Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Science & Technology) | November 12,2020

The Government of India has announced the creation of a new “Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe)”.
•IN-SPACe will be an autonomous nodal agency under the Department of Space.
•It is expected to be functional within 6 months (from June 2020). IN-SPACe is supposed to be a facilitator and a regulator.
•It will act as an interface between ISRO and private parties. It will provide the necessary support for the private space industry to conduct its activities.
•IN-SPACe will assess the needs and demands of private players including educational and research institutions.
•It will explore ways to accommodate these requirements in consultation with ISRO.
•It will also assess how best to utilise India‘s space resources and increase space-based activities
Source: The Hindu

Currently, there does exist private industry involvement in India‘s space sector. In fact, a large part of manufacturing and fabrication of rockets and satellites now happens in the private sector.
•There is an increasing participation of research institutions as well. However, Indian industry had a barely 3% share in a rapidly growing global space economy.
•Currently, the value of the global space industry is estimated to be $360 billion. Only 2% of this market goes for rocket and satellite launch services, which require fairly large infrastructure and heavy investment.
Reasons for lagging behind:
Till now, Indian space industry’s role has been mainly that of suppliers of components and sub-systems.
•Indian industries do not have the resources or the technology to undertake independent space projects or provide space-based services.
•Additionally, the demand for space-based applications and services is growing even within India.
•The need for satellite data, imageries and space technology now cuts across sectors. It ranges from weather to agriculture to transport to urban development, and more.
•But, ISRO is unable to cater to this. ISRO would have to be expanded 10 times the current level to meet all the demand that is arising.
Source: The Hindu

: NITI Aayog and International Transport Forum (ITF) will collaborate to launch a new online project called “Decarbonizing Transport in India”.
•It is to chart out a path for a low-carbon transport system in the country. It will offer an opportunity to provide inputs for transport challenges and their relation to CO2 reduction in the country.
•The project will include designing a transport emissions assessment framework for India, providing the government with a detailed understanding of transport activities and CO2 emissions as a basis for decision making.
•It is a part of the ITF’s DTEE (De-carbonizing Transport in Emerging Economies) series of projects.
•DTEEs aimed at lowering carbon emissions across different regions in the world. The current participants in the initiative are India, Argentina, Azerbaijan, and Morocco.
Source: Indian Express

Union Ministry of Mines has launched a portal “SATYABHAMA (Science and Technology Yojana for Atmanirbhar Bharat in Mining Advancement)”.
•Its aim is to promote research and development in the mining and minerals sector.
•It has been launched to increase efficiency and effectiveness of the Science and Technology Programme Scheme.
•Under the Science and Technology Programme Scheme, the Ministry of Mines promotes research in applied geosciences, mineral exploration, mining and allied areas, mineral processing, optimum utilization and conservation of the mineral resources of the country.
•The portal has been designed, developed and implemented by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). The portal is also integrated with NGO Darpan Portal of NITI Aayog.
Source: The Hindu

Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
•IIT, Kharagpur is the National Coordinating Institute to implement the SPARC programme.
•It aims at improving the research ecosystem of India‘s higher educational institutions by facilitating academic and research collaborations between Indian institutions and the best institutions in the world.
Source: Indian Express

: The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is a multilateral treaty that regulates the international trade in conventional weapons.
•The treaty was negotiated in New York City at a global conference under the auspices of the UN in 2012. UN General Assembly adopted the ATT in 2013.
•It entered into force on 4th December 2014. 105 states have ratified the treaty, and a further 32 states have signed but not ratified it. [India is not a member to this treaty]
•It requires member countries to keep records of international transfers of weapons and to prohibit cross border shipments that could be used in human rights violations or attacks on civilians.
•Recently China‘s efforts to join the treaty has been rejected by the United States.
•It comes after US President Donald Trump announced plans last year to pull the United States out of the agreement which entered into force in 2014.
•The US Senate never ratified the 2013 Arms Trade Treaty, even after former president Barack Obama endorsed it.
Source: The Hindu

Announcing a new milestone in the history of marine exploration, an international collaboration of researchers said on June 21 that it had finished mapping nearly one-fifth of the world’s ocean floor.
•The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project, which is coordinating efforts to complete the mapping of the entire ocean floor by 2030, said on World Hydrography Day (June 21) that it had added 1.45 crore square kilometres of new bathymetric data to its latest grid.
•Since the launch of the project in 2017, the surveying of the ocean bed as per modern standards has gone up from around 6 per cent to 19 per cent.
Source: Indian Express

: International Space Station (ISS) is a modular space station (habitable artificial satellite) in low Earth orbit.
•The ISS programme is a multi-national collaborative project between five participating space agencies: 1. NASA (United States), 2. Roscosmos (Russia), 3. JAXA (Japan), 4. ESA (Europe), 5. CSA (Canada).
•The ownership and use of the space station are established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements.
•It is suited for testing the spacecraft systems and equipment required for possible future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.
•It is the largest artificial object in space and the largest satellite in low Earth orbit, regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth’s surface.
•It circles the Earth in roughly 93 minutes, completing 15.5 orbits per day.
Source: NASA

: The World Medical Association (WMA) has developed the Declaration of Helsinki as a statement of ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects, including research on identifiable human material and data.
•The Declaration of Geneva of the WMA binds the physician with the words, “The health of my patient will be my first consideration,” and the International Code of Medical Ethics declares that, “A physician shall act in the patient’s best interest when providing medical care.”
•It is the duty of the physician to promote and safeguard the health, well-being and rights of patients, including those who are involved in medical research.
•The physician’s knowledge and conscience are dedicated to the fulfillment of this duty.
•Medical progress is based on research that ultimately must include studies involving human subjects.
Source: The Hindu

HELINA is an acronym for Helicopter Launched Nag missile.
•Nag is a third generation Anti-Tank guided missile indigenously developed under ―Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) of DRDO.
•Anti-Tank Guided Missiles are primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles.
•Helina is the helicopter launch variant of Nag, which can be fired from Dhruv advanced light helicopter and HAL Rudra attack helicopter.
Source: The Hindu