💥Join UPSC 2027,2028 Mentorship (July Batch) + XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to Mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

Subject: Science and Technology

  • Vikram 32-Bit Processor

    Why in the News?

    Union Minister for Electronics & IT has presented PM with a memento containing the first ‘Made in India’ Vikram 32-bit Launch Vehicle Grade Processor (VIKRAM3201).

    About Vikram 32-bit Processor (VIKRAM3201):

    • Overview: India’s first fully indigenous 32-bit space-grade microprocessor, developed by VSSC–ISRO with Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL), Chandigarh.
    • Lineage: Successor of 16-bit VIKRAM1601 (used since 2009 in ISRO launch vehicles), designed for avionics, navigation, guidance, and mission control.
    • Launch & Validation: Unveiled at Semicon India 2025 as a symbol of India’s semiconductor self-reliance. Validated in space during PSLV-C60 (2025) via POEM-4 experiments.
    • Applications: Primarily for space missions, but also suited for defence, automotive, and energy systems due to its rugged reliability.
    • Policy Support: Developed under India Semiconductor Mission and Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme, reflecting policy thrust on indigenous chip design and manufacturing.

    Key Technical Features:

    • Architecture: 32-bit design with support for 16/32-bit fixed-point and 64-bit floating-point (IEEE754) operations, essential for trajectory precision.
    • Registers & Memory: 32 registers (32-bit wide), capable of addressing up to 4096M words of memory.
    • Instruction Set: 152 instructions with microprogrammed control for flexibility in aerospace computations.
    • Performance: Operates at 100 MHz, single 3.3V supply, consumes <500 mW power, with <10 mA quiescent current.
    • Environmental Tolerance: Functions between –55°C to +125°C, fit for space and military conditions.
    • Interfaces: Equipped with four 32-bit timers, 256 software interrupts, and dual on-chip 1553B bus interfaces for avionics communication.
    • Software Compatibility: Optimised for Ada language (aerospace standard); C compiler support under development by ISRO.
    • Packaging & Fabrication: Built in a 181-pin ceramic PGA package, fabricated on 180 nm CMOS process at SCL, Mohali.
    [UPSC 2008] Which one of the following laser types is used in a laser printer?

    Options: (a) Dye laser  (b) Gas laser (c) Semiconductor laser  (d) Excimer laser

     

  • NASA-ESA Solar Orbiter Mission

    Why in the News?

    The NASA-ESA Solar Orbiter Mission has recently traced the origin of Solar Energetic Electrons (SEE), advancing knowledge of solar activity and space weather.

    NASA-ESA Solar Orbiter Mission

    About NASA–ESA Solar Orbiter Mission:

    • Launch & Cost: Launched in Feb 2020 on an Atlas V from Cape Canaveral; joint ESA–NASA mission worth $1.5 billion.
    • Duration: Primary mission till 2026, extendable to 2030.
    • Orbit: Highly eccentric, approaching 0.28 AU (inside Mercury’s orbit); gradually tilts to image Sun’s poles.
    • Payload: 10 instruments — both in-situ (solar wind, magnetic fields, particles) and remote sensing (imaging, spectroscopy).
    • Firsts & Objectives: First to image solar poles; aims to study solar wind origin, solar cycle dynamics, causes of flares/CMEs, and their impact on heliosphere & space weather.

    What are Solar Energetic Electrons (SEE)?

    • What are they: Streams of high-energy electrons released into space, travelling across the heliosphere.
    • Sources: Emerge from solar flares (sudden surface bursts) and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) (plasma + magnetic eruptions).
    • Patterns: Release not always immediate; often delayed by hours due to turbulence/scattering in interplanetary medium.
    • Solar Orbiter Observations: Detected 300+ bursts (2020–22), clearly linking SEE to solar flares/CMEs for the first time.

    Significance of the recent findings:

    • Science: Clarifies Sun’s particle acceleration mechanisms.
    • Space Weather: CMEs are the main drivers of severe events — affecting satellites, GPS, communication, power grids, and astronaut safety.
    • Practical Utility: Improves solar storm forecasting and early-warning systems for infrastructure & human spaceflight.
    • Long Term Implications: Expected to revolutionise solar physics and our predictive capacity of Sun–Earth interactions.
    [UPSC 2022] If a major solar storm (solar flare) reaches the Earth, which of the following are the possible effects on the Earth?

    1. GPS and navigation systems could fail.

    2. Tsunamis could occur at equatorial regions.

    3. Power grids could be damaged.

    4. Intense auroras could occur over much of the Earth.

    5. Forest fires could take place over much of the planet.

    6. Orbits of the satellites could be disturbed.

    7. Shortwave radio communication of the aircraft flying over polar regions could be interrupted.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1, 2, 4 and 5 only (b) 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 only (c) 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7* only (d) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7

     

  • Jarosite in Kutch: India’s Mars Analogue Site

    Why in the News?

    Matanomadh in Kutch, Gujarat, with jarosite deposits like those on Mars, is being considered by ISRO as a test site for future Mars missions.

    What is Jarosite?

    • Composition: A yellow, iron-rich sulphate mineral containing iron, sulphur, oxygen, and potassium.
    • Formation: Develops when volcanic ash or sulphur-bearing minerals chemically react with water, making it a marker of past water–rock interaction.
    • Discovery in India: Reported in 2016 at Matanomadh, Kutch (Gujarat) by ISRO’s Space Applications Centre; also found at Varkala cliffs, Kerala. Kutch is more suitable for planetary research.
    • Martian Link: Detected in 2004 by NASA’s Opportunity Rover. This referred as terrestrial clone of Martian surface.
    • Global Occurrence: Found in Mexico, Spain, Canada, Japan, and the USA (Utah, California), all serving as Mars analogue sites.

    Matanomadh’s Significance for Mars Study:

    • Mars Analogue Value: Geological dating shows deposits about 55 million years old (Paleocene period), resembling early Martian conditions.
    • Test Bed for ISRO: Provides ground for testing rover mobility, drilling systems, geochemical studies, and remote sensing for Mangalyaan-2 and future missions.
    • Astrobiology Potential: Since jarosite can trap organic molecules, it helps in shaping strategies to search for signs of past life on Mars.
    • Complement to Ladakh: While Ladakh sites simulate Martian climate, Matanomadh represents Martian geology and mineralogy, creating a comprehensive Mars-analogue ecosystem in India.
    • Conservation Importance: Facing threats from waterlogging and coal mining; scientists urge its declaration as a Planetary Geo-heritage Site.
    • Strategic Edge: Strengthens India’s role in planetary exploration, astrobiology research, and international collaborations.
    [UPSC 2016] Consider the following statements:

    1. The Mangalyaan launched by ISRO

    2. is also called the Mars Orbiter Mission

    3. made India the second country to have a spacecraft orbit the Mars after USA

    4. made India the only country to be successful in making its spacecraft orbit the Mars in its very first attempt

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only   (b) 2 and 3 only   (c) 1 and 3 only * (d) 1, 2 and 3

     

  • [pib] Adi Vaani App: India’s First Tribal AI Translator

    Why in the News?

    The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has launched the Beta Version of “Adi Vaani”, India’s first AI-based translator for tribal languages.

    About Adi Vaani:

    • What is it: India’s first AI-powered translator for tribal languages.
    • Launch: Released in Beta Version (2025) by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
    • Inception: Developed under Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh to empower tribal communities and safeguard endangered tribal languages.
    • Created by: A team led by IIT Delhi with BITS Pilani, IIIT Hyderabad, IIIT Nava Raipur, and Tribal Research Institutes.
    • Impact: Strengthens digital literacy, ensures inclusive governance, preserves cultural identity, and positions India as a global leader in AI for endangered languages.

    Key Features:

    • Translation Modes: Text-to-Text, Text-to-Speech, Speech-to-Text, and Speech-to-Speech.
    • Languages (Beta): Santali, Bhili, Mundari, and Gondi. Kui and Garo to be added next.
    • AI Models: Based on NLLB (No Language Left Behind) and IndicTrans2, adapted for low-resource languages.
    • Community-Driven: Data collected, validated, and iteratively developed by local experts and Tribal Research Institutes.
    • Toolkit Additions: OCR for digitizing manuscripts, bilingual dictionaries, and curated repositories.
    [UPSC 2020] With the present state of development, Artificial Intelligence can effectively do which of the following?

    1. Bring down electricity consumption in industrial units 2. Create meaningful short stories and songs

    3. Disease diagnosis 4. Text-to-Speech Conversion

    5. Wireless transmission of electrical energy

    Options: (a) 1, 2, 3 and 5 only (b) 1, 3 and 4 only* (c) 2, 4 and 5 only (d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

     

  • ClassGPT: How AI is reshaping campuses

    Introduction

    Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly generative models like ChatGPT and Gemini, has become both a boon and a challenge in higher education. Students increasingly rely on AI for assignments, summaries, coding, and even emails, while faculty members grapple with maintaining originality, academic honesty, and critical thinking. With AI growing faster than existing regulatory or pedagogical frameworks, Indian institutions are experimenting with varied approaches, ranging from outright bans to integration into curricula. The choices made today will determine not just the future of learning but also India’s knowledge economy and workforce readiness.

    The Changing Landscape of Education with AI

    How widespread is AI usage among students and teachers

    1. IIT Delhi Survey (2024): Four out of five students admitted to using AI, often several times a week. One in ten subscribed to premium versions.
    2. Faculty usage: 77% of surveyed teachers used AI for summarising papers, creating slides, or drafting communication.
    3. Student motivations: Simplification of concepts, summarisation of material, mind maps, and scenario simulations.
    4. Concerns: Errors in math, flawed debugging, weak context handling.

    The integrity dilemma in classrooms

    1. Blurred lines: Students question whether using AI counts as “cheating” or “time-saving.”
    2. Academic honesty: IIT Delhi’s committee recommended rewriting plagiarism policies to require disclosure of AI use.
    3. Critical thinking loss: Faculty fear students may accept AI answers as “Truth” without questioning them.

    Institutional responses in India

    • Policy innovations:
      1. IIT Delhi – integration of AI/ML in curricula, AI workshops, campus-wide licenses.
      2. IIIT Delhi – shifted evaluation to 90% exams, 10% assignments.
      3. IIM Ranchi – evaluation rubric for responsible AI integration.
      4. Shiv Nadar University – five-level “Gen AI Assessment Scale” from prohibition to responsible autonomy.
      5. Ashoka University – AI literacy courses, foundation modules, ethics of AI curriculum.
      6. Strict resistance: Some universities (Delhi University’s Dept. of Education) enforce “No AI” policies, insisting on handwritten assignments.
    • Pedagogical experiments with AI
      1. Classroom integration: AI tools are increasingly used to automate routine tasks like code generation, freeing classroom time for higher-order problem-solving.
      2. Assessment innovation: Institutions are shifting towards interactive methods such as AI-assisted viva voce, project-based evaluation, and scenario testing to ensure genuine understanding.
      3. Ethics in curriculum: Courses on “Ethics of AI” and AI literacy modules are being introduced to sensitise students towards responsible and transparent usage.
      4. Balanced usage: AI is deployed after core concepts are taught, ensuring students retain critical thinking and do not outsource judgment entirely.

    Global responses and comparative perspectives

    1. USA: Princeton provides ChatGPT licenses; Oxford mandates disclosure but allows professors to decide; assignments redesigned to integrate AI.
    2. Australia: TEQSA guidelines legitimise AI but require mandatory disclosure; oral exams and viva voce are making a comeback.
    3. UK: Universities pilot TeacherMatic to ensure sector-wide learning models.

    Conclusion

    Generative AI has irreversibly entered the Indian classroom. The challenge is not whether to allow or ban it but how to regulate, integrate, and ethically harness it. From IITs’ committees to global universities’ adaptive models, the world is learning that AI can either weaken critical thinking or be a catalyst for higher-order learning. For India, the stakes are especially high: with its demographic dividend and growing tech economy, how students learn today will define the nation’s competitiveness tomorrow.

    Value Addition

    Real-Time Usage of AI in Education

    1. Adaptive Learning Platforms : AI customises lesson plans, adjusting pace and difficulty based on student performance, ensuring personalised learning outcomes.
    2. Automated Assessment and Feedback : AI evaluates tests, essays, coding tasks, and provides instant feedback, saving teacher time and helping students improve faster.
    3. Language Translation and Accessibility : Real-time translation, speech-to-text, and text-to-speech tools remove linguistic barriers, supporting multilingual and differently-abled learners.
    4. AI-Powered Virtual Tutors : Chatbots and digital assistants are available 24×7 to clarify doubts, simulate problem-solving, and provide personalised tutoring.
    5. Plagiarism and Academic Integrity Checks : AI tools detect plagiarism and even AI-generated content, ensuring transparency and originality in student submissions.
    6. Immersive Learning with AI + AR/VR : Virtual labs and simulations powered by AI allow safe, hands-on learning in science, medicine, and engineering.
    7. Administrative Automation : AI automates attendance, timetabling, grading records, and performance monitoring, reducing non-teaching workload for faculty.
    8. Industry 4.0 Skill Development : AI-based coding assistants, real-time debugging, and project simulators prepare students for jobs in data science, robotics, and emerging tech.

    PYQ Relevance

    [UPSC 2023]  Introduce the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI). How does AI help clinical diagnosis? Do you perceive any threat to privacy of the individual in the use of AI in the healthcare?

    Linkage: AI’s growing role in education parallels its use in healthcare, where it aids efficiency but raises ethical and privacy concerns. Just as AI in clinical diagnosis demands accuracy, transparency, and accountability, AI in classrooms requires disclosure, integrity, and critical oversight. Both contexts highlight the larger governance challenge of balancing innovation with responsibility.

  • Kulasekarapattinam Launch Complex

    Why in the News?

    ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan announced that the upcoming rocket launching site at Kulasekarapattinam (Tamil Nadu) will handle 20–25 satellite launches annually.

    Kulasekarapattinam Launch Complex

    About Kulasekarapattinam Spaceport:

    • Location: Coastal hamlet near Tiruchendur, Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu; inaugurated by PM in February 2024.
    • Second Spaceport: India’s second spaceport after Satish Dhawan Space Centre (Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, 1971).
    • Capacity: Can handle 20–25 launches annually, including 24 launches using a Mobile Launch Structure.
    • Focus: Dedicated to Small Satellite Launch Vehicles (SSLVs), with capacity to launch rockets up to 500 kg.
    • Facilities: About 35 facilities including launch pad, rocket integration units, ground range, checkout systems, and Mobile Launch Structure with onboard checkout computers.

    Advantages offered by Kulasekarapattinam Spaceport:

    • Direct Southward Launches: Location allows launches into the Indian Ocean without crossing landmasses; ensures more safety from debris fall.
    • No Dogleg Manoeuvre: Unlike Sriharikota, no detour is needed to avoid Sri Lanka, saving fuel.
    • Efficient Trajectory: Improves efficiency for satellites in Sun-Synchronous Polar Orbits (SSPOs).
    • Payload Advantage: SSLVs from Kulasekarapattinam can place ~300 kg into SSPO, higher than from Sriharikota.
    • Decongestion: Reduces pressure on Sriharikota, which will focus on larger PSLV, GSLV, and Gaganyaan launches.
    • Commercial Boost: Strengthens India’s role in the global small-satellite launch market, enhancing space economy.
    • Strategic Advantage: Near-equator position provides benefits for certain orbital paths.
    [UPSC 2008] ISRO successfully conducted a rocket test using cryogenic engines in the year 2007. Where is the test-stand used for the purpose, located?

    Options: (a) Balasore (b) Thiruvananthapuram (c) Mahendragiri* (d) Karwar

     

  • With Sci-Hub gone, will the ‘One Nation, One Subscription’ scheme step up?

    Introduction

    The blocking of Sci-Hub in India marks a turning point in the battle between corporate publishers and the principle of open knowledge. At the heart of the issue lies the paradox of publicly funded research locked behind exorbitant paywalls. The government’s One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) scheme, with an allocation of ₹6,000 crore, aims to democratize access to 13,000 journals for research institutions. Yet, concerns remain about its cost-effectiveness, inclusivity, and long-term sustainability.

    Why is this issue in the news?

    • The Delhi High Court’s verdict against Sci-Hub is a landmark moment because:
    • For the first time in India, the judiciary has formally sided with publishers in the long-drawn copyright battle.
    • It stands in sharp contrast with the reality that research is funded by public money but monetized by private publishers with 30%+ profit margins.
    • The problem is enormous: lakhs of rupees per journal subscription make access unaffordable for many institutions, forcing dependence on Sci-Hub earlier.
    • The government’s ONOS initiative is the first large-scale attempt to address structural inequities in knowledge access, but doubts persist about its ability to replace shadow libraries.

    The Distinctive Nature of Scientific Publishing

    1. No royalties for authors: Researchers and peer reviewers are unpaid, unlike musicians or filmmakers.
    2. Publicly funded research: Much of Indian science is taxpayer-funded, yet access is privatized.
    3. Exorbitant subscriptions: Institutions pay lakhs for a single journal. Publishers justify costs via “quality control” but enjoy 30%+ profit margins, raising concerns of rent-seeking.

    The Global Controversy Around Sci-Hub

    1. Copyright infringement: Courts in the U.S., Europe, and now India have ruled against Sci-Hub.
    2. Essential access tool: For countless researchers, Sci-Hub was the only means to access knowledge, especially outside elite universities.
    3. Contempt charges: Alexandra Elbakyan allegedly violated court orders by running Sci-Net, a mirror service.
    4. Declining relevance: Technical unreliability and growing open-access alternatives are reducing its utility.

    The Vision of One Nation, One Subscription

    1. Government-led subscription: Outlay of ₹6,000 crore (2023–2026) for bulk access to 13,000 journals.
    2. Phase I focus: All public institutions; Phase II may include private ones.
    3. Equal access: Seeks to eliminate inequities between elite and smaller research centres.
    4. Limitations: Independent researchers and those at private centres remain excluded until Phase II.

    ONOS in the Context of Global Open-Access Movements

    1. Global open-access movement: Over half of papers are already open access through preprints and repositories.
    2. U.S. policy (2026): All federally funded research must be open.
    3. EU Horizon Europe: Similar open-access mandate.
    4. India’s challenge: At a time when the world moves toward open access, ONOS risks becoming an expensive detour.

    Structural Flaws in Scholarly Publishing

    1. Dependence on foreign publishers: ONOS continues India’s reliance on Western journals.
    2. Copyright transfer: Indian researchers must still give away rights to their work.
    3. Pay-to-publish dilemma: Funds freed at institutions may shift to open-access journals, but may ignore institutional repositories.
    4. Need for rights retention: Policies like Harvard/MIT (mandatory deposit in repositories) could empower Indian researchers.

    Conclusion

    The Sci-Hub ban highlights the persistent inequities in access to scientific knowledge. While ONOS is a step forward, it risks being a band-aid solution unless paired with deeper reforms: indigenous publishing capacity, national repositories, and copyright retention policies. India must not merely manage the symptoms of an exploitative system but must cure the disease by reclaiming knowledge as a public good.

    Value Addition

    Knowledge as a Public Good

    • Publicly funded research must be accessible to all because it is financed by taxpayers.
    • Blocking access (through high subscription fees or court orders) creates an elitist knowledge economy.
    • UN and UNESCO treat knowledge access as a pillar of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4: Quality Education, SDG 9: Innovation).

    Economic Dimension

    • Global publishers enjoy 30%+ profit margins, while Indian institutions pay lakhs per journal subscription, draining public funds.
    • ONOS at ₹6,000 crore (2023–2026) represents bulk negotiation power by the state, saving scattered institutional expenditure.
    • Issue of dependency on foreign publishers persists, highlighting the need for indigenous publishing ecosystems.

    Global Comparisons

    • U.S. (2026 mandate): All federally funded research must be openly accessible.
    • EU’s Horizon Europe: Immediate open access to publications funded under the programme.
    • Plan S (Europe, 2018): Publicly funded research must be published in open-access journals.
    • India risks being out of sync if it over-invests in subscriptions while others move to free access models.

    Technology and Governance

    • ONOS = India’s experiment in e-governance for knowledge.
    • Needs to integrate institutional repositories, preprint servers, and rights retention policies (like Harvard/MIT) to empower researchers.
    • Can be linked with the Digital India mission, showing tech-driven democratization of services.

    Ethical Dimension

    • Applied Ethics of Technology: Corporate profits vs. collective social welfare.
    • Moral dilemma: Should intellectual property rights override public access to life-saving or path-breaking research?
    • Covid-19 demonstrated that open-access collaboration saved lives by accelerating vaccine and drug development.

    PYQ Relevance

    [UPSC 2024] ‘’What is the present world scenario of Intellectual Property Rights? Although India is second in the world to file patents, still only a few have been commercialized. Explain the reasons behind this less commercialization.”

    Linkage: The Sci-Hub ban and ONOS scheme reflect how IPR in scientific publishing creates barriers to access despite research being publicly funded. Globally, publishers extract high profits through restrictive copyright, mirroring the broader challenge of IPR becoming a tool of rent-seeking rather than innovation. India’s weak indigenous publishing ecosystem and overdependence on foreign journals parallel the problem of low commercialization of patents—both highlight the gap between innovation output and practical accessibility/utility.

  • SpaceX’s Starship completes critical test flight

    Why in the News?

    SpaceX’s Starship has completed its first fully successful test flight after a series of failures.

    SpaceX’s Starship completes critical test flight

    About SpaceX Starship:

    • Design: A two-stage heavy-lift launch vehicle built to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
    • Developer: SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, with the vision of enabling interplanetary travel and colonisation.
    • Size: Nearly 120 metres tall with booster, making it the largest rocket ever built and flown. Taller than Saturn V (111 m) and India’s Qutub Minar (72.5 m).
    • Historic Test Flight: On 27 August 2025, achieved its first fully successful flight. Booster splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, spacecraft reached the Indian Ocean.
    • Role in NASA Missions: Critical to Artemis Program for returning humans to the Moon and later missions to Mars.
    • Long-term Goal: Make Starship fully and rapidly reusable, cutting costs and redefining space travel.

    Key Features of Starship:

    • Two-Stage Rocket System:
      • Super Heavy booster powered by 33 Raptor engines generating 74 meganewtons of thrust, nearly double NASA’s SLS and twice Saturn V.
      • Engines burn liquid oxygen and methane, enabling deep-space use and Mars resource utilisation.
      • Booster fully reusable, capable of atmospheric re-entry and recovery.
      • Six Raptor engines and four landing fins, designed for full reusability on long-duration missions.
    • Payload Capacity: Can carry up to 150 tonnes to Low-Earth Orbit and over 100 tonnes to the Moon and Mars, more than all soft-landed lunar payloads combined.
    • Cost Reduction Potential: Estimated to deliver 100 tonnes of cargo to Mars for ~$50 million, compared to NASA Shuttle’s $1.5 billion per launch with far less payload.
    [UPSC 2025] Consider the following space missions:

    I. Axiom-4 II. SpaDeX III. Gaganyaan

    How many of the space missions given above encourage and support microgravity research?

    Options: (a) Only one (b) Only two (c) All the three* (d) None

     

  • Samudrayaan Mission

    Why in the News?

    Two Indian aquanauts dived over 5,000 m in the Atlantic aboard French vessel Nautile, as part of India’s Samudrayaan Mission.

    What is Deep Ocean Mission (DOM)?

    • Approved: 2021 by the Union Cabinet, with a budget of ₹4,077 crore for 5 years.
    • Aim: Explore, conserve, and sustainably use deep-ocean resources to support India’s Blue Economy.
    • Six Components:
      • Develop technologies for deep-sea mining, submersibles, and robotics.
      • Ocean climate change advisory service with observations + predictive models.
      • Deep-sea biodiversity exploration and conservation.
      • Surveys for polymetallic nodules and minerals.
      • Energy & freshwater extraction technologies from oceans.
      • Advanced Marine Station for ocean biology & engineering → to bridge research & industry.

    About Samudrayaan Mission:

    • Nature: India’s first crewed deep-sea exploration mission.
    • Objective: To send 3 humans up to 6,000 m depth into the central Indian Ocean by 2027.
    • Vehicle: Crewed submersible Matsya-6000 (fish-shaped, 2.1 m personal sphere).
      • Capacity: 3 aquanauts.
      • Endurance: 12 hours normal + 96 hours emergency life support.
      • Material: Titanium alloy sphere (80 mm thickness) to withstand ~600x atmospheric pressure.
    • Coordinating Agency: National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Ministry of Earth Sciences.
    • Strategic Significance: Will place India among a select group of countries (US, Russia, China, Japan, France) with human deep-sea exploration capability.

    Progress made so far:

    • Aquanaut Training: Discussed above.
    • Matsya-6000 Development:
      • Successfully wet tested in Feb 2025.
      • Titanium alloy sphere fabrication ongoing at ISRO using electron beam welding.
      • Initial steel test sphere used for 500 m trials.
    • Technology Development:
      • Indigenous acoustic telephone built for underwater communication (works in open ocean after initial failures).
      • Life-support systems designed to maintain 20% oxygen and scrub CO₂.
    • Next Steps:
      • Human test dive at 500 m depth planned before full 6,000 m mission.
      • Full Samudrayaan launch targeted by 2027.
    [UPSC 2021] Consider the following statements:

    1.The Global Ocean Commission grants licenses for seabed exploration and mining in international waters.

    2.India has received licenses for seabed mineral exploration in international waters.

    3. ‘Rare earth minerals’ are present on the seafloor in international waters.

    Which of the statements given above are correct?

    Options:(a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only* (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2, and 3

     

  • [pib] India hosts 3GPP RAN Working Group Meetings on 6G Standardization

    Why in the News?

    The Telecommunications Standards Development Society (TSDI) of India has hosted the 3GPP Radio Access Networks (RAN1–RAN5) Working Group Meetings focusing on 6G standardization for the first time, in Bengaluru.

    About 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project):

    • Overview: Global body established in 1998 for mobile telecom standards (2G → 6G).
    • Partners: Collaboration of ARIB (Japan), ATIS (USA), CCSA (China), ETSI (Europe), TSDSI (India), TTA (South Korea), and TTC (Japan).
    • Output: Publishes technical specifications, forming the global benchmark for telecom operators, equipment makers, and regulators.
    • Focus Areas:
      1. RAN (Radio Access Network) – towers & radios connecting users to the network.
      2. Core Network – switching, routing, internet connectivity.
      3. Services & System Aspects – apps, charging, security.

    What is RAN (Radio Access Network)?

    • Definition: The wireless part of a mobile network that links user devices (phones, IoT) to the core network using radio waves.
    • Components:
      • Base Stations (Node B in 3G, eNodeB in 4G, gNodeB in 5G).
      • Antennas & radios.
      • Controllers (e.g., RNC in 3G).
    • Functions:
      • Transmits & receives radio signals.
      • Allocates spectrum.
      • Manages coverage, speed, call/data quality, and handovers.
    • Importance: Defines network performance (speed, latency, capacity).
    • 3GPP RAN Working Groups (RAN1–RAN5): Develop physical layer, radio protocols, performance testing, ensuring smooth migration from 4G → 5G → 6G.

    Back2Basics:  Evolution of Mobile Standards

    • 3G (UMTS – Universal Mobile Telecommunications System): Introduced in early 2000s; based on WCDMA; enabled video calls, MMS, and mobile internet (up to 2 Mbps).
    • 4G (LTE – Long-Term Evolution): All-IP, OFDMA-based; provided high-speed broadband (hundreds of Mbps), VoLTE, and seamless video streaming.
    • 5G (NR – New Radio): Flexible OFDM-based; delivers ultra-high speeds (Gbps), ultra-low latency, supports IoT, automation, AR/VR, and network slicing.
    • 6G (Sixth Generation – under research): Expected by ~2030; aims for terabit-class speeds, AI-native networking, holographic communication, and satellite–terrestrial integration.

     

    [UPSC 2019] With reference to communication technologies, what is/are the difference / differences between LTE (Long-Term Evolution) and VoLTE (Voice over Long-Term Evolution)?

    1. LTE ‘is commonly marketed as 3G and VoLTE is commonly marketed as advanced 3G.

    2. LTE is data-only technology and VoLTE is voice-only technology.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below.

    Options: (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2*