DAY – 20 ( INSTA REVISION TEST)INSTA REVISION PLAN 3.0, 2020

Solution: D

The Oort Cloud is the most distant region of our solar system. Even the nearest objects in the Oort Cloud are thought to be many times farther from the Sun than the outer reaches of the Kuiper Belt.

Unlike the orbits of the planets and the Kuiper Belt, which lie mostly in the same flat disk around the Sun, the Oort Cloud is believed to be a giant spherical shell surrounding the rest of the solar system. It is like a big, thick-walled bubble made of icy pieces of space debris the sizes of mountains and sometimes larger. The Oort Cloud might contain billions, or even trillions, of objects.

Home of Comets

Because the orbits of long-period comets are so extremely long, scientists suspect that the Oort Cloud is the source of most of those comets. For example, comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring, which made a very close pass by Mars in 2014, will not return to the inner solar system for about 740,000 years.

Solution: A

NASA’s Voyager 2 has entered interstellar space, leaving behind the solar system.

Accomplishments so far:

• Voyager 2 is the only probe ever to study Neptune and Uranus during planetary flybys.
• It is the second man-made object to leave our planet. It is now 11 billion miles from Earth, following behind it’s sister spacecraft, Voyager 1, which is 6 years ahead of it. The probe is estimated to be travelling at 34,000 mph.

NASA’s Voyager 2 is the second spacecraft to enter interstellar space. On Dec. 10, 2018, the spacecraft joined its twin—Voyager 1—as the only human-made objects to enter the space between the stars.

    Voyager 1 and 2 were designed to take advantage of a rare planetary alignment to study the outer solar system up close. Voyager 2 targeted Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

    Like its sister spacecraft, Voyager 2 also was designed to find and study the edge of our solar system.

What is Interstellar space?

Scientists use the heliopause to mark where interstellar space begins, although depending on how you define our solar system it can stretch all the way to the Oort Cloud, which begins 1,000 times farther away from the sun than Earth’s orbit.

The Heliosphere:

The heliosphere is a bubble around the sun created by the outward flow of the solar wind from the sun and the opposing inward flow of the interstellar wind. That heliosphere is the region influenced by the dynamic properties of the sun that are carried in the solar wind–such as magnetic fields, energetic particles and solar wind plasma. The heliopause marks the end of the heliosphere and the beginning of interstellar space.

About Voyager mission:

• The Voyager mission was launched in the 1970’s, and the probes sent by NASA were only meant to explore the outer planets – but they just kept on going.
• Voyager 1 departed Earth on 5 September 1977, a few days after Voyager 2 and left our solar system in 2013.
• The mission objective of the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM) is to extend the NASA exploration of the solar system beyond the neighborhood of the outer planets to the outer limits of the Sun’s sphere of influence, and possibly beyond.
• The Voyager spacecraft are the third and fourth human spacecraft to fly beyond all the planets in our solar system. Pioneers 10 and 11 preceded Voyager in outstripping the gravitational attraction of the Sun but on February 17, 1998, Voyager 1 passed Pioneer 10 to become the most distant human-made object in space.

Solution: A

Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE)

The Foundation for Environmental Education is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation promoting sustainable development through environmental education. FEE is active through five programmes; Blue Flag, Eco-Schools, Young Reporters for the Environment, Learning about Forests and Green Key International.

Solution: A

According to the International Astronomical Union, which sets definitions for planetary science, a dwarf planet is a celestial body that –orbits the sun, has enough mass to assume a nearly round shape, has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit and is not a moon.

Solution: B

Solution: A

Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets, are rocky remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.

Trojans: These asteroids share an orbit with a larger planet, but do not collide with it because they gather around two special places in the orbit (called the L4 and L5 Lagrangian points). There, the gravitational pull from the sun and the planet are balanced by a trojan’s tendency to otherwise fly out of the orbit. The Jupiter trojans form the most significant population of trojan asteroids. It is thought that they are as numerous as the asteroids in the asteroid belt. There are Mars and Neptune trojans, and NASA announced the discovery of an Earth trojan in 2011.

Solution: D

FORWARD SEARCH EXPERIMENT (FASER)

The CERN research board has approved the Forward Search Experiment (FASER), giving a green light to the assembly, installation and use of an instrument that will look for new fundamental particles at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland.

About: 

• Objective: FASER’s focus is to find light, extremely weakly interacting particles that have so far eluded scientists, even in the high-energy experiments conducted at the CERN-operated Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest particle accelerator in the world.
  • Seven years ago, scientists discovered the Higgs boson at the LHC, completing one chapter in our search for the fundamental building blocks of the universe.
  • But now scientists are looking for new particles. The dark matter problem shows that we don’t know what most of the universe is made of.
• Bodies involved: Initiated by physicists at the University of California, Irvine, the FASER project is funded by grants from the Heising-Simons Foundation and the Simons Foundation – with additional support from CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
• Location: The FASER detector, which will be one of only eight research instruments at the LHC, is being built and installed during the collider’s current hiatus.
• Project Duration: 5-year.
  • It will collect data from 2021 to 2023.
  • The LHC will be shut down again from 2024 to 2026. During that time, the team hopes to install the larger FASER 2 detectors, which will be capable of unveiling an even wider array of mysterious, hidden particles.
• Working: 
  • The FASER instrument is compact, measuring about 1 meter in diameter and 5 meters long.
  • It will be placed at a specific point along the 16-mile loop of the LHC, about 480 meters away from the instrument used by the ATLAS Collaboration to discover the Higgs boson.
  • As proton beams pass through the interaction point at the ATLAS instrument, they may create new particles that will go through concrete in the LHC tunnel and then into the FASER instrument, which will track and measure the progress of their decay.
  • FASER will collect data any time ATLAS is operating.

Solution: C

Ransomware:

A piece of malicious software which takes control of your system and files. Upon taking over, it applies encryption on those files and asks for money for a key that can restore the files. The ransomware often scrambles file names and changes their extension.

Examples

• Reveton
• CryptoLocker
• CryptoLocker.F and TorrentLocker
• CryptoWall
• Fusob
• WannaCry
• Petya
• Bad Rabbit
• SamSam
• Syskey

Solution: C

Transient astrophysical phenomena

Transients refer to astronomical phenomena with durations of fractions of a second to weeks or years. Typically, they are extreme, short-lived events associated with the total or partial destruction of an astrophysical object.  The events can generate emission at all or specific wavelengths both in electromagnetic radiation and gravitational waves.  They can appear to be extremely bright and can be observed over cosmological distances.

Solution: B

CERT-In (the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team):

CERT-In (the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) is a government-mandated information technology (IT) security organization. CERT-In was created by the Indian Department of Information Technology in 2004 and operates under the auspices of that department. It works under ministry of electronics and information technology.

Its purpose:

• The purpose of CERT-In is to respond to computer security incidents, report on vulnerabilities and promote effective IT security practices throughout the country.
• According to the provisions of the Information Technology Amendment Act 2008, CERT-In is responsible for overseeing administration of the Act.

Solution: B

  The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a faint cosmic background radiation filling all space.

  Origins: It is thought to be leftover radiation/Heat from the Big Bang, or the time when the universe began. The universe began 13.8 billion years ago, and the CMB dates back to about 400,000 years after the Big Bang.

  Visibility: One can’t see the CMB with naked eye, but it is everywhere in the universe. It is invisible to humans because it is so cold, just 2.725 degrees above absolute zero. Its radiation is most visible in the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

  Discovery: The accidental discovery of the CMB in 1964 by American radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson earned them the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics.

  Significance: The CMB is useful to scientists because it helps us learn how the early universe was formed. It is at a uniform temperature with only small fluctuations visible. By studying these fluctuations, cosmologists can learn about the origin of galaxies.

  CMB-Bharat: CMB-Bharat is a proposal for comprehensive next generation Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) mission in international collaboration with major Indian contribution so as to reveal the first clear signature of quantum gravity in the very early universe.

Solution: B

Pranash ballistic missile

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has started developing a 200-km strike range tactical ballistic missile ‘Pranash’. The missile is an advanced version of the 150-km strike range Prahar missile which was being developed for tactical missions. The surface-to-surface ballistic missile will be of use for the Air Force and Army. It is a solid-propellant surface to a surface missile which can travel at the speed of Mach 2.

Solution: C

Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana:

The Scheme aims at providing Senior Citizens, belonging to BPL category and suffering from any of the age related disability/infirmity Low vision, Hearing impairment, Loss of teeth and Locomotor disability, with such assisted-living devices which can restore near normalcy in their bodily functions, overcoming the disability/infirmity manifested.

1. This is a Central Sector Scheme, fully funded by the Central Government. The expenditure for implementation of the scheme will be met from the “Senior Citizens’ Welfare Fund“.
2. It is a scheme for providing physical aids and Assisted Living Devices for Senior Citizens belonging to BPL category.
3. Under the scheme, free of cost distribution of the devices, commensurate with the extent of disability/infirmity that is manifested among the eligible senior citizens will take place.
4. In case of multiple disabilities/infirmities manifested in the same person, the assistive devices will be given in respect of each disability/impairment.
5. Beneficiaries in each district will be identified by the State Governments/UT Administrations through a Committee chaired by the Deputy Commissioner/District Collector.
6. As far as possible, 30% of the beneficiaries in each district shall be women.

Solution: C

What is Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system?

The Iron Dome is a mobile all-weather air defence system developed by Israel to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from short distances.

What is Iron Dome anti-missile system?

The Iron Dome is a mobile all-weather air defence system developed by Israel to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from short distances. The system detects rockets 4 to 70 km away and will engage with interceptors to destroy targets mid-air.

The Iron Dome completed its final series of testing in July 2010 and was fielded and declared operational in 2011. According to the Missile Threat website – a product of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) – the complete system costs around $100mn per battery.

The initial funding and development of the Iron Dome system was provided and undertaken by Israel. According to the Missile Threat, the United States provided funding to the system starting in 2011.

Solution: B

CURRENT GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICE (CGMPs)

CGMP refers to the Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations enforced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). CGMPs provide for systems that assure proper design, monitoring, and control of manufacturing processes and facilities.

This includes establishing strong quality management systems, obtaining appropriate quality raw materials, establishing robust operating procedures, detecting and investigating product quality deviations, and maintaining reliable testing laboratories.

Solution: C

INS Nilgiri:

Context: Navy’s first new stealth frigate, INS ‘Nilgiri’.

It is the first ship of Project17A.

• Project 17A frigates is a design derivative of the Shivalik class stealth frigates with much more advanced stealth features and indigenous weapons and sensors.
• These frigates are being built using integrated construction methodology.
• The P17A frigates incorporate new design concepts for improved survivability, sea keeping, stealth and ship manoeuvrability.

Solution: C

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F10) will launch Geo Imaging Satellite (GISAT-1) from the Second Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.

Weighing about 2268 kg, GISAT-1 is the first state-of-the-art agile Earth observation satellite which will be placed in a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit by GSLV-F10. Subsequently, the satellite will reach the final geostationary orbit using its onboard propulsion system.

A 4 metre diameter Ogive shaped payload fairing is being flown for the first time in this GSLV flight. This is the fourteenth flight of the GSLV.

Operating from geostationary orbit, GISAT-1 will facilitate near real time observation of the Indian sub continent, under cloud free condition, at frequent intervals.

The launch of GISAT-1 onboard GSLV-F10, planned for March 05, 2020, is postponed due to technical reasons. Revised launch date will be informed in due course.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/gisat-1indias-first-earth-imaging-satellite-on-geostationary-orbit/article30970923.ece

Solution: C

The Pashmina goat is a breed of goat inhabiting the plateaus in Tibet, Nepal, parts of Burma and neighbouring areas of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, India.

It is also known as ‘Changthangi’, ‘Changra”. They are raised for ultra-fine cashmere wool, also known as pashmina once woven.

These goats are generally domesticated and are reared by nomadic communities called the Changpa in the Changthang region of Greater Ladakh.

Solution: B

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) and Airport Authority of India (AAI) has launched a new satellite-based GEMINI system that will alert deep-sea fishermen of upcoming disasters.

The new system is termed as GEMINI or GAGAN Enabled Mariner’s Instrument for Navigation and Information. It is based on GAGAN (GPS-Aided Geo Augmented Navigation) satellite system developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and AAI. The GAGAN satellite system consists of three geosynchronous satellites namely the GSAT-8, GSAT-10 and GSAT-15 and these three cover the entire Indian Ocean region constantly.

Through the new system, all the key alerts and messages would be sent through GAGAN and the designated device will be receiving and transferring it to a mobile phone with the help of Bluetooth communication. The related mobile application would then decode and display the information to the user. It can be decoded into nine languages.

https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/science/new-satellite-based-gemini-system-to-warn-deep-sea-fishermen-of-upcoming-disasters-6062528/

Solution: D

It is Russia’s first Avangard hypersonic intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Avangard hypersonic missile system that can fly 27 times the speed of sound.

The Avangard missiles have a range of over 6,000 km, weigh approximately 2,000 kg and can withstand temperatures of over 2000 degree Celsius.

Solution: D

India’s telecommunication satellite GSAT-30 was successfully launched into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) on January 17, 2020 from Kourou launch base, French Guiana by Ariane-5 VA-251.

GSAT-30 is configured on ISRO’s enhanced I-3K Bus structure to provide communication services from Geostationary orbit in C and Ku bands. The satellite derives its heritage from ISRO’s earlier INSAT/GSAT satellite series.

Weighing 3357 kg, GSAT-30 is to serve as replacement to INSAT-4A spacecraft services with enhanced coverage.  The satellite provides Indian mainland and islands coverage in Ku-band and extended coverage in C-band covering Gulf countries, a large number of Asian countries and Australia.

The designed in-orbit operational life of GSAT-30 is more than 15 years.

https://www.isro.gov.in/Spacecraft/gsat-30

Solution: B

G 9-40b is a super Earth exoplanet that orbits a M-type star. Its mass is 4.76 Earths, it takes 5.7 days to complete one orbit of its star

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/7545/g-9-40-b/

Solution: B

The Management Effectives Evaluation (MEE) process is a global framework to evaluate the performance of protected areas. India is among the select countries in the world that has institutionalized the MEE process for its network of protected areas.

It is the assessment how well protected areas such as national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, conservation reserves, community reserves and tiger reserves are being managed and their effectiveness in conserving target flora and fauna.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in partnership with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) under took an independent Management Effectiveness Evaluation of 43 tiger reserves in the country in 2014.

Solution: D

The first commercial Remotedly Operated Vehicle (ROV)/underwater drone, named EyeROV TUNA, was developed by EyeROV Technologies, a company incubating at Kalamassery-based Maker Village, Kochi.

It is a cost-effective underwater rover that works up to a depth of 100m. It can be easily controlled using a laptop or a joystick. A camera fitted on to the underwater drone(ROV), gives a live video feed of the underwater environment.

Solution: C

Immigrant Investor Visa Programme, EB-5

It is an employment-based fifth preference category or EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program of United States. It was created in 1990 by the Immigration Act of 1990.

It provides a method for eligible Immigrant Investors to become lawful permanent residents informally known as “green card” holders. An EB-5 visa holder, who gets a green card, can choose any kind of work in the US.

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program is one of five employment-based (EB) preference programs in the United States.