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ENVIRONMENT

* Great Barrier Reef mass coral bleaching - The most pristine section of the Great Barrier Reef is currently experiencing

the worst mass bleaching event in its history, with the overwhelming majority of reefs being ranked in the most severe

category. Coral bleaching occurs when abnormal environmental conditions, like heightened sea temperatures cause

corals to expel tiny photosynthetic algae, called ‘zooxanthellae.’

The loss of these colourful algae causes the corals to turn white, and ‘bleach.’ Bleached corals can recover if the

temperature drops and zooxanthellae are able to re-colonise them, otherwise the coral may die.

Common household vinegar may help protect Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef by effectively and quickly killing the

coral-munching crown-of-thorns starfish. The innovative method of killing crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS) is safe to

other marine life and will now be introduced on the reef. CoTS are breeding at epidemic levels and are one of the

primary reasons for the decline in live coral.

*IRRAWADY DOLPHIN- As many as 181 endangered Irrawaddy dolphins have been sighted in Odisha, according to a

census carried out by the State Forest and Environment department on January 20. In 2015, survey teams had sighted 206

Irrawaddy dolphins here. The Chilika Lake, the largest brackish water lagoon of the country, has recorded a marginal

drop in the population of Irrawaddy dolphins from 144 in 2015 to 134 this year. About 55 dolphins were sighted this year

in Bhitarakanika, compared to 58 spotted in 2015. In the Bhadrak Wildlife Sanctuary jurisdiction, only five Irrawady

dolphins were sighted. Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) is a highly endangered species.

* For the first time, the government will carry out a comprehensive census of endangered Gangetic dolphins, ghariyals

and turtles across the entire Ganges river system to get their official count. The National Mission for Clean Ganga

(NMCG) will carry out the exercise through Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII), an autonomous institution

under Union Ministry of Environment and Forest. The study, to be carried out by NMCG under the Centre’s ambitious

Namami Gange programme, is crucial because populace of the freshwater animals reflect quality of the river water (more

the populace, better the water quality). A dolphin on an average breeds once in every three to four years.

*Western ghat- MoEF new notification, The fresh draft notification, based on the report of the K Kasturirangan-led high-

level working group, once again proposed to notify 56,825 sq km areas as ESA and ban mining, quarrying, sand mining,

new thermal plants, red category industries and big townships. A UNESCO heritage site, the Western Ghats is a 1,600

km-long mountain range running all along the west coast of India. It covers the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,

Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat, approximately 1,40,000 sq km. These mountains are home to number of endemic plants

and animal species. Kerala government requested the Centre to reduce the state’s ESA area further. The Western Ghats

was included as a ‘World Natural Heritage Site’ by UNESCO in 2012. According to the organisation, the Ghats, which

are older than the Himalayas, are home to at least 325 globally threatened flora, fauna, bird, amphibian, reptile and fish

species. It has been recognised as one of the world’s eight ‘hottest hotspots’ of biological diversity.

What are ESAs?

An ecologically sensitive area is one that is protected by the government given the sheer number of species, plants and

animals endemic to the region. According to the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the government can prohibit

industrial operations such as mining, sand quarrying and building thermal power plants in sensitive areas.

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The definition offered by the MoEF: “An ecological sensitive area is a bio-climatic unit (as demarcated by entire

landscapes) in the Western Ghats wherein human impacts have locally caused irreversible changes in the structure of

biological communities (as evident in number/ composition of species and their relative abundances) and their natural

habitats.”

The Western Ghats were declared an ecological hotspot in 1988.

To categorise an area as ecologically sensitive, the government looks at topography, climate and rainfall, land use and

land cover, roads and settlements, human population, biodiversity corridors and data of plants and animal species.

The Kasturirangan committee report

The MoEF notification is based on findings of a High-Level Working Group, also known as the Kasturirangan

committee. The government-appointed committee had said that the natural landscape of the Ghats constitutes only 41 per

cent, or which 90 percent or 60,000 square kilometres were identified

as ecologically sensitive.

The committee suggested phasing out current mining projects within

five years, or when mining leases were about to expire. It

recommended that infrastructure and development projects be subject

to environmental clearance, and that villages in ESA be involved in

decision making regarding future projects.

The notification was deemed too environmentally friendly by

stakeholder states.

All red category industries will be banned in the ESA of WG.

* India hosts world’s oldest algae fossil- Scientists in India have

uncovered a pair of 1.6 billion-year-old fossils that appear to contain

red algae, which may be the oldest plant-like life discovered on Earth. No DNA remains in the fossils to be analysed but

the material structurally resembles red algae, embedded in fossil mats of cyanobacteria inside a 1.6 billion-year-old

phosphorite, a kind of sedimentary rock. Advanced tools — such as synchrotron-based X-ray tomographic microscopy

— allowed scientists to observe regularly recurring platelets in each cell, which they believe are parts of chloroplasts, the

organelles within plant cells where photosynthesis takes place. The fossils were discovered in sedimentary rocks in the

Chitrakoot region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The earliest traces of life on Earth — in the form of single-

celled organisms — go back some 3.5 billion years.study by wedish Museum of Natural History.

*Algae- is an informal term for a large, diverse group of photosynthetic organisms which are not necessarily closely

related, and is thus polyphyletic. Included organisms range from unicellular genera, such as Chlorella and the diatoms,

to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelp, a large brown alga which may grow up to 50 m in length.

*algal bloom- Freshwater algal blooms are the result of an excess of nutrients, particularly some phosphates. The excess

of nutrients may originate from fertilizers that are applied to land for agricultural or recreational purposes. They may also

originate from household cleaning products containing phosphorus.

* The red algae, or Rhodophyta- are one of the oldest groups of eukaryotic algae, has chloroplasts that lack

external endoplasmic reticulum .Important builder of coral reefs.

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* Giant algae bloom in Arabian Sea- roughly the size of Mexico – takes over the Arabian Sea twice a year and this

massive green patch from Gulf of Oman all the way to India has been attributed to climate change.this was named

noctiluca scintillans.

* UNION GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES MISSION FINGERLING TO ACHIEVE BLUE REVOLUTION- The main

motive behind this programme is to enhance the fisheries production from 10.79 mmt (2014-15) to 15 mmt by 2020-

21. Fish Fingerling production is the single most important critical input visualised to achieve fish production targets

under the Blue Revolution. The Department has identified 20 States based on their potential and other relevant factors to

strengthen the Fish Seed infrastructure in the country. This program with a total expenditure of about Rs. 52000 lakh will

facilitate the establishment of hatcheries and Fingerling rearing pond to ensure the fish production of 426 crores fish

fingerling, 25.50 crores. focuses on creating an enabling environment for an integrated and holistic development and

management of fisheries for the socioeconomic development of the fishers and fish farmers. the greater emphasis will be

on infrastructure with an equally strong focus on management and conservation of the resources through technology

transfer to increase in the income of the fishers and fish farmers.

* Ornamental Fisheries - Recognizing the potential and scope of ornamental fisheries, the Department of Animal

Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, has envisaged a program to unlock

the country’s ornamental fisheries sector through a special drive by launching a pilot scheme for the development of

ornamental fisheries with a total outlay of Rs. 61.89 crore.

The major objectives of the pilot project are: (i) to promote ornamental fish culture with cluster-based approach, (ii) to

augment ornamental fisheries trade and export earnings, (iii) to create employment opportunities for the rural &

periurban population and (iv) use of modern technology and innovation to make ornamental fisheries a thriving activity.

For the purpose of implementation of the pilot project, a total of 8 potential States have been identified, viz., Assam,

West Bengal , Odisha, Maharashtra , Gujarat , Karnataka , Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Ornamental fishery, on the other hand, is a sub-sector of the fisheries sector dealing with breeding and rearing of

coloured fish of both freshwater and marine water. Though ornamental fisheries does not directly contribute to the food

and nutritional security, it generates livelihood and income for the rural and periurban population, especially women and

unemployed youth as part-time activities. The ornamental fish industry in India is small but vibrant, with potential for

tremendous growth. The low production cost and high returns within a short span of time and the ever growing demand,

both in domestic and international markets, etc. are the major attractions. About 400 species of marine ornamental fishes

and 375 freshwater ornamental varieties are available in various parts of our country.

The pilot project on ornamental fisheries shall be implemented by the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB)

through the Fisheries Departments of States/UTs. The broad funding patterns proposed under the pilot project on

ornamental fisheries are in line with the funding patterns under CSS Blue Revolution.

All the activities under the pilot project are classified in to four major groups, viz., (a) activities related to production of

ornamental fish, e.g. setting up of backyard rearing units, medium scale units, integrated breeding-cum-rearing units, etc.,

(b) activities related to aquarium fabrication, trade and marketing; (c) activities for promotion of ornamental fisheries

sector, and d: activities related to skill development and capacity building.

*Artifical rain- It’s a practice of artificially inducing or increasing precipitation through clouds by adding external agents.

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The foreign particles which are drenched over these clouds can be Dry Ice(solid carbon dioxide), Silver Iodide, Salt

powder etc. This process is known as Cloud Seeding. This stimulation is done by aeroplanes or rockets. And then finally

"rain on".

China has offered to share its cloud seeding technology with India, which could be used to artificially induce rain in

drought-affected regions.Cloud seeding, a technique mastered by the Chinese, is a form of climate modification that is

used to form rain by either using artilleries to fire shells containing rain-inducing chemicals into the cloud cover or by

dropping the said chemicals from an aircraft. In India, the Earth System Science Organisation - along with IITM - is

striving to understand rain formation in clouds through CAIPEEX - Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation

Enhancement Experiment.

* Project “LOcal Treatment of Urban Sewage Streams for Healthy Reuse) (LOTUS HR) –.The project LOcal Treatment

of Urban Sewage Streams for Healthy Reuse (LOTUS HR) is an Indo-Netherlands joint project funded by Department of

Biotechnology(DBT), Govt of india and NWO/STW, The Govt of Netherlands. The project has stakeholders from both

Academia and Industry from India and Netherlands. It is coordinated by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi with

participation of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi and National Environment Research Institute,

Nagpur from India while Technical University Delft is coordinating it from The Netherlands, with participation of

Environmental Engineering and Water Technology Department, UNESCO, Wageningen University and its Aquatic

Ecology Department. There is also commitment from industry, especially from The Netherlands, in terms of both cash

and kind towards the project.

The project aims to demonstrate a novel holistic (waste-) water management approach, that will produce clean water that

can be reused for various proposes (e.g. industry, agriculture, construction etc.), while simultaneously recovering

nutrients and energy from the urban waste water, thus converting drain into profitable mines. Special attention will be

paid to pathogen removal and removing conventional and emergingpollutants.

The project will develop an innovative pilot scale plant, suitable to cope with Indian conditions in a location specific

manner. The final design of the pilot plant will be scalable and modular, to fit into the highly populated urban terrain.

* 2016 was the hottest year on record- 2016 is the hottest year on record, 2015 the second hottest and 2014 in the third

place. The World Meteorological Organization in Geneva, Switzerland confirmed the U.S. findings, and noted that

atmospheric concentrations of both carbon dioxide and methane reached record levels. The main reason for the rise is the

burning of fossil fuels like oil and gas, which send carbon dioxide, methane and other pollutants known as greenhouse

gasses into the atmosphere and warm the planet.

* On March 23, on the occasion of the World Meteorological Day, the World Meteorological Organization released the

digitised International Cloud Atlas, which includes several new types of clouds, including Asperitas, which in Latin

stands for “rough.” The Atlas, which includes a manual of standards and photographs of clouds and weather phenomena,

was first published in the 19th century. It was last updated 30 years ago. Just like plants and animals have their biological

name consisting of genera, species etc., clouds, too, follow a Latin-based naming convention. This was established by

Luke Howard, an amateur meteorologist, way back in 1803. As of now, there are 10 genera, subdivided into species and

varieties. In total there are close to a 100 such combinations.

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Other additions include Cavum, also known as the hole-punch cloud; cauda, or tail cloud; mluctus; and murus, or wall

cloud. The new list also recognises clouds formed from wildfires and gives them a name – flammagenitus. Besides

clouds, the new edition also features a few weather conditions such as rainbows, halos, snow devils and hailstones.

* Huge ‘dead zone’ discovered in Bay of Bengal- The Bay of Bengal hosts a ‘dead zone’ of an estimated 60,000 square

kilometres — an area that contains little or no oxygen and supports microbial processes that remove vast amount of

nitrogen from the ocean. Dead zones are well-known off the western coasts of North and South America, off the coast of

Namibia and off the west coast of India in the Arabian Sea. The researchers also discovered that the Bay of Bengal hosts

microbial communities that can remove nitrogen, as in other well-known dead zones and even some evidence that they

do remove nitrogen, but at really slow rates. the Bay of Bengal is also surrounded by a heavy population density, and

expected increases in fertiliser input to the Bay may increase its productivity, contributing to oxygen depletion at depth.

SPACE

PSLV C-7- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) set a new record in space mission achievements after it

successfully launched 104 satellites in one go.

The PSLV-C37/Cartosat2 Series satellite mission included the primary satellite (Cartosat-2) and 101 international nano

satellites. It also launched two of its own nano satellites, INS-1A and INS-1B. PSLV first launched the 714 kg Cartosat-2

Series satellite for earth observation, followed by the INS-1A and INS-1B, after it reached the polar Sun Synchronous

Orbit. It then went on to inject 103 co-passenger satellites, together weighing about 664 kg, in pairs.

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ISRO scientists used the XL Variant – the most powerful rocket – earlier used in the ambitious Chandrayaan and during

the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM).

foreign satellites were placed in quadrapacks, which are like small boxes. Once these quadrapacks were released from the

rocket, the satellites were thereafter released in a timesequence manner. The highest number of satellites launched in a

single mission is 37, a record that Russia set in 2014. The US space agency, Nasa has launched 29.

* CartoSat 2D, officially only referred to as a CartoSat 2 Series Satellite, is the fifth in India’s second generation of

CartoSat Earth Observation craft tasked with the generation of high-resolution imagery, employing a high-degree of

agility on the satellites to support event monitoring with high revisit times.

The CartoSat-2D launch follows up on the CartoSat-2C mission that launched in June 2016 and is a nearly identical copy

of the 2C satellite, carrying the same instruments and operating from a similar orbit. Previous CartoSat missions used a

Sun Synchronous Orbit 640 Kilometers in altitude while the newer ones fly at 505 Kilometers in order to increase the

resolution of the panchromatic and multispectral cameras aboard

* South Asia Satellite- also known as GSAT-9, is a geosynchronous communications and meteorology satellite operated

by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

region. The satellite was launched on the 5th May, 2017. During the 18th SAARC summit held in Nepal in 2014, Indian

Prime Minister Narendra Modi mooted the idea of a satellite serving the needs of SAARC member nations as a part of

his Neighbourhood first policy. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka are the users of the

multi-dimensional facilities provided by the satellite. The South Asia Satellite provides crucial information on tele-

medicine, tele-education, banking and television broadcasting opportunities. It is also equipped with remote sensing state

of the art technology which enables collection of real-time weather data and helps in observations of the geology of the

South Asian nations. This is the fourth consecutive success achieved by GSLV carrying indigenously developed

Cryogenic Upper Stage. South Asia Satellite is a communication satellite built by ISRO to provide a variety of

communication services over the South Asian region. The South Asia Satellite with a lift off mass of 2230 kg, has a

mission life of more than 12 years. The launch was scheduled for December, 2016 but was delayed and rescheduled for

May 05, 2017. This will be the eleventh flight of GSLV and the fourth consecutive launch of GSLV-F09 using the

indigenous cryogenic engine to power the upper stage. The geostationary satellite aims to strengthen disaster support

through communication and connectivity among the participating South Asian countries. Working on the Ku-band (a

range of frequencies), it will provide the countries with capability in the field of tele-education, tele-medicine,

broadcasting, Direct-to-Home services (DTH) and VSAT capacity with other linking services. All the countries will have

at least a transponder through which they can telecast their own

programming. The countries will build their own ground-level

infrastructure. All the other costs for the launch of the satellite has

been borne by India. In addition, the spacecraft carries a GPS-

augmentation GAGAN payload, built at Space Applications

Centre in Ahmedabad. It will will provide enhanced GPS services

to the security forces and air traffic control organizations, covering

all of India including Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) is an

implementation of a regional satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) by the Indian government. It is a system to

improve the accuracy of a GNSS receiver by providing reference signals.[2] The AAI’s efforts towards implementation

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of operational SBAS can be viewed as the first step towards introduction of modern communication, navigation,

surveillance/Air Traffic Management system over Indian airspace. This will be helpful for landing aircraft in tough

weather and terrain like Mangalore and Leh airports.

One essential component of the GAGAN project is the study of the ionospheric behavior over the Indian region. This has

been specially taken up in view of the rather uncertain nature of the behavior of the ionosphere in the region. The study

will lead to the optimization of the algorithms for the ionospheric corrections in the region. The Indian government has

stated that it intends to use the experience of creating the GAGAN system to enable the creation of an autonomous

regional navigation system called the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System IRNSS.

* PSLV C36 -ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully launched the 1,235 kg RESOURCESAT-2A Satellite.

The data sent by RESOURCESAT-2A will be useful for agricultural applications like crop area and crop production

estimation, drought monitoring, soil mapping, cropping system analysis and farm advisories generation. It will carry

similar payloads as carried by its predecessors Resourcesat-1 and Resourcesat-2. a unique 3-Tier imaging system with

Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS), Linear Imaging Self Scanner-3 (LISS-3) and Linear Imaging Self Scanner-4

(LISS-4) cameras.mission life is 5 years.

GSLV Mark III- Signalling the next generation launch of Isro, capable of placing four ton satellites in Geosynchronous

Transfer orbit (GTO), it is set for the launch of the first developmental flight of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch

Vehicle (GSLV) -Mark III- D1 on June 5. Boosted with fully indigenous cryogenic upper stage (CUS), this GSLV-

MKIII will launch the GSAT-19 communication satellite. GSLV-Mark III-D1 is a three-stage vehicle with two solid

motor strap-on boosters, a liquid propellant core stage and a cryogenic upper stage (C25). When the two solid motors

burn it can cause huge sound and to prevent that an Acoustic suppression system will be in place and it is demonstrated.

The GSAT-19 satellite will carry Ka-band and Ku-band payload along with a Geostationary Radiation Spectrometer

(GRASP) payload to monitor and study the nature of the charged particles and influence of space radiation on spacecraft

and electronic components.

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What is the difference between GSLV and PSLV?

Both PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) and GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) are the satellite-

launch vehicles (rockets) developed by ISRO. PSLV is designed mainly to deliver the “earth-observation” or “remote-

sensing” satellites with lift-off mass of up 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 deg orbital-plane inclination). An

orbit is called sun-synchronous when the angle between the line joining the centre of the Earth and the satellite and the

Sun is constant throughout the orbit.

Due to their sun-synchronism nature, these orbits are also referred to as “Low Earth 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.

The GSLV is designed mainly to deliver the communication-satellites to the highly elliptical (typically 250 x 36000 Km)

Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The satellite in GTO is further raised to its final destination, viz., Geo-

synchronous Earth orbit (GEO) of about 36000 Km altitude (and zero deg inclination on equatorial plane) by firing its in-

built on-board engines.

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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.

Cryogenic Engine - A Cryogenic rocket

stage is more efficient and provides more

thrust for every kilogram of propellant it

burns compared to solid and earth-storable

liquid propellant rocket stages. Specific

impulse (a measure of the efficiency)

achievable with cryogenic propellants

(liquid Hydrogen and liquid Oxygen) is

much higher compared to earth storable

liquid and solid propellants, giving it a

substantial payload advantage. Oxygen

liquifies at -183 deg C and Hydrogen at -

253 deg C. The propellants, at these low

temperatures are to be pumped using turbo pumps running at around 40,000 rpm. It also entails complex ground support

systems like propellant storage and filling systems, cryo engine and stage test facilities, transportation and handling of

cryo fluids and related safety aspects. the CE-7.5 for GSLV MK-II upper stage.the CE-20 for GSLV (GSLV Mk-III.

Mk-III uses gas generator cycle which also enables the scientist to test each component separately, MK-II uses stage

combustion engine where whole engine had to be tested entirely at one.

ISRO Propulsion Research Centre at Mahendragiri –ground level testing of Mk-III.- Using Liquid Hydrogen at -253

degrees C and Liquid Oxygen at -193 degrees C as propellants, the high-thrust cryogenic engine (CE20) generates power

of approximately 2 MW. Developed at the Liquid Propulsion System centre (LPSC) . new high altitude test facilities at

Mahendragiri

A suborbital flight test of the GSLV-III launcher, with a passive cryogenic third stage, was successfully carried out on 18

December 2014, and was used to test a crew module on a suborbital trajectory.The first orbital flight is planned to take

place in 2017.The first flight with a crew on board would take place after 2020.

* India’s most powerful launch vehicle – Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III – built to lift the

heaviest Indian communication satellites to space, is all set to be launched soon. With GSLV Mark-III, seen as a “game-

changer” mission in space technology, the country can have indigenous launches of bigger satellites without depending

on foreign countries. It can put satellites weighing upto four tonnes in space, double the weight that the current GSLV-

Mark-II can lift.

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GSLV Mark-III will also enable Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to launch from India heavier

communication spacecraft to geostationary orbits of 36,000 km. Because of the absence of a powerful launcher, the space

agency currently launches satellites above two tonnes on European rockets for a high cost.

GSLV Mark-III would blast off with the communications satellite – GSAT-19, weighing more than 3.2 tonnes.

GSAT-19(May 21, 2017)- ISRO plans to usher in an age of high-speed internet in the country with the launch of three

communication satellites. These satellites will use multiple spot beams (a special kind of transponder that operates on a

high frequency) that will increase internet speed and connectivity. These multiple spot beams will cover the entire

country."

A spot beam is a satellite signal that is specially concentrated (sent by a high-gain antenna located on the satellite) so that

it covers only a limited geographic area on earth. The narrower the beam, more is the power. The three satellites will

reuse "beams" (signals) several times over smaller areas. In contrast, traditional satellite technology uses a broad single

beam to cover wide regions. the effective data rate of earlier-launched GSAT satellites is one gigabyte per second.

GSAT-19, on the other hand, will be able to transfer data at four gigabytes per second, thus making it equivalent to four

satellites. This satellite will use eight beams.

"GSAT-11, which is heavier than GSAT-19, will be launched by the year-end and will use 16 beams. It will be able to

transfer data at the rate of 13 gigabytes per second. GSAT-20, whose launch is set at the end of 2018, will use 40 beams.

Each beam will have two polarisations, which will effectively make them 80 beams. This satellite will have data rate of

60-70 gigabytes/sec. The number of internet users in the country is expected to reach 450-465 million by June, up 4-8%

from 432 million in December 2016, according to a report from the Internet and Mobile Association of India. However,

India, with just 4.1 Mbps average connection speed, ranked a poor 105th on the world's fastest internet connectivity

speed list, said a report by a US-based cloud service provider. India is way behind South Korea (the leader with 26.3

Mbps) and Hong Kong ( 20 Mbps), Sri Lanka (6 Mbps), Vietnam (6.3 Mbps) and China (5.7 Mbps).

* India to build its heaviest rocket to carry 10-tonne satellites- An advanced Indian mega space launcher that can deliver

ten-tonne and heavier communication satellites to space and using a semi-cryogenic engine is likely to to power ISRO’s

launchers by around 2018. Currently, the government has approved the development of the semi-cryogenic stage alone. a

semi-cryogenic engine - that runs on kerosene and liquid oxygen.

When fitted suitably into a launch vehicle, it will see India putting satellites of the class of 6,000 to 10,000 kilos — or

with some variations, lift even 15,000-kg payloads — to geostationary transfer orbits at 36,000 km. The engine is

expected to triple or quadruple ISRO's transportation ability. Pre-project work on what is called the SCE-200 began

about four years back. The engine will use space-grade kerosene as fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidiser.

* SCE-200- name of mission of semi-cryogenic engine.

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* Scramjet engine(Air Breathing Propulsion System )- tested by ISRO. India became the fourth country to demonstrate

the flight testing of a scramjet engines. This mission is a milestone for ISRO’s future space transportation system. The

scramjet engine is used only during the atmospheric phase of the rocket’s flight. Scramjet engines will help bringing

down launch cost by reducing the amount of oxidiser to be carried along with the fuel. Scramjet engines designed by

ISRO uses hydrogen as fuel and the oxygen from the atmospheric air as the oxidiser.

If you look at the schematics of a Scramjet (or Supersonic Combusting ramjet), it looks pretty straight forward – air gets

sucked in from the front, fuel burns in middle and exhaust gas

comes out of the back generating thrust. But this is where the

simplicity of the design ends. Factors like air inlet design, air

compressibility, complex flows, high temperatures, fuel

injection, etc – make it really difficult to design a suitable

scramjet powerplant. Scramjets are highly inefficient at low

speeds, with their efficiency increasing at supersonic speeds.

So, why are scramjets important for ISRO? ISRO currently

uses rocket launch vehicles like the PSLV to deliver satellites

into orbit. PSLVs are expendable, meaning that can only be

used once, and are designed to carry both fuel and oxidizer

with for launch. Scramjets use ambient air to burn fuel, thus

saving the need to carry an oxidizer – thus increasing the

payload of a craft. ISRO claims that using Avatar for satellite

launches will cut down launch costs by half. Since there are no

rotating parts in a scramjet, the chances of failure are also measurably reduced.

ISRO’s reusable launch vehicle platform, called Avatar, is a concept that is capable of carrying out satellite launches –

takes off vertically and lands back on a runway. The spacecraft is designed to use ramjets and scramjets for thrust. Each

of these engines will be used in different stages of the flight – with ramjet used at lower speeds, scramjet at hypersonic

speeds and cryogenic engines when the craft reaches the edge of the atmosphere.

This is not India’s first venture into hypersonic flight or scramjet technology. DRDO has reportedly been working with

NPO Mashinostroyenia of Russia to develop the second generation Brahmos cruise missile powered by a scramjet,

dubbed the Brahmos-II. Brahmos-II is being designed to be capable of flying 300 odd kilometers at a speed of Mach 7.

The current generation Brahmos is propelled using a liquid-fueled ramjet engine, making it possible for the missile

propel forward at up to Mach 3 – the fastest for a cruise missile in the world today.

* China successfully launches Tianzhou 1, its first unmanned cargo spacecraft- China has launched its first cargo

spacecraft, taking another step towards its goal of establishing a permanently manned space station by 2022. In space, the

cargo ship will dock with the orbiting Tiangong-2 space station, provide fuel and other supplies, and conduct space

experiments before falling back to Earth. China aims to build a permanent space station by 2022, that is expected to orbit

for at least 10 years, and the debut of the cargo ship is important as it acts as a courier to help maintain the space station.

China’s fast-expanding space programme targets a landing on the dark side of the moon by 2018. It aims to launch its

first Mars probe around 2020, followed by a second mission that would include collection of surface samples from the

red planet.

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If the Tianzhou-1 mission completes its objective, China will become the third country besides Russia and the United

States to master the technique of refuelling in space. “The Tianzhou-1 mission includes the breakthrough of in-orbit

refuelling and other key technologies needed to build a space station, laying a foundation for future space station

operations,” said Bai Mingsheng, chief designer of the cargo ship which can carry over six tonnes of supplies. Tianzhou-

1 is larger and heavier than Tiangong-2, which is 10.4 metres in length and has a maximum diameter of 3.35 metres,

weighing 8.6 tonnes.PROJECT 921 space station program of china.

International Space Station- is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit. Its first component

launched into orbit in 1998, and the ISS is now the largest man-made body in low Earth orbit and can often be seen with

the naked eye from Earth. The ISS programme is a joint project among five participating space

agencies: NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, and CSA.

*CASSINI- Cassini–Huygens is an unmanned spacecraft sent to the planet Saturn,launched in 1997. Cassini is the

fourth space probe to visit Saturn and the first to enter orbit. It has studied the planet and its many natural satellites since

arriving there in 2004. On December 25, 2004, Huygens (developed by ESA) separated from the orbiter, and it landed on

Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005. It successfully returned data to Earth, using the orbiter as a relay. This was the

first landing ever accomplished in the outer Solar System.

*Titan is the largest moon of Saturn. It is the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object in space

other than Earth where clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found. Titan is 50% larger than

Earth's Moon, and it is 80% more massive. It is the second-largest moon in the Solar System, after Jupiter's

moon Ganymede, and is larger than the smallest planet, Mercury. Discovered in 1655 by the Dutch

astronomer Christiaan Huygens, Titan was the first known moon of Saturn. Titan is primarily composed of water ice and

rocky material. The atmosphere of Titan is largely nitrogen.

*The dunes and methane lakes are on Titan and the ice volcanoes are on Enceladus — both moons of the giant ringed

planet Saturn, and part of the frontier that Nasa is exploring with its epic Cassini mission. Cassini’s scientists have had to

think on their feet many times over the nearly 20-year endeavor, which will end this fall when the spacecraft runs out of

fuel. On Cassini, he said, instruments designed to study particles trapped in the magnetic field of Saturn were re-

purposed to measure the composition of the material erupting from fields of active volcanoes on Enceladus.

That turned out to reveal something important. Enceladus receives meagre sunlight, but it gets internal energy from

friction generated from the motion of massive tides. So while the crust of Enceladus is icy, this internal heat warms a sea

of liquid water underneath. Cassini’s measurements showed that the water erupting from the ice volcanoes is mixed with

materials from the moon’s rocky interior — organic matter and minerals. Thanks to Cassini, Enceladus now joins

Jupiter’s moon Europa as a possible abode for extraterrestrial life.

Flybys of Titan, Saturn’s biggest moon, have revealed something even more surprising. It’s the only other body in the

solar system with earth-like surface features — lakes, seas, rivers, rain, wind and sand dunes. And so Cassini is now

death spiraling into Saturn. Over the summer it should get some unprecedented close-ups of those rings — beautiful in a

way no computer-generated drawing can equal. On 15 September, it will plunge into Saturn’s stormy atmosphere.

*Grand Finale and planned destruction-The chosen mission ending involves a series of close Saturn passes, approaching

within the rings, then an entry into Saturn's atmosphere on September 15, 2017, to destroy the spacecraft. This method

was chosen because it is imperative to ensure protection and prevent biological contamination to any of the moons of

Saturn thought to offer potential habitability.

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* Giovann Domenico Cassini (8 June 1625 – 14 September 1712) was

an Italian (naturalized French) mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and engineer. The Cassini spaceprobe, launched in

1997, was named after him and became the fourth to visit Saturn and the first to orbit the planet. Cassini discovered four

satellites of the planet Saturn and noted the division of the rings of Saturn; the Cassini Division was named after him.

* HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) is an analog habitat for human spaceflight to

Mars.[1][2][3] HI-SEAS is located in an isolated position on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano on the island

of Hawaii. One thing under study by NASA is trying to understand crew dynamics such as morale, stress management,

and how they solve problems as group. HI-SEAS V began on 19 January 2017 and is scheduled to run for eight months.

* SpaceX plans to launch two paying passengers on a tourist trip around the moon next year using a spaceship under

development for NASA astronauts and a heavy-lift rocket yet to be flown, the launch company announced on Monday.

The launch of the first privately funded tourist flight beyond the orbit of the International Space Station is tentatively

targeted for late 2018, Space Exploration Technologies Chief Executive Elon Musk told reporters on a conference call.

Dragon spacecraft.

* Rosetta was a space probe built by the European Space Agency launched on 2 March 2004. Along with Philae, its

lander module, Rosetta performed a detailed study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The probe is named after

the Rosetta Stone, a stele of Egyptian origin featuring a decree in three scripts. The lander is named after the Philae

obelisk, which bears a bilingual Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription. Rosetta becoming the first spacecraft to

orbit a comet. It was one of ESA's Horizon 2000 cornerstone missions(focus on develop new science mission) On 30

September 2016, the Rosetta spacecraft ended its mission by hard-landing on the comet in its Ma'at region.

*The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) is

a NASA asteroid study and sample return mission. The launch occurred on 8 September 2016. Its mission is to study

asteroid 101955 Bennu, a carbonaceous asteroid, and return a sample to Earth in 2023 for detailed analysis. The material

returned is expected to enable scientists to learn more about the formation and evolution of the Solar System, its initial

stages of planet formation, and the source of organic compounds that led to the formation of life on Earth. If successful,

OSIRIS-REx will be the first US spacecraft to return samples from an asteroid. It is the third planetary science mission

selected in the New Frontiers program, after Juno and New Horizons.

* Measure the Yarkovsky effect (a thermal force on the object) on a potentially hazardous asteroid and constrain the

asteroid properties that contribute to this effect.

* An asteroid was chosen as the target of study because an asteroid is a 'time capsule' from the birth of our Solar

System.[15] In particular, 101955 Bennu was selected because of the availability of pristine carbonaceous material, a key

element in organic molecules necessary for life as well as representative of matter from before the formation of Earth.

Organic molecules, such as amino acids, have previously been found in meteorite and comet samples, indicating that

some ingredients necessary for life can be naturally synthesized in outer space.

* During its cruise phase, OSIRIS-REx was used to search for a class of near-Earth objects known as Earth-Trojan

asteroids as it passed through Sun–Earth L4 Lagrange point. Between 9 February and 20 February 2017.

* a trojan is a minor planet or moon that shares the orbit of a planet or larger moon, wherein the trojan remains in the

same, stable position relative to the larger object. In particular, a trojan remains near one of the two trojan points of

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stability – designated L4 and L5 – which lie approximately 60° ahead of and behind the larger body, respectively. Trojan

points make up two of five types of Lagrangian points, and a trojan is a type of Lagrangian object.

* the Lagrangian points are positions in an orbital configuration of two large bodies where a small object affected only

by gravity can maintain a stable position relative to the two large bodies. The Lagrange points mark positions where the

combined gravitational pull of the two large masses provides precisely the centripetal force required to orbit with them.