Science & Technology Current Affairs by Pmfias.

com – Nov & December 2020

PDF – Contents

{S&T – Applications – 2020/11} Desalination Plants ...................................................................................................... 2

{S&T – Bio – 2020/12} Bioweapons .................................................................................................................................. 7

{S&T – Biotech – 2020/12} BBX11 Gene .......................................................................................................................... 9

{S&T – Biotech – 2020/12} Genome Sequencing ............................................................................................................ 9

{S&T – BioTech – 2020/12} Intentional Genomic Alteration ......................................................................................................................... 13

{S&T – Computers – 2020/11} Param Siddhi Supercomputer ..................................................................................................................... 14

{S&T – COVID – 2020/11} COVID-19 Related ..................................................................................................................................................... 16

{S&T – COVID – 2020/11} Guillain Barre Syndrome ......................................................................................................................................... 16

{S&T – COVID – 2020/11} Moderna and Pfizer vaccines................................................................................................................................ 18
{S&T – COVID – 2020/11} Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine ................................................................................................................................ 20

{S&T – Defence – 2020/12} National Maritime Domain Awareness (NDMA) ........................................................................................ 23

{S&T – Defence – 2020/12} S-400 Air Defence System ................................................................................................ 23

{S&T – Digital – 2020/12} RTGS................................................................................................................................................................................ 24

{S&T – Digital India – 2020/11} eVIN ..................................................................................................................................................................... 24

{S&T – Diseases – 2020/11} Chapare Virus .......................................................................................................................................................... 25

{S&T – Diseases – 2020/11} Diabetes .................................................................................................................................................................... 25

{S&T – Diseases – 2020/11} Hepatitis C Drugs .................................................................................................................................................. 29

{S&T – Diseases – 2020/12} Influenza and Bacterial Infection ..................................................................................................................... 30

{S&T – Diseases – 2020/12} Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) .......................................................................................................... 31

{S&T – Diseases – 2020/12} Pneumosil ................................................................................................................................................................. 32

{S&T – Diseases – 2020/12} World Aids Day ...................................................................................................................................................... 32
{S&T – ICT – 2020/12} Internet of Things (IoT) ............................................................................................................ 33

{S&T – ICT – 2020/12} Project Loon & Starlink ............................................................................................................. 36

{S&T – ICT – 2020/12} Submarine Optical Fibre Cable Connectivity .......................................................................... 38

{S&T – In News – 2020/12} ‘In News’ Topics....................................................................................................................................................... 42

{S&T – Indigenization – 2020/11} Kalvari Class Submarines ........................................................................................................................ 46

{S&T – Indigenization – 2020/12} Hypersonic Wind Tunnel Test Facility ................................................................................................ 47

{S&T – ISRO – 2020/11} IRNSS part of World-Wide Radio Navigation System (WWRNS) ...................................... 48
{S&T – ISRO – 2020/12} Chandrayaan-2 ........................................................................................................................ 51

{S&T – ISRO – 2020/12} Gaganyaan Mission Delayed by 1 Year ................................................................................................................ 52

{S&T – Missiles – 2020/11} BrahMos ...................................................................................................................................................................... 54

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 {S&T – Missiles – 2020/11} Pinaka Missile System ........................................................................................................................................... 55
{S&T – Nuclear Tech – 2020/12} HL-2M Tokamak ....................................................................................................... 56

{S&T – Space – 2020/11} Ariel Space Mission .................................................................................................................................................... 61

{S&T – Space – 2020/11} Asteroid 16 Psyche ..................................................................................................................................................... 63

{S&T – Space – 2020/11} Crew-1 Mission ............................................................................................................................................................ 63

{S&T – Space – 2020/11} Radioburst ..................................................................................................................................................................... 64

{S&T – Space – 2020/11} Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) ............................................................................................. 64

{S&T – Space – 2020/12} Chang’e-5 ...................................................................................................................................................................... 66
{S&T – Space – 2020/12} Geminids Meteor Shower ........................................................................................................................................ 67

{S&T – Space – 2020/12} Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit ............................................................................................................................ 68

{S&T – Space – 2020/12} Hayabusa Mission 2 .............................................................................................................. 69

{S&T – Space – 2020/12} Northern Lights ..................................................................................................................... 72

{S&T – Space – 2020/12} Partial Solar Eclipse ............................................................................................................... 74

{S&T – Tech – 2020/12} 3D Printing .............................................................................................................................. 75

{S&T – Tech – 2020/12} FASTag ..................................................................................................................................... 78

{S&T – Tech – 2020/12} LiDAR ....................................................................................................................................... 80

{S&T – Tech – 2020/12} Lithium-ion Battery ................................................................................................................ 81

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{S&T – Applications – 2020/11} Desalination Plants

IE | GS3 > Indigenization of Technology and Developing New Technology.

• Context: Maharashtra announced the setting up of a desalination plant in Mumbai.

What are Desalination Plants?

• A desalination plant turns salt water into water that is fit to drink.
• The most commonly used technique used for the process is reverse osmosis.

How widely is this technology used in India?

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• Desalination has largely been limited to affluent countries in the Middle East.
• In India, Tamil Nadu has been the pioneer in using this technology.
• The other states that have proposed these plants are Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

Reverse osmosis (RO)

Basics

Solution

• In chemistry, a solution is homogeneous mixture composed of two or more substances.

• In such a mixture, a solute is a substance dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent.
• For example, in salt water, salt is the solute and water is the solvent.

Diffusion

• Diffusion is a spontaneous movement of a substance from an area of high concentration to an area of low
concentration.

• Diffusion through a permeable membrane moves a substance (solute) from a region of high solute concen-
tration (hypertonic solution) to a region where its concentration is low (hypotonic solution).

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• In living organisms, diffusion plays an important role in gaseous exchange between the cells as well as the
cell and its external environment.
• Exchange of O2 & CO2 in alveoli (millions of tiny, balloon-shaped air sacs in lungs) is an example of diffusion.

• In a person suffering from pneumonia, the air sacs may fill with fluid or pus. This prevents diffusion of O2 &
CO2 in alveoli (breathing issues in Coronavirus patients).

Osmosis

• Water obeys the law of diffusion.

• Osmosis is the passage of water (diffusion of molecules of a solvent) from a region of low solute con-
centration (hypotonic) through a semi-permeable membrane to a region of high solute concentration
(hypertonic).
• Semi permeable means that the membrane will allow small molecules and ions to pass through it but acts
as a barrier to larger molecules or dissolved substances.

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• Thus, osmosis is a special case of diffusion through a selectively permeable membrane.
• Unicellular freshwater organisms and most plant cells tend to gain water through osmosis.
• Absorption of water by plant roots is also an example of osmosis.

Reverse Osmosis (RO)

• Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification technology that uses a semipermeable membrane to remove
larger particles from drinking water.
• In reverse osmosis, an applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic pressure so that pure water flows
from a region of high solute concentration (hypertonic) through a semi-permeable membrane to a
region of low solute concentration (hypotonic).

Note: In NCERT Biology Compilation, I have given a wrong explanation for both Osmosis and Reverse
Osmosis. What I have given here is the correct explanation.

Application of Reverse Osmosis (RO)

• RO was originally a technology devised in the late 1950s to desalinate sea water.

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• At present, it is possible to deploy a wide array of membranes and multiple stages of filters to filter a wide
variety of solutes — arsenic, fluoride, hexavalent chromium, nitrates, bacteria.
• This has led to an industry of home-RO systems for drinking water.
• To create external pressure, RO relies on a pump and electric motors.
• It uses “activated carbon” components, such as charcoal and carbon black that can filter out contami-
nants as well as organic substances such as bacteria (UV light is also used to kill bacteria).
• It all depends on the filtering material and the number of filters that incoming tap water must pass through.

Problem with RO water purifiers

• In making tap water pass through multiple stages of cleaning, RO systems end up wasting a lot of water.
• Anywhere between three-five times more water is wasted by them (high carbon footprint).
• RO system filters out essential micronutrients such as calcium, zinc, magnesium. Drinking such water over
time could be harmful.
• However, many manufacturers claim to overcome this challenge by “post-treatment” (added minerals).
• RO system only reduces Total Dissolved Solids, ensure water is odourless and has a pH from 6.5-8.5.
• The National Institute of Virology (NIV) claimed that most RO methods did not eliminate Hepatitis E virus.
• However, a combination of filtration systems can eliminate most contaminants (more power consumption).
• RO systems reduce the incentive for public-funded water distribution systems and vast majority of the coun-
try can ill-afford such systems.
• In case of sea water desalinization, deposition of brine (highly concentrated salt water) along the shores
affects plankton, which is the main food for small fish species.

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{S&T – Bio – 2020/12} Bioweapons

TH | Prelims + Mains | GS3 > Security

• Biological weapons are microorganisms like virus, bacteria, fungi, or other toxins that are produced and

released deliberately to cause disease and death in humans, animals or plants.

• Biological agents, like anthrax, botulinum toxin and plague can pose a difficult public health challenge.
• Bioterrorism attacks could result in an epidemic, for example if Ebola virus was used as biological agents.
• Biological weapons are a subset of a larger class of weapons referred to as weapons of mass destruction,
which also includes chemical, nuclear and radiological weapons.

Bacillus Anthracis (Anthrax)

• Bacillus anthracis bacteria, which causes anthrax, is one of the deadliest agents to be used as a biological
weapon.
• Anthrax has been used as a bioweapon for about a century mixed with powders, sprays, food and water.
• The invisible, infectious, odourless and tasteless spores make Anthrax a flexible bioweapon.

Australia Group

• The Australia Group (AG) is an informal forum/voluntary group of countries.

• The Australia Group is a multilateral export control regime (MECR).
• Members, through the harmonisation of export controls, seeks to ensure that exports do not contribute
to the development of chemical or biological weapons (CBW) by states or terrorist groups.
• The AG at present consists of 42 countries and the European Union.
• India formally became the 43rd member.
• Australia manages the secretariat.

Multilateral Export Control Regime (MECR)

• It is an informal group of like-minded supplier countries that seek to contribute to the:

✓ Non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,
✓ Delivery systems, and
✓ Advanced conventional weapons through national implementation of guidelines and control lists for ex-
ports.
• There are currently four such regimes:

7
1. The Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods
and Technologies (It has 42 member).

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 2. The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), for the control of nuclear related technology (It has 48 partici-
pating governments, India is not a member of the NSG).
3. The Australia Group (AG) for the control of chemical and biological technology that could be
weaponized.

4. The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) for the control of rockets and other aerial vehicles
capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.

{S&T – Biotech – 2020/12} BBX11 Gene

TH | Prelims | GS3 > Awareness in The Fields Of It, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nano-Technology etc.

• Context: Researchers have identified a gene called BBX11 that facilitates in the greening of plants by
playing a crucial role in regulating the levels of protochlorophyllide.
• Protochlorophyllide is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of the green pigment chlorophyll.
• The synthesis of chlorophyll in plants is a lengthy, multi-step process.
• When a seedling emerges from soil, it must quickly synthesise chlorophyll to start supporting its own growth.
• In order to facilitate quick synthesis of chlorophyll, plants make a precursor of chlorophyll called ‘proto-
chlorophyllide’ in the dark, which glows red when blue light is shone on the plant.
• As soon as the plant comes out into the light from under the soil, light-dependent enzymes convert proto-
chlorophyllide to chlorophyll.
• If there is excess of free protochlorophyllide, then exposure to light converts it into molecules that cause
‘photobleaching’.
• Thus, it is very important to regulate the amount of protochlorophyllide synthesized by the plant & here
comes the vital plant played by the ‘BBX11’ gene.
• If it is less, plants are unable to efficiently ‘green’ in order to harvest sunlight.
• If the amount of protochlorophyllide is more, then plants bleach under the light.

Significance

• It could have tremendous implications in the agriculture sector in tropical countries like India & can help
provide leads to optimise plant growth under stressful & rapidly changing climatic conditions.

{S&T – Biotech – 2020/12} Genome Sequencing

TOI | Prelims + Mains | GS3 > Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-
technology

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• Context: Genome sequencing to detect the mutated coronavirus strain that has emerged in the U.K..

Key Terms

• DNA: hereditary material of most of the living beings.

• RNA: hereditary material of some microorganisms (virus).
• Genes: specific section of DNA which encodes the synthesis of gene product either RNA or for proteins i.e.,
it is involved in making RNA (transcription) or proteins (translation).
• Chromosome: are thread-like structures located inside the nucleus of animal & plant cells.
✓ The DNA is coiled to make thread like structure called chromosomes.
✓ Human beings have 46 chromosomes (23 from each parent).
✓ Each chromosome is made of protein & a single molecule of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
• Genome sequencing: Deciphering the exact order of bases pairs (complete DNA sequence) in an organism's
genome.
✓ This entails sequencing all of an organism's chromosomal DNA as well as DNA contained in the
mitochondria and, for plants, in the chloroplast.

Source & Credits

Difference between DNA vs RNA

DNA RNA

Deoxyribonucleic Acid Ribonucleic Acid

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 Double Stranded Single Stranded

Deoxyribose Sugar Ribose Sugar

Can’t Self-Replicate
Self-Replicate
It is synthesized from DNA when required

Occurs inside the nucleus & of cell & some cell or-
It is found in cytoplasm of the cell but very little is
ganelles (mitochondria) but in plants it is pre-
found inside the nucleus.
sent in mitochondria & plant cell

DNA is the genetic material in all living organ-

RNA is genetic material in some viruses
isms

Long Polymer Chain Shorter Polymer Chain

Life of DNA is longer Its life is short

3 types of RNA are present in an organism: - mRNA,

DNA occurs only in one form in any organism
rRNA, tRNA

DNA is functional in the transmission of genetic in- RNA is functional is the transmission of the genetic
formation code that is necessary for the protein creation
It forms as a media for long-term storage from the nucleus to the ribosome

Bases present are Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, & Bases present are Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine &
Thymine Uracil

Genome

• A genome is the DNA, or sequence of genes, in a cell.

• Most of the DNA is in the nucleus and intricately coiled into a structure called the chromosome.
• The rest is in the mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouse, and some is chloroplast DNA.

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• Every human cell contains a pair of chromosomes, each of which has three billion base pairs or one of four
molecules – adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C) – that pair in precise ways.

• The order of base pairs & varying lengths of these sequences constitute the “genes”, which are respon-
sible for making amino acids, proteins and, thereby, everything that is necessary for the body to function.

• When these genes are altered (mutated), proteins sometimes do not function as intended, leading to disease.

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Genome Sequencing

• Sequencing a genome means deciphering the exact order of base pairs in an individual.
• This “deciphering” or reading of the genome is what sequencing is all about.

• In this particular piece of DNA, an adenine (A) is followed by a guanine (G), which is followed by a thymine
(T), which in turn is followed by a cytosine (C), another cytosine (C), and so on.

Whole genome sequencing

• Exome, the portion of the genes responsible for making proteins occupies just about 1% of the actual gene.
• Rather than sequence the whole gene, many geneticists rely on “exome maps”.
• However, the non-exome portions also affect the functioning of the genes.
• Hence to know which genes of a person’s DNA are “mutated” the whole genome sequencing is required.
• Whole genome sequencing is the process of determining the complete DNA sequence of an organism's
genome at a single time.
• This entails sequencing all of an organism's chromosomal DNA as well as DNA contained in the mitochon-
dria and, for plants, in the chloroplast.
• In practice, genome sequences that are nearly complete are also called whole genome sequences.
• The whole genome sequencing relies on new technologies that allow rapid sequencing of the entire genome
in a matter of a few days.

Benefits of Genome Sequencing

• Whole genome sequencing data of a person can be analysed to determine if they carry genes for particular
single genetic disorders (caused due to mutation). This will help usher in a new era of personalized medicine.

{S&T – BioTech – 2020/12} Intentional Genomic Alteration

IE | Prelims + Mains | GS2 > Health

• Context: US approved a first-of-its-kind Intentional genomic alteration (IGA) in a line of domestic pigs
referred to as Gal Safe pigs.
• These pigs may be used for food and human therapeutics.
• This will be the first time that the regulator has approved an animal biotechnology product for both food
and biomedical purposes.

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What is Intentional Genomic Alteration?

• Intentional genomic alteration in animals means making specific changes to the genome of the organism
using modern molecular technologies called “genome editing” or “genetic engineering”.
• However, there are other technologies that can be used to make IGAs in animals.
• Such changes in the DNA sequence of an animal may be carried out for research purposes, to produce
healthier meat for human consumption and to study disease resistance in animals among other reasons.
• One example is of using IGAs to make an animal more susceptible to certain diseases such as cancer, which
helps researchers get a better understanding of the disease and develop new therapies to treat it.

Basics: Nucleic acids - DNA and RNA | Recombinant DNA

Basics: Biotechnology | Genetic Engineering - Processes and Applications

{S&T – Computers – 2020/11} Param Siddhi Supercomputer

PIB | GS3 > Achievements of Indians in Science & Technology | GS3 > Awareness in the fields of IT, Space,
Computers.

• Context: India’s AI supercomputer Param Siddhi is 63rd among top 500 most powerful non-distributed
computer systems in the world.

Param Siddhi

• It is the-high performance computing-artificial intelligence (HPC-AI) supercomputer established under

National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) at C-DAC.
• The supercomputer has Rpeak of 5.267 Petaflops and 4.6 Petaflops Rmax.
• Rmax and Rpeak are scores used to rank supercomputers based on their performance.

National Supercomputing Mission (NSM)

PIB | GS3 > Indigenization of Technology and Developing New Technology

• NSM was set up to provide the country with supercomputing infrastructure by manufacturing supercomput-
ers indigenously in India.
• NSM is steered jointly by the

✓ Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) and

✓ Department of Science and Technology (DST).

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• It is implemented by the

✓ Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune and

✓ Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.

• The target of the mission was set to establish a network of supercomputers ranging from a few Tera Flops to
greater than or equal to 3 Peta Flops (PF) in institutions of National importance across the country by 2022.
• This network of Supercomputers envisaging a total of 15-20 PF was approved in 2015 and was later revised
to a total of 45 PF (45000 TFs).
• Supercomputer PARAM 8000 (made by C-DAC) launched on July 1, 1991 is considered India's first super-
computer. It was indigenously built in 1991 by C-DAC.
• National Supercomputing Mission's first indigenously build supercomputer is called ‘Param Shivay’
• Param Shivay was followed by Param Shakti and Param Brahma supercomputers.

Focus of the mission

• The Mission envisages empowering national academic and R&D institutions spread over the country by in-
stalling a vast supercomputing grid comprising of more than 70 high-performance computing facilities.
• These supercomputers will also be networked on the National Supercomputing grid over the National
Knowledge Network (NKN).
• The NKN is another programme of the government which connects academic institutions and R&D labs over
a high speed network.

Significance of supercomputers

• Most to the supercomputers across the world are dedicated for weather and climate research.
• Weather prediction has reached accuracy of forecast as well as real time tracking of natural phenomenon.
• Timely warning of cyclones in the recent past have saved many lives and property.

The speed of a Supercomputer

• The average computer’s processor performance is measured by megahertz (MHz) units to calculate its clock
speed.
• Since supercomputers are far more capable, the performance is calculated in Floating-point operations per
second, or FLOPS which is of a considerably larger scale.
 1 billion flops = 1 giga flops (109)
 1000 giga flop = 1 tera flop (1012)

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  1000 tera flop = 1 peta flop (1015)
• Param 8000 supercomputer had a maximum speed of one giga flop.
• PARAM SHIVAY (February 2019) ➔ 833 TFLOPS
• PARAM Brahma (September 2019) ➔ 0.85 PFLOPS
• Pratyush and Mihir (fastest supercomputers in India) ➔ 6.8 PetaFlops
• The most advanced supercomputer Summit (U.S.) ➔ ~150 PFLOPS.

{S&T – COVID – 2020/11} COVID-19 Related

Tinnitus

• Context: New research has found that tinnitus is being exacerbated by Covid-19.
• Tinnitus is a common condition that causes the perception of noise or ringing in the ears and head.
• Tinnitus is not a condition itself — it is a symptom of an underlying condition, such as age-related hearing
loss, ear injury or a circulatory system disorder.
• Although bothersome, tinnitus usually isn't a sign of something serious.

Dry Swab RT-PCR COVID-19 Test

• Context: CSIR got the permission of the ICMR to commercially use dry swab RNA-extraction free test-
ing method for covid-19.
• In the conventional testing method, nasopharyngeal (nose or oropharyngeal) throat swab samples are col-
lected from the suspected coronavirus patients.
• The swab samples are generally placed in a liquid called Viral Transport Medium (VTM) to avoid leakage.
• Dry swab technique does not require VTM & RNA extraction and can be directly used for RT-PCR testing.
• VTM and RNA extraction both add a significant monetary and time burden on mass testing for coronavirus.
• Dry-swab direct RT-PCR method could make a significant contribution to ramping up the testing capacity.

Suggested Reading: https://www.pmfias.com/covid-19-tests/ | https://www.pmfias.com/category/general-sci-

ence-upsc-ias/biology/covid-19/

{S&T – COVID – 2020/11} Guillain Barre Syndrome

IE | GS2 > Health

• Context: In a rare complication, some patients infected with Covid-19 have been found suffering from Guil-
lain Barre Syndrome (GBS).

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What is Guillain Barre Syndrome?

• It is an exceedingly rare autoimmune disorder.

What is Autoimmune Disease?

• An autoimmune disease is a condition in which your immune system mistakenly attacks your body.

• The immune system normally guards against germs like bacteria and viruses.
• When it senses these foreign invaders, it sends out an army of fighter cells to attack them.

• Normally, the immune system can tell the difference between foreign cells and your cells.

• In an autoimmune disease, the immune system mistakes part of your body, like your joints or skin, as
foreign.
• It releases proteins called autoantibodies that attack healthy cells.

• Some autoimmune diseases target only one organ.

• For example, Type 1 diabetes damages the pancreas.
• Other diseases, like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), affect the whole body.

• The immune system, to kill the virus, accidentally starts attacking the peripheral nervous system.
• The peripheral nervous system is a network that leads from the brain and spinal cord to different parts of
the body.
• Attacking them can affect limb functions.
• The syndrome’s first symptoms are a tingling or itching sensation in the skin, followed by muscle weakness.
• The symptoms may emerge first in feet and hands.
• A person then starts experiencing reflex loss and paralysis, which may be temporary.
• With Covid-19 a year old, it is still difficult to assess the nature of permanency GBS in such cases may present.
• GBS is caused by bacteria or viral infection.
• In the past, patients of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome showed GBS symptoms, as did those infected with
Zika, HIV, Herpes virus, and Campylobacter jejuni.

Treatment

• Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and sometimes plasma therapy helps recovery in patients with GBS.

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• Some patients may develop severe complications and require intensive care treatment or ventilator support.

Source and Credits

{S&T – COVID – 2020/11} Moderna and Pfizer vaccines

IE | GS2 > Health

Basics

1. Virus, Difference Between Virus & Bacteria, DNA & RNA Viruses
2. Coronavirus, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19 or 2019-nCoV)
3. Immune System, T– Cells & Coronavirus, Cytokine storm
4. Covid-19 Tests: RT-PCR, Rapid Antigen Test & Serological Test
5. Proposed Vaccines, Treatments in the Context of COVID-19
• The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use the same technology, based on messenger RNA, or mRNA.
• Such vaccines make use of the messenger RNA molecules that tell the body’s cells what proteins to build.
• The mRNA, is coded to tell the cells to recreate the spike protein of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which
causes Covid-19.
• It is the spike protein which appears as spikes on the surface of the coronavirus.
• Spike Protein initiates the process of infection.
• Spike Protein allows the virus to penetrate cells, after which it goes on to replicate.

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• A coronavirus vaccine based on mRNA, once injected into the body, will instruct the body’s cells to create
copies of the spike protein.
• In turn, this is expected to prompt the immune cells to create antibodies to fight it.
• These antibodies will remain in the blood and fight the real virus if and when it infects the human body.
• Other types of vaccine include the non-replicating viral vector category, an example of which is the vaccine
developed by Oxford and AstraZeneca.
• These vaccine uses a different virus: -
✓ In the Oxford-AstraZeneca, a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that infects
chimpanzees, to carry just the code to make the spike protein.
✓ The adenovirus, which has been genetically modified so that it cannot replicate in humans, will
enter the cell and release the code to make only the spike protein.

Source and Credits

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• The body’s immune system is expected to recognise the spike protein as a potentially harmful foreign sub-
stance, and starts building antibodies against it.
• Then there are inactivated virus vaccines made by using particles of the Covid-19 virus that were killed,
making them unable to infect or replicate.
• Protein subunit vaccines that use a part of the virus (spike protein again, in this case) to build a targeted
immune response towards.
• DNA vaccines that use genetically engineered DNA molecules that, again, are coded with the antigen
against which the immune response is to be built.

{S&T – COVID – 2020/11} Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine

TH | GS2 > Health | Note: Go though the Coronavirus Compilation first.

• Context: Oxford vaccine shows 90% efficacy in Phase-3 trial.

Key points

• Covid-19 virus spreads in the body easily is because of the spikes on its surface.
• These spikes, known as the ‘spike protein’, allow the virus to penetrate cells and, thereafter, multiply.
• The Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine is made from a cold-causing ‘adenovirus’.
• Adenovirus is isolated from the stool of chimpanzees and modified so that it no longer replicates in cells.
• AstraZeneca belongs to a category called non-replicating viral vector vaccines.
• They try to build the body’s immunity against this spike protein.
• The idea is to create antibodies to fight this spiked surface so that the virus does not have the chance to
penetrate the cells.

How does it work?

• It uses a completely different approach to the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.
• Pfizer and Moderna inject part of the virus's genetic code into patients.
• However, AstraZeneca Vaccine uses a different virus — a weakened version of a common cold virus (ad-
enovirus) that infects chimpanzees.
• The adenovirus, genetically modified so that it cannot replicate in humans.
• It will enter the cell and release the code to make only the spike protein.
• The body’s immune system is recognizes the spike protein as a harmful foreign substance and start building
antibodies against it.

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• Once immunity is built, the antibodies will attack the real virus if it tries to infect the body.

21
Source and Credits

22
{S&T – Defence – 2020/12} National Maritime Domain Awareness (NDMA)

TH | Prelims + Mains | GS3 >Security | GS3 > Security Challenges & their Management in Border Areas

• Context: The Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC), will soon become a Na-
tional Maritime Domain Awareness (NDMA) centre.
• IMAC is the nodal agency for maritime data fusion.
• It was set up after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
• It is located in Gurugram.
• It is the nodal centre of the National Command Control Communication and Intelligence System (NC3I).
• The IMAC tracks vessels on the high seas and gets data.
• After the 26/11 terror attack, all fishing vessels more than 20m long were mandated to have AIS tran-
sponders installed, while efforts were on to have such system on under 20m fishing vessels as well.
• At any point of time there are around 11,000-12,000 vessels present in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

About National Command Control Communications and Intelligence Network (NC3I)

• The NC3I network links 51 Naval and Coast Guard stations located along the coast and on island territories.
• The NC3I provides these stations coastal surveillance information obtained from various sensors.
• The NC3I generates a seamless real-time picture of the nearly 7,500-km long coastline.
• The IMAC is the centre where data from various sensors and databases is aggregated, correlated and then
disseminated to various stations.

Source and Credits

{S&T – Defence – 2020/12} S-400 Air Defence System

23
IE | Prelims | GS3 > Security

• Context: India is set to get the consignment of the S-400 air defence system soon.
• The S-400 Triumf, is a mobile, surface-to-air missile system (SAM) designed by Russia.
• It is the most dangerous operationally deployed modern long-range SAM (MLR SAM) in the world.
• It is considered much ahead of the US-developed Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system (THAAD).
• S-400 system can engage all types of aerial targets including aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) &
ballistic & cruise missiles within the range of 400km, at an altitude of up to 30km.
• It is capable of firing three types of missiles to create a layered defence.
• It can also be integrated into the existing & future air defence units of the Air Force, Army, & the Navy.
• China is also buying this system.

{S&T – Digital – 2020/12} RTGS

IE | Prelims | GS3 > Technology

• Context: RTGS to be operational 24x7.

• The RTGS is an online fund transfer system, supported by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• It enables money transaction on a real-time basis.
• Real-time gross settlement is the continuous process of settling interbank payments.
• This system's process is opposed to netting debits with credits at the end of the day.
• RTGS systems are increasingly used by central banks worldwide & can help minimize the risks related to
high-value payment settlements among financial institutions.
• Once completed, real-time gross settlement payments are final & irrevocable.

{S&T – Digital India – 2020/11} eVIN

IE | GS2 > Health

• Context: The government is using eVIN – Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network in association with the
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to identify primary beneficiaries and vaccine distribution.

What is eVIN (Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network)

• eVIN is an indigenously developed technology system in India that digitizes vaccine stocks and moni-
tors the temperature of the cold chain through a smartphone application.

24
• Supported by GAVI-the Vaccine Alliance, eVIN aims to streamline and regularize the vaccine flow network
by ensuring data-driven and efficient management of the immunization supply chain.
• The goal is to ensure equity in easy and timely availability of vaccines to all children.
• eVIN aims to support the Government of India’s Universal Immunization Programme by providing real-
time information on vaccine stocks and flows, and storage temperatures across all cold chain points.

{S&T – Diseases – 2020/11} Chapare Virus

IE | GS2 > Health

• Context: Researchers have discovered a rare Ebola-like illness called Chapare Hemorrhagic Fever (CHHF).

What is the Chapare Virus?

• The Chapare hemorrhagic fever (CHHF) is caused by the arenavirus family.

• Arenavirus Family is responsible for illnesses such as the Ebola virus disease (EVD).
• Arenaviruses like the Chapare virus are generally carried by rats.
• These viruses infect rodents and occasionally humans.
• It can be transmitted through direct contact with the infected rodent, its urine, and droppings, or
contact with an infected person.
• This virus causes a hemorrhagic fever much like Ebola along with abdominal pain, vomiting, bleeding gums,
skin rash, and pain behind the eyes.
• Viral hemorrhagic fevers are a severe and life-threatening kind of illness that can affect multiple organs and
damage the walls of blood vessels.
• Infected people may have been misdiagnosed with dengue as the mosquito-borne illness is known to cause
similar symptoms.

How is Chapare Hemorrhagic fever treated?

• Since there are no specific drugs to treat the disease, patients generally receive supportive care such as
intravenous fluids.

{S&T – Diseases – 2020/11} Diabetes

TH | GS2 > Health

• Context: According to a study, there is a lifetime risk of diabetes in metropolitan cities.

25
Key Points

• Research shows that-

1. 55% of men and 65% of women aged 20 years in India will likely develop diabetes.
2. Most of those cases (around 95%) are likely to be type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Source and Credits

• In India researchers noted that — urbanisation, decreasing diet quality and decreased levels of physical
activity — are all contributing to this hidden epidemic.

About Diabetes

• Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when

✓ the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or
✓ when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.
• Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar.
• Hyperglycaemia, or raised blood sugar, is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes and over time leads
to serious damage to many of the body's systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels.

Type 1 diabetes

26
• Type 1 diabetes is characterized by deficient insulin production and requires daily administration of insulin.
• Neither the cause of Type 1 diabetes nor the means to prevent it are known.

Type 2 diabetes

• Type 2 diabetes results from the body’s ineffective use of insulin.

• The majority of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes.
• This type of diabetes is largely the result of excess body weight and physical inactivity.
• Until recently, this type of diabetes was seen only in adults, but it is now increasingly occurring in children.

Gestational diabetes

• Gestational diabetes is hyperglycaemia where blood sugar levels are below those diagnosed of diabetes.
• Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy.

27
Source and Credits

28
{S&T – Diseases – 2020/11} Hepatitis C Drugs

IE | GS2 > Health

• Context: Several Hepatitis C drugs have been found to inhibit a crucial protein enzyme in the novel corona-
virus SARS-CoV-2.

Hepatitis

• Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver.

• It is caused by Virus.
• Hepatitis viruses are the most common cause of hepatitis in the world but other infections, toxic substances
(e.g., alcohol, certain drugs), and autoimmune diseases can also cause hepatitis.
• There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
• In particular, types B and C lead to chronic disease in hundreds of millions of people and, together, are the
most common cause of liver cirrhosis and cancer.
• Hepatitis A and E are typically caused by ingestion of contaminated food or water.
• Hepatitis B, C and D usually occur as a result of parenteral contact with infected body fluids.
• Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood.
• This may happen through transfusions of HCV-contaminated blood and blood products, contaminated in-
jections during medical procedures, and through injection drug use.
• Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.
• There is no vaccine for HCV.

Q: Which one of the following statements is not correct? (UPSC-2019 Prelims)

a) Hepatitis B virus is transmitted much like HIV.

b) Hepatitis B, unlike Hepatitis C, does not have a vaccine.
c) Globally, the number of people infected with Hepatitis B and C viruses are several times more than those
infected with HIV.
d) Some of those infected with Hepatitis Band C viruses do not show the symptoms for many years.

Explanation:

• The hepatitis B vaccine is a safe and effective vaccine that is recommended for all infants at birth and for
children up to 18 years.

29
• The hepatitis B vaccine is also known as the first “anti-cancer” vaccine because it prevents hepatitis B, the
leading cause of liver cancer worldwide.

Answer: b)

{S&T – Diseases – 2020/12} Influenza and Bacterial Infection

IE | Prelims | GS2 > Health

• Context: Researchers have come up with findings on Superinfection & have also highlighted that Influenza
makes peoples more susceptible to bacterial infections.

Superinfection

• A superinfection is a second infection-superimposed on an earlier one, especially by a different microbial

agent of exogenous or endogenous origin.
• It is resistant to the treatment being used against the first infection.
• It is an overgrowth of an opportunistic pathogen from the bacterial or yeast imbalance of systemic antibiot-
ics.

Pneumonia

• Pneumonia is a form of acute respiratory infection that affects the lungs

• It is most commonly caused by viruses, bacteria and fungi.
• The lungs are made up of small sacs called alveoli, which fill with air when a healthy person breathes.
• When an individual has pneumonia, the alveoli are filled with pus and fluid, which makes breathing painful
and limits oxygen intake.
• These infections are generally spread by direct contact with infected people.

Influenza (Flu)

• Flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat, and some-
times the lungs.
• It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death.
• There are four types of influenza viruses namely A, B, C and D.
1. Influenza A viruses: These are the only influenza viruses that cause flu pandemics that is global epi-
demics of flu disease.
2. Influenza B viruses: They are not classified into subtypes and can be broken down into lineages.

30
 3. Influenza C viruses: This type of virus is detected less frequently and usually causes mild infections and
does not present public health risk. Or we can say that they do not cause human flu epidemic.
4. Influenza D viruses: They primarily affect cattle and does not infect or cause illness in people.
• Influenza A and B viruses causes acute respiratory infection and the seasonal epidemic of disease.

Source and Credits

{S&T – Diseases – 2020/12} Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)

MedicalXpress | Prelims | GS2 > Health

• Context: NCDs accounted for seven of the top 10 causes of death according to WHO.
• The top 10 causes of death accounted for 55 percent of those fatalities.
• They fall into three broad categories: cardiovascular, respiratory & neonatal.
• The top five causes of death, in order, were
1. Heart disease,
2. Strokes,
3. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,
4. Lower respiratory infections, &
5. Neonatal conditions.

31
• Lifespans have increased over the years, with global average of more than 73 years.

Non-Communicable Disease

• Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases, tend to be of long duration & are the
result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental & behaviours factors.
• The main types of NCDs are cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks & stroke), cancers, chronic respira-
tory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease & asthma) & diabetes.

{S&T – Diseases – 2020/12} Pneumosil

IE | Prelims | GS3 > Indigenization of Technology & Developing New Technology.

• Context: India’s first indigenously created vaccine against Pneumosil was unveiled.
• The vaccine targets the pneumococcal bacterium, which causes pneumonia & other serious life-threaten-
ing diseases such as meningitis & sepsis.
• Pneumococcal bacterium is estimated to cause ~4 lakh deaths in children under five each year worldwide.
• In view of its widespread fatality, the WHO in 2018 recommended the inclusion of the pneumococcal con-
jugate vaccine (PCV) in routine childhood immunisation programmes in all countries.

{S&T – Diseases – 2020/12} World Aids Day

IE | Prelims | GS2 > Health

• Context: World Aids day was observed on 1st December.

Suggested Reading: Immunity | Human Immune System,

AIDS – Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome

• AIDS stands for Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome.

• Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an infection that attacks the body’s immune system, specifically
the white blood cells called CD4 cells.
• HIV destroys these CD4 cells, weakening a person’s immunity against infections such as tuberculosis.
• This means deficiency of immune system, acquired during the lifetime of an individual.
• AIDS is caused by the Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV), a member of a group of viruses
called Retrovirus, which have an envelope enclosing the RNA genome.
• Transmission of HIV-infection generally occurs through body fluids.

32
90-90-90 target

• It is an ambitious treatment target to help end the AIDS epidemic.

• It is the Target set by UNAIDS programme-
1. By 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status.
2. By 2020, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy.
3. By 2020, 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.

ART (Antiretroviral Therapy)

• Standard antiretroviral therapy (ART) consists of the combination of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to maxi-
mally suppress the HIV virus and stop the progression of HIV disease.
• ART also prevents onward transmission of HIV.
• Huge reductions have been seen in rates of death and infections when use is made of a potent ARV regimen,
particularly in early stages of the disease.

{S&T – ICT – 2020/12} Internet of Things (IoT)

TH | Prelims + Mains | GS3 > Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, etc.

• Context: BSNL to come up with satellite-based narrow band-Internet of things (NB-IoT).

• It will be world’s largest NB-IoT system.
• It will be helpful for Industries, including agriculture, Railways & fisheries, construction,etc.

NB-IoT

• NB-IoT is a radio technology deployed over mobile networks which is especially suited for indoor cover-
age, low cost, long battery life, & large number of devices.
• Simply put it is new designed mobile, wireless network specially for IoT.
• It operates at narrow band of the spectrum.
• It supports very few kilobytes per seconds (since IoT devices are small & have simple sensors).
• NB-IoT significantly improves the power consumption of user devices, system capacity & spectrum efficiency.

33
 Source & Credits

Source & Credits

Applications of NB-IoT

• Connected cities (Smart Waste, Smart Parking, smart streetlights etc).

• Connected Agriculture (crop/animal/soil monitoring).
• Smart wearables (smart watches etc)
• Smart cars
• Security (smart intruder alarms, smart fire alarms ,smart home alarms).
• Smart metering (smart gas, electricity & water metering).

Internet of Things

• The Internet of Things, or IoT, is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical & digital ma-
chines, objects, animals, or people.
• They are provided with unique identifiers (UIDs).

34
• They transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.
• A thing on the internet of things can be:
1. A person with a heart monitor implant,
2. A farm animal with a biochip transponder,
3. An automobile that has built-in sensors to alert the driver when tire pressure is low or any other natural,
4. A human-made object that can have an Internet Protocol (IP) address & is able to transfer data.
• IoT devices share the sensor data they collect by connecting to an IoT gateway where data is either sent to
the cloud to be analysed or analysed locally.
• IoT can also make use of artificial intelligence (AI) & machine learning to aid in making data collecting pro-
cesses easier & more dynamic.

Source & Credits

35
{S&T – ICT – 2020/12} Project Loon & Starlink

HT | Prelims + Mains | GS3 > Information Technology

• Context: Project Loon has set a new record for the longest stratospheric flight by staying in air for 312 days.

Project Loon

• It is a project under a Google subsidiary.

• It consists of a network of stratospheric balloons designed to bring Internet connectivity to rural & re-
mote communities worldwide.
• The project involves helium-filled balloons that remain in the stratosphere & create aerial networks.

Starlink

• It is a satellite internet constellation being constructed by SpaceX with the aim to bring internet access to
rural & underserved areas around the world.
• The constellation will consist of 1600 thousand small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).

What is Starlink system trying to solve?

36
 1. SpaceX wants to cut that long-distance lag.
2. It wants to provide internet access almost anywhere in the world.
• The company plans to do this through an unprecedented network of satellites in LEO.

Major problem with the current systems – high latency over long distances

• Optic fibre cables have a speed limit — light signals travel 30% slower because of the denser glass layers.
• This is not an issue for normal browsing. But over international distances, it leads to high latency, or lag.
• The time delay is especially pronounced in long-distance videoconferencing & calls.
• Latency also matters to financial institutions.
• With markets that move billions in fractions of a second, any delay can lead to big losses over a competitor.
• Data beamed over current satellites also has high latency (~0.5 seconds!).
• That is because nearly all those spacecraft orbit Earth from about 35,786 kilometres high (GSO).

Concerns with Starlink like projects

• With so many new satellites in orbit, spaceflight experts are concerned about the potential for creating space
junk that can damage or maim other spacecraft.

Starlink cannot be better & cannot compete in price with optic fibre

• Over short distances fibre-optic will always win as it can carry much more data at low cost.
• The advantages of Starlink improve only over long distances (it reduces latency) & in remote areas.
• Starlink cannot handle high load akin to a cell tower being overloaded with too many users.

Q. 'Project Loon', sometimes seen in the news, is related to (UPSC Prelims 2016)

37
 a) Waste management technology
b) Wireless communication technology
c) Solar power production technology
d) Water conservation technology

{S&T – ICT – 2020/12} Submarine Optical Fibre Cable Connectivity

ET | Prelims + Mains | GS3 > Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.

• Context: BSNL to establish submarine Optical Fibre Cable connectivity between Kochi & Lakshadweep.
• The Project would be funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
• USOF is a non-lapsable fund & deposited into the Consolidated Fund of India, hence it requires prior
parliamentary approval to be dispatched.
• Universal Service Levy (USL) is collected from the Service Providers at a defined percentage of Adjusted
Gross Revenue (AGR) as a component of Licence Fee charged by DOT (now it is 5% of the AGR).
• Idea behind the fund & levy is to provide universal access to telecom services to rural & remote areas
at affordable & reasonable prices.
• It is targeted to complete by May 2023.
• BSNL recently completed CANI (Chennai to Andaman Nicobar Islands) Project in August 2020.

Fiber Optics

• Fiber optics, or optical fiber, refers to the medium & the technology associated with the transmission of
information as light pulses along a glass or plastic strand or fiber.
• Fiber optics is used in long-distance & high-performance services such as internet, television & telephones.
• Advantages over copper cables:
✓ Optic fibres have higher bandwidth & transmit speeds.
✓ Optic fibres are not affected by electromagnetic interference (reduces speed of transmission).

How Fiber optics works?

• Fiber optics transmit data in the form of light particles -or photons - that pulse through a fiber optic cable.
• The glass fiber core & the cladding each have a different refractive index that bends light at an angle.
• When light signals are sent through the fiber optic cable, they reflect off the core & cladding in a series
of zig-zag bounces, adhering to a process called total internal reflection.
• The light signals travel 30% slower than the speed because of the denser glass layers.

38
• To renew, or boost, the signal, fiber optics transmission sometimes requires repeaters at distant intervals.

Total Internal Reflection

• When light travels from an optically denser medium to a rarer medium at the interface, it is partly reflected
back into the same medium & partly refracted to the second medium.
• This reflection is called the internal reflection.
• In total internal reflection, there is no refraction & the entire incident ray will get reflected.

Conditions for Total Internal Reflection:

1. The incident ray must be in optically denser medium.

2. The angle of incidence in the denser medium must be greater than the critical angle for the pair of
media in contact.

39
40
41
{S&T – In News – 2020/12} ‘In News’ Topics

Adulteration in Honey

TH | Prelims | GS2 > Health

• Context: Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found that honey sold by several major brands in
India has been found adulterated with sugar syrup.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Test

• NMR spectroscopy is a technique used in quality control and research for determining the content and
purity of a sample as well as its molecular structure.
• The NMR test is not required by Indian law for honey that is being marketed locally but is needed for
export.

Cannabis Removed from Dangerous Substances

IE | Prelims | GS2 > Health

• Context: UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) decides-cannabis is not a dangerous narcotic.

• Cannabis had been subject to the strictest control schedules, even for medical purposes.
• The decision CND will lead to changes in the way cannabis is regulated internationally.
• Under India’s Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, the production, manu-
facture, possession, sale, purchase, transport, and use of cannabis is a punishable offence.

Cannabis

• “Cannabis” and “marijuana” do not mean exactly the same thing.

• The word “cannabis” refers to all products derived from the plant Cannabis sativa.
• The word “marijuana” refers to parts of or products from the plant Cannabis sativa that contain substantial
amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
• THC is the substance that is primarily responsible for the effects of marijuana on a person’s mental state.
• According to the WHO, cannabis is by far the most widely cultivated, trafficked illicit drug in the world.
• The unpollinated female plants are called hashish.
• Cannabis oil (hashish oil) is a concentrate of cannabinoids (compounds which are structurally like THC).

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985

42
• This act prohibits the production, sale, purchase, transport and consumption of narcotic drugs and psy-
chotropic substances in India and also in aircrafts and ships registered to India.
• The NDPS Act does not permit the recreational use of cannabis in India.
• The Act defines ‘Ganja’ as the flowering or fruiting tops of the cannabis plant, but it clearly excludes
the seeds and leaves.
• Bhang, which is commonly consumed during Holi, is a paste made out of the leaves of the cannabis plant
and is hence not outlawed.
• The act left seeds and leaves of the cannabis plant out of the ambit of the Act, because the leaves of the
plant have negligible THC content.

Co-WIN

IT | Prelims | GS2 > Health |

• Context: The Union Health Ministry has developed a digital platform application Co-WIN.
• It is developed for real-time monitoring of Covid-19 vaccine delivery, recording data & to enable people to
get themselves registered for vaccination.

Exoplanets

IE | Prelims | GS1 > Astronomy

• Context: Astronomers has caught a strange exoplanet, orbiting a double-star 336 light years away.
• The word planet is a general term that describes any celestial body that moves around a star.
• There are also “rogue” planets that do not orbit stars.
• An exoplanet is a planet outside our solar system.
• It is an extrasolar planet.

Havana Syndrome & Microwave Weapons

IE | Prelims

• Context: USA has found microwave radiation to be the plausible cause of the Havana syndrome.
• In late 2016, US diplomats stationed in Havana reported feeling ill after hearing strange sounds & experi-
encing odd physical sensations.
• The symptoms included nausea, severe headaches, fatigue, dizziness, sleep problems, & hearing loss, which
have since come to be known as “Havana Syndrome”.

43
Microwave Weapons

• “Microwave weapons” are supposed to be a type of direct energy weapons.

• They aim their target with highly focused energy in the form of sonic, laser, or microwaves, at a target.
• Microwave weapons release electromagnetic radiations which cause sensations in the human body.
• People exposed to high-intensity microwave pulses have reported a clicking or buzzing sound, as if seeming
to be coming from within your head.
• It can have both acute & long-term effects — without leaving signs of physical damage.
• These weapons are a cause of concern as they can affect both machines & human beings.

Source & Credits

Jupiter-Saturn Great Conjunction

TOI | Prelims | GS1 > Astronomy

• Astronomers use the word conjunction to describe the alignment of plants in on our solar system.
• Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions happen every 20 years; the last one was in the year 2000.

44
• Recently in News: Saturn (82 moons) overtakes Jupiter (79 moons) as planet with most moons.

Mucormycosis

IE | Prelims (not important) | GS2 > Health

• Context: Doctors have witnessed the cases of Covid-19 triggered the Mucormycosis.
• It is also called as Black Fungus.
• Mucormycosis is a serious but rare fungal infection caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes.
• These molds live throughout the environment.
• Mucormycosis mainly affects people who have weakened immunity.

Triclosan

TOI | Prelims | GS2 > Health

• Context: according to a study, triclosan can cause damage to nervous system.

• Triclosan is an anti-bacterial & anti-microbial chemical agent.
• It is used in several consumer products to increase their shelf life.
• It is added to some antibacterial soaps & body washes, toothpastes, & some cosmetics products.
• It also can be found in clothing, kitchenware, furniture, & toys.

45
• US has imposed partial ban on its use & is highly regulated.
• In India there are no such regulations on its use.

Digiboxx

• Context: DigiBoxx launched by NITI Aayog as a home-grown cloud storage service.

• It is an indigenous digital asset management & storage platform.
• It is Indian Cloud Storage Service.
• It is digital file storage, sharing, & management SaaS (software as a service) product that provides storage
options for business as well as individuals.
• It allows users to easily share files with an email ID & mobile number.
• It will act as an alternative to google drive, dropbox, one drive etc.

GAVI Alliance

HT | Prelims | GS2 > Health

• Context: Union health minister nominated to board of vaccine alliance GAVI.

• GAVI is an international organisation that was created in 2000 to improve access to new & underused
vaccines for vaccine-preventable diseases for children who live in the world’s poorest countries.
• GAVI brings together developing country & donor governments, the WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank, the
vaccine industry, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation & other private philanthropists.
• GAVI has observer status at the World Health Assembly.
• It currently supports the immunization of almost half the world's children, giving it power to negotiate
better prices for the world's poorest countries & remove the commercial risks that manufacturers faced.

{S&T – Indigenization – 2020/11} Kalvari Class Submarines

IE | GS3 > Defense | GS3 > Indigenization of Technology

• Context: Navy’s 5th Kalvari-class Diesel submarine INS Vagir was launched at Mazgaon Dock in Mumbai.
• This modern and stealthy class of submarines having been built under Project 75 and whose design is
based on the Scorpene class of the submarines.
• The submarines are designed by a French company but manufactured by Mazagon Dock Limited, Mumbai.

Project 75

• Under this project, the Indian Navy intends to acquire six diesel-electric submarines.

46
• It will feature advanced air-independent propulsion systems to enable them to stay submerged for longer
duration and substantially increase their operational range.
• The vessels in the class are INS Kalvari, INS Khanderi, INS Karanj, INS Vela and INS Vagsheer.
✓ Kalvari means Tiger Shark.
✓ Vagir has been named after a Sand Fish, a predatory marine species.
✓ Khanderi has been named after an Island Fort built by Chhatrapati Shivaji, which played a key role in
his Navy.
✓ Karanj has also been named after an Island located South of Mumbai.
• India currently operates
✓ one submarine each in nuclear powered Classes of Chakra and Arihant and
✓ 14 submarines belonging to three classes of Diesel Electric category — Kalvari, Shishumar and Sind-
hughosh.

{S&T – Indigenization – 2020/12} Hypersonic Wind Tunnel Test Facility

TN | Prelims | GS3 > Indigenization of Technology and Developing New Technology.

• Context: DRDO’s state-of-the-art Hypersonic Wind Tunnel (HWT) test facility was inaugurated.
• It is vacuum driven enclosed free jet facility having nozzles which will stimulate Mach number 5 to 12.
• Only the United States and Russia have similar facilities.
• The indigenously developed facility has the capability to simulate hypersonic airflow and will prove crucial
in India's quest to develop futuristic aerospace and defence technologies.
• The practice of understanding how airflow affects the performance of a cruise missile, a rocket or an airplane
is known as aerodynamics.
➢ Mach number: It is the ratio of the speed of a body to the speed of sound.
➢ Hypersonic (Mach 5): at least five times the speed of sound (Mach 5).
➢ Supersonic (Mach 2-3): faster than the speed of sound.
➢ Subsonic (Mach 0.8): slower than the speed of sound.

47
{S&T – ISRO – 2020/11} IRNSS part of World-Wide Radio Navigation System
(WWRNS)

IE | GS3 > Space Communication

• Context: The Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) of the IMO recognised the IRNSS as a component of the
World-wide Radio Navigation System (WWRNS).
• Suggested Reading: {S&T – 2020/08/01} BeiDou Navigation System

Key Points

• The other three countries that have their navigation systems recognised by the IMO are the US, Russia &
China.
• With the recognition as a component of the of the WWRNS, the IRNSS is similarly placed as GPS.
• GPS is most commonly used by marine shipping vessels across the world.
• The IRNSS was designed to provide accurate position information services to assist in the navigation
of ships in Indian Ocean waters.
• IRNSS is similar to the US-owned Global Position System (GPS) or Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite
System (GLONASS).
• The IMO has accepted IRNSS as an alternative navigation module.

48
• It was in use only on a pilot basis earlier but now all merchant vessels are authorised to use it, even small
fishing vessels.
• The IRNSS will be used to assist in the navigation of ships in ocean waters within the area of approximately
1,500 km from the Indian boundary.
• Vessels that have transponders installed in them will be tracked by satellite navigation showing accurate
position in the Indian Ocean region.

Examples of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs)

• Global Positioning System (United States)

• GLONASS (Russia)
• Galileo (EU)
• BeiDou (China)
• IRNSS ― NAVIC (India)

Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) : NavIC

• IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system being developed by India (ISRO).
• It is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extend-
ing up to 1500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area.
• IRNSS is a regional and not a global navigation system.
• An Extended Service Area lies between primary service area and area enclosed by the rectangle from-
1. Latitude 30 deg South to 50 deg North,
2. Longitude 30 deg East to 130 deg East.
• IRNSS will provide two types of services, namely-
1. Standard Positioning Service (SPS) which is provided to all the users and
2. Restricted Service (RS), which is an encrypted service provided only to the authorised users.
• The IRNSS System is expected to provide a position accuracy of better than 20 m in the primary service
area.

Applications of IRNSS are

• Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation.

• Disaster Management.
• Vehicle tracking and fleet management.
• Integration with mobile phones.

49
• Precise Timing.
• Mapping and Geodetic data capture.
• Terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travellers.
• Visual and voice navigation for drivers.

Source and Credits

About IMO

• Established by UN after an agreement during the Geneva Conference of 1948.

• International Maritime Organization (IMO) had its first meeting in 1959.

50
• HQ: London, United Kingdom.
• IMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN).
• IMO is responsible for the safety and security of shipping.
• IMO also looks after the prevention of marine pollution by ships.
• IMO is administered by an assembly of members.
• A separate council of members elected from the assembly looks after the funds and other financial matters.
• The IMO is not responsible for enforcing its policies.
• There is no enforcement mechanism to implement the policies of the IMO.
• The main role is to create a regulatory framework for the shipping industry that is fair and effective,
universally adopted and universally implemented.
• Currently, IMO comprises 174 member states and three associate members.
• India joined the IMO in 1959.

{S&T – ISRO – 2020/12} Chandrayaan-2

TH | Prelims | GS3 > Space Technology | GS3 > Achievements of Indians in Science & Technology

• Context: ISRO has released the first set of data from the country’s second mission to the Moon, the Chan-
drayaan-2, for the general public.

About Chandrayaan-2

• Chandrayaan-2 has three modules namely Orbiter, Lander (Vikram) & Rover (Pragyan).
• Chandrayaan 2 will be launched using GSLV Mark III rocket.
• GSLV MK-III is a three-stage launch vehicle designed to carry four-tonne class satellites into Geosynchro-
nous Transfer Orbit (GTO). (The Chandrayaan-1 was launched on board a PSLV).
• The GSLV Mark III rocket will first launch the spacecraft into an Earth Parking Orbit (170 km X 40,400 km).
• Then the orbit will be enhanced until the spacecraft can reach out to the Lunar Transfer Trajectory.
• On entering the moon’s sphere of influence, it will be eased into a circular orbit (100 km X 100 km).
• Subsequently, Lander will separate from the Orbiter (100 km orbit) & soft land close to lunar South Pole.
• The Rover will be carrying out scientific experiments on the lunar surface.
• The instruments will collect scientific information on lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance,
lunar exosphere & signatures of hydroxyl & water-ice.
• The 3.84 lakh km journey will take five days, but the spacecraft must orbit the moon for about 28 days before
the lander separates itself from the orbiter.

51
• The mission life of the Orbiter is one year, & the rover has an expected life of 14 Earth days (one lunar
day = 14 earth days; after 14 days it will be lunar night & hence the rover will be deprived of solar power).
• If the landing is successful, it will make India only the fourth country to soft-land on the lunar surface.
• The erstwhile Soviet Union, the U.S & China are the only countries to have achieved lunar landings.

Source & Credits: The Hindu

{S&T – ISRO – 2020/12} Gaganyaan Mission Delayed by 1 Year

TH | Prelims + Mains |GS3 > Space Technology

52
• Context: Gaganyaan is likely to be delayed by one year due to the adverse impact from the COVID-19 pan-
demic.

Gaganyaan Mission

• Gaganyaan is the 1st human space flight programme of ISRO.

• Under this mission Indian astronauts will go into space (low earth orbit) by 2022.
• This will be done by using its own capabilities.
• This crewed orbital spacecraft is expected to carry 3 peoples into space for 7 days.
• A GSLV-Mk III launch vehicle will lift them to their orbit.
• India has signed agreements with Russia & France for cooperation on the Gaganyaan mission.
• Recently Human space flight centre was inaugurated to coordinate Indian human space flight programme,
it will also be responsible to implement the project.
• Until now, only Russia, US & China have managed to send manned missions to outer space.

Challenges for Astronauts

• The astronauts will have to adapt to the change in gravitational field.

• The change in gravity affects hand-eye & head-eye coordination.
• Bones may lose minerals adding to the risk of osteoporosis related fractures.
• Lack of exercise & improper diet make them lose muscle strength & cause develop vision problems.

53
• Once they are in space, astronauts will receive over 10 times more radiation than what people are sub-
jected to on earth.
• It can cause cancer, nervous system damage & trigger nausea, vomiting, & anorexia & fatigue.
• Without pressure, human blood heats up.
• Despite the training, behavioural issues may crop up due to isolation leading to depression.

{S&T – Missiles – 2020/11} BrahMos

IE | GS3 > Defense

• Context: The Indian Army has successfully launched BrahMos, a supersonic land attack cruise missile, at Car
Nicobar Islands.

• Note: Basics- Ballistic Missile vs. Cruise Missile, India’s Missile Systems, IGMDP

Key Points

• Most modern missiles, including BrahMos, can be fired in both top-attack and direct attack modes.

54
• In top attack mode, the missile is required to climb sharply after launch, travel at a certain altitude and then
plunge on top of the target.
• In direct attack mode, the missile travels at a lower altitude, directly striking the target.
• These tests are a display of India’s tactical cruise missile triad-launch capability from land, sea and air plat-
forms.
• India has already deployed a sizable number of the original BrahMos missiles and other key assets in several
strategic locations along the LAC(China) in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.

About BrahMos

• BrahMos is being produced by BrahMos Aerospace (name derived from rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva),
a joint venture company set up by DRDO and Russia in 1998.
• The first version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was inducted into the Indian Navy in 2005.
• Its land-to-land, submarine-fired and now air-fired variants have been developed stage by stage.
• BrahMos is a cruise missile (it can be guided towards a pre-determined land- or sea-based target).
• BrahMos (Mach 2.8 – Speed of 2.8 times that of sound) is classified as supersonic cruise missile.
• A newer version under development is aimed at flying at speeds greater than Mach 5 (hypersonic missile).
• Besides decreasing the reaction time of the enemy, higher speeds also substantially reduce the chances of
the missile getting intercepted.

{S&T – Missiles – 2020/11} Pinaka Missile System

PIB | GS3 > Defense | GS3 > Security

• Context: Enhanced PINAKA rocket, developed by DRDO has been successfully flight tested from Integrated
Test Range, Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.

Pinaka Missile System

• It is an all–weather, indirect fire, free flight artillery rocket system.

• It is primarily a multi-barrel rocket system (MBRL) system, can fire a salvo of 12 rockets over a period
of 44 seconds.
• India’s indigenously developed Pinaka missile system is capable of striking up to range of 75 kilometres.
• The navigation system of the missile is also aided by the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System
(IRNSS).

55
{S&T – Nuclear Tech – 2020/12} HL-2M Tokamak

TH | Prelims + Mains | GS3 > Nuclear Energy

• Context: China successfully powered up its “artificial sun” nuclear fusion reactor for the first time.

HL-2M Tokamak

• The HL-2M Tokamak reactor is China’s largest and most advanced nuclear fusion research device.
• Scientists hope that the device can potentially unlock a powerful clean energy source.
• It uses a powerful magnetic field to fuse hot plasma and to contain & control the hot plasma.
• It can reach temperatures of over 150 million degrees Celsius — ten times hotter than the core of the sun.
• Located in Sichuan province, the reactor is often called an “artificial sun” on account of the enormous
heat and power it produces.

Related Concept: What is International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)

56
• ITER is an international nuclear fusion research & engineering megaproject.
• It was launched in 1985.

57
• It is an experimental Tokamak Nuclear Fusion Reactor that is being built in southern France.
• The ITER reactor has been designed to create a plasma of 500 megawatts for around twenty minutes on
an input of 50 megawatts of thermal power (ten–fold gain of plasma heating power).
• ITER will be the first fusion device to produce net energy.
• Net Energy: When the total power produced during a fusion plasma pulse surpasses the thermal power
injected to heat the plasma.

ITER Members

• China, the EU, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States (collaboration of 35 nations).
• They are collaborating to build the world's largest tokamak.
• They are engaged in a 35-year collaboration to build and operate the ITER experimental device, and together
bring fusion to the point where a demonstration fusion reactor can be designed.

Tokamak

• It is a magnetic fusion device that has been designed to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale
and carbon-free source of energy based on the same principle that powers our Sun and stars.

India & ITER

58
• India formally joined the ITER Project in 2005.
• The ITER Agreement between the partners was signed in 2006.
• ITER Organization (IO) is the central team responsible for site construction & operation.
• ITER partners created their own domestic agencies to deliver their commitments to ITER.
• ITER–India is the Indian domestic agency, a specially empowered project of the Institute for Plasma Re-
search (IPR), an aided organization under Dept. of Atomic Energy.
• ITER–India is responsible for delivery of the following ITER packages:

59
 ✓ ITER India has shipped the base, upper cylinder & lower cylinder for the cryostat.
✓ Cryostat is a cylindrical vessel which will act has a huge refrigerator & provide cooling to the fusion
reactor that will attempt to harness the energy produced by fusion of atoms.

Funding of Project

• The project is funded & run by seven member entities:

1. The European Union,
2. China,
3. India,
4. Japan,
5. Russia,
6. South Korea and
7. The United States.

Nuclear Fusion vs Nuclear Fission

• Nuclear Fusion and Nuclear Fission are different types of reactions that release energy due to the presence
of high-powered atomic bonds between particles found within a nucleus.
• In fission, an atom is split into two or more smaller, lighter atoms.
• In fusion, two or more smaller atoms fuse together, creating a larger, heavier atom.

Nuclear Fission Nuclear Fusion

Definition • Fusion is the fusing of two or more lighter atoms
• Fission is the splitting of a large
into a larger one.
atom into two or more smaller
ones.
Natural oc- • Fusion occurs in stars, such as the sun.
• Fission reaction does not normally
currence of
occur in nature.
the process

By-products
• Fission produces many highly radi- • Few radioactive particles are produced by fu-
of the reac-
oactive particles (nuclear waste). sion reaction, but if a fission "trigger" is used, ra-
tion
dioactive particles will result from that.

60
 Conditions • High density, high temperature environment
• Critical mass of the substance and
is required.
high-speed neutrons are required.

Energy Re- • Extremely high energy is required to bring

• Takes little energy to split two at-
quirement
oms in a fission reaction.
two or more protons close enough that nu-
clear forces overcome their electrostatic re-
pulsion. (This is what makes developing a Nu-
clear Fusion Reactor so challenging)

Energy Re- • The energy released by fusion is three to four

• The energy released by fission is a
leased times greater than the energy released by fis-
million times greater than that re-
sion.
leased in chemical reactions, but
lower than the energy released by
nuclear fusion.
Nuclear • One class of nuclear weapon is the hydrogen
• One class of nuclear weapon is a
weapon bomb, which uses a fission reaction to "trigger"
fission bomb, also known as an
a fusion reaction.
atomic bomb or atom bomb.

Energy pro- • Fusion is an experimental technology for pro-

• Fission is used in nuclear power
duction ducing power.
plants.

Fuel • Hydrogen isotopes (Deuterium and Tritium)

• Uranium is the primary fuel used
are the primary fuel used in experimental fusion
in power plants.
power plants.

Reactions • There is no chain reaction involved.

• It involves a chain reaction, which
can lead to dangerous meltdowns
Waste • There is no nuclear waste.
• Nuclear waste, a by-product of
fission, is an environmental chal-
lenge.

{S&T – Space – 2020/11} Ariel Space Mission

IE | GS1 > Astronomy

Ariel (Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large) Space Mission

61
• Ariel survey will perform a large-scale survey of over a thousand exoplanets over a period of four years.
• Scientists are planning to launch it in 2029.
• Ariel Space Mission adopted by the European Space Agency.
• These thousand exoplanets will range from gas giants to rocky planets.
• Ariel is the first mission of its kind dedicated to measuring the chemical composition and thermal structures
of hundreds of exoplanets.

What are Exoplanets?

• Planets that lie outside of the Solar System and orbit around stars other than the Sun are called ex-
oplanets or extrasolar planets.
• Exoplanets are not easy to detect since they are much less bright than the stars they orbit and hence it
is difficult to see them directly using telescopes.
• As per NASA, only a handful of exoplanets have been found using telescopes and the rest have been de-
tected using indirect methods.
• One of these methods involves tracking the dimming of a star that happens when a planet passes in front
of it, NASA’s Kepler Space telescope uses this method to spot thousands of planets.
• Other methods to track exoplanets include gravitational lensing and the “wobbling method”, which is
based on the idea that an orbiting planet will cause its parent star to orbit slightly off-centre.

Gravitational Lensing

• Light around a massive object, such as a black hole, massive galaxy or cluster of galaxies, is bent,
causing it to act as a lens for the things that lie behind it.

62
 Source and Credits

{S&T – Space – 2020/11} Asteroid 16 Psyche

IE | GS1 > Astronomy

• Context: A recent study has found that asteroid 16 Psyche, which orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars
and Jupiter, could be made entirely of metal and is worth an estimated $10,000 quadrillion.

Asteroid 16 Psyche

• Asteroid 16 Psyche (diameter of around 140 miles) is one of the most massive objects in the asteroid belt.
• Unlike most asteroids that are made up of rocks or ice, scientists believe that Psyche is a dense and largely
metallic object thought to be the core of an earlier planet that failed in formation.
• Scientists believe that the asteroid is made up of almost entirely of iron, nickel, and several other rare mate-
rials like gold, platinum, cobalt, iridium, and rhenium.

NASA’s Psyche Mission

• NASA Psyche Mission will launch a spacecraft in 2022 to orbit the asteroid for around 21 months.
• The unmanned spacecraft will reach the asteroid in January 2026.
• The spacecraft will study and map it from a distance and ascertain the origins of the metallic asteroid.

Asteroid: https://www.pmfias.com/solar-system-planets-inner-outer/#Asteroid_belt
Everything about the Solar System: Astronomy

{S&T – Space – 2020/11} Crew-1 Mission

IE | GS3 > Space Technology

• Context: Recently NASA has certified SpaceX’s Crew Dragon mission that will lift off carrying a crew of four
people to the International Space Station (ISS) on a six-month-long mission.

Crew-1 Mission

• The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

• The objective is to make space easier in terms of its cost, so that cargo and crew can be easily transported
to and from the ISS, enabling greater scientific research.

63
{S&T – Space – 2020/11} Radioburst

IE | GS1 > Astronomy

• Context: Recently NASA has spotted Radioburst for the first time in milky way.

What are Fast Radio Bursts (FRB)?

• The first FRB was discovered in 2007.

• Since then scientists have been working towards finding the source of their origin.
• FRBs are bright bursts of radio waves.
• Radio waves can be produced by astronomical objects with changing magnetic fields.
• Their durations lie in the millisecond-scale, because of which it is difficult to detect and determine them.
• The source of the FRB detected is a powerful magnetic neutron star — between 14,000-41,000 light-years.
• The FRB was part of one of the magnetar’s flare-ups, with the X-ray bursts lasting less than a second.
• The radio burst, on the other hand, lasted for a thousandth of a second and was thousands of times brighter
than any other radio emissions from magnetars seen in the Milky Way previously.

What is a Magnetar?

• As per NASA, a magnetar is a neutron star.

• Magnetar: The crushed, city-size remains of a star many times more massive than our Sun.
• The magnetic field of such a star is immensely powerful, which can be thousand times stronger than a
typical neutron star.
• Neutron stars are formed when the core of a massive star undergoes gravitational collapse when it
reaches the end of its life.
• This results in the matter being so tightly packed that even a sugar-cube sized amount of material taken
from such a star weighs more than 1 billion tons, which is about the same as the weight of Mount Everest.
• Magnetars are a subclass of these neutrons and occasionally release flares with more energy in a fraction
of a second than the Sun is capable of emitting in tens of thousands of years.

{S&T – Space – 2020/11} Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT)

PIB | GS1 > Astronomy

• Context: Indian astronomers collaborated with Nobel laureate on Thirty Meter Telescope Project.

64
What is TMT?

• The Thirty Meter Telescope is a new class of extremely large telescopes.

• It will allow us to see deeper into space and observe cosmic objects with unprecedented sensitivity.
• With its 30 m prime mirror diameter, TMT will be three times as wide, with nine times more area, than the
largest currently existing visible-light telescope in the world.
• This will provide unparalleled resolution with TMT images more than 12 times sharper than those from the
Hubble Space Telescope.
• When operational, TMT will provide new observational opportunities in in wavelengths ranging from the
ultraviolet to the mid-infrared.
• The telescope is being designed and developed by the TMT International Observatory LLC (TIO).
• The TIO is a non-profit international partnership between the:
✓ California Institute of Technology,
✓ University of California
✓ National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan
✓ National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
✓ Department of Science and Technology of India
✓ National Research Council (Canada).
• Planned location: Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii in the US state of Hawaii.

Source and Credits

65
{S&T – Space – 2020/12} Chang’e-5

TH | Prelims | GS3 > Space Technology

• Context: Chang’e-5 mission successfully landed earth from moon.

Chang’e-5 Mission

• Chang’e-5 probe is the Chinese National Space Administration’s (CNSA) lunar sample return mission.
• It is set to launch on November 24 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on Hainan Island in China.
• The goal of the mission is to land in the Mons Rumker region of the moon, {area of the huge volcanic
plain Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms"), portions of which have been explored by several other
surface missions, including NASA's Apollo 12 in 1969}.
• Here it will operate for one lunar day, which is two weeks long, & return a 2 kg sample of the lunar rock
possibly by digging about 2 meters deep into the surface of the Moon.
• The mission comprises a lunar orbiter, a lander, & an ascent probe that will lift the lunar samples back
into orbit & return them to Earth.

66
{S&T – Space – 2020/12} Geminids Meteor Shower

IE | Prelims | GS1 > Astronomy

• Context: Geminids meteor shower is active now.

Meteoroid, Meteor & Meteorite

• A meteoroid is any solid debris originating from asteroids, comets or other celestial object & floats
through interplanetary space.
• A meteor is the streak of light that appears in the sky when a meteoroid enters the atmosphere (meso-
sphere) at about 200 km at high speed & burns up because of the friction.
• A meteor is popularly termed a ‘shooting star’ or ‘falling star’.

67
• In some cases, the meteoroid does not burn up completely & makes its way to the Earth’s surface.
• The surviving chunk is called a meteorite.
• The circular depression created on the earth’s surface after the meteorite’s impact is called as a meteorite
crater.

Suggested Reading: Planets of the Solar System & Other Solar System Objects | PMF IAS

{S&T – Space – 2020/12} Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit

TH | Prelims | GS3 > Space | Basics: Kepler’s laws, Satellite Orbits, Launch Vehicles PSLV & GSLV

• Context: ISRO placed India’s 42nd communications satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.
• Satellites which are destined for geosynchronous (GSO) or geostationary orbit (GEO) are (almost) always
put into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) as an intermediate step for reaching their final orbit.

• A Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) is highly elliptic.

68
• Its perigee (closest point to Earth) is typically as high as low Earth orbit (LEO), while its apogee (furthest point
from Earth) is as high as geostationary (or equally, a geosynchronous) orbit.

Basics (Must Read): Kepler’s laws, Satellite Orbits, Launch Vehicles PSLV & GSLV

{S&T – Space – 2020/12} Hayabusa Mission 2

IE | Prelims | GS3 > Space Technology

• Context: Six years after Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission was launched, it is set to return to Earth soon.
• The Hayabasu2 mission was launched in December 2014.
• The spacecraft was sent on a six-year-long voyage to study the asteroid Ryugu and collect samples to
bring back to the Earth.
• The spacecraft arrived at the asteroid in mid-2018.

69
70
About Asteroids

• Asteroids are rocky objects that orbit the Sun, much smaller than planets.
• They are also called minor planets.
• Asteroids are divided into three classes.
1. First group, those found in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

71
 2. The second group is that of trojans, which are asteroids that share an orbit with a larger planet.
✓ Presence of Jupiter, Neptune, and Mars trojans.
✓ In 2011, they reported an Earth trojan as well.
3. The third classification is Near-Earth Asteroids (NEA), which have orbits that pass close by the Earth.
✓ Those that cross the Earth’s orbit are called Earth-crossers.
✓ More than 10,000 such asteroids are known, out of which over 1,400 are classified as potentially haz-
ardous asteroids (PHAs).
• Ryugu is also classified as a PHA and was discovered in 1999 and was given the name by the Minor Planet
Center in 2015.
• It is 300 million kilometres from Earth and it took Hayabusa2 over 42 months to reach it.

Potentially Hazardous Objects (PHO)

• They are NEOs (asteroids or comets) that come threateningly close to Earth and large enough to cause
significant regional damage in the event of impact.
• All asteroids with a Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance (MOID) of 0.05 AU (7,480,000 km) or less are
considered Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs).
• MOID is the minimum distance between two almost overlapping elliptical orbits.

{S&T – Space – 2020/12} Northern Lights

IE | Prelims + Mains | GS1 > Astronomy

• Context: Northern lights to be seen in parts of the US.

About Northern Lights/Aurora

• Aurora is the name given to the luminous glow in the upper atmosphere of the Earth which is produced
by charged particles (solar wind) descending from the planet’s magnetosphere.
• Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, are usually witnessed far up in the polar regions or the high
latitude regions of Europe, like in Norway.
• While flowing toward Earth, the fast-moving solar wind carries with it the Sun’s magnetic field, which dis-
rupts the magnetosphere.
• Magnetosphere is the region of space around Earth in which the magnetic field of our planet is dom-
inant.

72
• When the Sun’s magnetic field approaches Earth, the protective magnetic field radiating from our planet’s
poles deflects the former, thus shielding life on Earth.
• However, as this happens, the protective fields couple together to form funnels, through which charged
solar wind particles are able to stream down to the poles.
• At the north & south poles, the charged particles interact with different gases in the atmosphere, caus-
ing a display of light in the sky.
• This display, known as an aurora, is seen from the Earth’s high latitude regions (called the auroral oval), &
is active all year round.
• In the northern part of our globe, the polar lights are called aurora borealis or Northern Lights, & are
seen from the US (Alaska), Canada, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Sweden & Finland.
• In the south, they are called aurora australis or southern lights, & are visible from high latitudes in Ant-
arctica, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand & Australia.
• Generally, the auroral oval is confined to the polar regions.
• But occasionally, the oval expands, & the lights become visible at lower latitudes.
• This happens during periods of high solar activity, such as the arrival of solar storms.

Visual Explanation > Aurora (Must see)

73
Magnetosphere

• The magnetosphere is the region above the ionosphere that is defined by the extent of the Earth’s mag-
netic field in space.
• It extends several tens of thousands of kilometres into space, protecting the Earth from the charged par-
ticles of the solar wind & cosmic rays.
• It would otherwise strip away the upper atmosphere, including the ozone layer that protects the Earth from
harmful ultraviolet radiation.
• Many cosmic rays are kept out of the Solar system by the Sun’s magnetosphere called heliosphere.

Source & Credits

Suggested Reading: https://www.pmfias.com/earths-magnetic-field-magnetosphere/#Magnetosphere

{S&T – Space – 2020/12} Partial Solar Eclipse

IE | Prelims + Mains | GS1 > Astronomy

• Context: Southern parts of South America to witness a partial solar eclipse.

Eclipse

• An eclipse happens when a planet or a moon gets in the way of the sun’s light.
• On earth, we experience two kinds of eclipses:
1. Solar eclipses that occur only on a new moon day.
2. Lunar eclipses that occur only on a full moon day.

Solar Eclipse

74
• A solar eclipse happens when the moon gets in the way of the sun’s light & casts its shadow on Earth.

Solar Eclipse (NASA illustration)

• The type of solar eclipse that happens during each season (whether total, annular or partial) depends on
apparent sizes of the Sun & the Moon.

Partial Solar Eclipse (Penumbra)

• A partial eclipse occurs when the sun & the moon are not exactly in line with the earth & the moon only
partially obscures the sun.
• This phenomenon can usually be seen from a large part of the Earth outside of the track of an annular or
total eclipse.

Path of totality (umbra) (Credits)

Suggested Reading: Geography PDFs > Climatology > Motions of the Earth > Revolution > Perihelion &
Aphelion > Eclipses
For visual explanation > Solar Eclipse

{S&T – Tech – 2020/12} 3D Printing

75
IE | Prelims + Mains | GS3 > Scientific Innovations & Discoveries

• Context: Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) will come up with a policy aimed at promoting 3D printing.
• The policy will help develop a “conducive ecosystem for development & deployment” of 3D printing.
• Asia leads the world in 3D printing with China, Japan & South Korea being the major players.
• But globally, the US remains the leader, with more than 35 per cent market share.

3D Printing

76
77
• 3D printing (additive manufacturing), is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a Com-
puter Aided Design (CAD) model or a digital 3D model.
• The creation of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes.
• In an additive process, an object is created by laying down successive layers of material.
• Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced cross-section of the object.
• 3D printing is the opposite of subtractive manufacturing which is cutting (hollowing) out an object.
• 3D printing enables production of complex shapes using less material than traditional manufacturing.

Source & Credits | Source & Credits

Envisaged time and money saving applications of 3D printing

• Affordable housing: 3D printing will slash time and cost of construction required, by a significant amount.
• Faster prototyping of ideas and designs in jewellery, automobile and construction industries.
• Bioprinting: Biomaterials such as cells and growth factors are combined to create tissue-like structures imi-
tating their natural counterparts.
• Orthopaedic implants and medical devices: Due to 3D printing’s capabilities for creating porous surfaces,
these types of implants more easily integrate with the patient’s own natural bones.
• 3D selfies: generates 3D selfie models from 2D pictures of customers.

Issues with 3D printing

• Potential for misuse: 3D printing can be used to manufacture parts of guns and weapons if a 3D CAD model
for the part is available.
• Reduction in Manufacturing Jobs since most of the production is automated and done by printers.

{S&T – Tech – 2020/12} FASTag

TOI | Prelims | GS3 > Science & Technology - Developments & their applications & effects in everyday life

78
• Context: The deadline for FASTag adaptation is extended till 15/02/2021.
• FASTag is an electronic toll collection system.
• It is operated by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
• The device employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for payments directly from the pre-
paid or savings account linked to it.
• It is affixed on the windscreen, so the vehicle can drive through plazas without stopping.
• It is valid for five years & can be recharged as & when required.
• It was launched in 2016.
• As per the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, since December 1, 2017, FASTag had been made mandatory
for registration of new four-wheelers.
• It has also been mandated that renewal of the fitness certificate of a vehicle will be done only if it has
the electronic tag.

RFID

• RFID is an acronym for “radio-frequency identification” & refers to a technology whereby digital data en-
coded in RFID tags or smart labels are captured by a reader via radio waves.

• RFID belongs to a group of technologies referred to as Automatic Identification & Data Capture (AIDC).

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• AIDC methods automatically identify objects, collect data about them, & enter those data directly into com-
puter systems with little or no human intervention.
• RFID tags contain an integrated circuit & an antenna, which transmit data to the RFID reader (interrogator).
• The reader then converts the radio waves to a more usable form of data.
• Information collected from the tags is stored in a database & analysed.
• RFID is like barcoding in that data from a tag is captured by a device that stores the data in a database.
• RFID, however, has several advantages over systems that use barcode asset tracking software.
• The most notable is that RFID tag data can be read outside the line-of-sight, whereas barcodes must be
aligned with an optical scanner.

{S&T – Tech – 2020/12} LiDAR

PIB | Prelims + Mains | GS3 > Developments & their Applications & Effects in Everyday Life

• Context: National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited will be adopting Light Detection & Ranging
Survey (LiDAR) technique for conducting ground survey.

LiDAR

• LiDAR, stands for Light Detection & Ranging.

• It is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable
distances) to the Earth.
• These light pulses combined with other data recorded by the airborne systems generate precise, three-
dimensional information about the shape of the Earth & its surface characteristics.
• A LiDAR instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, & a specialized GPS receiver.
• Airplanes & helicopters are the most commonly used platforms for acquiring lidar data over broad areas.
• Two types of LiDAR are topographic & bathymetric.
• Topographic LiDAR typically uses a near-infrared laser to map the land.
• Bathymetric LiDAR uses water-penetrating green light to measure seafloor & riverbed elevations.
• It is like SONAR & RADAR that uses sound waves & radio waves respectively.

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 Source & Credits

{S&T – Tech – 2020/12} Lithium-ion Battery

IE | Prelims | GS3 > Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology etc.

• Context: Gujarat to host India’s first Lithium refinery.

• The proposed project is expected to help Gujarat secure the raw material supply for domestic manufacturing
of Lithium batteries as it looks to promote electric vehicles.

About Lithium

• Lithium is a rare element not usually found in India.

• The company will be importing Lithium ore from Australia & will be processing it here.

Lithium-ion battery

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 Schematic of a rechargeable battery (Image Credits)
• Anode, cathode, electrolyte & separator are the main components of a lithium ion (rechargeable) battery.
• The two electrodes are immersed in the electrolyte & are separated by the separator.
• The anode is usually made up of graphite (carbon).
• Carbon graphite has a layered structure that can store the lithium ions in between its layers.
• The cathode is made up of a combination of lithium-cobalt.
• Lithium is unstable in the element form; hence the combination lithium-cobalt oxide is used for cathode.
• Cathode plays an important role in determining the energy density of a Li-ion battery.
• The higher amount of lithium, bigger the capacity.

Working of a typical lithium-ion battery

• Both electrodes in a li-ion battery can intercalate or ‘absorb’ lithium ions.

• When the battery is being charged, lithium ions are absorbed (stored) in the anode.
• During discharge, lithium ions naturally flow back to the cathode through the electrolyte.
• This creates free electrons in the anode which move along the wire generating electricity.
• The process (to & fro movement of lithium ion) repeats with each charge & discharge cycles.

• Charge Process: Positive electrode (cathode) is oxidized (loses electrons) & Li+ ions pass across the elec-
trolyte & are intercalated (insert between layers) in negative electrode (anode – graphite).
• Discharge Process (opposite of charge process): An oxidation reaction occurs at the anode (-ve), Li+
ions are de-intercalated & migrate across the electrolyte to be re-intercalated into the cathode material.

• Electrolyte (lithium salt) enables the movement of lithium ions between the electrodes.
• The separator functions as a physical barrier keeping cathode & anode apart.

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• It prevents the direct flow of electrons & lets only the ions pass through.
• While the cathode determines the performance of a battery, electrolyte & separator determines its safety.
• Permeable polymer membranes such as polyethylene (PE) & polypropylene (PP) are used as separators.

Why lithium?

• Lithium is the lightest metal & a powerful reducing agent (willing to donate its electrons).
• Lithium-ion batteries capitalize on the strong reducing potential of lithium ions to power the redox reaction
— reduction at the cathode, oxidation at the anode.

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