SCIENCE AND TECH- POLICIES AND INSTITUTIONS
S&T Policy in India
Important Awards related to
Science
New Initiatives related to Science
and Tech
Scientific Policy Resolution of 1958
- India's first science policy
- largely emphasized on basic research in almost every field of
science.
- put emphasis on developing and making available the basic
infrastructure for the development of scientific research.
The Technology Policy Statement of 1983
-Focused on the achievement of technological competence and self-
reliance.
The Science and Technology Policy of 2003
-Brought the benefits of Science and Technology to the forefront
and also focused on the investment required for research and
development.
Science Technology & Innovation Policy 2013
- By 2013, Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) became the
major drivers of national development.
- focuses on the large demographic dividend and the huge talent
pool to define the role in achieving the national goals.
- The paradigm set by the policy of 2013 is “Science technology and
innovation for the people.”
The key features of Policy 2013 are−
- Promoting the spread of scientific temper amongst all sections of
society.
- Enhancing skill for applications of science among the young from
all social strata.
- Making careers in Science, research and innovation attractive
enough for talented and bright minds.
- Positioning India among the top five global scientific powers
by 2020.
- Creating an environment for enhanced Private Sector Participation
in R&D
- Enabling conversion of R&D outputs into societal and commercial
applications by replicating hitherto successful models as well as
establishing of new PPP structures.
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize
- given annually by the CSIR for notable and outstanding research,
applied or fundamental, in biology, chemistry, environmental
science, engineering, mathematics, medicine and Physics
- for work done primarily in India during the five years, preceding
the year of the prize
- Any citizen of India engaged in research in any field of science and
technology up to the age of 45 years is eligible for the prize
Biomedical Research Career Programme (BRCP), and Wellcome
Trust (WT) / DBT India Alliance
- Continued beyond its initial phase for five years (2019-20 to 2023-
24)
- For this phase, the funding b/w DBT and WT will be in the ratio
2:1 unlike 1:1 partnership for the last 10 years
- Objective- Building and nurturing talent of highest global
standards in cutting-edge biomedical research in India
- BRCP has made it attractive for high quality Indian scientists
working abroad to return to India, and has increased the number of
locations geographically within India where world-class biomedical
research is undertaken
Centre of Excellence for Waste to Wealth Technologies
- Being set up at IIT Delhi

Atal JaiAnusandhan Biotech Mission - Undertaking Nationally

Relevant Technology Innovation (UNaTI):
The Mission includes
- GARBH-ini - A Mission to promote Maternal and Child Health and
develop prediction tools for pre-term birth
- IndCEPI - A Mission to develop affordable vaccines for endemic
diseases
- Development of Biofortified and Protein Rich wheat - contributing to
POSHAN Abhiyan
- Mission on Anti Microbial Resistance for Affordable Diagnostics
and Therapeutics
- Clean Energy Mission - Innovative Technology interventions for
Swachh Bharat

UMMID Initiative:
- Aims (i) to establish NIDAN Kendras to provide counselling,
prenatal testing and diagnosis, management, and multidisciplinary
care in Government Hospitals wherein the influx of patients is
more,
(ii) to produce skilled clinicians in Human Genetics, and
(iii) to undertake screening of pregnant women and new born babies
for inherited genetic diseases in hospitals at aspirational districts

- NIDAN (National Inherited Diseases Administration) Kendras

are being supported by Department of Biotechnology (DBT),M/o
Science and Technology

5th India International Science Festival

- At Kolkata
- Theme: RISEN (Research, Innovation and Science Empowering the
Nation)

Global Bio-India Summit:

- India's largest biotech conglomerate held for the first time in
November, 2019
- Organized by DBT along with Biotech Industry Research
Innovation Council (BIRAC) and CII

Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA)-

- GITA is a “not–for–profit” Public Private Partnership (PPP)
company promoted jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry
(CII) with 51% holding and the Technology Development Board
(TDB), Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of
India (GoI) with 49% holding

CSIR-NPL designated as the National Verifciation Agency for Air

quality monitoring instruments

Guidelines for Nanopharma:

- The document, which covers all the aspects of evaluation from the
definition and categorisation of nanopharmaceuticals to pharma
covigilance of the new set of therapeutics, has been prepared as a
joint project by the DBT, ICMR and CDSCO
- Nano-pharmaceuticals would offer higher efficacy and lower
toxicity in many disease conditions
- The guidelines categorise nano pharmaceuticals according to
degradability, nature of nanomaterial, nanoform of the ingredient
and according to approval status of the drug and nanomaterial.
- Biodegradable nanoparticles have been used frequently as drug
delivery vehicles due to its improved bioavailability, better
encapsulation, control release and reduction of toxic potential.
Nonbiodegradable nanoparticles are relatively less used in
pharmaceutical products since almost all non-biodegradable
nanoparticles have potential to toxic effects

India and World Collaboration in
Science Projects
- It mandates that the stability testing of nanopharmaceuticals
should be done according to the general requirements specified in
Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945
Indian Science Congress:
- India’s largest annual gathering of scientific luminaries from
countries across the world, the '107th Indian Science Congress',
was held in Bangalore, Karnataka focusing on ‘Science &
Technology: Rural Development’
- organised by the Indian Science Congress Association every year
in the first week of January
- The Indian Science Congress Association was started in the year
1914 in Kolkata by two British chemists, namely, Professor J. L.
Simonsen and Professor P. S. MacMahon
National Children's Science Congress:
- Nationwide Science Communication programme started in the
year 1993
- 2019: Thiruvananthpuram, Theme: Science, Technology and
Innovation for a Clean, Green and Healthy Nation
- Organized by: National Council for Science and Technology
Communication (NCSTC)
Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR):
- Under the proposed policy, individual scientists or knowledge
workers will be required to devote at least 10 person-days of SSR
per year for exchanging scientific knowledge to society
- Also recognises the need to provide incentives for outreach
activities with necessary budgetary support
Sophisiticated Analytical & Technical Help Institutes (SATHI)
Initiative:
- SATHI Centres are expected to house major analytical instruments
to provide common services of high-end analytical testing, thus
avoiding duplication and reduced dependency on foreign sources
India joins the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Research and
Development Hub
- Members: 16 countries ( like Russia, China, the United States and
France), the European Commission, Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation and Wellcome Trust
- The Global AMR R&D Hub was launched in May 2018 in the
margins of the 71st session of the World Health Assembly,
following a call from G20 Leaders in 2017
- supports global priority setting and evidence-based decision-
making on the allocation of resources for AMR R&D through the
identification of gaps, overlaps and potential for cross-sectoral
collaboration and leveraging in AMR R&D.
- Secretariat - Berlin
- currently financed through grants from the German Federal
Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal
Ministry of Health (BMG)
India-UK Cancer Research Initiative
- Collaborative 5-year bilateral research initiative by the
Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology,
India and Cancer Research UK (CRUK) that will focus on affordable
approaches to cancer
- Both CRUK and DBT will invest £5m each in this 5-year pilot,
and seek further investment from other potential funding partners
LOTUS-HR (Local Treatment of Urban Sewage streams for
Healthy Reuseplant)
- India- Netherlands joint initiative initially launched in July 2017
- aims to demonstrate a novel holistic (waste) water management
approach that will produce clean water which can be reused for
various purposes

Technology Vision Document 2035
India’s National Intellectual
Property Rights (IPR) Policy 2016
- The innovative pilot scale modular plant upon commissioning will
treat 10,000 L sewage water per day and will showcase a self-
sustaining model for the end user
Redefined SI Units:
- World’s scientific and technical community, in a landmark and
historic decision taken in the open session of the General
Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) at BIPM on 16
November 2018, has unanimously adopted the resolution to
redefine four of the seven base units, the kilogram (SI unit of
weight), ampere (SI unit of current) , Kelvin (SI unit of temperature)
and mole (SI unit of amount of substance) by setting exact
numerical values for the Planck constant (h), the elementary
electric charge (e), the Boltzmann constant (kB), and the
Avogadro constant (NA), respectively.
- This has enabled scientists and researchers to base the SI units
entirely on fundamental properties of nature (physical constants),
which will ensure their ongoing refinement and improvement for
years to come
- Being Implemented from May 16, 2019 (World Metrology Day) as it
was the day Metre Convention was signed in 1875
Metre Convention:
- The treaty created the International Bureau of Weights and
Measures (BIPM), an intergovernmental organization under the
authority of the General Conference on Weights and Measures
(CGPM) and the supervision of the International Committee for
Weights and Measures (CIPM), that coordinates international
metrology and the development of the metric system
- India is a signatory since 1957
Kibble Balance:
- electromechanical measuring instrument that measures the
weight of a test object very precisely by the electric current and
voltage needed to produce a compensating force
- In 2019, the kilogram has been redefined based on the use of a
Kibble balance
Technology Vision Document 2035
Identifies 12 prerogatives- (six for meeting individual needs and six
for the collective needs) that should be available to each and every
Indian.
Individual Prerogatives:-
-Clean air and potable water
-Food and nutritional security
-Universal healthcare and public hygiene
-24x7 energy
-Decent habitat
-Quality education, livelihood and creative opportunities
Collective Prerogatives:-
-Safe and speedy mobility
-Public safety and national security
-Cultural diversity and vibrancy
-Transparent and effective governance
-Disaster and climate resilience
-Eco-friendly conservation of natural resources
National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy 2016
- Aims to push IPRs as a marketable financial asset, promote
innovation and entrepreneurship, while protecting public interest
- Policy is entirely compliant with the WTO’s agreement on TRIPS
- The plan will be reviewed every five years in consultation with
stakeholders
-DPIIT as the nodal agency for all IPR issues
- Films, music, industrial drawings will be all covered by copyright
- The policy left the country’s patent laws intact
 - On compulsory licensing (CL), India has issued only CL for a
cancer drug. As per the WTO norms, a CL can be invoked by a
government allowing a company to produce a patented product
without the consent of the patent owner in public interest. Under
the Indian Patents Act, a CL can be issued for a drug if the
medicine is deemed unaffordable, among other conditions, and the
government grants permission to qualified generic drug makers to
manufacture it

Organ Donation Organ Donation in India

- Organs that can be donated include kidneys, liver, pancreas,
lungs and heart, while tissue constitutes eyes, skin, bone, bone
marrow, nerves, brain, heart valves, eardrum, ear bones and blood
- Organ donations are legal by Indian law. The Indian government
enacted the Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THOA), 1994,
which allows organ donation, and legalized the concept of ‘brain
death’. Brain death is the irreversible and permanent cessation of
all brain functions. In situations of brain death, a person cannot
sustain his own life, but vital body functions may be maintained in
an ‘intensive care unit’ for a short period of time.
- National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) is
a National level organization set up under Directorate General of
Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government
of India

CSIR CSIR
- was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as
an autonomous body that has emerged as the largest research and
development organisation in India
- Prime Minister is the President of the Organization

PARTICLE PHYSICS
God Particle/Higgs Boson
Higgs Boson/God Particle
- Higgs suggested that particles didn't have mass right after Big
Bang and only those particles that interacted with the Higgs Bosons
gained mass while the rest didn't.
- Recently, Scientist at CERN observed the Higgs boson decaying to
fundamental particles known as bottom quarks

Cosmic Inflation Theory Cosmic Inflation Theory

- Given by Alan Guth in 1981
- According to this theory, just after the Big Bang, there was a
phase of very rapid expansion of universe at a speed greater
than light which sent ripples (primordial gravitational waves) that
are responsible for the polarization of the universe causing
stretching and squeezing of the cosmic space.

Cosmic Microwave Background Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR)

Radiation - Thermal radiation leftover from the Big Bang/ oldest light of the
universe
- The Planck Spacecraft of the European Space Agency was able to
successfully prepare the all sky map of Cosmic Microwave
Background
- The CMB has observed that most of our universe is made up of
dark energy, a mysterious force that is driving the expansion of the
universe, and Dark Matter which interacts with the rest of the
universe only through its gravity

Red Shift Red Shift

- The Red spectra is of a larger wavelength under VIBGYOR. This
shift indicates that essentially all of the galaxies are moving away
from us

Neutrinos Neutrinos
- They do have mass but only a tiny fraction of that of proton
 - Can pass through most things and rarely interact with matter
- Most abundant particles after photons in the Universe
- formed by radioactive decay of materials
- electrically neutral
- Earth receives majority of neutrinos from the Sun

India based Neutrino Observatory is proosed to be set up at

Theni, Tamil Nadu.

Dark Matter & Dark Energy Dark Matter

- Not been observed directly yet
- Responds to 2 of the Fundamental Forces: Weak Nuclear Force
and Gravitational Force.

Dark Energy
- Roughly 68% of the universe is dark energy
- it is a property of space so does not get diluted as space expands
- Dark Energy has a greater abundance than dark matter.

Black Holes Black Holes

- A black hole is a region in space where the pulling force of gravity
is so strong that light is not able to escape
- Supermassive Blackholes called quasars are at the centre of
almost every galaxy
- Detected by X-Rays

LIGO & LIGO-India LIGO

- The LIGO observatories are funded by the National Science
Foundation (NSF), and were conceived, built, and are operated by
Caltech and MIT.
- The LIGO has detected the gravitational twice now, the second
time witnessing the merging of a second black hole pair.
- LIGO has recently been able to not just detect but also produce
Gravitational Waves too

LIGO-India
- LIGO-India is a planned advanced gravitational-wave observatory
to be located in India as part of the worldwide network
- Planned collaborative project with US, Australia, Germany and UK

European Council for Nuclear
Research (CERN)
European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN)
- Founded- 1952
- world’s largest nuclear and particle physics laboratory with the
mandate of establishing a world-class fundamental physics
research organization along the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva
- At CERN, fundamental particles of matter are made to collide
together at the speed of light giving the physicists clues about how
the particles interact at such high speeds and provides insights into
the moment of creation of our universe through recreating big bang.
- India is an Associate Member since 2016

- World’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator started up

on 10 September 2008.
- It is located at the Franco-Swiss Border

SPACE
Type of Orbits Any orbit wherein the satellite rotates around the earth with the
same speed with which the earth rotates on its axis is
Geosynchronous Orbit.

When a Geosynchronous satellite revolves above the equatorial line,

at an altitude of around 36000 km, it's called Geostationary orbit.
The importance of Geostationary orbit is that from ground, a
Geostationary satellite appears motionless.
 Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) is a geosynchronous /
geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is an elliptical orbit, with an
apogee (high point) of 35,784 kilometres, a perigee (low point) of a
few hundred kms. Its inclination is roughly equal to the latitude of
the launch site, into which a spacecraft is initially placed before
being transferred to a geosynchronous or
geostationary orbit.

A sun-synchronous orbit is one in which a satellite maintains the

same relationship with the Sun over the whole revolution
period.This helps the satellites rotating over polar orbits to always
have access to sunlight so as to power their solar panels. A sun-
synchronous orbit is almost always nearly polar. Hence, there's not
much difference between sun-synchronous orbit and polar sun
synchronous orbit.

Launch Vehicles in India PSLV:

- Most successful Satellite Launch Vehicle of India
- used to launch satellites into LEO, MEO as well as GEO. Mostly
used to put satellites into polar orbits
- Has a 4-stage rocket engine (solidliquid-solid-liquid)
- Major launches: Chandrayan, Mangalyaan, Astrosat, NaVIC,
EMISAT etc.
- PSLV-C45 launch was unique in the sense that it was the first
time ISRO launched a rocket that injected satellites in three
different orbits

GSLV:
-primarily developed to launch INSAT class of satellites into
Geosynchronous Transfer Orbits. Also being used for launching
GSAT series of satellites.
- GSLV is a three stage launcher that uses one solid rocket motor
stage, one Earth storable liquid stage and one cryogenic stage.
- Major Launches: GSAT-3 (EDUSAT), GSAT-9 (South Asia
Satellite/ SAARC Satellite), Chandrayaan-2

Space Debris and Kessler Space Debris: Space junk are pieces of damaged and destroyed
Syndrome spacecrafts that travel around the Earth at very fast speeds (up to
17,500 Miles per hour). At such speeds, even a small piece could
damage an entire satellite.
Kessler Syndrome: First proposed by NASA scientist Donald
Kessler in 1978, the Kessler Syndrome is a cascading chain of
impacts which could make the orbital space inaccessible.
This could occur due to the increasing amount of space debris in
LEO.

Accretion Burst Event Accreation Burst Event

- Accretion is the formation of planets and other bodies by the
collection of material through gravity.
- Sometimes the forming star swallows up a huge amount of matter,
resulting in a burst of activities in the massive star. This is called
an accretion burst event.
- The first observation of accretion burst event was in 2016.

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs)

• High energy signals first discovered in 2007
• Found outside Milkyway Galaxy
• Bright; Appear to come from a point source
• Time Duration – few milliseconds
• Broadband – Contains large number of radio frequencies.
• Sources: Neutron stars, Black Hole, Extra-terrestrial
Communication

ARIES Telescope ARIES Telescope

- Located at Nainital/Davasthal, Uttarakhand
- Collaboration b/w India and Belgium
- Asia's largest optical telescope
Equatorial Plasma Bubbles
Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO) /
Multi Application Solar Telescope
(MAST)
NISAR
Deep Space Network
Equatorial Plasma Bubbles:
- Ionospheric phenomenon near the Earth's geomagnetic equator at
night time.
- They affect radio waves by causing varying delays and degrade the
performance of GPS.
- Plasma bubbles form after dark when the sun stops ionising the
ionosphere. The ions recombine, forming a lower density layer. This
layer can rise through the more ionised layers above via convection,
which makes a plasma bubble. The bubbles are turbulent with
irregular edges.
Thirty Meter Telescope:
- Project for construction of one of the largest telescopes in the
world in proposed site of Hawaii
- Members of the project: India, US, China, Japan, Canada
- India has committed $200 million, which is about 1/10th of the
proposed cost. The level of contribution determines the amount of
viewing time, or slots, that the member-countries’ scientists get on
the machine.
- The TMT will enable scientists to study fainter objects far away
from us in the universe, which gives information about the early
stages of evolution of the universe.
Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO) / Multi Application Solar
Telescope (MAST)
- A telescope for the detailed study of the Solar activity including its
magnetic field.
- Located in Udaipur on an Island in Fateh Sagar Lake.
- Future NASA/ISRO collaboration scheduled for 2022
- Will be the most expensive Radar Satellite Mission for Earth Observation
Deep Space Network
- NASA’s international array of giant radio antennas that supports
interplanetary spacecraft missions.
- consists of 3 facilities spaced equidistant from each other –
approximately 120 degrees apart in longitude – around the world.
These sites are at California, Spain and Australia
Event Horizon Telescope (EHT):
- large telescope array consisting of a global network of 8 radio
telescopes
- angular resolution sufficient to observe objects the size of a
supermassive black hole's event horizon.
- The project's observational targets include the two black holes
with the largest angular diameter as observed from Earth: the black
hole at the center of the supergiant elliptical galaxy Messier 87
(M87), and Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) at the center of the Milky Way
- The telescopes are located in North America, South America,
Europe and Antarctica
Using the European Space Organisation’s (ESO) Very Large
Telescope (VLT), astronomers have noticed the unprecedented
dimming of Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star (over 20 times bigger
than the Sun) in the constellation Orion.
Very Large Telescope (VLT):
-World's most advanced optical instrument, consisting of 4 Unit
Telescopes
- Allows astronomers to see details up to 25 times finer than with
the individual
telescopes
- Location: Atacama Desert, Northern Chile
Square Kilometer Array Project:
- International effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope,
with eventually over a square kilometre (one million square metres)
 of collecting area.
- Proposed to be built in Australia and South Africa
- Australia, India, China, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands,
UK, Canada, Italy

East Asian Observatory:

- India is in preliminary discussions to be a part of the East Asian
Observatories Consortium of 8 countries committed to build large
telescopes and pool resources.
- It consists of China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea as full members and
Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia as ‘observers’.
- Site: Hilo, Hawaii

International Space Station (ISS) International Space Station (ISS)

- In Low Earth Orbit
- joint project among five participating space agencies: NASA,
Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA, and CSA (Canada).

India's Space Missions Cartosat-3

- third-generation agile advanced earth observation satellite having
high resolution imaging capability
- Orbit: Sun-synchronous Polar Orbit
- Mission Life: 5 years
- It will address the increased user’s demands for large scale urban
planning, rural resource and infrastructure development, coastal
land use and land cover etc.

About Cartosat Satellites:

- Earth observation satellites, used mainly for large-scale mapping
of the Earth through high-resolution cameras.
- CARTOSAT–1, launched in 2005, was the first Indian Remote
Sensing Satellite capable of providing in-orbit stereo images.

EMISAT:
- Country’s first electronic surveillance satellite
- Launch Vehicle: PSLV C-45
- Space-based electronic intelligence or ELINT from the 436-kg
spacecraft will add teeth to situational awareness of the Armed
Forces as it will provide location and information of hostile radars
placed at the borders; this will be another dimension to current
land or aircraft-based ELINT.

RISAT-2BR1:
- radar imaging earth observation satellite weighing about 615 kg
- The satellite is intended to provide services in the field of
Agriculture, Forestry and Disaster Management
- It has a sensor called the ‘Synthetic Aperture Radar’, which takes
high-quality radar images. The biggest advantage is that ground
imageries can be collected during rains and despite dust, clouds or
darkness and during all seasons, thus ensuring continuous and
reliable data

RISAT-2
- A military satellite which was fast tracked after the Mumbai
terrorist incident to boost surveillance capabilities of security forces

GSAT 7: First dedicated military communication satellite built by

ISRO that provide services to the Indian defence forces with the
main user being the Indian Navy

GSAT-7A: Mainly for the IAF with Indian Army using 30% of the
capacity

GSAT 30:
- Launched: Jan 2020 by Ariane 5 VA-251.
- Telecom Satellite
- Configured on ISRO’s enhanced I-3K Bus structure to provide
communication services from
Geostationary orbit in C and Ku bands. Ku-band transponders
would provide coverage to Indian mainland and islands. C-band
would allow two-way communication and enable television
broadcasters to beam their programs over India, Gulf countries, a
large number of Asian countries and Australia.

Chandrayaan-2
- Launched by GSLV- Mk III
- It is 110th Moon mission and the 11th this decade

An instrument on Chandrayaan-2, CLASS, designed to detect

signatures of elements in the Moon’s soil, had detected charged
particles during the mission. This happened in September, during
the orbiter’s passage through the “geotail”.

What is Geotail?
Geotail provides information about the way the magnetic envelope
surrounding Earth, called the magnetosphere, responds to
incoming material and energy from the Sun

How is Geotail formed?

- The Sun emits the solar wind, which is a continuous stream of
charged particles. These particles are embedded in the extended
magnetic field of the Sun. Since the Earth has a magnetic field, it
obstructs the solar wind plasma. This interaction results in the
formation of a magnetic envelope around Earth. On the Earth side
facing the Sun, the envelope is compressed into a region that is
approximately three to four times the Earth radius. On the opposite
side, the envelope is stretched into a long tail, which extends
beyond the orbit of the Moon. It is this tail that is called the geotail.
-Once every 29 days, the Moon traverses the geotail for about six
days.

Gaganyaan-
- The spacecraft will be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400 km.
- GSLV Mk III, the three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle, will be used
to launch Gaganyaan as it has the necessary payload capability.
- With this, India could potentially become the fourth country to
send a man to space, after the erstwhile USSR, the US and China.
- India has signed agreements with Russia and France for
cooperation on the Gaganyaan mission.

Vyommitra:
- ISRO will send 'Vyommitra', a 'lady robot' in the unmanned
Gaganyaan spacecraft.
- The prototype of the half-humanoid, been made for the first
unmanned Gaganyaan mission.
- The robot can perform life support operations, be a companion
and converse with the astronauts, recognise them and respond to
their queries, etc.

Indian Data Relay Satellite System (IDRSS):

- India plans to start in its own era of space-to-space tracking and
communication of its space assets this year by putting up a new
satellite series called the Indian Data Relay Satellite
System.
- It is a set of satellites that will track, send and recieve information
from other Indian satellites.
- First satellite of IDRSS will be launched by end of 2020.
- Satellites will be placed in Geostationary orbits.

ASAT Mission / Mission Shakti:

- Joint programme of ISRO and DRDO
- As part of the mission, an anti-satellite (A-SAT) weapon was
launched and targeted an Indian satellite which had been
decommissioned.
- India is only the 4th country to acquire such a specialised and
modern capability, and Entire effort is indigenous. Till now, only
 the US, Russia and China had the capability to hit a live target in
space.

Upcoming Missions Aditya L-1

- It is India’s first solar mission.
- Will be launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)
in XL configuration
- The space-based observatory will have seven payloads
(instruments) on board to study the Sun’s corona, solar emissions,
solar winds and flares, and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), and will
carry out round-the-clock imaging of the Sun.
- In order to get the best science from the sun, continuous viewing
of the sun is preferred without any occultation/ eclipses and
hence, Aditya- L1 satellite will be placed in the halo orbit around
the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the sun-earth system.

What are Langrangian points and halo orbit?

- Locations in space where the combined gravitational pull of two
large masses roughly balance each other.
- There are 5 Langrangian points for any set of two large orbital
bodies.

Project NETRA (Network for space object Tracking and Analysis)

- Under the project, the ISRO plans to put up many observational
facilities: connected radars, telescopes; data processing units and a
control centre.
- They can, among others, spot, track and catalogue objects as
small as 10 cm, up to a range of 3,400 km and equal to a space
orbit of around 2,000 km

ISRO Programmes ISRO's “YUva VIgyani KAryakram”(Yuvika) Programme:

- ISRO
- Special programme for School Children who've just completed 8th
standard
- Aimed at imparting basic knowledge on Space Technology, Space
Science and Space Applications to the younger ones with the intent
of arousing their interest in the emerging areas of Space activities.

ISRO-Student Collaborations:
- ANUSAT was the first satellite built by an Indian University (Anna
Uni) under the overall guidance of ISRO.
- StudSat is a CubeSat satellite designed by students. This project
was conceptualised and project managed by undergraduate
students across India.
- YouthSat is a Russian-Indian scientific-educational artificial
satellite developed on the basis of an agreement between the
Russian Federal Space Agency and the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO)

Unispace Nanosatellite Assembly & Training Programme

(UNNATI):
- It is an initiative to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first
United Nations conference on the exploration and peaceful uses of
outer space
- It would provide opportunities to the participating developing
countries to strengthen in assembling, integrating and testing of
Nanosatellite
- In mass classification a Nanosatellite is any satellite with mass
from 1kg to 10kg.

Bhuvan Panchayat:
- developed by National Remote Sensing Centre of ISRO
- user-friendly web Geo portal under ISRO’s SISDP project (Space
Based Information Support for Decentralised Planning) for better
planning and monitoring of government projects

Future International Space Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA)

Missions
China's Change'4 Mission
NASA/GFZ's GRACE & GRACE-
FO Missions
FEDOR
NASA's Visions-2
NASA and ESA's Solar Orbiter
Mission
NASA's ICON Mission
NASA's Insights Mission
- Ambitious double-spacecraft mission to deflect an asteroid in
space, to prove the technique as a viable method of planetary
defence.
- Joint Mission of NASA and ESA
- The target of the mission is the smaller of two bodies in the
“double Didymos asteroids” that are in orbit between Earth and
Mars. Didymos is a near-Earth asteroid system
- In order to execute the mission NASA is building the Double
Asteroid Impact Test (DART) spacecraft for launch in summer
2021.
- ESA’s contribution is a mission called Hera, which will perform a
close-up survey of the post-impact asteroid, acquiring
measurements such as the asteroid’s mass and detailed crater
shape.
NASA's PUNCH Mission to the Sun
NASA's Dragonfly Mission to Titan, a moon of Saturn
NASA's Artemis Program to send two astronauts to the moon and
beyond and back.
Voyager 2:
-The only probe ever to study Neptune and Uranus during planetary
flybys.
- Only spacecraft to have visited all four gas giant planets —
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
- Second man-made object to leave our solar system.
- Was launched in 1977
China's Change'4 Mission
- first probe ever to explore the dark side of the Moon
- It achieved humanity's first soft landing on the far side of the
Moon, on 3 January 2019
- Both sides of the Moon experience two weeks of sunlight followed
by two weeks of night; the far side is sometimes called the "dark
side of the Moon", meaning unseen
rather than lacking light
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) &
GRACE- Follow On (GRACE-FO)
- a joint mission of NASA and the German Aerospace Center.
- Measurements of gravity anomalies to determine accurate details
of how mass is distributed on Earth
Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research (FEDOR)-
- Life-sized humanoid launched by Russsia
- First humanoid robot to be sent to space by Russia
- The VISIONS-2 mission (Visualizing Ion Outflow via Neutral Atom
Sensing-2) is looking at atmospheric escape, the process whereby
Earth is slowly leaking its atmosphere into space.
ESA/NASA's Solar Orbiter Mission
- Sun-observing satellite, developed by the European Space Agency
(ESA) in collab with NASA
- intended to perform detailed measurements of the inner
heliosphere and nascent solar wind, and perform close observations
of the polar regions of the Sun, which is difficult to do from Earth,
both serving to answer the question "How does the Sun create and
control the heliosphere?"
NASA's Ionosphere Connection Explorer (ICON)
-to detect dynamic zones of Earth’s Ionosphere
NASA's Insights Mission
- part of NASA’s Discovery Program
- It will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop
a map of the planet’s deep interior.
NASA's LRO NASA's LRO
- robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric
polar mapping orbit

NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMM)

Mission - It investigates how sun and earth's magnetic fields connect and
disconnect.
- This magnetic reconnection limits performance of fusion reactors
and his final governor of geospace weather.

NASA's MODIS (Moderate - Forest fires are detected by FSI using the MODIS satellite. The
Resolution Imaging resolution of these satellites are up to 375m x 375m, which means
Spectroradiometer) that such fires can be detected if their extent is above half the pixel,
i.e. about seven hectares.

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS)

- It is a payload imaging sensor built by Santa Barbara Remote
Sensing that was launched into Earth orbit by NASA in 1999 on
board the Terra (EOS AM) satellite, and in 2002 on board the Aqua
(EOS PM) satellite.
- Together the instruments image the entire Earth every 1 to 2 days.
They are designed to provide measurements in large-scale global
dynamics including changes in Earth's cloud cover, radiation
budget and processes occurring in the oceans, on land, and in the
lower atmosphere.

Asteroid Sample Collection NASA's Osiris Rex Mission (2018)

Missions - Asteroid Sample Collection Mission by NASA
- Asteroid- Bennu

JAXA's Hayabusa2 (2018)

- Asteroid- Ryugu
- It has dropped two hopping landers, collectively known as
MINERVA-II, onto the surface of the space rock to take pictures and
measure the asteroid’s temperature

JAXA's Hayabusa1 (2005)

- Asteroid- Itokawa
- First spacecraft to return asteroid samples to Earth for analysis

NASA's SnowEx NASA's SnowEx

-5 program initiated and funded by NASA
- Objective: To address the most important gaps in snow remote
sensing knowledge and thus lay the groundwork for a future snow
satellite mission

NASA's Spitzer Telescope NASA's Spitzer Telescope

- Decommissioned on Jan 30, 2020
- Was launched in 2003
- Explored the cosmos in Infrared Light
- Part of NASA's Great Observatories Programee

The goal of the Great Observatories is to observe the universe in

distinct wavelengths of light.
Other observatories of the program:
- visible light (Hubble, still operational)
- gamma-rays (Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, no longer
operational)
- X-rays (the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, still operational)

NASA's TESS NASA's TESS

- MIT-led NASA mission for surveying transiting exoplanets.
- launched in 2018
- The objective of TESS mission is to search for 50 small sized rocky
planets transiting small stars.
- It will discover thousands of planet by transit methodology. It will
scan the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere
 - It is placed in an elliptical orbit, called P/2, which is exactly half of
the moon’s orbital period

Successor of NASA's Kepler Mission which was launched in 2009

and decommissioned in November 2018.

Parker Solar Probe NASA's Parker Solar Probe

- The probe seeks to gather information about the Sun’s
atmosphere
- It is also the closest a human-made object has ever gone to the
Sun.

SpaceX's Starlink Project American company SpaceX recently sent 60 small satellites (under
500 kg each) into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This project, named
Starlink network, seeks to build a 42,000-strong constellation
aiming to supply non-stop, lowcost Internet everywhere on Earth.

Spektr-RG Spektr RG
- Russian–German high-energy astrophysics space observatory
launched recently
- will be placed in a stable orbit in space called a Lagrange point
(specifically, L2)
- The observatory includes two X-ray mirror telescopes, called ART-
XC and eROSITA
- A key goal of Spektr-RG will be to investigate the mysterious
cosmic components referred to as “dark matter” and “dark energy”.

TELEPHONY, ICT, ROBOTICS 

2G,3G,4G,5G While 2G and 3G networks are circuit-switch based, 4G or LTE
networks utilise Packet Switching. When a call is made over a 2G
or a 3G network, a certain amount of network bandwidth is
assigned to that call which does not terminate till the call ends.
While on a VoLTE network, voice calls are broken up into packets of
information.

5G: It is a wireless communication technology using radio waves or

radio frequency (RF) energy/ Millimeter wavelength to transmit and
receive data

Bluetooth Bluetooth
- Radio Based
- Can connect up to 8 devices simultaneously and has a range of 32
feet or 10 metres.

Edge Computing Edge Computing

Edge computing enables data to be analysed, processed, and
transferred at the edge of a network. Meaning, the data is analysed
locally, closer to where it is stored, in real-time without latency

LiFi LiFi
- utilizes light to transmit data and position between devices
- In its present state, only LED lamps can be used for the
transmission of visible light.
- Using light to transmit data allows Li-Fi to offer several
advantages, most notably a wider bandwidth channel, the ability
to safely function in areas otherwise susceptible to electromagnetic
interference (e.g. aircraft cabins, hospitals, military), and offering
higher transmission speeds

Beamforming & Full Duplex Beamforming is a traffic-signalling system for cellular base stations
that identifies the most efficient and fast data-delivery route to a
user.
Full Duplex: With 5G, a transceiver will be able to transmit and
receive data at the same time, on the same frequency. This ability is
called Full Duplex.
Net Neutrality Net neutrality is the principle that internet service providers and
governments regulating the internet should treat all data on the
internet the same, and not discriminating or charging differentially
on the basis of user, content, website, platform, application, type of
attached equipment, or mode of communication.

Internet of Things (IoT) Internet of Things (IoT)

The concept is basically connecting any device with an on and off
switch to the Internet and to each other. This includes everything
from cellphones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones,
lamps, wearable devices
and almost anything else you can think of

Virtual Reality vs Augmented VR: Artificial, computer-generated simulation or recreation of a

Reality reallife environment or situation.
AR: Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that layers computer-
generated enhancements atop an existing reality in order to make it
more meaningful through the ability to interact with it.

Virtual reality offers a digital recreation of a real life setting, while

augmented reality delivers virtual elements as an overlay to the
real world

Quantum Computing & Quantum Quantum Computing:

Supremacy - use of quantum-mechanics, the science that governs how matter
behaves on the atomic scale, in computing
- Conventional computers process information in ‘bits’ or 1s and 0s,
following classical physics under which our computers can process
a ‘1’ or a ‘0’ at a time.
Quantum computers compute in ‘qubits’ (or quantum bits). In this
scheme of things, processors can be a 1 and a 0 simultaneously, a
state called quantum superposition. This accelerates the speed of
computation, a machine with less than a 100 qubits can solve
problems with a lot of data that are even theoretically beyond the
capabilities of the most powerful supercomputers.
- Several encryption systems used in banking and security
applications are premised on computers being unable to handle
mathematical problems that are computationally demanding
beyond a limit. Quantum computers, in theory, can surpass
those limits.
In 2018, the Department of Science & Technology unveiled a
programme called Quantum-Enabled Science & Technology
(QuEST) and committed to investing ₹80 crore over the next three
years to accelerate research in quantum computing. The ostensible
plan is to have a quantum computer built in India within the next
decade.

Quantum Supremacy:
Quantum supremacy is the goal of demonstrating that a
programmable quantum device can solve a problem that classical
computers practically cannot (irrespective of the usefulness of the
problem)

M2M Communications M2M communications refers to automated applications which involve

machines or devices communicating through a network without human
intervention.
- M2M is going to be the next generation of Internet revolution connecting
more and more devices on Internet through the Internet of Things (IoT)

Cyber Security Types of Malware:

Virus: It can execute itself and spread by infecting other programs
or files. Most common.
Worm: type of malware that can selfreplicate without a host
program.
Trojan Horse: A Trojan horse is a malicious program that is
designed to appear as a legitimate program.

International Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN)
SpiNNAKER Supercomputer
Ramanujan Machine
Spyware: Spyware is a kind of malware that is designed to collect
information and data on users and observe their activity without
users' knowledge.
Ransomware: It is a malicious software that is injected into the
computer to limit the access of the system to the user and encrypt
the data. Cyber criminals demand money in lieu of encryption key.
International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN)
- non profit organization that was setup in 1998 to oversee the
administration of domain names.
- coordinates and ensures the smooth and secure functioning of the
cybernetic framework.
SpiNNaker Supercomputer
- world's largest neuromorphic supercomputer
- Designed and built to work in the same way a human brain
- It has been designed and built in the University of Manchester,
UK.
- funded by Human Brain Project of the EU
- significantly mimics parallel communication architecture of real
brain
Ramanujan Machine
- Built by Israel Institute of Tech
- It is not really a machine but an algorithm, and performs a very
unconventional function. Its purpose is to come up with
conjectures. The algorithm reflects the way Srinivasa Ramanujan
worked during his brief life (1887-1920).