipment into something no bigger than a cereal box.
    • It fires a pulsed laser beam out of the rover’s mast to vaporise small portions of rock from a distance, providing information that will be essential to the mission’s success.

    NASA lists five things to know

    • From more than 7 m away, SuperCam can fire a laser to study rock targets smaller than a pencil point. That lets the rover study spots it can’t reach with its arm.
    • SuperCam looks at rock textures and chemicals to find those that formed or changed in water on Mars long ago.
    • SuperCam looks at different rock and “soil” types to find ones that could preserve signs of past microbial life on Mars — if any ever existed.
    • For the benefit of future explorers, SuperCam identifies which elements in the Martian dust may be harmful to humans.
    • Scientists can learn about how atmospheric molecules, water ice, and dust absorb or reflect solar radiation. This helps predict Martian weather better.

  • Solar Orbiter (SolO) Probe

     

    Yesterday, the Solar Orbiter, a collaborative mission between the European Space Agency and NASA to study the Sun, took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

    What is the Solar Orbiter?

    • Carrying four in situ instruments and six remote-sensing imagers, the Solar Orbiter (called SolO) will face the sun at approximately 42 million kilometres from its surface.
    • Before SolO, all solar imaging instruments have been within the ecliptic plane, in which all planets orbit and which is aligned with the sun’s equator.
    • The new spacecraft will use the gravity of Venus and Earth to swing itself out of the ecliptic plane, passing inside the orbit of Mercury, and will be able to get a bird’s eye view of the sun’s poles for the first time.

    Objectives of the mission

    • The Orbiter will take pictures using telescopes through a heat shield that is partly made of baked animal bones, to help it withstand temperatures of up to 600 degree Celsius.
    • By understanding the behaviour of the sun, the Orbiter aims to provide information on how the former would affect technology such as satellites, navigation systems, power grids, and telecommunication services.
    • The Orbiter will help scientists understand the sun’s dynamic behaviour, and solve mysteries such as the sunspot cycle, or why the star spews out high velocity charged particles through the solar system.
    • With more data on the global magnetic field of the star, scientists would be able to forecast space weather events.

    Earlier missions

    • In 1990, NASA and ESA had sent the Ulysses mission, which also passed over the sun’s poles but at much farther distances, and did not carry a camera.

  • [pib] National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage

    Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) is preparing the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

    National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage

    • SNA is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Culture is the nodal agency for the Scheme for ‘Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage and Diverse Cultural Traditions of India’.
    • As of now, SNA is collaborating with Zonal Cultural Centers of Ministry, collating and preparing a list of ICH elements for National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
    • List of ICH elements is being compiled and at least 100 elements will be documented by March, 2020 and the aim is to document at least 20 new elements in ICH list every year.
    • Along with this establishment of an ‘Indian Institute for Culture’ is at conceptual stage and a mission called National Culture Mapping portal is being conceptualized for aggregating art forms and artists. It is in pilot phase.

  • RO-based water filtration systems

    • The Union Environment Ministry has issued a draft notification that seeks to regulate membrane-based water filtration systems in areas where the source of water meets drinking water norms of the Bureau of Indian Standards.
    • This primarily affects reverse osmosis (RO)-based water filtration systems and the rules, at least in letter, effectively prohibit homes from installing domestic RO systems.

    What is reverse osmosis (RO)?

    • RO was originally a technology devised to desalinate sea water. The idea exploits the principle of osmosis.
    • Take a tube, twist it into a ‘U’-shape and insert a semi-permeable membrane (a material with very small holes that will allow only certain molecules to filter through) at the point where the tube curves.
    • Fill half the tube with salt water and the other with freshwater. Over time, fresh water will cross over into the salty arm until the proportion of salt and water in both arms is the same.
    • This is due to osmotic pressure which dilutes a region with a higher concentration of solute (in this case, the salt).
    • It would need to create some external pressure that will counter the osmotic pressure and suck all the water from the salty arm into the freshwater arm while leaving the salt behind. This is the essential principle of an RO system.
    • To create external pressure, RO relies on a pump and electric motors. It uses “activated carbon” components, such as charcoal and carbon black that can filter out contaminants as well as organic substances such as bacteria.
    • It all depends on the filtering material and the number of filters that incoming tap water must pass through.
    • However, it is possible to deploy a wide array of membranes and multiple stages of filters to filter a wide variety of solutes — arsenic, fluoride, hexavalent chromium, nitrates, bacteria — that come mixed in water.

    What is the problem with RO?

    • In making tap water pass through multiple stages of cleaning, RO systems end up wasting a lot of water.
    • Anywhere between three-five times more water is wasted by them than they produce and given the challenges that cities and government face in providing potable water.
    • It is as part of this legal dispute, which began in March 2019 that led the Environment Ministry to move to regulate RO systems.
    • Another concern with RO is that it filters out calcium, zinc, magnesium, which are essential salts needed by the body; drinking such water over time could be harmful.
    • However, many manufacturers claim to overcome this challenge by “post-treatment”.
    • This increases costs and reduces the incentive for public-funded water distribution systems to supply clean water to the vast majority of the country who can ill-afford such systems.
    • The average RO system only aims to reduce Total Dissolved Solids, ensure water is odourless and has a pH from 6.5-8.5.
    • The National Institute of Virology (NIV) claimed that most filtration methods did not eliminate Hepatitis E virus. A combination of filtration systems can eliminate most contaminants.

    How is the quality of piped water in the country?

    • Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Prime Minister has committed to provide tap water to the entire country by 2024. However, studies show that the existing quality of piped water is deficient in much of India.
    • Last year, the Department of Consumer Affairs undertook a study through the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on the quality of piped drinking water being supplied in the country.
    • Most samples drawn from various places did not comply with the BIS’s requirements.

  • Genome India Project

     

    The Union Govt. has given clearance to an ambitious gene-mapping project, estimated to be worth Rs 238 crore.

    Genome India Project

    • The Genome India Project has been described by those involved as the “first scratching of the surface of the vast genetic diversity of India”.
    • It involves over 20 scientists from institutions including the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru and a few IITs.
    • One of the most comprehensive genome mapping projects in the world is the Human Genome Project (HGP), which began in 1990 and reached completion in 2003.
    • The international project, which was coordinated by the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Energy, was undertaken with the aim of sequencing the human genome and identifying the genes that contain it.
    • The project was able to identify the locations of many human genes and provide information about their structure and organisation.

    What is Genome Mapping?

    • According to the Human Genome Project, there are estimated to be over 20,500 human genes.
    • Genome refers to an organism’s complete set of DNA, which includes all its genes and mapping these genes simply means finding out the location of these genes in a chromosome.
    • In humans, each cell consists of 23 pairs of chromosomes for a total of 46 chromosomes, which means that for 23 pairs of chromosomes in each cell, there are roughly 20,500 genes located on them.
    • Some of the genes are lined up in a row on each chromosome, while others are lined up quite close to one another and this arrangement might affect the way they are inherited.
    • For example, if the genes are placed sufficiently close together, there is a probability that they get inherited as a pair.
    • Genome mapping, therefore, essentially means figuring out the location of a specific gene on a particular region of the chromosome and also determining the location of and relative distances between other genes on that chromosome.

    Applications

    • Significantly, genome mapping enables scientists to gather evidence if a disease transmitted from the parent to the child is linked to one or more genes.
    • Furthermore, mapping also helps in determining the particular chromosome which contains that gene and the location of that gene in the chromosome.
    • Genome maps have been used to find out genes that are responsible for relatively rare, single-gene inherited disorders such as cystic fibrosis and Duchene muscular dystrophy.
    • Genetic maps may also point out scientists to the genes that play a role in more common disorders and diseases such as asthma, cancer and heart disease among others.
    • Researchers from several international institutions mapped the handful of genes whose mutation causes several different kinds of cancers.

  • What is Fermentophone?

     

    Fermentation, the chemical breakdown of a substance by microorganisms such as bacteria or yeasts, results in some of the most delicious foods and beverages, including cheese, chocolate and wine.  Now, research has shown it can result in music, too.

    Fermentophone

    • The chemical processes of fermentation can be used to create spontaneous tunes.
    • Researchers has built multiple art exhibits called Fermentophone to showcase how fermentation can make music.
    • First, different fruits and veggies are placed in glass jars and fermented.
    • As the fermentation kicks off, the yeast — or bacteria — present in the food chows down on the foods’ sugars, which results in the release of carbon dioxide bubbles.
    • The release of these bubbles creates a tiny sound, which is picked up by underwater microphones.
    • A computer processes the sounds and, with the help of algorithms plugged in, electronic music is created.