Science And Technology
Social Issues
Issue Number-1: The GSLV-F-10-Lauch
Issue Number-2: The Satellite Communication And Satellite
Broadband In India
Issue Number-3: Magnets And Electric Vehicles
Issue Number-4: Chip Shortages And Geopolitical Race
Did you know about the reverse gear bacteria?
Did you know about the new method of shipping materials inside
cells?
Did you know about a new technique to study ultra-small particles in
cells?
Did you know about Einstein century celebration?
Did you know about New Chemistry Cell Battery Technology?
Did you know about the NASA Jupiter Probe?
Did you know about vehicle scrappage?
Unlock the free classes for this workbook on Unacademy App using unlock code PAVNEET10
Issue Number-1: What is the Hub and Spoke Model of the New
Education Policy-2021?
Issue Number-2: Water Governance And India
Issue Number-3: Urban Municipal Services And Pandemic
Issue Number-4: Maintenance And Welfare of Parents and Senior
Citizens (Amendment) Bill, 2021
Issue Number-5: Protect Breastfeeding: A Shared Responsibility-
2021
Issue Number-6: The Trafficking In Persons (Prevention, Care and
Rehabilitation) Bill, 2021
Issue Number-7: Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children)
Amendment, Bill 2021
Issue Number-8: Freedom Of Religion Debate
4
 Science And Technology: Current Affairs: August

Issue Number-1: The GSLV-F-10-Lauch

Source: The Hindu, Indian Express and Times Of India

Syllabus: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nano-technology, Bio-technology and issues relating to Intellectual Property Rights.

How has the

pandemic
affected the
space sector?
What happened
in August 2021?
How were the
missions named
earlier by the
ISRO?
Why did the
launch of EOS-
03 matter?

What innovative
practice
happened in
EOS-01?
What do Earth
Observation
Satellites do?
Unlock the free classes for this workbook on Unacademy App using unlock code PAVNEET10 91
What is Polar The ISRO uses launchers for launching a satellite. India today uses PSLV and GSLV as two launchers, which are developed
Satellite Launch at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Trivandrum. The PSLV is an Indian launch vehicle that is also called the workhorse
Vehicle or of ISRO. PSLV is designed mainly to deliver the “earth-observation” or “remote-sensing” satellites with lift-off mass of up
PSLV? to about 1750 Kg to Sun-Synchronous circular polar orbits of 600-900 Km altitude. The remote sensing satellites orbit the
earth from pole-to-pole (at about 98 degree orbital-plane inclination).
What is a sun- An orbit is called sun-synchronous when the angle between the line joining the centre of the Earth and the satellite and the
synchronous Sun is constant throughout the orbit. Due to their sun-synchronism nature, these orbits are also referred to as “Low Earth
orbit? Orbit (LEO)” which enables the on-board camera to take images of the earth under the same sun-illumination conditions
during each of the repeated visits, the satellite makes over the same area on ground thus making the satellite useful for earth
resources monitoring. Apart from launching the remote sensing satellites to Sun-synchronous polar orbits, the PSLV is also
used to launch the satellites of lower lift-off mass of up to about 1400 Kg to the elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit
(GTO). PSLV is a four-staged launch vehicle with first and third stage using solid rocket motors and second and fourth
stages using liquid rocket engines. It also uses strap-on motors to augment the thrust provided by the first stage, and
depending on the number of these strap-on boosters, the PSLV is classified into its various versions like core-alone version
(PSLV-CA), PSLV-G or PSLV-XL variants
What is The GSLV is designed mainly to deliver the communication-satellites to the highly elliptical (typically 250 x 36000 Km)
Geosynchronous Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The satellite in GTO is further raised to its final destination, viz., Geo-synchronous
Satellite Launch Earth orbit (GEO) of about 36000 Km altitude (and zero degree inclination on equatorial plane) by firing its in-built on-
Vehicle? board engines. Due to their geo-synchronous nature, the satellites in these orbits appear to remain permanently fixed in the
same position in the sky, as viewed from a particular location on Earth, thus avoiding the need of a tracking ground antenna
and hence are useful for the communication applications. Two versions of the GSLV are being developed by ISRO. The
first version, GSLV Mk-II, has the capability to launch satellites of lift-off mass of up to 2,500 kg to the GTO and satellites
of up to 5,000 kg lift-off mass to the LEO. GSLV MK-II is a three-staged vehicle with first stage using solid rocket motor,
second stage using Liquid fuel and the third stage, called Cryogenic Upper Stage, using cryogenic engine.
Why did the
launch of EOS-
03 fail and what
is the impact on
future missions?

Unlock the free classes for this workbook on Unacademy App using unlock code PAVNEET10 92
What about the
impact of the
mission on
NISAR?

Unlock the free classes for this workbook on Unacademy App using unlock code PAVNEET10 93
Issue Number-2: The Satellite Communication And Satellite Broadband In India

Source: The Hindu Business Line

Syllabus: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nano-technology, Bio-technology and issues relating to Intellectual
Property Rights.

What is the issue?

What does the Telecom

Engineering Council do?

How was the Indian

digital situation sub-
optimal?

What has been the

reform by Telecom
Engineering Council?

What is the current status

of satellite broadband in
India?

Unlock the free classes for this workbook on Unacademy App using unlock code PAVNEET10 94
What are the advantages
of satellite broadband?

Why is satellite
broadband effective?

How can satellite

broadband be used?

What is the concern in

satellite broadband in
India?

Are the use of High

Throughput Satellites a
solution?

Unlock the free classes for this workbook on Unacademy App using unlock code PAVNEET10 95
Issue Number-3: Magnets And Electric Vehicles

Source: The Hindu Business Line

Syllabus: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nano-technology, Bio-technology

What is an unforeseen
hurdle in electric
mobility

Why do magnets matter

What is international
Advanced Research
Center for powder
metallurgy and new
materials in India doing

Unlock the free classes for this workbook on Unacademy App using unlock code PAVNEET10 96
What is India trying to
work upon

What is the core focus of

India right now

Unlock the free classes for this workbook on Unacademy App using unlock code PAVNEET10 97
Issue Number-4: Chip Shortages And Geopolitical Race

Source: The Hindu Business Line And Times Of India

Syllabus: Science and Technology- Developments and their Applications and Effects in Everyday Life.

What is the issue?

Why is the shortage happening

and how is the demand supply
equation going for a toss?

What is the impact of the

American policy ON
Semiconductor manufacturing
under Joe Biden?

Unlock the free classes for this workbook on Unacademy App using unlock code PAVNEET10 98
How is the drought in Taiwan a
factor?

What about the case of USA

and Japan?
Why is it important for India to
build and indigenous
semiconductor base in the
present arena of geopolitical
crisis caused by the
semiconductor chip shortages?

Did you know about the reverse gear bacteria?

the scientists in India have recently developed a theoretical model explanation regarding a unique kind of motion which is called direction
reversing active motion. this motion is exhibited by some bacteria that feed on other microorganisms and this analysis is helpful in building
more efficient artificial micro and nano motors which are used in drug delivery and bioimaging using the concept of reverse gear. the bacteria
move by propelling themselves with a velocity that changes direction very randomly. this change of direction is called the active motion. besides
the bacteria this kind of motion is also found in living systems that range from the cells to microscopic scale to flocking of bird and fish schools
at the macroscopic scale. some microorganisms like the predator bacteria and saprotrophic bacteria exhibit a unique kind of rivers active motion
where in addition to but diffusive change of direction the motion also completely reverses itself intermittently.

Unlock the free classes for this workbook on Unacademy App using unlock code PAVNEET10 99
Did you know about the new method of shipping materials inside cells?

the process of introducing a foreign genetic substance like a nucleic acid into a cell is called transfection. this process is needed for gene research
and gene therapy. the question that arises is that how do you ship stuff inside them considering that every cell is very small. while there are
various methods to do the same but transfection is emerging as an evolving science in the recent times. broadly speaking there are three ways
of doing transfection. firstly the biological way in which the desired genetic material is introduced into a virus and then the virus is used as a
truck to take the material inside the cell while this method is relatively easier but there are understandable side effects that could trigger an
immuno response from the body or set of harmful genetic mutations. the second method is called the chemical method where we attach the
shipment to the positive ions of certain chemicals and they get attracted to the negatively charged membrane of the cell. while this is a tough
procedure because there is a need to match the chemicals to the type of the cell the overall efficacy of the process is relatively low. the third
method which is gaining ground these days is called the physical method. one of the commonly used techniques here is called microinjection
but it requires a very high skill and is a very laborious process. the second methodology used in the physical method is the biological Ballistics
where the equipment for mixing the shipment material with gold is done and then it is shot into the cell using a gene gun. A new technique in
the market now is called Electroporation Where an electric field is applied to the cell so that it becomes more permeable and the wall of the cell
becomes bigger so that the shipment passes through without difficulty. The only problem in this process is that you need a very small electrode
and that is where the Indian scientists have been recently trying to work together.

Did you know about a new technique to study ultra-small particles in cells?

Absorption spectroscopy is a tool to detects the presence of elements in a medium. Highlight is passed through a sample and then it is examined
through the spectroscope. the dark lines are seen in the observed spectrum of light pass through the substance which corresponds to the
wavelength of the lights absorbed by the intervening substances and are characteristic part of the elements present in it. in the absorption
spectroscopy, the principle used is read the light because of its wave like nature shows diffraction patterns that is dark and light fringes, when it
scatters off any object. related concept called Abbey criterion search some natural limit on the size of the objects being studied. according to
this criterion, the size of the observed object has to be at least of the order of the wavelength of the light being shone on it. To perform this
experiment the scientists have used in nano particles of sodium yttrium fluoride which is a kind of a gas with some dopants which have special
properties that when they excite this with infrared light at 975 NM, it emits blue and green and red light from the particle itself.

Unlock the free classes for this workbook on Unacademy App using unlock code PAVNEET10 100
Did you know about Einstein century celebration?

In 1905 Einstein published four papers leading year of 1905 to be remembered as year of miracles. Einstein also won the Nobel Prize in 1922
note for his theory of relativity but for his service to theoretical physics and discovery of laws of photo electric effect. Einstein explained that
light was made up of protons and when light is shone on a metal, Photon's energy correlated to the electrons speed on the metal’s surface. this
theory redefined the composition of light and was a revolutionary theory. Einstein propounded the special theory of relativity in the year of
1905.

Did you know about New Chemistry Cell Battery Technology?

The entire electric vehicle ecosystem in India is based upon lithium ion batteries. however in the recent time there is new advancement in the
chemistry cell battery technologies which could enable battery storage ecosystems to diversify away from the established lithium ion formula.
there is considerable research happening to develop ecosystem for electricity grid storage that promises to deliver power add less than 10th of
the cost of lithium ion batteries. the Government of India is also working on developing a blueprint for a project of 4000 megawatt hour of grid
scale battery storage system under the regional load dispatch centres that controls the power grid of India. The union power ministry is working
on establishing grid scale battery storage project which is aimed to counterbalance any sharp fluctuations in the grid frequency because of
renewable energy. the department of science and technology has launched for materials for energy storage and materials for energy conservation
and storage platform program and also set up centres on batteries and super capacitors in consultation with Indian Institute of Technology
Bombay and Indian institute of science.

Unlock the free classes for this workbook on Unacademy App using unlock code PAVNEET10 101
Did you know about the NASA Jupiter Probe?

Did you know about vehicle scrappage?

Auto recycling method is increasingly used to curb pollution. the scrappage of the vehicle is done with the objective to reduce accident rates by
keeping out of order vehicles from the roads. the government in India has offered up to 25% rebate on road tax and 5% discount on new vehicles
against the scrapping certificate. every year 25,000,000 tons of material is recovered from the old vehicles. most auto recyclers are small
businesses then they employ about 10 people and sell auto parts priced at 20- 80% less than the new ones. as per studies approximately 99% of
the car batteries and tires can be recycled.

Unlock the free classes for this workbook on Unacademy App using unlock code PAVNEET10 102