Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon – March 26, 2020

INS Teg is a state-of-the-art guided missile frigate of the Indian Navy and is based at Mumbai. With a displacement of 4000 tons and speed of 30 knots, she is armed with the latest weapons and is capable of accomplishing a wide variety of missions.

BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile being developed by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India and NPO Mashinostroeyenia (NPOM) of Russia. The missile can be launched against ships and land-based targets. The missile is named after two rivers, the Brahmaputra in India and the Moskva in Russia. BrahMos has a flight range of up to 290km and can reach a maximum speed of Mach 3. The air launched version of the missile is under development as of 2013. Advanced satellite navigation systems from Russia’s Kh-555 and Kh-101 strategic long-range cruise missiles, and GPS-GLONASS technology were added to the existing doppler-inertial platforms of BrahMos missiles in 2013. The missile can be installed on ships, submarines, aircraft and ground vehicles. BrahMos missiles are inducted in to the armed forces of India and Russia and can also be exported to friendly nations. The ‘Fire and Forget’ type missile weights 3t and intercepts surface targets at an altitude of 10m up to 14,000m.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a NASA-sponsored Astrophysics Explorer-class mission that is performing a near all-sky survey to search for planets transiting nearby stars. The primary goal of TESS is to discover planets smaller than Neptune that transit stars bright enough to enable follow-up spectroscopic observations that can provide planet masses and atmospheric compositions.

The Spitzer Space Telescope is a space-borne, cryogenically-cooled infrared observatory capable of studying objects ranging from our Solar System to the distant reaches of the Universe. Spitzer is the final element in NASA’s Great Observatories Program, and an important scientific and technical cornerstone of the Astronomical Search for Origins Program. Designed to observe objects in the infrared spectrum, Spitzer has proven to be a revolutionary tool in the characterization of exoplanets. The mission is the first instrument to directly detect light from an exoplanet, and its data has revealed the composition, temperature, and even likely wind patterns on faraway exoplanets.

An industrial design renders an object attractive or appealing, thus increasing its marketability and adding to its commercial value. The design may be three-dimensional based on the shape or surface of the object, or two-dimensional based on the object’s patterns, lines or colours. Novelty, originality and visual appeal are essential if an industrial design is to be patented, although these criteria can differ from one country to another. Its aesthetic features should not be imposed by the technical functions of the product. Legally, “industrial design” is the title granted by an official authority, generally the Patent Office, to protect the aesthetic or ornamental aspect of an object. This protects solely the non-functional features of an industrial product and does not protect any technical features of the object to which it is applied. Industrial design rights are granted to the creator of designs to reward them for their effort and investment in manufacturing the product. These rights enable the owner to make articles to which the design is applied or in which the design is embodied. The holder of this legal title has the exclusive right to make, import or sell any objects to which the design is applied. They can authorise others to exploit the design and bring a legal action against anyone using the design without authorisation. In general the period of protection granted is from 10 to 25 years. This is often divided into terms and an extension of the term requires renewal of the registration.