Space Technology - 2 - Free MCQ Practice Test with solutions, UPSC Sci

Only two

Chang'e-8 - China: Correct. This mission is part of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, currently planned for around 2028, and is intended to demonstrate in-situ resource utilization techniques such as 3D printing using lunar regolith.

SLIM - South Korea: Incorrect. SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon) is a Japanese lander developed by JAXA, which achieved a successful soft landing in January 2024.

Luna-25 - Russia: Correct on country. Launched by Roscosmos in August 2023 with the goal of a lunar south-pole landing, the spacecraft crashed during orbital operations and did not complete a successful landing.

Thus, two of the three mission-country pairs are correctly matched: Chang'e-8 and Luna-25.

A: 1 only

Statement 1 is correct. ISRO's Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV) is being designed, in its heavy configuration, to place up to 30 tonnes into Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

Statement 2 is incorrect. The current NGLV concept envisages a partially reusable architecture (for example, recovery/reuse of the first stage or boosters) rather than a fully reusable two-stage-to-orbit system; upper stages are expected to remain expendable in the baseline design.

For context, India's present LVM3/GSLV-MkIII capability to LEO is around 10 tonnes, so NGLV represents a significant increase in payload and mission flexibility, but not a move to full reusability in the planned configuration.

C: Both 1 and 2

Statement 1 is correct. The Indian Remote Sensing Satellite System (IRS) is dedicated to remote-sensing applications for mapping and monitoring of land, water and natural resources. Examples include RESOURCESAT (natural-resources and agriculture), CARTOSAT (cartography and large-scale mapping), RISAT (radar imaging for surveillance and mapping) and OCEANSAT (oceanographic observations).

Statement 2 is correct. The Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) is a multipurpose geostationary satellite system used primarily for broadcasting and telecommunication, and it also provides services for meteorology, disaster warning and search and rescue; it carries multiple transponders to support these services.

Therefore, both statements are true.

C: 1 and 3 only

Statement 1 is correct. The mission launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 vehicle carrying the Crew Dragon spacecraft (name: Grace) from Kennedy Space Center on 25 June 2025.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The first Indian national to travel to space was Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984; the crewmember in question is therefore not the first Indian national in space.

Statement 3 is correct. The mission carried roughly ≈60 experiments focused on microgravity and biological research (examples: muscle regeneration, microbial studies, plant growth experiments, diabetes-related studies and tardigrade biology), with the objective of improving understanding of biological processes in space.

Conclusion: only statements 1 and 3 are correct.

orbital debris accumulation triggers cascading satellite collisions - Kessler Syndrome refers to this scenario.

The concept was proposed in 1978 by NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler. It describes how, in low Earth orbit (LEO), collisions between objects produce fragments that increase the number of hazardous objects and thereby raise the collision probability.

Once debris reaches a critical density, collisions can become self-sustaining, producing a runaway cascade of fragments that further increases collision rates and can make certain orbital regions effectively unusable for long periods.

Practical consequences include greatly elevated risk to active satellites and crewed spacecraft and long-term contamination of commonly used orbital altitudes. Recognized mitigation measures include end-of-life deorbiting, passivation of spacecraft to prevent explosions, routine collision avoidance maneuvers, and research into active debris removal to reduce the likelihood of a cascade.

1 and 3 only

Statement 1 is correct. The BlueBird Block-2 system is designed to provide space-based cellular broadband directly to unmodified standard mobile smartphones, supporting 4G/5G-class services via direct-to-device links.

Statement 2 is incorrect. BlueBird Block-2 is part of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation, not a Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) constellation.

Statement 3 is correct. The satellite had a launch mass of about 6,100 kg, making it the heaviest commercial satellite launched by ISRO's LVM3 from Indian soil to date.

Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect.

Geostationary orbit satellites orbit in the Earth's equatorial plane at an altitude of approximately 35,786 km and have an orbital period equal to the Earth's sidereal day (23 h 56 min), so they remain fixed in the sky relative to a point on the ground. This fixed position makes them especially suitable for telecommunications and broadcast services because ground antennas can be permanently pointed at a single sky position.

Polar orbits are typically low Earth orbits (LEO) with altitudes well below 2,000 km (common sun-synchronous polar orbits are around 600-800 km). Because geostationary altitude is much greater than typical polar (LEO) altitudes, the claim that the geostationary orbit is nearer to the Earth's surface than a polar orbit is incorrect.

Hence, the first statement is true (telecom satellites commonly use geostationary positions for fixed coverage), while the second statement is false.

Statement 1 is incorrect because the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a NASA mission, not an ESA observatory, even though it studies dark energy and exoplanets.

Statement 2 is correct because it is planned for launch around 2026 and will be placed at Lagrange Point 2.

Statement 3 is incorrect because the telescope was earlier called WFIRST itself, not its successor, and WFIRST was never launched in 2010.

Therefore, only one statement is correct.
Correct answer: b) Only one

China

China has independently developed and operates its own modular space station, known as the Tiangong or the China Space Station (CSS). The station's core module, Tianhe, was launched on 29 April 2021, and the laboratory modules Wentian and Mengtian were added in 2022 (launched on 24 July 2022 and 31 October 2022, respectively), completing the basic configuration for long-duration crewed operations.

Before the CSS, China flew experimental stations Tiangong-1 (launched 29 September 2011, deorbited 2018) and Tiangong-2 (launched 15 September 2016, deorbited 2019), which paved the way for the current modular station.

Historically, the Soviet Union/Russia (first space station Salyut 1 launched on 19 April 1971, later Mir) and the United States (Skylab, launched 1973) independently developed space stations. The International Space Station (ISS) is a multinational facility with contributions from USA, Russia, Japan, Canada, and ESA, but those partner countries (aside from the US and Russia) do not independently operate a national space station.

Therefore, the nation named above is the one that has its own national space station system.

1, 2 and 3 only. Each statement is evaluated below.

Statement 1 - Satellite-based communication systems: Correct. Space-developed satellite links (GEO/LEO constellations, VSAT, mobile satellite services) are widely used for telemedicine, remote consultations, real-time transfer of medical data from rural or disaster-affected areas, and for coordinating emergency medical response where terrestrial networks are unavailable.

Statement 2 - Earth observation and remote sensing technologies: Correct. Satellite remote sensing and earth observation provide data for disease surveillance, mapping of vector habitats (e.g., mosquito breeding sites), monitoring environmental determinants of health (land use, water bodies, air quality), and assessing health risks during floods, droughts or other disasters to support public-health planning.

Statement 3 - Miniaturised sensors and imaging technologies: Correct. Technologies driven by space requirements for low weight, low power and high reliability (for example, MEMS, CMOS/CCD imaging, and microfluidic sensors) have been adapted for point-of-care diagnostics, wearable patient monitors, portable imaging devices (e.g., handheld ultrasound) and lab-on-chip platforms used in clinical and field settings.

Statement 4 - Cryogenic rocket engine technology: Incorrect as stated. While the broader field of cryogenics has medical applications (e.g., cryopreservation, cryosurgery), the specifically space-developed cryogenic rocket engine technologies are propulsion-focused and do not have direct, routine applications in healthcare delivery.

Therefore, statements 1, 2 and 3 are true and statement 4 is false, so the correct selection is 1, 2 and 3 only.