July 2020 Science and Technology

Sakshi Education

Hurricane Hanna
Recently, Hurricane Hanna has made landfall (the point at which a hurricane reaches land) in Texas with life-threatening storm surge and strong winds.

Tropical cyclones are called hurricanes in the West Indian islands in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

Key Points
It has reached wind speeds of up to 90 mph and is expected to produce heavy rains across portions of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico, which will result in flash flooding and isolated minor to moderate river flooding.

It has been categorised as a Category 1 storm on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS).

This year, an “above-normal” hurricane season is expected in the USA.

One reason for this is the warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, along with weaker tropical Atlantic trade winds and an enhanced west African monsoon.
Asteroid 2020 ND
Recently, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has issued a warning that a huge “Asteroid 2020 ND” will move past Earth on 24th July.

Key Points
Description: The asteroid, about 170 metres-long, will be as close as 0.034 Astronomical Unit (AU- Astronomical Unit is the distance between the Earth and the Sun and is roughly 150 million km) to the Earth, and is travelling at a speed of 48,000 kilometres per hour.

It is a Near-Earth Objects (NEO) and its distance from Earth has placed it in the Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHA) category.

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids:
It means that an asteroid has the potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth.

Specifically, all asteroids with a Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance (MOID) of 0.05 AU (which is about 7,480,000 Km) or less and an Absolute Magnitude (H) of 22.0 (about 150 mt in diameter) or less are considered PHAs.

MOID is a method for calculating the minimum distance between two almost overlapping elliptical orbits.

The absolute magnitude is a measure of the star's luminosity i.e. the total amount of energy radiated by the star every second.

Solutions
Deflecting Asteroids: Blowing up the asteroid before it reaches Earth, or deflecting it off its Earth-bound course by hitting it with a spacecraft may ward off the threat.

AIDA: The measure undertaken so far is the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA), which includes NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission and the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hera.

DART: In 2018, NASA announced that it had started the construction of DART, which is scheduled to launch in 2021 with an aim to slam into the smaller asteroid of the Didymos system at around 6 km per second in 2022. Didymos, is a binary near-Earth asteroid, that could pose the most likely significant threat to Earth.

Hera: It is scheduled to launch in 2024, and will arrive at the Didymos system in 2027 to measure the impact crater produced by the DART collision and study the change in the asteroid’s orbital trajectory.

Monitoring of PHAs: It is not necessary that asteroids classified as PHAs will impact the Earth. It only means there is a possibility of a threat.

By monitoring these PHAs and updating their orbits as new observations, it is possible to predict the close-approach statistics and thus their Earth-impact threat.

Significance
The scientific interest in comets and asteroids is largely due to their status as relatively unchanged remnant debris from the solar system formation process over 4.6 billion years ago. Therefore, they offer clues about the chemical mixture from the planets formed.

Significantly, among all the reasons that will eventually cause the extinction of life on Earth, an asteroid hit is widely acknowledged as one of the likeliest.
BIS-Care
Recently, the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has launched the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) Mobile App ‘BIS-Care’ and three portals namely the Standardization, Conformity Assessment and Training Portals of e-BIS for consumers.

BIS is the National Standard Body of India for the harmonious development of the activities of standardization, marking and quality certification of goods.

Key Points
BIS-Care App:
The app can be operated on any Android phone and is operational in Hindi and English language. Consumers can check the authenticity of the ISI-marked and hallmarked products and lodge complaints using this app.

It is important to ensure that consumers are aware of the standards and quality products and help in eliminating the supply of sub-standard products.

e-BIS:
e-BIS is an integrated portal covering all functions of BIS, enlisting the services of outside agencies for factory and market surveillance and development of mobile app-based and Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled surveillance methods.
Certification and surveillance to enforce the implementation of standards is an important aspect of BIS functioning which is also strengthening its capacity of enforcement by the implementation of e-BIS.

Other Steps Taken:
BIS has been playing an important role in the formulation of Quality Control Orders (QCO) to make the standards mandatory.
It has actively collaborated with various Ministries and Departments to help them issue QCOs for various products.
After standards become mandatory, manufacturers, both domestic and foreign, have to comply with them.
BIS is developing a portal on Consumer Engagement, which will facilitate the online registration of Consumer Groups, submission of proposals and approval thereof and complaint management. BIS plans to implement One Nation, One Standard which is under examination and will be launched soon.
For that purpose, it has formulated a scheme for the recognition of other Standard Development Organizations in the country with the objective of harmonization of the standard formulation. The Standard National Action Plan has been approved and important sectors of the economy for the development of standards have been identified.
BIS developed Covid-19 standards for Cover-all and Ventilators and issued norms for grant of licence for N95 Masks, surgical masks and eye protectors which has resulted in an increased production of ISI-marked Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) items.
BIS has expanded and modernised its labs and has been creating testing facilities for drinking water and assaying of gold jewellery.
It has formulated a comprehensive Training Policy and has been imparting training to various stakeholders through its National Institute of Standardization at Noida.
There have been efforts to integrate the standards into the curriculum of professional education in the country and for that, an Approach Paper has been developed and shared with the Ministry of Human Resource Development, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and other stakeholders.
Risk of Interplanetary Contamination on Mars
Recently, astrobiologists have expressed concerns about possible ‘interplanetary contamination’ on Mars as ambitious space missions are proliferating the space along with advances in commercial flight.

Interplanetary contamination refers to biological contamination of a planetary body by a space probe or spacecraft, either deliberate or unintentional.

Key Points
Context: In the past several missions have launched to Mars e.g. China’s Tianwen-1 which aims to land on the Red Planet’s surface, and the UAE’s Al Amal (Hope) which does not involve a landing, but an orbital mission that will study the Martian atmosphere.
The USA will soon launch its Perseverance mission, which would be the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) 10th successful Mars landing since 1975.
The Perseverance is a rover name for NASA’s Mars 2020 mission.
It will seek signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples from the planet.
In the past, space missions have established physical contact with astronomical bodies such as comets and asteroids, and crewed missions have landed on the Moon.
However, since these bodies are known to be hostile to life, the possibility of their contamination has not been a pressing issue.
Type of Contamination: There are two types of contamination i.e. forward and backward contamination.
Forward Contamination: It means the transport of Earth-based microbes to other celestial bodies. Since, presence of liquid water was already discovered on Mars there is a chance that Mars has life and it is an ethical obligation on humanity to ensure that microbes from Earth do not disturb a possible Martian biosphere, allowing it to evolve in its own way.
Secondly, Earth-based organisms could spoil the integrity of the Red Planet’s samples that rovers want to study – a highly disruptive concept for scientists who are looking for signs of native Martian life.
Back Contamination: It is the transfer of extraterrestrial organisms (if they exist) into the Earth’s biosphere.
The scientists rule out back contamination with respect to Mars sample-return mission as their biochemistry would be markedly different from that on Earth.

Planetary Protection:
United Nations Outer Space Treaty of 1967: It serves as a defence mechanism against the militarisation of space and also requires nations to worry about contamination risks. Its 110 state parties include the USA, Russia, China, and India.
To ensure compliance with the Treaty, the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) lays down a ‘planetary protection policy’ that aims to limit the number of microbes sent to other planets, as well as ensuring that alien life does not cause havoc on Earth.
Impact of the Policy: The guidelines have had far-reaching implications on human spacecraft design, operational procedures, and overall mission structure.
Both NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have also appointed Planetary Protection Officers.

Solutions:
Spacecraft Sterilisation: To prevent forward contamination, space missions take care to ensure that spacecraft are sterilised.
Previous Mars missions, such as NASA’s Viking landers of the 1970s, were all sterilised before being launched into space.
NASA’s Perseverance mission was also postponed for a second time to resolve a potential contamination issue.
Containment: In the case of back contamination, sterilisation would not be an option–as this would ruin the extraterrestrial samples.
Containment would be the only option to break the chain of contact between possible alien microbes and life on Earth.
New Research on Smallpox About its Origins
Recently, a new study carried out by an international team of researchers provides fresh insight into the origins of the Smallpox disease.

It suggested that the smallpox was in existence as early as during the Viking age in the 8th century CE.

The Viking Age was the period during the Middle Ages when the Norsemen (name given to the Scandinavian Vikings) undertook colonizing, conquest and trading throughout Europe, and reached North America in the 9th and 10th century.

Key Points
Origin: The origins of smallpox have always been unclear.
Until now, the earliest confirmed case of the disease was found in the mummified remains of a 17th century Lithuanian child, even though written records suggest that it is much older.

Major Findings:
Finding Virus Sequence: The Variola virus sequence was recovered from 13 Northern European individuals including 11 dated to 600–1050 CE, overlapping the Viking Age.
Pan European Presence: These sequences, combined with early written records of VARV epidemics in southern and western Europe, suggest a pan-European presence of smallpox from the late 6th century.
According to the study, the virus was circulating among people even earlier, about 1700 years back at the time when the Western Roman empire declined and people were migrating across Eurasia.
Genetic Makeup: It also suggests that the genetic makeup of the viral strain recovered from the 11 individuals is different from the modern version which was eradicated in 1979-80.
The Viking variant of the virus is part of a previously unknown, and now extinct virus group, or clade. Both the modern smallpox and the ancient variant descended from a common ancestor but diverged 1700 years ago.
Course of Evolution: It was suggested as a benign disease (less dangerous) considering that smallpox may have in the past been a mild.
In the course of evolution, the active gene count of the virus is shown to have reduced due to mutation.
Therefore, the researchers speculated that smallpox became more deadly over time.

Implications of the New Research:
Information about the Viruses: The results of the study does not have any impact on the current spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, it does provide important information on how a virus may become deadlier over time.
Trace of History: Nonetheless, it is important to note that smallpox is the latest among several other diseases whose history in recent years have been rewritten by ancient DNA analysis.
Earlier, In 2015, a study noted that the plague that killed millions in medieval Europe can be traced as far back as the Bronze age between 3000 and 1000 BCE.
In 2018, on the other hand, Hepatitis B was seen to have origins in the Bronze age as well.
Ways of Spread: These findings would help to understand the ways in which diseases have affected human populations in the past.
The DNA evidence suggests that diseases such as plague and hepatitis B are associated with major prehistoric migrations — something that seems now to be true of variola too.
It would also help to seek answers of whether migrations brought the diseases to new areas or the emergence of disease triggered people to move.
RADT Vs RT-PCR
Recently, New Delhi's Covid-19 testing strategy has become controversial due to the low level of RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) re-testing in persons tested negative in RADT (Rapid Antigen Detection Tests).

Using RADT widely without following up with adequate retests contradicts Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines on use of the RADT test.

Key Points
ICMR Guidelines:
RADT ought to be used only in containment zones, hotspots, hospital settings and laboratories among those who manifested one or other symptoms of the disease, influenza-like illnesses.

People with comorbidities who were asymptomatic and high-risk contacts of those confirmed positive.

Those who tested ‘negative’ and whom clinicians suspected to be harbouring the disease ought to be definitely tested sequentially by RT-PCR to rule out infection and higher chances of false negatives.

Those who test positive don’t need a re-test and must be considered positive.

Testing in New Delhi:
From 18th June - 16th July, it has conducted 3,05,820 RADT. Of these, 2,85,225 tests came ‘negative’ and out of them only, 1,670 were chosen for re-test by RT-PCR and 262 of these were confirmed positive.

Only 1 in 200 of those who tested negative in an antigen test to detect possible coronavirus cases were re-tested, which is against the given guidelines of ICMR.

Of those re-tested with RT-PCR, around 15% tested positive, which is higher than the RADT positive results i.e. 6%.

Arguments for Low Re-tests:
Re-testing everyone would defeat the purpose of having another (rapid antigen) test.

The RT-PCR test takes a minimum of 2-5 hours including the time taken for sample transportation. This limits the widespread use of the test and also impedes quick augmentation of testing capacity in various containment zones and hospital settings.

In RADT, the maximum duration for interpreting a positive or negative test is 30 minutes, thus a quicker complement to the standard RT-PCR tests.

Arguments Against:
The consequence of indiscriminately deploying antigen tests would mean expanding the number of tests and presenting a lower positivity rate while not necessarily being able to reliably establish the extent of the spread of the coronavirus in the population.

A low level of re-testing with RT-PCR in persons who are testing antigen negative will underestimate the cases and make the tracking inaccurate.
Winter Rise in Covid-19 Cases
According to a recent study, “The Covid-19 Spread in India and Its Dependence on Temperature and Relative Humidity”, the spread of Covid-19 may pick up the pace during peak monsoon and winter with a fall in the temperature.

The study was conducted by the School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences of the IIT, Bhubaneswar and the Department of Microbiology of the AIIMS, Bhubaneswar.

It took into account the pattern of the coronavirus outbreak and the number of such cases in all of the states between April and June 2020.

Key Points
The respiratory viral pandemics of the 21st century (SARS in 2003, Swine Flu in 2009) have revealed that seasonality in environmental factors plays an important role in the dynamics of their spread.

Researchers tried to observe the state-level relationship between environmental factors such as temperature, relative humidity, specific humidity and solar radiation on the Covid-19 spread over the Indian region.

The rainfall, decrease in temperatures and cooling of the atmosphere coupled with progression towards winter may environmentally favour the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

Temperature and relative humidity have a significant impact on the disease growth rate and doubling time and the rise in temperatures leads to a decline in the transmission of the virus.

Correlation with Covid-19:
A one-degree-Celsius rise in temperature leads to a 0.99% decrease in cases and increases the doubling time by 1.13 days, implying a slowdown of the virus spread.

An increase of 10% in relative humidity tends to decrease the growth rate and doubling time of coronavirus cases by 1.18 days.

The study also carried out an analysis of the impact of solar radiation on the spread of Covid-19.

A higher surface-reaching solar radiation leads to a reduction in the number of infections and an increase in the doubling time of cases, similar to that of temperatures.

The mean difference of as high as seven degrees Celsius between summer and winter points to a possibility for greater potential spread of Covid-19 in winter.
BlackRock Android Malware
Recently, a security firm has alerted about a new malware called BlackRock which targets social, communication, and dating apps.

Key Points
BlackRock is a banking Trojan and said to be an enhanced version of existing Xerxes malware which itself is a variant of the LokiBot Android trojan.

A trojan is any type of malicious program disguised as a legitimate one. Often, they are designed to steal sensitive information (login credentials, account numbers, financial information, credit card information, and the like) from users.

Banking trojans are a specific kind of trojan malware. Once installed onto a client machine, banking trojans use a variety of techniques to create botnets, steal credentials, inject malicious code into browsers, or steal money.

Functioning: It collects user information by abusing the Accessibility Service of Android and overlaying a fake screen on top of a genuine app. It uses Android DPC (Device Policy Controller) to provide access to other permissions.

Concerns:
It surfaces as a google update.

The malware is said to have the design to overlay attacks, send, spam, and steal SMS messages as well as lock the victim in the launcher activity. It can also act as a keylogger (i.e. track the keys struck on a keyboard), which essentially could help a hacker to acquire financial information.

Despite being a banking Trojan, BlackRock is said to target non-financial apps.

It targets a total of 337 apps, which is significantly higher than any of the already known malicious code.

It makes antivirus applications useless.
UAE launched mission to Mars
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched its first mission to Mars on 20th July 2020. The UAE is striving to develop its scientific and technology capabilities and move away from its reliance on oil.

Highlights:
The first Arab (UAE) mission to Mars was initially planned to be launched on 14 July, but got delayed twice due to bad weather.

The Hope Probe was launched from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center on 20 July for a seven-month journey to Mars.

The satellite will orbit around Mars and send back data about the atmosphere.

The total cost of the Emirates Mars Mission is $200 million.

The Hope Probe was developed by the Emiratis and Dubai's Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) worked with U.S. educational institutions.

The UAE has an ambitious plan for a Mars settlement by 2117.

At present, there are 8 active missions exploring Mars. Of the 8 missions, some satellites orbit the planet and some satellites have landed on the surface of Mars planet. China and the United States, currently, each plan to send another this year.
Kakrapar Atomic Plant Achieves Criticality
Recently, the third unit of the Kakrapar Atomic Power Project (KAPP-3) in Tapi district of Gujarat achieved its first criticality.

Key Points
Criticality:
Criticality is the first step towards power production. A nuclear reactor is said to be critical when the nuclear fuel inside a reactor sustains a fission chain reaction.

Each fission reaction releases a sufficient number of neutrons to sustain a series of reactions. Heat is produced in the event, which is used to generate steam that spins a turbine to create electricity.

Fission is a process in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei, and some byproduct.

When the nucleus splits, the kinetic energy of the fission fragments (primary nuclei) is transferred to other atoms in the fuel as heat energy, which is eventually used to produce steam to drive the turbines.

KAPP-3:
KAPP-3 is the country’s first 700 MWe (megawatt electric) unit, and the biggest indigenously developed variant of the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR).

Until now, the biggest reactor size of indigenous design was the 540 MWe, two of which have been deployed in Tarapur, Maharashtra.

A PHWR is a nuclear power reactor, commonly using unenriched natural uranium as its fuel, that uses heavy water (deuterium oxide D2O) as its coolant and moderator.

PHWR technology was started in India in the late 1960s with the construction of the first 220 MWe reactor, Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS-1).

State-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) had awarded the reactor-building contract for both KAPP-3 and 4 in 2010.

Safety Features:
The 700 MWe PHWRs have advanced safety features like steel lined inner containment, passive decay heat removal system, containment spray system, hydrogen management system, among others.

The ‘passive decay heat removal system’ can remove decay heat (released as a result of radioactive decay) from the reactor core without requiring any operator actions.

This is on the lines of similar technology adopted for Generation III+ plants to negate the possibility of a Fukushima-type accident that happened in Japan in 2011.

Significance:
KAPP-3 addresses the issue of excess thermal margins.

Thermal margin refers to the extent to which the operating temperature of the reactor is below its maximum operating temperature.

KAPP-3 would constitute the biggest component in the nuclear power capacity expansion plan.

India is working to ramp up its existing nuclear power capacity of 6,780 MWe to 22,480 MWe by 2031.

Currently, nuclear power capacity constitutes less than 2% of the total installed capacity of 3,68,690 MW (end-January 2020).

It will also help for the future construction for the PHWRs.
China successfully launched a rover to Mars
China successfully launched a rover to Mars on 23 July 2020, which is another milestone for its space programme.

Highlights:
China's Mars probe was launched from the southern island of Hainan, China.

The Mars mission was named Tianwen-1 meaning "Questions to Heaven" in a nod to a classical Chinese poem that has verses about the cosmos.

Under the mission, the probe aims to go enter into Martian orbit. It will land on the planet Mars and release a small rover to conduct research on its surface.

It is expected to reach the planet in February 2021.

The spacecraft will travel at least 55 million kilometres to reach its destination.

In its earlier attempt in 2011, China's partnership with Russia failed because the Russian launcher was unable to get the craft into a transfer orbit to slingshot towards Mars.
Itolizumab: Emergency Covid-19 Drug
Recently, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has cleared Itolizumab for restricted emergency use in Covid-19 cases.

Itolizumab is a drug used to treat severe chronic plaque psoriasis.

Plaque psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune condition in which skin cells build up and form scales and itchy, dry patches.

Key Points
Itolizumab is for emergency use only in the treatment of Cytokine Storm Syndrome (CSS) in moderate to Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) patients due to Covid-19.

CSS is an uncontrolled attempt by the immune system to neutralise the virus that often ends up damaging the lungs and other organs and even death.

ARDS is a disease in which the lung loses its capacity to expand further.

It will be manufactured and formulated as an intravenous (IV) injection at the bio-manufacturing facility in Bengaluru.

Itolizumab is the first novel biologic therapy to be approved anywhere in the world for treating patients with moderate to severe Covid-19 complications.

Itolizumab is a biologic/biologic drug given by injection (shot) or IV infusion.

A biologic is a protein-based drug derived from living cells cultured in a laboratory.

Biologics are different from traditional systemic drugs that impact the entire immune system.

Biologics only target specific parts of the immune system and biologics used to treat psoriatic disease block the action of a specific type of immune cell called a T-cell.

Reasons for its Approval
DCGI’s approval for the repurposed drug comes after the successful conclusion of a randomised, controlled clinical trial at multiple hospitals.

The trial was designed employing a method called Simon’s Two-Stage Design, an approach in executing phase-2 clinical trials where the efficacy of a drug is tested.

Other criteria such as improvement in oxygen levels and reduced inflammation were also convincing to several doctors who used the drug on their patients.

The evaluation also rests on Itolizumab being added to the ‘best standard of care’ which slightly varied across hospitals.

In general, this consisted of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), ritonavir (antivirals), oxygen therapy, antibiotics, heparin (to avoid clotting) and some got methylprednisolone (a corticosteroid).

Its usage was justified because of its large trials and safety assessments are already done for psoriasis. Plus, it is hard to recruit a larger number of patients in critical care conditions so numbers had to be kept low.

There are no hard rules on a minimum number of recruits.

For an orphan drug (used to treat orphan or rare diseases), small numbers of recruits are approved.

The available evidence for remdesivir suggests that it may decrease the time for clinical improvement when used in moderate to severe cases and has no benefits in terms of reduced mortality.

Remdesivir has to be used with extreme caution due to its potential for serious adverse effects including liver and kidney injury.

Another drug Tocilizumab has not shown any benefits in mortality reduction.

Criticism:
Itolizumab appears to have been tested on too few patients to reliably conclude on its benefits and with such a small sample size it would be unwise to claim it as the final and fully successful drug.

30 patients were recruited across four hospitals and 20 of them were given Itolizumab along with the ‘standard of care treatment’ and 10 were given only standard of care.

Nobody died from the set of 20 patients and 3 patients died from the set of 10 patients.
Kuaizhou-11 Rocket
The Chinese rocket named Kuaizhou-11 failed due to malfunction during the flight, losing both the satellites it was carrying.

Key Points
Description: Kuaizhou, meaning “fast ship” in Chinese is a low-cost solid-fueled carrier rocket.

It was operated by the commercial launch firm Expace, and was originally scheduled for 2018 after being developed three years earlier.

Also known as KZ-11, it had a lift-off mass of 70.8 tonnes, and was designed to launch low-Earth and Sun-synchronous orbit satellites.

Significance: Although the launch failed, it signifies a rapidly growing commercial space industry in China.

Commercial launches are an emerging industry in China. Companies such as Expace, iSpace, and Landspace, created after the Chinese government opened its space sector to private investment in 2014, have cut down traditional launch operations and are developing rapid response capabilities, the report stated.

This has provided greater advantages for both government and commercial customers.

Other Important Missions of China:
Tianwen-1: China's Mars Mission to be launched by July, 2020. China's previous ‘Yinghuo-1’ Mars mission, which was supported by Russia failed in 2012. Tianwen-1 will lift off on a Long March 5 rocket.

Long March 5 Rocket: Considered as China’s successful step to operate a permanent space station and send astronauts to the Moon.

Tiangong: China's own space station to be built by 2022. Tiangong means a 'Heavenly Palace'.

Space Commercialization and India
The development of low-cost carrier rockets must be seen in the backdrop of the fact that China gears up to compete with India to attract the lucrative global space launch market.

According to an article published in 2017 in the Global Times, ‘China's space industry is lagging behind that of India in the commercial space industry.’

The Chinese rockets will have to create a niche for themselves in the satellite market where the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has already gained a foothold. ISRO’s tried and trusted Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) has till now launched 297 foreign satellites and has various variants, which are meant for carrying different-size payloads and to different orbits.

Small satellite revolution is underway, globally, 17,000 small satellites are expected to be launched between 2020 and 2030. A strong private sector in space will help India to tap into this lucrative commercial space launch market.

However, apart from economic and efficient launch vehicles, India must also explore other domains, say, space tourism through private sector involvement.

Space tourism is one among several opportunities that Indian businesses may be keen to explore. A policy framework to enable private participation in this sector, of course, would have to be formulated by the government.

Increasing Space Competitiveness:
USA: Recently, SpaceX became the first private company to launch people (human spaceflight) into orbit, a feat achieved by the US, Russia & China. The spacecraft Crew Dragon was used to successfully carry astronauts of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the International Space Station (ISS).

Singapore is offering itself as a hub for space entrepreneurship based on its legal environment, availability of skilled manpower and equatorial location.

New Zealand is positioning itself as a location for private rocket launches.

Steps Taken by India:
Approval to the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) to provide a level playing field for private companies to use Indian space infrastructure.

New Space India Limited (NSIL), the newly created second commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation.

ISRO has been a genuine global pioneer of aerospatial cost compression on several fronts. Cost-effectiveness has given the agency a distinct edge in the commercial arena of satellite launch services.

With such a valuable base of expertise within the country, it is only natural to expect the emergence of a private space industry that could prove globally competitive.
Comet C/2020 F3 Neowise
The recently discovered comet C/2020 F3 will make its closest approach to the Earth at a distance of 64 million miles or 103 million kilometres while crossing Earth’s outside orbit on 22nd July 2020.

It is also known as NEOWISE after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) telescope that discovered it.

On 3rd July, it was closest to the sun at 43 million km due to which its outer layer was released, creating an atmosphere (referred to as coma) of gas and dust from its icy surface.

It will be visible through binoculars or a small telescope.

Key Points
The word comet comes from the Latin word ‘Cometa’ which means ‘long-haired’.

The earliest known record of a comet sighting was made by an astrologer in 1059 BC.

Comets or ‘dirty snowballs’ are mostly made of dust, rocks and ice and can range in their width from a few miles to tens of miles wide.

When they orbit closer to the sun, like C/2020 F3, they heat up and release debris of dust and gases.

The solid portions of comets consisting mostly of water, ice and embedded dust particles are inactive when far away from the sun.

When near the sun, the icy cometary surfaces vaporize and throw off large quantities of gas and dust thus forming the enormous atmosphere and tails.

The released gases form a glowing head that can often be larger than a planet and the debris forms a tail that can stretch out to millions of miles.

Each time a comet passes the sun, it loses some of its material and it will eventually disappear completely as a result.

Comets may be occasionally pushed into orbits closer to the Sun and the Earth’s neighbourhood due to forces of gravity.

According to NASA, while there are millions of comets orbiting the sun, there are more than 3,650 known comets as of now.

The predictable comets are the short-period comets which take less than 200 years to orbit around the sun.

These can be found in the Kuiper belt, where many comets orbit the sun in the realm of Pluto.

One of the most famous short-period comets is called Halley’s Comet that reappears every 76 years. Halley’s will be sighted next in 2062.

The less-predictable comets can be found in the Oort cloud that is about 100,000 AU (Astronomical Unit which is the distance between the Earth and the Sun and is roughly 150 million km) from the sun or 100,000 times the distance between the Earth and the sun.

Comets in this cloud can take as long as 30 million years to complete one rotation around the sun.

Visibility:
Comets do not have the light of their own and the visibility depends on its gas and dust outbursts.

Humans see the reflection of the sun’s light off the comet as well as the energy released by the gas molecules after it is absorbed from the sun.

To be visible, a comet must make a particularly close approach to the sun to produce enormous quantities of gas and dust or it should make a relatively close approach to the Earth so that it is easily viewed.

Significance of the Study
Astronomers believe that comets hold important clues about the formation of the solar system and it is possible that comets brought water and other organic compounds to Earth.

NASA tracks all Near Earth Objects (NEOs) that includes comets and asteroids using telescopes placed all around the Earth, as part of its NEO Observation Program.

Objective of the Program: To find, track and characterise NEOs that are 140 meters or larger in size since they can pose a risk to the Earth because of the devastation a potential impact can cause.
IAF Gets Apache Helicopters
Recently, Boeing has handed over the last of the five AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The handover was slightly delayed due to the Covid-19 induced lockdown.

Earlier, Boeing handed over the last five of the 15 CH-47F(I) Chinook heavy-lift helicopters to the IAF as well.

Key Points
India contracted 22 Apache helicopters and 15 Chinook helicopters from Boeing through the Foreign Military Sales programme of the USA government in September 2015 under a USD 3 billion deal.

The addition of both these helicopters is a significant step towards modernization of IAF’s helicopter fleet.

AH-64E Apache Attack Helicopter:
These are all-weather capable, easily maintainable helicopters and have high agility and survivability against battle damage.

Capabilities:
Carry out precision attacks at standoff ranges and operate in hostile airspace with threats from the ground.

Transmit and receive battlefield pictures through data uplinking and networking.

Shoot fire and forget anti-tank guided missiles, air to air missiles, rockets while providing the versatility to helicopter in network-centric aerial warfare.

Carries fire control radar, which has a 360° coverage and nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night vision systems.

Boeing’s joint venture in Hyderabad, Tata Boeing Aerospace Limited, has been producing aero-structures for the AH-64 Apache helicopter for both the USA Army and international customers.

15 CH-47F(I) Chinook Heavy-lift Helicopters:
It is capable of airlifting diverse military and nonmilitary loads into remote locations.

It has a fully integrated digital cockpit management system, advanced cargo handling capabilities and electronic warfare suite that complement the aircraft’s performance.

The helicopter has been customized to suit IAF’s future requirements and capability roadmap.

These are deployed in the Northern and Eastern regions of India.

Boeing’s suppliers in India are manufacturing critical systems and components for the Chinooks, including the crown and tail cone assembly by the Tata Advanced Systems and the ramp and aft pylon by Dynamatic Technologies.
IIT Kanpur Develops ‘SHUDH’, UV Sanitizing Device to make Surroundings COVID free
The Imagineering Laboratory department of IIT Kanpur has developed an Ultraviolet (UV) sanitizing product, ’SHUDH’. SHUDH is a smartphone operated Handy UV Disinfection Helper. It helps to make the surroundings COVID free especially the highly prone places such as hospitals, hotels, malls, offices and schools.

Features of SHUDH
SHUDH has 6 UV lights each of 15 Watts, which can be monitored individually from a distance.

The product’s location, speed, on/off can be remotely controlled by installing a smartphone by installing an android application.

On its full operation it can disinfect a 10×10 square feet room in about 15 minutes. This was proven in the initial testing
Israeli Assault Rifles, ARAD and CARMEL will be manufactured under the Make in India initiative
The latest Israeli Assault Rifles, Arad and Carmel, will be manufactured under the Make in India initiative in the PLR Systems Private Limited, established by Israel Weapons Industries(IWI) in 2017 as a joint venture with Punj Lloyd in Madhya Pradesh, India.

Features of ARAD Assault rifle (AR):
ARAD is a lightweight modular assault rifle with two variants

5.56X45mm

.300 AAC Blackout.

The ARAD AR is designed based on the requirements of the Specialist units and infantry forces with enhanced operational flexibility.

The weight of ARAD AR is 2.85 Kg.

The rifle offers barrel lengths of 292mm (11.5”) and 368mm (14.5”).

Mechanism:
The ARAD AR has short-stroke gas piston firing mechanism with two regulators providing smooth operation under different environmental conditions.

The two step enhanced trigger ensures comfort and accuracy.

Updates:

Barrel lengths of 419 mm (16.5?) and 508 mm (20?) are under process.

IWI plans to offer additional calibres in ARAD AR.

Features of CARMEL Assault Rifle(AR):
CARMEL, the ambidextrous AR, is made of special steel, aviation-grade aluminium and high impact polymer suited for extended combat duration and high performance in different environments and combat scenarios.

CARMEL is equipped with ‘Picatinny’ rails to allow 100% compatibility with sights and accessories.

The AR allows the use of any magazines like NATO / MIL-STD 5.56 Steel, aluminium or polymer magazines.

Carmel is a conventional configuration rifle in 5.56x45mm calibre designed for minimum maintenance, reducing operational costs.

PLR Systems:
PLR Systems is the first private sector company that has a license for manufacturing Small Arms like the Tavor series, Galil sniper rifle, Uzi Pro submachine gun, Masada pistol and the Negev Light Machine Gun (LMG) and Ammunition.

Fouraces System India Private Limited bought the company from Punj Lloyd.

The joint venture aims for the contract from the central armed police forces and state police in addition to the Special forces of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Hope: UAE Mars Mission
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mars Mission or ‘Hope’ is scheduled for launch on 16th July, 2020.

It is one of three missions launching to Mars this month. The USA and China, both have surface rovers in the late stages of preparation.

Key Points
Hope Mission:
It is the first interplanetary mission for the Arab World.

The ‘Hope Orbiter’ will be lifted on an H-IIA rocket from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, a machinery maker in Japan. It will be launched from Tanegashima Island in Japan.

The UAE does not have its own rocket industry.

Once launched, it is expected to arrive in orbit around Mars in February 2021 (the year of 50th anniversary of UAE’s founding).

It costs about USD 200 million and will carry three instruments: an infrared spectrometer, an ultraviolet spectrometer and a camera.

Expected Benefits:
It will give planetary scientists their first global view of Martian weather at all times of day.

Over its two-year mission, it will investigate how dust storms and other weather phenomena near the Martian surface speed or slow the loss of the planet’s atmosphere into space.

Significance: The country's primary aim is to inspire school children and spur its science and technology industries, which, in turn, will enable the Emirates to tackle critical issues like food, water, energy and a post-petroleum economy.

Previous UAE Space Missions:
Has built and launched three earth-observing satellites in collaboration with a South Korean manufacturer.

In 2019, the UAE bought a seat on a Russian Soyuz rocket and sent its first astronaut for an eight-day stay at the International Space Station.

Other Two Missions on Mars:
NASA’s Mars rover, Perseverance, with instruments to search for chemical signs of past life, is scheduled to launch on 30th July, 2020.

China is also launching an ambitious mission to Mars, Tianwen-1.

Reasons Behind Timing of Mars Missions:
The timing is dictated by the opening of a one-month window in which Mars and Earth are in ideal alignment on the same side of the sun, which minimizes travel time and fuel use. Such a window opens only once every 26 months.

Existing Missions on Mars:
Only the USA has successfully put a spacecraft on Mars. Two NASA landers are operating on the Mars i.e. InSight and Curiosity.

Six spacecraft that are exploring Mars from orbit include three from the USA, two European and one from India (Mars Orbiter Mission).

Objective Behind Mars Exploration:
Despite being starkly different in many ways, the Red Planet has several Earth-like features– such as clouds, polar ice caps, volcanoes, and seasonal weather patterns.

For ages, scientists have wondered whether Mars can support life. In the past few years, Mars missions have been able to discover the possible presence of liquid water on the planet, either in the subsurface today or at some point in its past.
Low-cost Supercapacitor Device
Recently, scientists at the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI) have developed a simple, low-cost, environment-friendly, and sustainable supercapacitor device.

ARCI is an autonomous organization of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

Key Points
Supercapacitor Device:
The supercapacitor is developed from industrial waste cotton based electrode & natural seawater electrolyte.

Industrial waste cotton was converted into highly porous carbon fibers by activation process and then utilised to make high-performance supercapacitor electrodes.

Natural seawater was explored as an environment-friendly, cost-effective and alternative aqueous electrolyte.

Benefit:
This supercapacitor showed great potential for practical implementation.

It exhibited maximum capacitance, good durability and high efficiency.

Capacitance is the ability of a system to store an electric charge.

Efficiency denotes the charge transfer in a system facilitating an electrochemical reaction.

When integrated with a solar cell, the supercapacitor will become a low cost, eco-friendly, efficient and self-powering device.

It has a long life cycle and can be used as maintenance-free power supply.

It can also overcome the drawbacks of the intermittent nature of the solar irradiation.
Spike-LR Anti-Tank Guided Missiles
The India Army is set to place a repeat order for Spike-LR (Long Range) Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) from Israel as part of emergency procurement.

The decision comes in the backdrop of continuing tensions on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

Key Points
Last year, the Army procured 12 launchers and around 250 missiles from Israel under the new emergency financial powers sanctioned by the Defence Ministry after the Balakot airstrike.

Emergency Financial Powers:
Under these, armed forces have been given a free hand to procure equipment worth up to Rs. 300 crore on a priority basis with deliveries stipulated to be completed in three months but extendable up to six months.

Entirely new systems not in use were also allowed to be procured under the new powers.

Spike-LR:
These are the 4th generation Anti-Tank Missiles developed and manufactured by the Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, Israel.

It is a portable anti-armour weapon system with a range of up to 4 km, which can be operated in fire-and-forget mode and in the fire, observe and update mode using the fibre-optic data link.

These are used by infantry soldiers, special rapid reaction forces, ground forces and helicopter aircrew.

It can work in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) mode allowing the gunner to operate from a covered position.

The army recently decided to place a repeat order for 72,400 Sig 716 assault rifles from the USA as well.

They will replace the existing Indian Small Arms System (Insas) rifles manufactured locally by the Ordnance Factories Board.

They will be used by the troops in the counter-terrorism operations and frontline duties on the Line of Control (LoC).

India acquired the rifles under the fast-track procurement (FTP) programme.

The remaining forces would be provided with the AK-203 rifles, which are to be produced jointly by India and Russia at Amethi ordnance factory.

The Army has a much larger requirement for ATGMs which will be met through indigenous Man-Portable ATGM under development by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Covid-19 Specific Memory T Cells
Recent studies have shown that people unexposed to and not infected with Covid-19 (caused by SARS-CoV-2 or Novel Coronavirus) may still exhibit T cell responses specific to other coronaviruses.

Key Points
A huge number of adults are exposed to four different coronaviruses that cause common cold and studies have shown that 20-50% of healthy people display SARS-CoV-2-specific memory T cells.

The healthy people studied were those tested prior to the pandemic or have not been infected with novel coronavirus.

Memory T cells protect against previously encountered pathogens.

It is thought that SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses seen in healthy people might arise from memory T cells derived from exposure to ‘common cold’ coronaviruses.

However, it is not known that the presence of pre-existing immunity from memory T cells offers clinical relevance, when exposed to SARS-CoV-2.

Measuring pre-existing immunity and correlating it with infection and severity of disease is the only way to find out its role in protection against SARS-CoV-2.

However, the relationship between the infections by and immunity from common cold coronavirus and age is not well established. That is why it is unclear why children do not show severe symptoms, while older people do.

These considerations underline how multiple variables may be involved in potential pre-existing partial immunity to Covid-19.

Pros:
It is believed that people with a high level of pre-existing memory T cells could mount a faster and stronger immune response upon exposure to the virus and thereby limit disease severity.

T cells could potentially facilitate an increased and more rapid neutralizing antibody response against the virus.

Cons:
The pre-existing immunity can reduce the immune responses that the vaccine causes through a mechanism called the ‘original antigenic sin’.

Original antigenic sin, also known as the Hoskins effect, refers to the propensity of the body's immune system to preferentially utilize immunological memory based on a previous infection when a second slightly different version of that foreign entity is encountered.

It can also lead to antibody-mediated disease enhancement, where antibodies present at sub-neutralising concentrations can actually augment virus infection and cause more severe disease.
Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine
The Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd, Pune, has been granted permission to manufacture the first indigenously developed Pneumonia Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) i.e. Pneumococcal Polysaccharide.

The permission has been granted by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), a drug regulatory authority.

India is planning for the nationwide rollout of PCV under Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).

Key Points
Description: PCV prevents pneumococcal disease
Pneumococcal disease refers to any illness caused by pneumococcal bacteria.

The vaccine is a mix of several bacteria of the pneumococci family, which are known to cause pneumonia — hence ‘conjugate’ is included in the name of the vaccine.

Conjugate vaccines are made using a combination of two different components.

It is used for active immunisation against invasive disease and pneumonia caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae in infants.

In invasive diseases bacteria invades parts of the body like blood fluid, brain and spinal cords.

It is administered intramuscularly, i.e injected deep into the muscles.

Earlier the demand for such vaccines were provided by licensed importers since the manufacturers were all based outside India.

Clinical Trials: Institute has conducted the Phase I, Phase II and Phase III clinical trials of Conjugate Vaccine in India.

It has also conducted clinical trials in Gambia.
Clinical Trial of Covid-19 Vaccine: ZyCoV-D
Recently, India has started phase I/II clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine - ZyCoV-D, designed and developed by Zydus (a pharmaceutical company) with support from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).

The adaptive phase I/II clinical trials will assess the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the vaccine.

The other indigenously developed vaccine - Covaxin - produced by Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech is also underway to start clinical trials.

Key Points
Description: ZyCoV-D, a plasmid DNA vaccine, comes under the Vaccine Discovery Programme supported by the Department of Biotechnology under the National Biopharma Mission.

Plasmids are circular deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) vectors that can be used as vaccines to prevent various types of diseases.

Pre-Clinical Phase: It was found to initiate a strong immune response in multiple animal species like mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits.

The antibodies produced by the vaccine were able to neutralize the wild type virus indicating the protective potential of the vaccine candidate.

No safety concerns were observed in repeat dose by both intramuscular (directly into muscles) and intradermal (superficial injection into skin) routes of administration.

DNA Vaccine Platform: The development of ZyCov-D has established the DNA vaccine platform in the country which is simple to deploy, temperature stable, and consistently manufacturable- thus lowering costs and enhancing the effectiveness of a vaccine.

It provides ease of manufacturing the vaccine with minimal biosafety requirements.

It has shown much improved vaccine stability and lower cold chain requirements making it easy for transportation to remote regions of the country.

Furthermore, the platform can be rapidly used to modify the vaccine in a couple of weeks in case the virus mutates.
MOM captured image of Phobos, the biggest moon of Mars
The Mars Colour Camera (MCC) on board ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has captured the image of Phobos, the closest and biggest moon of Mars. The image was taken on 1st July when MOM was about 7,200 km from Mars and 4,200 km from Phobos.

Highlights:
The image is a composite image generated from 6 MCC frames with a Spatial resolution of the image is 210 m.

The colour if the image has been corrected.

In the image, 4 craters namely Stickney, Shklovsky, Roche &Grildrig are seen. Stickney is the largest crater on Phobos.

Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM):
Mars Orbiter Mission is also known as Mangalyaan. Initially, it was meant to last for six months. But then it had enough fuel to last for many years.

MOM was launched on 24 September 2014. It cost Rs.450 crore.

The MOM spacecraft was successfully launched in the orbit of the planet Mars.

MOM mission aims to study the Martian surface and mineral composition and scan its atmosphere for methane which is an indicator of life on Mars.

Mars Orbiter has 5 scientific instruments namely:

Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP)

Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM)

Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA)

Mars Colour Camera (MCC)

Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS)
More Metallic Moon: NASA
Recently, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has found evidence of greater quantities of metals such as iron and titanium on the Moon’s subsurface.

The metallic distribution was observed by the Miniature Radio Frequency (Mini-RF) instrument aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft.

Key Points
The LRO’s Mini-RF instrument was measuring dielectric constant within lunar soil in crater floors in the Moon’s northern hemisphere.

Dielectric constant, an electrical property, is the ratio of the electric permeability of a material to the electric permeability of a vacuum.

Dielectric properties are directly linked to the concentration of metal minerals.

The level of this property increased while surveying larger craters and kept rising in crater sizes up to 5 km in diameter. Beyond that size, the value of the dielectric constant leveled off.

It raised the possibility that the dielectric constant increased in larger craters because the meteors that created them dug up dust containing iron and titanium oxides from beneath the Moon’s surface.

The Mini-RF findings were backed by metal oxide maps from the LRO Wide-Angle Camera, Japan’s Kaguya mission and NASA’s Lunar Prospector spacecraft, which showed that larger craters with their increased dielectric material were also richer in metals.

The metal oxide maps suggested that more quantities of iron and titanium oxides were dug up from 0.5 to 2 km below the Moon’s surface as compared from the first 0.2 to 0.5 km.

Significance:
If the findings are proven to be true, it would imply that there are large quantities of iron and titanium oxides beyond a few meters of the Moon’s upper surface.

The finding could aid in drawing a clearer connection between Earth and the Moon.

NASA has now undertaken further research to find whether the same relation between metal deposits and crater size holds true on the southern hemisphere of the Moon.

Connection with Moon Formation
A Mars-sized protoplanet collided with the newly formed Earth around 4.5 billion years ago, breaking off its piece that went on to become a satellite.

The hypothesis is backed by substantial evidence, such as the close resemblance between the Moon’s bulk chemical composition with that of Earth.

However, scientists have been trying to explain how Earth’s crust has fewer amounts of iron oxide than the Moon. Now, the new discovery of even greater quantities of metal on the Moon makes the process more difficult.

A possible reason could be that the Moon was created from a material much deeper beneath Earth’s surface than was believed before, or that the newly found metal presence could be the result of molten lunar surface cooling down gradually.
Use of Winter Diesel in Ladakh
Recently, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sought approval from the Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) for the use of winter diesel by armed forces for operations in high altitude areas such as Ladakh.

The winter diesel was introduced as a technological solution by the IOC in 2019 in high-altitude sectors like Ladakh, Kargil, Kaza and Keylong, which face the problem of freezing of diesel in their vehicles in extreme weather conditions.

Key Points
Winter Diesel:
It is a specialised fuel specifically for high altitude regions and low-temperature regions such as Ladakh, where ordinary diesel can become unusable.

It also meets the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) specification of BS-VI grade.

Characteristics:
Low Viscosity: It contains additives to maintain lower viscosity by enabling the fuel to remain fluid in such conditions.

Regular diesel fuel contains paraffin wax which is added for improving viscosity and lubrication. At low temperatures, the paraffin wax thickens or “gels” and hinders the flow of the fuel in the car engine.

The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance (due to internal friction) to deformation thereby maintaining the state of being thick and semi-fluid in consistency.

Paraffin wax is a soft colorless solid derived from petroleum, coal or shale oil that consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules.

Low Pour Point: It has a low pour point (as low as minus 30-degree celsius). It is the temperature below which the liquid loses its flow characteristics.

The flow characteristics of regular diesel change at low temperatures and using it may be detrimental to vehicles.

Earlier, the IOCL provided the Diesel High sulphur Pour Point (DHPP -W) to armed forces, which also has a pour point of -30°C.

Higher Cetane Rating: It has a higher cetane rating — which is an indicator of the combustion speed of diesel and compression needed for ignition.

Lower Sulphur Content: It would lead to lower chemical deposits in engines and better performance.

Significance:
Border Tensions with China in Ladakh: It is expected that demand for the winter fuel may rise due to the border tensions in the Galwan valley in Ladakh for the patrolling purposes.

Boost to Local Economy: Supply of the special fuel to Ladakh would reduce the hardships faced by the local people for transportation and mobility during winter months, therefore facilitate the local economy and tourism.

Curb in Air Pollution: Before the launch of winter diesel, consumers in such areas were using kerosene to dilute diesel to make it usable, which leads to more air pollution.

Now use of winter diesel would replace use of Kerosene therefore helping in the reduction of air pollution.
Lithium Production in Stars
Recently, scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) have provided evidence for the first time that Lithium (Li) production is common among low mass Sun-like stars during their Helium (He) core burning phase.

IIA is an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.

Key Points
Findings of the Study:
Scientists performed a large-scale systematic investigation of the ‘He-flash’ (on-set of He-ignition at the star's core via violent eruption), at the end of the star’s core hydrogen-burning phase.

Hydrogen burning is the fusion of hydrogen nuclei into a helium nucleus.

This He-flash has been identified as the source of Li production suggesting that all low-mass stars undergo Li production.

Our Sun will reach this phase in about 6-7 billion years and will manufacture Li.

The study challenges the long-held idea that stars only destroy lithium and indicates that there is some physical process missing in stellar theory.

Earlier, it was believed that a vast majority of stars with a mass similar to that of the Sun destroy Li gradually over the course of their lives, via low-temperature nuclear burning.

The study also suggests new limits (A(Li) > -0.9~dex) for classifying stars as Li-rich, which is 250 times below the threshold (A(Li) > 1.5~dex) used till now.

Origin of Lithium:
The origin of much of the Li can be traced to the Big-Bang that happened about 13.7 billion years ago.

Over the course of time, Li content in the physical universe has increased by about a factor of four, which is meagre compared to the rest of the elements which grew about a million times.

Stars are primary contributors to the significant enhancement of heavier elements through mass ejections and stellar explosions. Li, however, was thought to be an exception till now.

Usage of Lithium:
Lithium is a light inflammable metal which is mainly used in lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries and has brought a transformation in modern communication devices and transportation.

It is used in the manufacturing of aircrafts.

It is also used in mental health. Lithium carbonate is a common treatment of bipolar disorder, helping to stabilize wild mood swings caused by the illness.
ISRO to Launch Brazil’s Amazonia-1 Earth Observation Satellite on PSLV
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch the Amazonia – 1 on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) as a primary payload by August 2020. Amazonia -1 is Brazil’s first satellite for Earth observation – designed, assembled and tested in Brazil.

Purpose of Amazonia -1:
Amazonia – 1 will help in observing and monitoring the deforestation in the region of Amazon through the satellite images.

The importance of this satellite has increased due to the recent forest fire in amazon.

The images from the Brazilian satellite will also help in the agriculture and vegetation sector.

Space cooperation between India and Brazil:
Under the government to government level agreement between India and Brazil, Brazil started receiving data from the Resourcesat-1 satellite of India from October 2009 to September 2013 and from Resourcesat-2 since October 2014.

Tracking support for Indian satellites and space programmes including Chandrayaan-I, MeghaTropiques, MOM, and ASTROSAT were provided from the Brazilian ground stations in Alcantara and Cuiaba on commercial basis.

Agreement of Cooperation between Brazil and India:
India and Brazil signed the agreement of Cooperation in the 6th BRICS Summit in 2014 on setting up a brazilian earth station to receive data from the Indian Remote Sensing Satellites(IRS) series.

The brazilian scientists are trained at the ISRO facility to operate the station and to gather the data from the satellites through remote sensing.

Under the agreement ISRO should make the data from its projects available to the National Institute for Space Research((Instituto Nacional de PesquisasEspaciais – INPE).

Key Points:
The launch of Amazonia -1 is one of the 36 space and satellite missions of ISRO that has been scheduled over the next two years including the Chandrayaan-3, uncrewed mission for Gaganyaan.

Countries like Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Bolivia have space cooperation agreements with ISRO at different levels because of ISRO’s commercial consideration.

The cost effective programmes of ISRO have attracted multiple countries all over the world.
When the Indian Ocean’s ancient climate patterns return
Research studies into Indian Ocean climate patterns.

Background:
Last glacial maximum:
About 19,000-21,000 years ago, ice-sheets covered North America and Eurasia, and sea-levels were much lower. This period, the peak of ice age conditions, is called the Last Glacial Maximum.

The research argues that there was the existence of an ‘Indian Ocean El Niño’ during the Last Glacial Maximum.

Research methodology:
The research involved the study of microscopic zooplankton called foraminifera.

Foraminifera build a calcium carbonate shell, and studying these can reveal the properties of the water. The team measured multiple individual shells of foraminifera from ocean sediment cores and reconstructed the sea surface temperature conditions of the past.

Details:
Researchers analysed simulations of the past climate and have predicted that the ongoing climate change could reawaken an ancient climate pattern of the Indian Ocean.

The researchers have pointed out that the possible climatic pattern could be similar to the El Niño phenomenon of the Pacific Ocean bringing more frequent and devastating floods and drought to several densely-populated countries around the Indian Ocean region.

Concerns:
Swings in Monsoon rainfall:
If the hypothesised ‘Indian Ocean El Niño’ emerges in the near future, it will pose a source of uncertainty in rainfall prediction and will likely amplify swings in monsoon rainfall. It could bring more frequent droughts to East Africa and southern India and increased rainfall over Indonesia.

Changes in the Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation strongly affect Indian Monsoon variability from year to year.

Threat of global warming:
If current global warming trends continue, the predicted new Indian Ocean El Niño could emerge as early as 2050.
Advanced Torpedo Decoy System: Maareech
The Indian Navy has inducted an Advanced Torpedo Defence System (ATDS) called ‘Maareech’ that is capable of being fired from all frontline ships.

Torpedoes are self propelled weapons with a warhead and can be used under or on the water surface. They are one of the mainstay of sea-warfare attack systems.

Key Points
Description:
‘Maareech’ has been designed and developed indigenously by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and it is capable of detecting, locating and neutralizing incoming torpedoes.

Bharat Electronics Limited, a Defence PSU, would undertake the production of this decoy system.

Working:
Maareech detects and locate the incoming torpedo and applies countermeasures to protect the naval platform against attack.

It first detects and then confuses and divert the torpedo attacks on ships from under the water.

By diverting the torpedoes' original course, it forces it to lose its energy thus preventing it from being effective on target.

Significance:
This induction not only stands testimony to the joint resolve of the Indian Navy and DRDO towards indigenous development of defence technology, but has also given a major fillip to the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and the country’s resolve to become ‘Atmanirbhar’ in niche technology.
Raw Material Uncertainties for Rechargeable Batteries: UNCTAD
UNCTAD, Raw Material Uncertainties, Rechargeable Batteries

Recently, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released a report ‘Commodities at a glance: Special issue on strategic battery and minerals’.

The report facilitated research into battery technologies that depended less on critical raw materials and had the potential to provide higher energy density.

Energy density is the amount of energy that can be stored in a given mass of a substance or system, i.e. a measure of storage of energy.

Key Points
Uncertain Supply: The report highlighted that the supply of raw materials to produce rechargeable batteries is uncertain.

Lithium, natural graphite and manganese are critical raw materials for the manufacture of rechargeable batteries.

Rising Demand:
Integration of EVs: There has been a rapid growth in demand for rechargeable batteries due to the gradual integration of electric vehicles (EVs) in global transportation.

The sales of electric cars have increased by 65% in 2018 from 2017 to 5.1 million vehicles and it will reach 23 million in 2030.

Increased Use of Raw Material: With the increasing number of EVs, the demand for rechargeable batteries and the raw materials used in them have also increased.

The worldwide market for cathodes for lithium-ion batteries was estimated at $7 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $58.8 billion by 2024.

The demand for raw materials used to manufacture rechargeable batteries will grow rapidly as other sources of energy lose their importance.

Concerns:
Limited Suppliers: The security of supplies is a concern for all stakeholders because the production of the raw materials is concentrated in a few countries.

Over 60% of the world’s Cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo while over 75% of global Lithium is mined in Australia and Chile.

Prone of Volatility: Any disruption to supply might lead to tighter markets, higher prices and increased costs of rechargeable batteries.

In 2018, the demand for cobalt surged by 25% from 2017 to 125,000 tonnes, of which 9% accounted for the EV battery sector.

Cobalt demand would reach 185,000 tonnes by 2023, with about 35% accounting for the EV battery sector, the report said.

Growth in demand for lithium had been significant since 2015, increasing by 13% per year.
Russia announces to take first tourist on space walk in 2023 year
Russia's Energia space corporation has announced that it is to take the first tourist on a spacewalk in 2023, under the terms of a new contract with a US partner. Energia has signed a contract with Space Adventures. Under this, two space tourists to the International Space Station (ISS).

Highlights:
Energia announced after NASA signed a deal with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourism company. The deal is to promote private missions to the station after a special training program in the US.

The programme is introduced after the first successful mission by Elon Musk's SpaceX in the month of May 2020 to bring astronauts to the station on a reusable Crew Dragon spacecraft. This has ended nearly a decade of Russia holding a monopoly on shuttling humans to orbit.

SpaceX in March announced its own space tourism trip for three people in the year 2020, on board of the Crew Dragon.

SpaceX together with the Russian agency previously took 8 tourists to the ISS between 2001 and 2009.
Scientists synthesize inorganic-organic hybrid compound that can inhibit breast, lung, liver cancer cells
Scientists from the Institute of Nano Science & Technology (INST), Mohali, have synthesized a novel inorganic-organic hybrid compound that can inhibit breast, lung, and liver cancer cells. It is expected that this will open up new possibilities for metallodrugs.

Highlights:
The solid compound is based on phosphomolybdate cluster, an inorganic salt of phosphomolybdic acid. The compound belongs to the Polyoxometalates (POMs) family, which had earlier been identified to have antitumor potential.

Scientists have recently figured out the mechanism by which the compound kills the cancer cells.

POMs are an evolving class of inorganic metal oxides.

The scientists probed into the mechanism of how the cancer cells are attacked by the compound, the team synthesized it by hydrothermal method.

The results showed that the hybrid solid is less toxic towards normal cells, and its antitumor activity was also found to be comparable with that of a routinely used chemotherapeutic agent.

So far, POMs have evolved as a promising candidate for future metallodrugs for combating cancer.
G4 Flu Virus
Recently, scientists have identified a “newly emerged” strain of influenza virus that is infecting Chinese pigs and that has the potential of triggering a pandemic.

Named G4, scientists believe that it has descended from the H1N1 strain that was responsible for the 2009 swine flu pandemic.

A Pandemic happens if a new strain emerges that can easily spread from person to person.

Key Points
G4 Strain:
It was identified through surveillance of influenza viruses in pigs through a study carried out from 2011 to 2018 in ten provinces of China.

It can grow and multiply in the cells that line the human airways.

It has the capability of binding to human-type receptors (like, the SARS-CoV-2 virus).

Scientists found evidence of recent infection in people who worked in abattoirs and the swine industry in China.

However, it is not clear whether the new strain can transmit from one human to another.

Current flu vaccines do not appear to protect against it, although they could be adapted to do so if needed.

Flu Pandemic:
Pigs are intermediate hosts for the generation of pandemic influenza virus.

Intermediate host is an organism that harbours a parasitic which is being provided with nourishment and shelter by the organism.

The systemic surveillance of influenza viruses in pigs is a key measure for pre-warning the emergence of the next pandemic influenza.

There is an urgent need to control the prevailing G4 virus in pigs.

2009 Swine Flu Pandemic:
The 2009 pandemic was caused by a strain of the swine flu called the H1N1 virus, which was transmitted from human to human.

Swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses i.e. H1N1. It is called swine flu because it was known in the past to occur in people who had been in the vicinity of pigs.

While humans typically do not get infected by such a virus that circulates among pigs, when they do, it is called “variant influenza virus”.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak of type A H1N1 influenza virus a pandemic in 2009 when there were around 30,000 cases globally.

Transmission: The virus is transmitted by short-distance airborne transmission, particularly in crowded enclosed spaces. Hand contamination and direct contact are other possible sources of transmission.

Symptoms of swine flu include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headaches, chills and fatigue.

The treatment includes antiviral therapy with medicines like Oseltamivir (Tamiflu), peramivir (Rapivab).
CogX 2020: Festival of AI & Emerging Technology
Recently MyGov Corona Helpdesk Chatbot has bagged two awards under categories (1) “Best Innovation for Covid-19 – Society” and (2) “People’s Choice Covid-19 Overall Winner” at the recently held CogX 2020.

Key Points
CogX is a prestigious Global Leadership Summit and Festival of Artificial Intelligence & Emerging Technology held annually in London with over 15,000 participants in attendance from the highest levels of business, government, industry, and research.

The CogX Awards are given out to the best-of-the-best in AI and emerging technologies across the world.

MyGov Corona Helpdesk demonstrated the true Public, Private Partnership (PPP), wherein, citizen centric services were provided by MyGov, while the state-of-the-art technological solution including infrastructure were designed, developed, and deployed by a private partner- JioHaptik Technologies Limited.

This Chatbox has been developed by MyGov, JioHaptik Technologies Limited and WhatsApp.

MyGov (launched in 2014) is the world’s largest citizen engagement platform, which facilitates two-way communication between the Government and Citizen and facilitates participatory governance in India.
Accelerate Vigyan Scheme: SERB
Recently, the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), has launched a scheme called Accelerate Vigyan (AV) to strengthen scientific research mechanisms in the country.

Key Points
Objective: To give more thrust on encouraging high-end scientific research and preparing scientific manpower, which can lead to careers in research and knowledge-based economy.

Vision: To expand the research base, with three broad goals i.e. consolidation/aggregation of all scientific programs, initiating high-end orientation workshops, and creating opportunities for research internships.

Components:
ABHYAAS Programme: Under it, AV is inviting applications for the winter season (December 2020-January 2021).

It is an attempt to boost research and development in the country by enabling and grooming potential PG/PhD students by means of developing their research skills in selected areas across different disciplines or fields.

It has two components: High-End Workshops i.e. KARYASHALA and Research Internships i.e. VRITIKA.

This is especially important for those researchers who have limited opportunities, access to facilities and infrastructure.

SAMMOHAN: It has been sub-divided into SAYONJIKA and SANGOSHTI.

SAYONJIKA is an open-ended program to catalogue the capacity building activities in science and technology supported by all government funding agencies in the country.

SANGOSHTI is a pre-existing program of SERB for the organisation of workshops.

Execution: An Inter-Ministerial Overseeing Committee (IMOC) involving all the scientific ministries/departments has been constituted for the purpose of supporting SERB in implementing the AV scheme.

Significance:
Capacity Building: The database of skilled manpower developed across different disciplines through all the sub-components of the AV would help in capacity building.

Social Responsibility: The scheme also seeks to garner the social responsibility of the scientific community in the country.