[Mission 2022] Insta– QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 20 November 2021

Solution: c)

The Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (or SSLV) is a small-lift launch vehicle being developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with payload capacity to deliver 500 kg (1,100 lb) to low Earth orbit (500 km (310 mi)) or 300 kg (660 lb) to Sun-synchronous orbit (500 km (310 mi)) for launching small satellites.

The first space launch from Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), built by ISRO and marketed by the state-owned New Space India Limited (NSIL), is yet to happen. It is expected by end of 2021.

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Solution: b)

The Union Cabinet has approved the long pending Deep Ocean Mission, which among other things involves developing a submersible vehicle that will allow a crew to plunge 6,000 metres into the ocean and hunt the floor for precious metals.

The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) will be the nodal Ministry implementing this multi-institutional mission.

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Solution: a)

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons with the ultimate goal being their total elimination. It was adopted on 7 July 2017, opened for signature on 20 September 2017, and entered into force on 22 January 2021.

For those nations that are party to it, the treaty prohibits the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as assistance and encouragement to the prohibited activities. For nuclear armed states joining the treaty, it provides for a time-bound framework for negotiations leading to the verified and irreversible elimination of its nuclear weapons programme.

69 nations did not vote, among them all of the nuclear weapon states and all NATO members except the Netherlands.

Solution: c)

2014 NASA-ISRO joint project—the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NI-SAR) satellite—that is delayed by a year due to slow development of ISRO’s second-largest launch vehicle, the GSLV-Mk-II.

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Solution: d)

There are six components to the programme.

A manned submersible will be developed to carry three people to a depth of 6,000 metres in the ocean with a suite of scientific sensors and tools. An Integrated Mining System will be also developed for mining polymetallic nodules at those depths in the central Indian Ocean.

The second component involves developing Ocean Climate Change Advisory Services, which entails developing a suite of observations and models to understand and provide future projections of important climate variables on seasonal to decadal time scales.

The next component is searching for deep sea flora and fauna, including microbes, and studying ways to sustainably utilise them.

The fourth component is to explore and identify potential sources of hydrothermal minerals that are sources of precious metals formed from the earth’s crust along the Indian Ocean mid-oceanic ridges.

The fifth component involves studying and preparing detailed engineering design for offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) powered desalination plants.

The final component is aimed at grooming experts in the field of ocean biology and engineering.

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