NATIONAL IAS ACADEMY SUPER40 (BOOKLET NUMBER – 06) CONTACT: 9632334466 PRESENTS SUPER 40 SERIES TOP 40 PDFS FOR UPSC PRELIMINARY EXAM 2019 BOOKLET NUMBER – 6 ISRO MISSIONS AND DISCOVERIES VIJAYANAGAR BRANCH: #3444, ‗KARMA KOUSHALYA BHAVAN‘, CHORD ROAD, OPPOSITE TO ATTIGUPPE METRO STATION, VIJAYANAGAR, BANGALORE – 540040 JAYANAGAR BRANCH: LUCKY PARADISE, 2ND FLOOR, 8TH F MAIN ROAD, 22ND CROSS, OPPOSITE TO ICICI BANK, 3RD BLOCK, JAYANAGAR, BANGALORE -560011 1 | P a g e NATIONAL IAS ACADEMY SUPER40 (BOOKLET NUMBER – 06) CONTACT: 9632334466 ISRO MISSIONS AND DISCOVERIES The Indian Space Research Organisation is the space agency of the Government of India headquartered in the city of Bengaluru.Its vision is to "harness space technology for national development while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration."It is managed by the Department of Space, which reports to the Prime Minister of India. MISSION SHAKTI In an incremental advance, India has successfully conducted an Anti- Satellite (ASAT) missile test, named Mission Shakti. India becomes the fourth country in the world to demonstrate the capability to shoot down satellites in orbit. So far, only the United States, Russia and China have this prowess. YUVIKA ISRO has launched a special programme for School Children called ―Young Scientist Programme‖ ―YUva VIgyani KAryakram from this year. The Program is primarily aimed at imparting basic knowledge on Space Technology, Space Science and Space Applications to the 2 | P a g e NATIONAL IAS ACADEMY SUPER40 (BOOKLET NUMBER – 06) CONTACT: 9632334466 younger ones with the intent of arousing their interest in the emerging areas of Space activities. The residential training programme will be of around two weeks duration during summer holidays and it is proposed to select 3 students each from each State/ UTs to participate in this programme covering state, CBSE, and ICSE syllabus. Those who have just finished 9th standard (in the academic year 2018- 19) and waiting to join 10th standard (or those who have started 10th Std just now) will be eligible for the programme. The selection will be based on the 8th Std marks. Students belonging to the rural area have been given special weightage in the selection criteria. PSLV-C45/EMISAT MISSION C-45, which is set for lift-off from the second launchpad at Sriharikota, will mark the 47th flight of the PSLV. It is meant for electromagnetic spectrum measurements, according to the ISRO. It will be released into an orbit at 749 km. EMISAT is primarily based on on the famous Israeli spy satellite called SARAL or (Satellite with ARgos and ALtika), and inherits its SSB-2 bus protocol for conducting sharp electronic surveillance across the length and breadth of India. The satellite would serve as the country‘s roving device for detecting 3 | P a g e NATIONAL IAS ACADEMY SUPER40 (BOOKLET NUMBER – 06) CONTACT: 9632334466 and gathering electronic intelligence from enemy radars across the borders as it circles the globe roughly pole to pole every 90 minutes or so. For the third successive PSLV mission, the ISRO plans to reuse the rocket‘s spent fourth stage or PS4 to host short experiments. OCEANSAT – 3 – ARGOS MISSION ISRO and its French counterpart CNES has sealed an agreement to set up a joint maritime surveillance system in the country. The two nations will explore putting up a constellation of low-Earth orbiting satellites. The system will be augmented with the launch of Oceansat-3-Argos mission in 2020 along with a joint infrared Earth-observation satellite. These will identify and track movement of ships globally – and in particular those moving in the Indian Ocean region where France has its Reunion Islands. GSAT-31 4 | P a g e NATIONAL IAS ACADEMY SUPER40 (BOOKLET NUMBER – 06) CONTACT: 9632334466 India‘s latest communication satellite, GSAT-31 was successfully launched from the Spaceport in French Guiana. The launch vehicle Ariane 5 VA-247 lifted off from Kourou Launch Base, French Guiana carrying India‘s GSAT-31 and Saudi Geostationary Satellite 1/Hellas Sat 4 satellites. It was launched in an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 250 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 35,850 km, inclined at an angle of 3.0 degree to the equator. With a lift-off mass of 2536 kg, GSAT-31 will augment the Ku-band transponder capacity in Geostationary Orbit. The satellite will provide continuity to operational services on some of the in-orbit satellites. GSAT-31 will provide DTH Television Services, connectivity to VSATs for ATM, Stock-exchange, Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) and e-governance applications. The satellite will also be used for bulk data transfer for a host of emerging telecommunication applications. It is the India‘s 40th communication satellite which is configured on ISRO‘s enhanced ‗I-2K Bus‘, utilising the maximum ―bus capabilities‖ of this type. HOUSE SPACE FLIGHT CENTRE 5 | P a g e NATIONAL IAS ACADEMY SUPER40 (BOOKLET NUMBER – 06) CONTACT: 9632334466 The HSFC, the hub of ISRO‘s future manned missions, was inaugurated at ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru. Announced on August 15 2018, the country‘s first crewed mission is set to happen by 2022, the 75th year of Independence. HSFC shall be responsible for the implementation of Gaganyaan project — which involves mission planning, development of engineering systems for crew survival in space, crew selection and training and also pursue activities for sustained human space flight missions. HSFC will take the support of ISRO centres to implement the first developmental [crewed] flight. MICROSAT – R Microsat-R and its payload come assembled from a handful of laboratories of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It is meant for military use. The satellite was assembled outside and ISRO only interfaced it‖ with its own systems and the launch vehicle, just as it treats any customer satellite. 6 | P a g e NATIONAL IAS ACADEMY SUPER40 (BOOKLET NUMBER – 06) CONTACT: 9632334466 KALAMSAT Kalamsat is a communication satellite with a life span of two months. The nanosatellite is a 10cm cube weighing 1.2 kg. The satellite cost was about Rs 12 lakh Kalamsat will be the first to use the rocket‘s fourth stage as an orbital platform. The fourth stage will be moved to higher circular orbit so as to establish an orbital platform for carrying out experiments. It is named after former Indian president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and was built by an Indian high school student team, led by Rifath Sharook, an 18-year-old from the Tamil Nadu town of Pallapatti. It is the world‘s lightest and first ever 3D-printed satellite. UNNATI It is Unispace Nanosatellite Assembly and Training Programme by ISRO. 7 | P a g e NATIONAL IAS ACADEMY SUPER40 (BOOKLET NUMBER – 06) CONTACT: 9632334466 It is a capacity building programme on Nanosatellite development. It is an initiative by ISRO to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first United Nations conference on the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space (UNISPACE-50). The programme provides opportunities to the participating developing countries to strengthen in assembling, integrating and testing of Nanosatellite. UNNATI programme is planned to be conducted for 3 years by U.R. Rao Satellite Centre of ISRO in 3 batches and will target to benefit officials of 45 countries. UNISPACE + 50 It is an event marking the 50th year of the first UN Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. It is an initiative of United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA). Three such conferences held earlier recognized the potential of space and laid the guidelines for human activities and international cooperation related to outer space. They were: o UNISPACE I, Vienna, 1968 o UNISPACE II, Vienna, 1982 and o UNISPACE III, Vienna, 1999 SAMWAD WITH STUDENTS (SwS) As part of the enhanced outreach programme of ISRO, a new platform named ―Samwad with Students‖ (SwS) was launched in Bengaluru. Through the initiative, ISRO aims to constantly engage youngsters across India to capture their scientific temperament. The new conversation mission will inspire students cutting across schools and colleges. During the Samwad, the students are briefed about Indian space programme and their benefits to the common man. The Q&A session was followed on a series of topics ranging from rockets, satellites, Chandrayaan, Gaganyaan and various space applications. 8 | P a g e NATIONAL IAS ACADEMY SUPER40 (BOOKLET NUMBER – 06) CONTACT: 9632334466 GAGANYAAN The Prime Minister of India in his Independence Day address announced that an Indian astronaut would go into space by 2022, when India celebrates her 75th year of Independence. In pursuance of this goal, India and France have announced a working group for Gaganyaan. Under the Gaganyaan schedule, three flights will be sent in orbit. Of the three, there will be two unmanned flights and one human spaceflight. The human space flight programme, called the Orbital Module will have three Indian astronauts, including a woman. It will circle Earth at a low-earth-orbit at an altitude of 300-400 km from earth for 5-7 days. The payload will consist of: o Crew module - spacecraft carrying human beings. o Service module - powered by two liquid propellant engines. 9 | P a g e NATIONAL IAS ACADEMY SUPER40 (BOOKLET NUMBER – 06) CONTACT: 9632334466 It will be equipped with emergency escape and emergency mission abort. GSLV Mk III, also called the LVM-3 (Launch Vehicle Mark-3) the three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle, will be used to launch Gaganyaan as it has the necessary payload capability. The mission is expected to cost around Rs 10,000 crore. GSAT – 7A Military communication satellite GSAT-7Ainterlinks operates and communicates with its aircraft as they fly and with command centres on ground.