Subject: Space Technology

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully conducted a crucial test for its upcoming Chandrayaan-3 mission.

What was the test?

• The test involved the high-thrust cryogenic engine, which will be used to power the rocket that carries the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.
• The engine was tested for its endurance and performance under various conditions.

About Chandrayaan-3 Mission

• The Chandrayaan-3 mission is the third lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation.
• The mission follows the successful Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2 missions, which were launched in 2008 and 2019 respectively.
• The Chandrayaan-3 mission is designed to further explore the Moon’s South Pole region and conduct various scientific experiments, including studying the lunar surface, mineralogy, and the presence of water.

Significance of the recent test

• With the successful test of the high-thrust cryogenic engine, ISRO is now one step closer to launching the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
• The mission is expected to be a significant step forward in India’s space exploration efforts and will further our understanding of the Moon and its potential for future exploration and exploitation.

Chandrayaan-2: A quick recap

• Chandrayaan-2 consisted of an Orbiter, Lander and Rover, all equipped with scientific instruments to study the moon.
• The Orbiter would watch the moon from a 100-km orbit, while the Lander and Rover modules were to be separated to make a soft landing on the moon’s surface.
• ISRO had named the Lander module as Vikram, after Vikram Sarabhai, the pioneer of India’s space programme, and the Rover module as Pragyaan, which crash-landed.

Inception of Chandrayaan 3

• The subsequent failure of the Vikram lander led to the pursuit of another mission to demonstrate the landing capabilities needed for the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission proposed in partnership with Japan for 2024.

Its design

• The lander for Chandrayaan-3 will have only four throttle-able engines.
• Unlike Vikram on Chandrayaan-2 which had five 800N engines with a fifth one being centrally mounted with a fixed thrust.
• Additionally, the Chandrayaan-3 lander will be equipped with a Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV).

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Back2Basics: Chandrayaan-1 Mission

• The Chandrayaan-1 mission was launched in October 2008 was ISRO’s first exploratory mission to the moon, in fact to any heavenly body in space.
• The mission was designed to just orbit around the moon and make observations with the help of the instruments onboard.
• The closest that the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft came to the moon was in an orbit 100 km from its surface.

 

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The Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) — a radio telescope in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile is set to get software and hardware upgrades.

What is ALMA?

• ALMA is a state-of-the-art telescope that studies celestial objects at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths which can penetrate through dust clouds.
• It helps astronomers examine dim and distant galaxies and stars out there.
• It also has extraordinary sensitivity, which allows it to detect even extremely faint radio signals.
• The telescope consists of 66 high-precision antennas, spread over a distance of up to 16 km.
• Each antenna is outfitted with a series of receivers, and each receiver is tuned to a specific range of wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum.

Who operates ALMA?

• ALMA is operated under a partnership among the United States, 16 countries in Europe, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Chile.
• Fully functional since 2013, the radio telescope was designed, planned and constructed by US, Japan and EU.

Why is ALMA located in Chile’s Atacama Desert?

• ALMA is situated at an altitude of 16,570 feet (5,050 metres) above sea level on the Chajnantor plateau in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
• The high altitude and low humidity of the site make it an ideal location for a radio telescope, as there is minimal atmospheric interference.
• Moreover, the desert is the driest place in the world, meaning most of the nights here are clear of clouds and free of light-distorting moisture — making it a perfect location for examining the universe.

Significant discoveries

• One of the earliest findings came in 2013 when it discovered starburst galaxies earlier in the universe’s history than they were previously thought to have existed.
• These newly discovered galaxies represent what today’s most massive galaxies looked like in their energetic, star-forming youth.
• In 2015, the telescope helped scientists observe a phenomenon known as the Einstein ring, which occurs when light from a galaxy or star passes by a massive object en route to the Earth, in extraordinary detail.

 

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Central idea: A new study shows that a dwarf planet, named Quaoar, has a ring system that exists within its Roche limit.

What is the news?

• Astronomers have found a ring around a dwarf planet, located in the Kuiper Belt at the solar system’s edge, called Quaoar, according to a new study.
• The ring, however, is positioned much further away from the planet than is usual and defies theoretical explanations.

About Quaoar

• With an estimated radius of 555 km, Quaoar is roughly half the size of Pluto and orbits beyond Neptune.
• It also has a moon of its own, which is known as Weywot.
• As the dwarf planet is too small and too distant to be observed directly, the researchers detected the ring with the help of a phenomenon called stellar occultation.

How was the ring discovered?

• A stellar occultation occurs when, as seen from Earth, a bright star passes behind a planet.
• This allows astronomers or anybody on Earth to observe the sharp silhouette of the planet for a brief period of time.
• The phenomenon, which rarely occurs, is used by researchers to analyze a planet’s atmosphere and determine if it has a ring around it — in 1977, scientists discovered the Uranian ring system with the help of stellar occultation.

What is the Roche limit?

• The most intriguing part of the findings is the distance between Quaoar and its ring.
• Located 2,500 miles away from the dwarf planet, the ring is around 1,400 miles further away from the Roche limit, as per the calculations of the scientists.
• It suggests that at such a distance, the particles of the ring should have come together to form a moon.
• For a further understanding of the Roche limit, let’s look at the Earth and the moon. The Earth’s gravity pulls on the moon.
• However, one side of the moon is closer to the planet and hence, the pull is stronger on the side facing the Earth.
• The result is the so-called tidal force, which either stretches or compresses the moon from all sides.

What is the reason behind Quaoar’s far-out ring?

• As of now, nobody exactly knows how Quaoar’s ring has managed to remain stable at such a distance from the Roche limit.
• The researchers said that there can be a variety of possible explanations but they aren’t sure about any one of them.
• It might be possible that Quaoar’s moon, Weywot, or some other unseen moon contributes gravity that somehow holds the ring stable.
• Another potential explanation can be that the particles of the ring are colliding with each other in such a way that they are avoiding to coalesce into a moon.

 

Try this MCQ:

Q.What is the Roche limit?

A) The distance from a planet where its gravity is balanced by the gravitational force of another celestial body

B) The minimum distance from a planet that a moon can orbit without being pulled apart by tidal forces

C) The distance from the sun at which a planet can have a stable orbit

D) The distance from the earth where meteoroids burn up upon entering the atmosphere

 

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Central idea: Saudi Arabia will send its first-ever woman astronaut on the US-led Axiom 2 space mission later this year, in the latest move to revamp the kingdom’s ultra-conservative image.

Axiom Mission 2

• Axiom Mission 2 is a private spaceflight mission organized by Axiom Space, a Houston-based aerospace company.
• The mission is scheduled to launch in 2023 and aims to send four private individuals on a 10-day trip to the International Space Station (ISS).
• Rayyana Barnawi will join fellow Saudi male astronaut Ali Al-Qarni on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) during the second quarter of 2023.
• The mission is the second private crewed flight to the ISS, following the Inspiration4 mission by SpaceX.
• The crew is expected to undergo months of training, including simulations, physical conditioning, and emergency procedures.
• The mission is part of Axiom Space’s plan to establish a private space station attached to the ISS, which is expected to be launched in 2024.

 

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Recently, the sun puzzled many scientists with a large prominence near its north pole.

What is Solar Prominence?

• A solar prominence (also known as a filament when viewed against the solar disk) is a large, bright feature extending outward from the Sun’s surface.
• Prominences are anchored to the Sun’s surface in the photosphere, and extend outwards into the Sun’s hot outer atmosphere, called the corona.
• A prominence forms over timescales of about a day, and stable prominences may persist in the corona for several months, looping hundreds of thousands of miles into space.

How are they formed?

• Scientists are still researching how and why prominences are formed.
• The red-glowing looped material is plasma, a hot gas comprised of electrically charged hydrogen and helium.
• The prominence plasma flows along a tangled and twisted structure of magnetic fields generated by the sun’s internal dynamo.
• An erupting prominence occurs when such a structure becomes unstable and bursts outward, releasing the plasma.

 

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The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will undertake the second development flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV –D2).

Payload details

The SSLV-D2 is intended to inject ISRO’s EOS-07, U.S.-based firm Antaris’ Janus-1 and Chennai-based space start-up Space Kidz’s AzaadiSAT-2 satellites into a 450-km circular orbit in its 15 minutes flight.

• EOS-07: is a 156.3 kg satellite designed, developed and realized by the ISRO. Its mission objective is to design and develop payload instruments compatible with microsatellite buses and new technologies that are required for future operational satellites.
• Janus-1: Weighing around 10.2 kg, Janus-1 is a technology demonstrator, smart satellite mission based on Antaris software platform.
• AzaadiSAT-2: A 8.7-kg satellite, AzaadiSAT-2 is a combined effort of about 750 girl students across India guided by Space Kidz India, Chennai.

What is SSLV?

• The SSLV is a small-lift launch vehicle being developed by the ISRO with payload capacity to deliver:

1. 600 kg to Low Earth Orbit (500 km) or
2. 300 kg to Sun-synchronous Orbit (500 km)

• It would help launching small satellites, with the capability to support multiple orbital drop-offs.
• In future a dedicated launch pad in Sriharikota called Small Satellite Launch Complex (SSLC) will be set up.
• A new spaceport, under development, near Kulasekharapatnam in Tamil Nadu will handle SSLV launches when complete.
• After entering the operational phase, the vehicle’s production and launch operations will be done by a consortium of Indian firms along with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL).

Vehicle details

(A) Dimensions

• Height: 34 meters
• Diameter: 2 meters
• Mass: 120 tonnes

(B) Propulsion

• It will be a four stage launching vehicle.
• The first three stages will use Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) based solid propellant, with a fourth terminal stage being a Velocity-Trimming Module (VTM).

SSLV vs. PSLV: A comparison

• The SSLV was developed with the aim of launching small satellites commercially at drastically reduced price and higher launch rate as compared to Polar SLV (PSLV).
• The projected high launch rate relies on largely autonomous launch operation and on overall simple logistics.
• To compare, a PSLV launch involves 600 officials while SSLV launch operations would be managed by a small team of about six people.
• The launch readiness period of the SSLV is expected to be less than a week instead of months.
• The SSLV can carry satellites weighing up to 500 kg to a low earth orbit while the tried and tested PSLV can launch satellites weighing in the range of 1000 kg.
• The entire job will be done in a very short time and the cost will be only around Rs 30 crore for SSLV.

Significance of SSLV

• SSLV is perfectly suited for launching multiple microsatellites at a time and supports multiple orbital drop-offs.
• The development and manufacture of the SSLV are expected to create greater synergy between the space sector and private Indian industries – a key aim of the space ministry.

 

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An earth-observation satellite NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) jointly developed by NASA and ISRO is all set to be shipped to India later this month for a possible launch in September.

What is NISAR?

• NISAR has been built by space agencies of the US and India under a partnership agreement signed in 2014.
• The 2,800 kilograms satellite consists of both L-band and S-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) instruments, which makes it a dual-frequency imaging radar satellite.
• While NASA has provided the L-band radar, GPS, a high-capacity solid-state recorder to store data, and a payload data subsystem, ISRO has provided the S-band radar, the GSLV launch system and spacecraft.
• Another important component of the satellite is its large 39-foot stationary antenna reflector.
• Made of a gold-plated wire mesh, the reflector will be used to focus the radar signals emitted and received by the upward-facing feed on the instrument structure.

What is the mission?

• Once launched into space, NISAR will observe subtle changes in Earth’s surfaces, helping researchers better understand the causes and consequences of such phenomena.
• It will spot warning signs of natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and landslides.
• The satellite will also measure groundwater levels, track flow rates of glaciers and ice sheets, and monitor the planet’s forest and agricultural regions, which can improve our understanding of carbon exchange.
• By using synthetic aperture radar (SAR), NISAR will produce high-resolution images.
• SAR is capable of penetrating clouds and can collect data day and night regardless of the weather conditions.

 

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Vice President said Parliament is the “North Star” of democracy, “a place of discussion and deliberation to realize the aspirations and dreams of the people”.

What is North Star?

• North Star is a metaphor to refer to something constant/permanent that leads and provides direction.
• Polaris, also known as the North Star or the Pole Star, is a very bright star (around 2500 times more luminous than our sun) placed less than 1° away from the north celestial pole.
• Its position and brightness have made humans use it for navigation since late antiquity.
• It is a part of the constellation Ursa Minor and is around 323 light-years away from Earth.

How it helps navigation?

• It stands almost motionless in the night sky, with all the stars of the northern sky appearing to rotate around it.
• This makes it an excellent fixed point from which to draw measurements for celestial navigation.
• Simply the elevation of the star above the horizon gives the approximate latitude of the observer and in the northern hemisphere, if you can see Polaris you can always tell which way is north.
• Upon crossing the equator to the South, the North Star is lost over the horizon and hence stops being a useful navigational aid.

When the North Star was first used to navigate?

• Polaris seems to have been first charted by the Roman mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy, who lived from about 85 to 165 B.C.
• While there does exist some evidence pointing at how the star was used for navigation in late antiquity, it is during the ‘Age of Exploration’ that it becomes such a central part of human history.
• Christopher Columbus, on his first trans-Atlantic voyage of 1492, “had to correct (his ship’s bearings) for the circle described by the pole star about the pole”, wrote his son in his biography.
• As European colonizers set sail for exotic locations across the world, the North Star became an ever-so-important feature.

 

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Microsoft’s Project ELLORA is helping small languages like Gondi, Mundari become eloquent for the digital world.

Project ELLORA

• To bring ‘rare’ Indian languages online, Microsoft launched the Project ELLORA or Enabling Low Resource Languages in 2015.
• Under the project, researchers are building digital resources of the languages.
• They say that their purpose is to preserve a language for posterity so that users of these languages “can participate and interact in the digital world.”

How is ELLORA creating a language dataset?

• The researchers are mapping out resources, including printed literature, to create a dataset to train their AI model.
• The team is also working with these communities on the project.
• By involving the community in the data collection process, researchers hope to create a dataset that is both accurate and culturally relevant.

 

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