Science and Technology - Part III

​Questions from Science and Technology asked in UPSC Civil Services Prelims General Studies Paper I as well as in Mains General Studies Paper III (GS3)

Science part deals with subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Technology part deals with application of various sciences. Questions can come from all latest technologies like Biotechnology, Information Technology, Nano-technology, Space Technology, DefenseS Technology. Energy Technologies etc

Intergrated air command and control center (Iaccs)
Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) is an automated Air Defense command and control center for controlling and monitoring of Air Operations by Air Force. In network centric warfare era, Recognized Air Situation Picture (RASP) information plays a very critical role and is required to be made available at the appropriate level for executing series of tactical decisions.

These levels are strategic level (Air head Quarter),Operational level (Command Head quarter) and Tactical Level (Divisional level).The information sharing involves sharing of the critical data through dedicated links among Navy, Army and Civil Radar network also.

The IACCS system receives data from different types of homogeneous/ heterogeneous radars (2-D or 3-D), generate reports from mobile observation posts and integrates other data elements from various other Air Force Airbases or Civilian agencies viz Air Traffic Control, Air Force Movement Liaison Unit including airborne AWACS etc. to create real time comprehensive Recognized Air Situation Picture (RASP) at IACCS Command & Control Centre (C & C Centre).

The connectivity of sensors/agencies from/to the IACCS - C and C Centre is deployed on a wide area network based on IP protocol.

INS Astradharani
Indian Navy’s first totally indigenously-designed and built torpedo launch and recovery vessel INS Astradharani was commissioned here on Tuesday.

The 50-metre twin-hulled warship is also the first to be built at a private yard with armament fixtures. The unique design of the ship was a collaborative effort of Naval Science and Technological Laboratory, IIT Kharagpur and Shoft Shipyard.

The catamaran hull configuration significantly reduces its power requirement.INS Astradharani will be used to carryout the technical trials of underwater weapons and systems developed by the city-based NSTL. It is an advanced replacement for Astravahini which was decommissioned on July 17 this year.

The ship has a complement of two officers and 27 sailors and can carry 13 scientists. The ship reflects the capability of our scientists and manufacturing facilities and would go a long way in the `Make in India' campaign of the Government

DRDO - Terrestrial research centre in Ladakh
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has set up the World's highest terrestrial research centre in Ladakh. The centre is located at approximately 17,600 ft. above sea level in Changla near the Pengonglake.

The centre was inaugurated by the Director General, DRDO Dr. S. Christopher. The centre has been set up with many objectives, majorly for being a utility for research work in areas like food, agriculture and bio-medical sciences.

The centre will also assist the soldiers and the army men who will be deployed at such heights. Whereas, the centre will play a major role in storage and preservation. The centre will serve as a cold storage and will help preserve rare and endangered medicinal plants for future generations.

The centre will help the soldiers in preparing better for high altitude battles. DRDO's new centre will provide an opportunity for conducting experiments and evaluating electronics and devices at such low temperature and testing them. The centre will also serve as the ground of various materials for high altitude applications which will include UAV's micro engines, fuel cells, battery, high altitude clothing etc.

Google – loon
Google, under its ‘Project Loon’, is using big balloons floating at a height of 20 kilometers above earth surface for transmission of Internet services. It has already tested this technology in New Zealand, California (the US) and Brazil.

“Google approached government to set up the Loon project and Drone-based Internet transmission. Government has approved testing of Loon project only as of now. A committee under chairmanship of Secretary, DEITY, has been formed to work on it,” as mentioned by PTI.

Google may initially partner with BSNL for testing this technology by using broadband spectrum in 2.6 Ghz band. When contacted, a Google spokesperson refused to comment.

The technology, used for 4G services, has potential to replace mobile towers as it can directly transmit signals on 4G mobile phones.

Imprint India
IMPRINT is the first of its kind MHRD supported Pan-IIT + IISc joint initiative to address the major science and engineering challenges that India must address and champion to enable, empower and embolden the nation for inclusive growth and self-reliance. This novel initiative with a twofold mandate is aimed at:
(a) Developing new engineering education policy
(b) Creating a road map to pursue engineering challenges
IMPRINT provides the overarching vision that guides research into areas that are predominantly socially relevant.

Aditya – India’s Sun Mission
Aditya/Aditya-L1 is a spacecraft whose mission is to study the Sun. It was conceptualised by the Advisory Committee for Space Research in January 2008. It has been designed and will be built in collaboration between Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and various Indian research organizations and will be launched by ISRO around 2019-2020.

This will be the first Indian space mission to study the Sun, and also the first Indian mission to be placed at Lagrangian point L1-- far away from the Earth from where continuous solar observations are possible. Only NASA and ESA have successfully placed satellites at the L1 point as of date.

Aditya-1 is a solar mission. It was initially envisaged as a small, Low-Earth Orbiting Satellite with a coronagraph to study the million-degree solar outer atmosphere known as the solar corona. Subsequently, the scope of the mission has been enhanced and it is now planned to be a comprehensive solar and space environment observatory to be placed at the Lagrangian point L1. This enhanced mission named Aditya-L1 has recently been approved by the Government of India.

A Satellite placed in the halo orbit around the Lagrangian point L1 of the Sun-Earth system has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/ eclipses. The Aditya-L1 mission will be inserted in a halo orbit around the L1, which is 1.5 million km from the Earth.

The satellite carries a total of seven payloads with diverse objectives, including but not limited to, the coronal heating problem, solar wind acceleration, coronal magnetometry, origin and monitoring of near-UV solar radiation (which drives Earth's upper atmospheric dynamics and global climate), coupling of the solar photosphere to chromosphere and corona, in-situ characterizations of the space environment around Earth by measuring energetic particle fluxes and magnetic fields of the solar wind and solar magnetic storms that have adverse effects on space and ground-based technologies.

The outer layers of the Sun, extending to thousands of km above the disc (photosphere) is termed as the corona. It has a temperature of more than a million degree Kelvin which is much higher than the solar disc temperature of around 6000K.

How the corona gets heated to such high temperatures is still an unanswered question in solar physics with far reaching implications for the heating of stellar atmospheres and magnetic reconnection or wave induced plasma phenomena across the Universe. Aditya-L1 with additional experiments can now provide observations of Sun's Photosphere, Chromosphere and corona.

In addition, particle payloads will study the particle flux emanating from the Sun and reaching the L1 orbit, and the magnetometer payload will measure the variation in magnetic field strength at the halo orbit around L1. These payloads have to be placed at a location with minimal influence from the Earth’s magnetic field which could not have been achieved at the low earth orbit.

CIRB-Gaurav
Scientists at Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) here claimed to have successfully produced a cloned buffalo offspring ‘Cirb Gaurav’. This cloned buffalo calf is distinct from the earlier clones produced in India.

As this is produced from cells of ventral side of tail of superior bull buffalo, this part is least exposed to sunlight and may have less mutation rate, and can be good choice for isolation of donor cells to produce healthy clones.

With this achievement, CIRB becomes world’s third and India’s second institute to produce cloned buffalo, he said.
National Dairy Research Institute in Karnal was the first to produce a cloned calf in India.

By:Balalatha Mallavarapu