Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Science & Technology) – July 16, 2020

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is the third generation launch vehicle of India.

• It is the first Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages.
• After its first successful launch in October 1994, PSLV emerged as the reliable and versatile workhorse launch vehicle of India with 39 consecutively successful missions by June 2017.
• During 1994-2017period, the vehicle has launched 48 Indian satellites and 209 satellites for customers from abroad.
• Besides, the vehicle successfully launched two spacecraft – Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and Mars Orbiter Spacecraft in 2013 – that later traveled to Moon and Mars respectively.

It has failed twice in her missions.

• PSLV-D1 was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota on Sep 20, 1993. IRS-1E Satellite could not be placed in orbit. It is her maiden mission.
• The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its forty-first flight (PSLV-C39), was suppose to launch IRNSS-1H, the eighth satellite of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) into a Sub-Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (Sub-GTO).
• Launch of PSLV-C39/IRNSS-1H, Scheduled on Aug 31, 2017 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, Sriharikota was unsuccessful.

ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) at Thumba has completed the design for the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), the ‘baby rocket’ billed as the quickest way to space for small-size satellites.

• On the launchpad, the SSLV will stand 34 metres tall, 10 metres shorter than the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and around 15 metres shorter than the Mk-II version of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch vehicle (GSLV).
• It is also a ‘thinner’ launch vehicle, possessing a diameter of just two metres.
• With a lift-off mass of 120 tonnes, the SSLV can place a 500 kg payload at a height of 500 km in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
• The SSLV has three solid motor stages, and like the PSLV and GSLV, can accommodate multiple satellites, albeit smaller ones.
• Unlike the PSLV and GSLV, the SSLV can be assembled both vertically and horizontally.

The Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC), the hub of ISRO’s future manned missions, was inaugurated at ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru.

• HSFC shall be responsible for the implementation of Gaganyaan project — which involves mission planning, development of engineering systems for crew survival in space, crew selection and training and also pursue activities for sustained human space flight missions.
• HSFC will take the support of ISRO centres to implement the first developmental [crewed] flight.

NASA has recently launched Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

• It is designed to probe Earth’s upper atmosphere (Ionosphere), a massive layer that overlaps with the boundary of space.
• Its measurements will help scientists better understand the link between space weather and terrestrial weather, and how the two interact in the ionosphere.
• It is the region where strange and unique phenomena, such as the auroras and geomagnetic storms are created.

The Indian Army, which began inducting the indigenously upgraded Dhanush artillery guns, will have the first regiment in place by March 2020 and will get all 114 guns by 2022.

• Dhanush is the indigenously upgraded variant of the Swedish Bofors gun imported in the 1980s.
• Dhanush is a 155 mm, 45-calibre towed artillery gun with a range of 36km and has demonstrated a range of 38 km with specialised ammunition.
• It is an upgrade of the existing 155m, 39 calibre Bofors FH 77 gun.

Losharik is a highly advanced nuclear powered submarine of Russia.

• Recently a fire accident was reported on the submarine within the Russian territorial waters.
• It is a deep-diving special mission’s ship, operated by the Russian Navy.
• It is capable of withstanding high pressures at great depths, enabling it to survey the ocean floor.

Rani Rashmoni is a fast patrol vessel, indigenously built by Hindustan Shipyard.

• It is built under the Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV) project of Indian Coast Guard.
• Under the first phase of the project, 5 FPV‘s has been built.
• The first four such ships are ICGS Rani Abbakka, ICGS Rani Avanti Bai, ICGS Rani Durgavati and ICGS Rani Gaidinliu.

India had always been the first respondent in situations of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Management (HADR) in the subcontinent said by Indian Home Minister.

• Addressing the 10th meeting of the Heads of Departments of SCO member-States, he called on the Shanghai Cooperation organisation (SCO) members to make a concerted, synchronised effort towards securing people from disasters.
• Minister expressed the confidence that the four-day Joint Exercise on Urban Earthquake Search and Rescue (SCOJtEx)-2019, held in November 2019, and the ministerial meeting would help in finalizing an action plan for managing disasters for the year 2020-21.

The microbot technology involves spraying of thousands of nano dots carrying registration information on vehicles.

• These nano-size metal particles carry information like the registration number and chassis number of the vehicle.
• The dots are sprayed at many different spots on the vehicle, so that even if the vehicle is stolen and sold for parts, it can be traced.
• The microdots are adhesive and will become permanent fixtures/affixation which cannot be removed without damaging the asset, which is the vehicle itself.

When rubbers bands are twisted and untwisted, it produces a cooling effect. This is called the “elastocaloric” effect, and researchers have suggested that it can be used in a very relevant context today.

• Researchers from multiple universities, including Nankai University in China, have found that the elastocaloric effect, if harnessed, may be able to do away with the need of fluid refrigerants used in fridges and air-conditioners.
• These fluids are susceptible to leakages, and can contribute to global warming. In the elastocaloric effect, the transfer of heat works much the same way as when fluid refrigerants are compressed and expanded.
• When a rubber band is stretched, it absorbs heat from its environment, and when it is released, it gradually cools down.
• In order to figure out how the twisting mechanism might be able to enable a fridge, the researchers compared the cooling power of rubber fibres, nylon and polyethylene fishing lines and nickel-titanium wires.
• They observed high cooling from twist changes in twisted, coiled and super-coiled fibres.