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aspirantforum.com ScienceNews and for Tech.Jan.-Mar.2016 The Crux of The Hindu Vol. 05 News of Jan.-Mar. 16 Vol. 05 Important News in the field of Space Atomic Energy Environment and Ecology Health and Medicine Bio-Technology Computer and IT Defence Agriculture Miscellaneous : ASPIRANT FORUM : Vol. 05 Jan.-Mar. Vol. AN INITIATIVE BY UPSC ASPIRANTS Visit Aspirantforum.com for guidance and study material for IAS Exam. aspirantforum.com Science and Tech. The Crux of The Hindu Vol. 05 News of Jan.-Mar. 16 Aspirant Forum is a Community for the UPSC Contents Civil Services (IAS) Aspirants, to discuss and debate the various things related to the exam. We welcome an active Space.........................................4 participation from the fellow members to enrich the Atomic Energy.........................15 knowledge of all. Environment and Ecology.......18 Health and Medicine...............28 Compiled and Edited by Karuna Thakur Shakeel Anwar Bio-Technology.......................34 Designed by: Computer and IT......................37 Anupam Rastogi Defence....................................48 Agriculture...............................56 The Science and Tech. Crux will be published online Miscellaneous..........................59 for free for every three months. We appreciate the friends and followers for apprepreciating our effort. For any queries, guidance needs and support, Please contact at: [email protected] You may also follow our website Aspirantforum.com for free online coaching and guidance for IAS Vol. 05 Jan.-Mar. Vol. Visit Aspirantforum.com for guidance and study material for IAS Exam. aspirantforum.com Science and Tech. The Crux of The Hindu Vol. 05 News of Jan.-Mar. 16 About the ‘CRUX’ After the success of our monthly magazine The Crux of The Hindu and PIB, we are introducing a new and convenient product, to help the aspirants for various public services examinations. Today, the knowledge of the Current Affairs (Science and Technology) constitutes an indispensable tool for all the recruitment examinations. However, as per the examinations are concerned, it is quite tedious task to memorise each and every news. Moreover, every news as given in magazines and newspapers may or may not be relevant from exam perspective which forces the candidates to spend a quality time in extracting useful matter and framing notes. This problem of aspirants strikes our minds and made us to think for a sure shot solution as a result of which our experts have come out with the unique magazine of Science and Technology, Crux of Science and Technology. This trimonthly convenient product is going to save our aspirants’ time. The whole concept of the CRUX is to provide you with a summary of the important news and current affairs, from an exam point of view. By reading the CRUX, you will be able to save your precious time and effort, as you get all the relevant matter in a summarized and convenient form. The Crux is particularly helpful for the Civil Services, Banking, SSC and other exams that have a current affairs section. The material is being provided in such a manner that it is helpful for both- objective and descriptive sections. Our aim is to help the candidates in their effort to get through the examinations. Your efforts and dedication inspire us to keep going. It is our sincere effort to make your journey easier. Best Wishes Editorial Board Team Aspirant Forum Courtesy: The Hindu Vol. 05 Jan.-Mar. Vol. Visit Aspirantforum.com for guidance and study material for IAS Exam. aspirantforum.com Science and Tech. The Crux of The Hindu Vol. 05 News of Jan.-Mar. 16 began three months ago and is scheduled to be ready by mid-2017. It will enable the Indian Space Research SPACE Organisation (ISRO) to do a dozen launches a year compared to about eight at present; this includes both New way to measure gravity can find the PSLV and the GSLV vehicles, according to P. Kun- Earth-like planets hikrishnan, Director of the launch port, Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC). In a bid to determine whether distant stars with planets “Work on the second VAB began in October last year by orbiting them can harbour life, a global team of astrono- a team of Indian industries. [VAB2] is a complex project, mers has discovered a new way to measure the pull of about three times bigger than the existing one. We ex- gravity at the surface of distant stars. Knowing the sur- pect to get it completed by the first half of 2017 and start face gravity of a star is essentially knowing how much using it from the second half onwards,” he said. you would weigh on that star. It will handle different types of future launch vehicles that If stars had solid surfaces on which you could stand, are also in the works at other centres. then your weight would change from star to star.The new SDSC has two launch pads, LP1 and LP2, which are both method allows scientists to measure surface gravity with designed differently. A vehicle assembly bay is attached an accuracy of about four per cent, for stars too distant to LP2 by rail. The second bay will also be connected and too faint to apply current techniques. to LP2 by rail and will increase SDSC’s total launch fre- quency. ISRO is midway through work on the heavy-lift GSLV Mark III vehicle and is working on another 10-tonne- capacity semi-cryogenic launch vehicle. The new VAB is being tailored to these. Leaving the preparation time between two launches, nor- mally ranging from a month to two, LP1 can now do up to five launches and LP2 up to eight, while focussing on GSLV and MkIII. The maiden one, SLV-3 E1, of August 1979 was a failure “If you don’t know the star, you don’t know the planet. The but marked the country’s first shot at putting satellites in size of an exoplanet is measured relative to the size of its orbit. So far it has put into orbit 42 Indian satellites in- parent star,” said study co-author and professorJaymie cluding communication, navigation and remote sensing Matthews from University of British Columbia. (Earth observation) kinds; and 57 small satellites for for- If you find a planet around a star that you think is Sun-like eign customers. but is actually a giant, you may have fooled yourself into The historic 50thlaunch was the December 16 flight of thinking you’ve found a habitable Earth-sized world. PSLV-C29 carrying six Singapore satellites, ISRO said, “Our technique can tell you how big and bright is the star, noting that SHAR was developed from a barren island and if a planet around it is the right size and temperature into a world class launch pad that meets international de- to have water oceans, and maybe life,” Matthews added. mand for launching small and mid-sized satellites rang- The new technique called the “autocorrelation function ing from a few kilos up to 1.5 tonnes. timescale technique” or timescale technique for short, uses subtle variations in the brightness of distant stars recorded by satellites like Canada’s MOST and NASA’s ISRO conceives two ‘space parks’ Two space industry enclaves or “parks” that have been Kepler missions. conceived — one for launchers at Sriharikota and a Sriharikota space port scores 50 smaller one at an existing Bengaluru spacecraft campus — signal increased privatisation of the nation’s space The nation’s space launch complex at Sriharikota in programme over the next five years. Vol. 05 Jan.-Mar. Vol. coastal Andhra Pradesh, which reached its milestone For now, the facilities will be “captive” to drive the future 50th launch last month, is being readied to take up at missions of the Indian Space Research Organisation. least four more launches a year than now. First, ISRO wants to groom and engage domestic indus- Work on the second vehicle assembly building (SVAB) Visit Aspirantforum.com for guidance and study material for IAS Exam. aspirantforum.com Science and Tech. The Crux of The Hindu Vol. 05 News of Jan.-Mar. 16 try in the launch vehicles area from integrating sub-sys- the paper’s authors. tems up to assembling, and even launching the PSLV. This well-established rocket has put Indian and foreign satellites of up to 1,600 kg into space. ISRO Chairman and Secretary, Department of Space, A.S. Kiran Kumar, told“Internal discussions have just started on the mechanism of forming a (launch vehicle) consortium. A few key industry players working in the space programme have been sounded.” Eventually the future consortium will be fully responsi- ble for building and launching the light-lift PSLV rocket. Currently industries such as Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Data collected by Rosetta’s Visible Infrared and Thermal Godrej & Boyce, Larsen & Toubro, MTAR and Walchand- Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) showed that the water nagar Industries produce 80 per cent of the launch vehi- ice grains in the Imhotep region came in different sizes. cle parts and sub-units. Some of the grains were tiny, just tens of micrometres These production works are scattered across their re- across, which were probably formed as a result of the spective locations. The launch industry initiative must comet’s 12-hour rotation. be close to ISRO’s launch complex, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, at the 145-sq km Sriharikota range, on the First flower in space is giant leap for lines of the launch complex of Europe’s Arianespace in zero-gravity gardening French Guiana, Mr. Kiran Kumar told . When there is no “up”, which way does a flower grow? Satellite support Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have On the spacecraft front, ISRO plans to increasingly sup- answered this and other zero-gravity gardening conun- port small and mid-sized industries at its 10-year-old sec- drums by growing the first flower in space.

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