AICSCC

GENERAL SCIENCE
17-MAY-2022
Vigneshwaran C, IOFS

IOFS 2013 batch through CSE 2012.

 Space X gets NASA contract - ARTEMIS program

• The Artemis program - human spaceflight program

that is being led by NASA with multiple international
and US domestic partners.

• primary goal of Artemis - to return humans including

women and astronaut of color to the Moon, specifically
the lunar south pole, by 2025.

• (NASA) has picked Elon Musk’s SpaceX for its Artemis

programme, to develop the first commercial lander
and take the next two US astronauts to the moon.

• The total value of this contract is $2.89 billion.

NASA’s Perseverance rover – Oxygen extracted from Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover – Oxygen extracted from Mars

• Experimental instrument aboard Perseverance called

the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization
Experiment (MOXIE) accomplished the task.

• Mars’ atmosphere is 96 percent carbon dioxide. MOXIE

works by separating oxygen atoms from carbon
dioxide

• MOXIE is expected to extract oxygen at least nine

more times over the course of a Martian year (nearly
two years on Earth).

• technology demonstration - instrument survived the

launch from Earth - a nearly seven-month journey
through deep space and a touch down
with Perseverance
NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Takes Flight On Mars
 NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Takes Flight On Mars

• NASA successfully flew its tiny helicopter Ingenuity on

Mars -the first powered flight on another planet.

• Technology demonstrator – vertical take off, hovering and

landing. Ingenuity was on autopilot for its entire flight, out of
sight, direct control, or contact with the controllers on Earth.

• The mini 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) copter even carried a bit of

wing fabric from the Wright Flyer that made similar history
at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903.

• Another Wright Brother moment .

• Ingenuity’s first flight 39.1 seconds – 28 successful flights till

April 2022
 NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Takes Flight On Mars

• The planet's atmospheric density is about 1⁄100 that of

Earth's at sea level, or about the same as 87,000 ft
(27,000 m), an altitude never reached by existing
helicopters.

• 121 cm × 49 cm (48 in × 19 in)

• 1.8 kilograms

• Solar-charged Li ion battery; typical engine input power:

350 watt

• 54 minutes, 16 seconds in 28 flights

• 6.98 km (4.34 mi) on Mars as of 29 April 2022

 NASA - VIPER – mobile robot – Artemis

•NASA is planning to send its first mobile robot to the

Moon in late 2023 in search of ice and other resources on
and below the lunar surface.

•Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or

VIPER will collect data that would help NASA map
resources at the lunar South Pole that could one day be
harvested for long-term human exploration at the Moon.
NASA - ISRO to develop Earth System Observatory

• NASA is developing a new system called the Earth

System Observatory, to mitigate efforts related to
climate change and disaster mitigation.

• NASA has also partnered with the Indian Space

Research Organization (ISRO) which will
provide NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR).

• NISAR will carry two radar systems to measure changes

in the Earth’s surface.
NASA - ISRO to develop Earth System Observatory

• The ISRO-NASA joint mission NISAR (NASA-ISRO

Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite, is a dual-band
(L-band and S-band) radar imaging mission to observe
minor changes in land, vegetation and cryosphere.

• NASA is developing L-band SAR and associated

systems while ISRO is developing S-band
SAR, spacecraft bus, the launch vehicle and associated
launch services.

• The major scientific objectives of the mission are to

improve understanding of the impact of climate
change on Earth’s changing ecosystems, land and
coastal processes, land deformations and cryosphere.
ESA to Launch ‘EnVision’ Mission to Venus in 2030

• EnVision probe of ESA will determine how and

why Venus and Earth evolved so differently, even while
being in the habitable zone to the Sun.

• To study Venus, for holistic view of planet from its

inner core to upper atmosphere.

• ESA will undertake this mission with contributions

from NASA. NASA would provide a radar to image and
map the surface.

• EnVision spacecraft will carry a range of instruments to

study the planet’s atmosphere and surface, monitor
trace gases in the atmosphere and analyse its surface
composition.
Successful 3rd test of Vikas Engine for Gaganyaan
Program

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has

successfully conducted the third long-duration hot test of
the liquid propellant Vikas Engine for the core L110 liquid
stage of the human-rated GSLV Mk III vehicle, as part of
the engine qualification requirements for the Gaganyaan
Programme.
 Europa Clipper mission

• NASA has selected California-based SpaceX to provide

launch services for Earth’s first mission to conduct
detailed investigations of Jupiter’s moon Europa.

• The mission called ‘Europa Clipper mission is

scheduled to be launched in October 2024 on a Falcon
Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

• Europa is estimated to have icy crust, sub surface

ocean and volcanic ocean floor.
 Europa Clipper mission

• NASA has selected California-based SpaceX to provide

launch services for Earth’s first mission to conduct
detailed investigations of Jupiter’s moon Europa.

• The mission called ‘Europa Clipper mission is

scheduled to be launched in October 2024 on a Falcon
Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

• Europa is estimated to have icy crust, sub surface

ocean and volcanic ocean floor.
Europa Clipper mission
 Europa Clipper mission

• Europa Clipper Mission is to investigate whether the

icy moon has conditions suitable for life, produce
high-resolution images of Europa’s surface, determine
its composition, look for signs of recent or ongoing
geological activity, measure the thickness of the
moon’s icy shell, search for subsurface lakes,
determine the depth and salinity of Europa’s ocean.

• Similarly, European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moon

Explorer (JUICE) is a mission to Ganymede that is due
to launch in 2023 and will include two flybys of Europa
Skyroot test fires Dhawan -1 India's first privately
built cryogenic rocket engine

Dhawan-1

• The indigenous engine was developed using 3D

printing with a super alloy.

• It runs on two high-performance rocket propellants —

liquid natural gas (LNG) and liquid oxygen (LoX).

• This was after successfully designing and developing

the solid propulsion rocket engine, the first private
firm in the country to do so.
 Skyroot

• Skyroot is working simultaneously on different stages

of both solid propulsion and liquid propulsion engines.

• It is named after eminent scientists, like Kalam (Abdul

Kalam) series for the former and Dhawan (Satish
Dhawan).

• The launch vehicles are named after Vikram Sarabhai.

 International Monsoons Project Office at
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune

• Establishment of the IMPO emphasises the importance

of monsoons to the country’s economy.

• Under the guidance of the World Climate Research

Programme and the World Weather Research
Programme, it would cover activities and relationships
relating to international monsoon research that would
be recognised and supported.

• The United Nations World Meteorological

Organization coordinates both the World Climate
Research Programme and the World Weather Research
Programme.
 International Monsoons Project Office at
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune

• Establishing the IMPO in India would entail expanding

an integrated scientific approach to address monsoon
seasonal variability,
• improving monsoon and cyclone prediction skills,
• strengthening monsoon research for better support
operations and services, and
• promoting knowledge sharing and capacity building in
areas of monsoon research critical for agriculture,
water resources and disaster management,
hydropower, and climate-sensitive socio-economic
sectors.
 CERN – European Organisation for Nuclear Research

• CERN was established in 1954. It has 23 member

states. Israel is the only non-European nation that has
full membership in CERN.
• India is the associate member of CERN and USA has
observer status at CERN.
• CERN is located in Geneva and it is an official
Observer to the United Nations (UN).
• Its most important function is to provide the particle
accelerators and other related infrastructure required
for high-energy physics research.
• CERN operates the largest particle physics laboratory
in the world. Originally, the laboratory was solely used
to study atomic nuclei. Later, it is also being used for
research in higher-energy physics to study
interactions between subatomic particles.
 LHC
• Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and
most powerful energy particle collider.
• It is one of the particle accelerators present at CERN
and it is a large-scale, international scientific
collaboration project.
• The tunnel of LHC is located 100 meters underground,
between the Geneva International Airport and the Jura
mountains. It consists of a 27-kilometer ring of
superconducting magnets along with many
accelerating structures to boost the particles’ energy.
The project started in 2008 when the initial particle
beams were injected into the LHC.
• In 2012, scientists at CERN announced that they
discovered a new sub-atomic particle. In 2013, it was
confirmed that the newly found particle is a Higgs
boson “God particle”.
 Neutrinos

• The neutrino is tiny, neutral, and weighs so little that

no one has been able to measure its mass.

• Neutrinos are the most abundant particles that have

mass in the universe.

• Every time atomic nuclei come together (like in the

sun) or break apart (like in a nuclear reactor), they
produce neutrinos.

• Even a banana emits neutrinos—they come from the

natural radioactivity of the potassium in the fruit.

• Once produced, these ghostly particles almost never

interact with other matter.
 Neutrinos
• Tens of trillions of neutrinos from the sun stream
through your body every second, but you can’t feel
them.

• Theorists predicted the neutrino’s existence in 1930,

but it took experimenters 26 years to discover the
particle.

• Today, scientists are trying to determine the neutrino’s

mass, how it interacts with matter, and whether the
neutrino is its own antiparticle (a particle with the
same mass but opposite electric or magnetic
properties) or not.
 FINAL THOUGHTS

UPSC tests your perseverance more than anything else.

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ேசாதிக்கிறது.