Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Science & Technology) – September 24, 2020

For the first time since it started functioning, the gravitational wave observatories at LIGO scientific collaboration have detected a merger of two unequal-mass black holes.

• The event, dubbed GW190412, was detected nearly a year ago, and this is almost five years after the first ever detection of gravitational wave signals by these powerful detectors.
• Subsequent analysis of the signal coming from the violent merger showed that it involved two black holes of unequal masses coalescing, one of which was some 30 times the mass of the Sun and the other which had a mass nearly 8 times the solar mass.
• The actual merger took place at a distance of 2.5 billion light years away.

Primordial Black Holes (PBH) were formed during the Hot Big Bang phase.

• PBH can be massively large as 3000kms or be extremely tiny like nucleus of an atom.
• It is believed that they are formed as a result of collapsing radiations as opposed to the collapse of massive stars, which is the case of any other black holes.
• A recent study on Primordial black holes has confirmed that this marginal rise in potential energy resulted in birth of several PBHs and also emitted very powerful gravitational waves.
• Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), has studied primordial black holes that were born as a result of a tiny bump in the potential energy levels of the universe, at a time when it was expanding rapidly.

The Artemis program is a US (NASA) government-funded crewed spaceflight program that has the goal of landing “the first woman and the next man” on the Moon, specifically at the lunar South Pole region by 2024.

The X-ray Polarimeter Satellite is a planned space observatory to study polarisation of cosmic X-rays.

• It is planned to be launched in 2021, and to provide a service time of at least five years.
• The telescope is being developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Raman Research Institute.

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD), better known as the ‘Quad’, started as a strategic dialogue in 2007.

• The dialogue members included India, the US, Australia and Japan.
• It was established to check the growth of Chinese power in what was still referred to as ‘Asia-Pacific’, and which has since become ‘Indo-Pacific’.
• The Quad had its real genesis in the response to the 2004-2005 Asian Tsunami when India showed prowess in spearheading the relief and rescue effort in South East Asia.
• However, the principal aim of the Quad was strategic, with a quest to manage the consequences for the regional balance of power in the Indo-Pacific due to the scale and scope of China’s rise.

Indian Navy has launched Operation Samudra Setu – meaning Sea Bridge, as a part of national effort to repatriate Indian citizens from overseas.

• Under Operation Sanjeevani an Indian Air Force (IAF) C-130J transport aircraft delivered 6.2 tons of essential medicines and hospital consumables to Maldives.
• Indian Navy launched Operation Sankalp in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman on Thursday to reassure Indian flagged vessels transiting through the area following the recent maritime incidents in the region.

Russian administration announced on Russian Navy would be equipped with hypersonic nuclear strike weapons and underwater nuclear drones.

• Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile is designed to be carried on surface ships; it is under final phase of testing.

Spike Missile: Spike is an Israeli fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile and anti-personnel missile.

• It was developed and designed by the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

Maareech torpedo defense system: It is an Advanced Torpedo Defence System (ATDS) that is capable of being fired from all frontline ships.

• It has been designed and developed indigenously by DRDO.
• It is capable of detecting, locating and neutralizing incoming torpedoes.

AHANA, a flagship national programme, is working for a world where no child is born with HIV/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

• It focuses on the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and is implemented by Plan India with support from The Global Fund.
• AHANA is being implemented in close coordination with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and National Health Mission (NHM) to influence policies and strategies in both the design and implementation phases of the National Health Mission Programme.
• AHANA aims to cover 55% of India‟s annual pregnancy load and reach 16.5 million annual pregnancies across 357 districts in 14 states each year with HIV testing.
• AHANA also provides care and support to HIV exposed babies until they are 18 months old, along with facilitating postpartum care for the lactating mother.

National Biopharma Mission is an Industry-Academia Collaborative Mission of Department of Biotechnology (DBT).

• It aims for accelerating discovery research to early development for Biopharmaceuticals approved by the Cabinet for a total cost US$ 250 million.
• It is 50% co-funded by the World Bank is being implemented at Biotechnology Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
• This program is dedicated to deliver affordable products to the nation with an aim to improve the health standards of India’s population.

INS Arihant is India’s first nuclear-powered submarine.

• The ship submersible ballistic, nuclear (SSBN) submarine was launched at the Indian Navy’s dockyard in Visakhapatnam, which is the headquarters of India’s Eastern Naval Command.
• Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has inaugurated the vessel into the Indian Navy, asserted that the indigenously built submarine would be used for self defence.
• The name Arihant derives from two words – Ari meaning enemy and Hanth meaning destroy.
• Arihant, India’s first indigenously built nuclear submarine, cost $2.9bn.
• It was jointly developed by the Indian Navy, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at the naval dockyard in Visakhapatnam.
• Russian designers assisted in building the vessel.