Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Science & Technology) – July 2, 2020

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is developing methane-powered rocket engines.

• The space agency is developing two ‘LOx methane’ engines (liquid oxygen oxidiser and methane fuel) engines.
• One of the two projects is trying to convert the existing cryogenic engine, which uses liquid hydrogen for fuel, into a LOx methane engine.
• The other is a smaller engine of 3 tonnes thrust, which will feature an electric motor.
• These are being developed at ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre at Trivandrum.

The South Central Railway (SCR) announced the introduction of a new technology – Head On Generation (HOG) system – in Telangana Express where power from the engine would be supplied to the entire train for lighting and air-conditioning.

• The trains like these have two power cars known as End On Generators (EOG) on either end to provide electricity to all the coaches.
• These power cars produce electricity by the diesel generators with each using 40 litres of fuel per hour for a non-AC coach and 65-70 litres of diesel per hour per coach in case of an AC coach.
• The new HOG technology obviates the need for using diesel as power is tapped from the overhead electric traction lines through a pantograph to the train engine and the same is distributed to the trailing coaches.
• Earlier, the power supply from the overhead electric traction was being used to only run the engine and haul the coaches.
• “The new system does not require any diesel and hence, will reduce air and noise pollution, besides providing uninterrupted illumination in all the coaches.
• On an average, it will reduce carbon emission by 700 metric tonnes per year per train”.

EChO Network, a national program to provide a template for cross-disciplinary leadership in India with the specific focus of increasing research, knowledge, and awareness of Indian ecology and the environment.

• India faces unprecedented threats to its human environmental and ecosystems, solving which requires a confluence of India’s strong technological expertise and knowledge of the natural world itself.
• EChO Network would develop a national network to catalyse a new generation of Indians who can synthesize interdisciplinary concepts and tackle real-world problems in medicine, agriculture, ecology, and technology.
• With no precedent for such a network anywhere in the world, EChO Network establishes a new platform to change how science is embedded in our modern society.
• Through interactive sessions with citizens, industry, academia, and the government, the Network will identify gaps in knowledge regarding selected topics in human and environmental ecosystems.
• The program will then train postdoctoral leaders in research and outreach on these topics, while also incorporating current public and private efforts into a national network.
• It would then go on to establishing nation-wide awareness in these issues through public discourse and education for citizens, industry, and government with information exchange at all educational levels.
• Over time EChO Network intends to create an international distributed institute comprising individuals housed within industry, government, private, and academic sectors, combining their expertise and resources collectively to tackle large scale problems.

A Bilateral Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program has commenced between the Indian Patent Office (IPO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO).

The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a set of initiatives for providing accelerated patent prosecution procedures by sharing information between some patent offices.

Department of biotechnology (DBT) and NWO, the Netherlands Science Agency announced a joint call for proposals to clean the Barapullah drain in New Delhi.

• LOTUS-HR stands for Local Treatment of Urban Sewage streams for Healthy Reuse plant.
• The project was initiated in 2017. It aims to demonstrate a novel holistic waste-water management approach that will produce clean water that can be reused for various proposes.
• The project also aims to simultaneously recover nutrients and energy from the urban wastewater thus converting drain into profitable mines.
• The project is jointly supported by Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, Government of the Netherlands.
• The partners in the project are IIT-Delhi, NEERI and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

The International Seabed Authority (ISA), an autonomous international organisation established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, allots the ‘area’ for deep-sea mining.

• India was the first country to receive the status of a Pioneer Investor in 1987 and was given an area of about 1.5 lakh sq km in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) for nodule exploration.
• In 2002, India signed a contract with the ISA and after complete resource analysis of the seabed 50% was surrendered and the country retained an area of 75,000 sq km.

In a move to take cancer research to the next level and make treatment viable for people of different economic classes, the government has plans to set up a National Genomic Grid, which will study genomic data of cancer patients from India.

• The grid to be formed will be in line with the National Cancer Tissue Biobank (NCTB) set up at the Indian Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
• And it will collect samples from cancer patients to study genomic factors influencing cancer and identifying the right treatment modalities for the Indian population.
• “The NCTB is functioning in close association with the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).
• NCTB, which has the capacity to stock 50,000 genomic samples from cancer patients, already has samples from 3,000 patients.
• The genomic samples will help researches to have India-specific studies on cancers.
• The government plans to set up the National Genomic Grid in the same style with pan-India collection centres by bringing all cancer treatment institutions on board.

Scientists from Technion — Israel Institute of Technology has developed a concept they have named the Ramanujan Machine, after the Indian mathematician.

• It is not really a machine but an algorithm, and performs a very unconventional function.
• With most computer programs, humans input a problem and expect the algorithm to work out a solution.
• With the Ramanujan Machine, it works the other way round. Feed in a constant, say the well-know pi, and the algorithm will come up with a equation involving an infinite series whose value, it will propose, is exactly pi. Over to humans now: let someone prove that this proposed equation is correct.

Prithvi-II missile is a surface-to-surface tactical missile with a strike range of 350 km.

• It is developed by DRDO under Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP).
• It is capable of carrying 500 to 1,000 kg of warheads, both conventional as well as nuclear.
• The state-of-the-art missile is powered by liquid propulsion twin engines.
• It uses an advanced inertial guidance system with maneuvering orbit to hit its target.
• It was inducted into armour of the defence forces in 2003.

The Indian Army successfully tested two newly acquired Spike long-range (LR) anti-tank guided missiles at the Infantry School at Mhow, Madhya Pradesh.

• The Army has recently procured a small batch of 12 launchers and 250 missiles from Israel using its new financial powers to make emergency procurements sanctioned by the Defence Ministry.
• “Spike-LR is a fourth generation missile, which can engage a target with precision at ranges up to 4 km.
• In addition to the fire-and-forget capability, the missile has the ability to fire, observe and update, providing substantial flexibility to the firer to pinpoint the impact point, as also the ability to switch to a different target mid-flight,” the manufacturer, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, of Israel.