Test: Current Affairs (Science and Technology) - Software Development MCQ

The correct answer is Perseverance

Key Points

• Perseverance is the name of the rover recently been landed by NASA on Mars' surface.
• Jezero Crater is the landing site.
• The NASA Mars mission is aimed at conducting research in several areas such as astrobiology, including the searching signs of ancient microbial life.
• It is the first mission in which Martian rock and sediment will be collected and brought to Earth.
• The key objectives are-
  • Explore a geologically diverse landing site 
  • Assess ancient habitability
  • Seek signs of ancient life, particularly in special rocks known to preserve signs of life over time
  • Gather rock and soil samples that could be returned to Earth by a future NASA mission  
  • Demonstrate technology for future robotic and human exploration
• The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the red planet.
• NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover will be its fifth rover on the Red Planet.
• The mission was launched on July 30, 2020.

The correct answer is Jupiter.

In News

•  NASA has announced the launch of ‘Lucy’ mission. It will be launched next week.
• The spacecraft will fly by the Earth twice in order to use the planet’s gravitational field to assist it on its journey to the asteroids.

Key Points

About ‘Lucy’ Mission:

• This is NASA’s first mission to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.
• It is a solar-powered mission.
• It is estimated to be over 12 years long, during the course of which the spacecraft will visit eight asteroids covering a distance of about 6.3 billion km to deepen the understanding of the “young solar system”.

Aim of the mission:

• The mission is designed to understand the composition of the diverse asteroids that are a part of the Trojan asteroid swarms, to determine the mass and densities of the materials and to look for and study the satellites and rings that may orbit the Trojan asteroids.

The correct answer is 2024.

Key Points

• India's maiden human space-flight mission 'Gaganyaan' is expected to be launched in 2024, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh said.

• Two uncrewed missions of Gaganyaan will also take place in 2022.
• The second mission will carry "Vyommitra", a spacefaring human-robot developed by ISRO, at the end of 2022.

Important Points

•  India will become the fourth nation in the world to launch a Human Spaceflight Mission after USA, Russia and China.
• The major missions viz., Test vehicle flight for the validation of Crew Escape System performance and the 1st Uncrewed mission of Gaganyaan (G1) are scheduled during the beginning of 2nd half of 2022. 
• The astronaut training facility is getting established in Bengaluru and in advanced stage of completion.
• Basic Aeromedical training and flying practice completed as part of the Indian leg of training.
• The design of all systems of Gaganyaan has been completed. 
• The configuration and design of ground infrastructure have been completed and modifications needed are being implemented. ​

The correct answer is ZyCoV-D. 

Key Points 

• India’s drug regulator recently approved Zydus Cadila’s three-dose COVID-19 DNA vaccine for emergency use in adults and children aged 12 years and above, bringing in the sixth vaccine authorised for use in the country.
  • The generic drugmaker, listed as Cadila Healthcare Ltd, applied for the authorization of ZyCoV-D on July 1, based on an efficacy rate of 66.6 percent in a late-stage trial of over 28,000 volunteers nationwide.
  • ​ZyCoV-D is the world’s first plasmid DNA vaccine against coronavirus.
    • It uses a section of genetic material from the virus that gives instructions as either DNA or RNA to make the specific protein that the immune system recognizes and responds to.
    • It is a three-dose specialized needle-free vaccine, given in the interval of 4 weeks between each dose.

Additional Information 

• Covaxin is an inactivated virus-based COVID-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research - National Institute of Virology. 
  • Code named - BBV152.

The correct answer is DART.

Key Points

• The world’s first planetary defense system called the DART spacecraft was successfully launched by NASA on 24 November 2021.
• The DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) blasted off aboard a SpaceX rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
• The target of the spacecraft is a small moonlet called Dimorphos which is about 160-metre in diameter.

Additional Information

• Launched in October 2021, Lucy is a NASA space probe on a twelve-year journey to eight different asteroids for jupiter mission.
• Perseverance is a Mars rover designed to explore the crater  on Mars as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission.
• Ingenuity is a small robotic helicopter operating on Mars as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission.

The correct answer is South Korea.

Key Points

• South Korea launched its first homegrown rocket on 21 October 2021.
• The rocket is called Nuri.
• It was launched from the country’s Naro Space Center.
• Nuri is the country’s first space launch vehicle developed and built completely with South Korean technology. 
• The rocket is designed to carry a payload of up to 1.5 tons to an orbit 600 to 800 kilometers above Earth.

Additional Information

• About South Korea:
  • Capital - Seoul.
  • Currency - South Korean won.

The correct answer is Chandrayaan-2.

Key Points

• ISRO's Chandrayaan-2 orbiter has detected water molecules on the moon surface.
• There was widespread lunar hydration and unambiguous detection of OH and H2O signatures on the moon between 29 degrees north and 62 degrees north latitude.
• The findings were published in Current Science Journal.
• The formation of hydroxyl or water molecules occurs due to a process called space weathering.

Additional Information

• Chandrayaan-2 was launched on 22 July 2019 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh.
• The mission of Chandrayaan-2 was lunar exploration.
• The launch vehicle used was GSLV Mark III-M1.
• It had:
  • Orbiter
  • Lander: Vikram
  • Rover: Pragyan

The correct answer is IIT Bombay.

Key Points

• IIT-Bombay has launched ‘Project Udaan’.
• It enables the translation of textbooks and other study material related to engineering and other streams.
• The aim is to break the language barrier that many students face when they join institutes of higher education.
• The project was envisaged by Prof. Ganesh Ramakrishnan, Institute Chair Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Important Points

• ​The Artificial Intelligence-based translation ecosystem can help translate engineering textbooks and learning materials in one-sixth the time it would take for a team consisting of the domain and linguistic experts to work manually.
• Through donations, the team aims to continue its work on ‘Project Udaan,’ and complete its target to translate 500 engineering texts in Hindi in one year and in 15 Indian languages in 3 years.

The correct answer is Genome Sequencing.

• Genome Sequencing test has identified the Omicron Variant in India, which is not detected by the RT-PCR test.​

Key Points

• The genome is a unique sequence of DNA.
• It is sequenced by certain machines to identify the cause of a particular disease.
• Some diseases are caused by very little variation in the DNA.
• Sequencing the genome can help us identify which DNA changes are causing the problem.
• The genome of the tumor cells is altered when compared to normal cells.
• By comparing the genome of the normal and cancer cells we can get clues about ways to treat cancer.
• The sequencing of a human genome takes about a day. However, its analysis takes a longer time.

Additional Information

• Medical Applications
  • ​DNA and transgenes are used to create oral plant vaccines that stimulate immunity.
  • Precision medicine provides information about the genetic makeup of a patient to direct the type of treatment they receive.
• Biotechnology Applications
  • Genomics has several applications in the field of bioengineering ad biotechnology.
  • Mycoplasma laboratorium was synthesized using the gene of Mycoplasma genitalium.

The correct answer is Asteroid.

Key Points

• 2016 AJ193 is a mid-sized asteroid whose orbit crosses the orbit of Earth.
• An asteroid 2016 AJ193, as named by NASA would fly past the earth at a distance of 3.4 million kilometres.
• NASA has classified 2016 AJ193 as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid due to its predicted close passes with Earth.
• 2016 AJ193 orbits the sun every 2,160 days (5.91 years).
• Its orbit is highly elliptical.
• 2016 AJ193 is about 1.4 kilometres in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the U.S. Pentagon.
• The asteroid is going to drive by at a distance nine times that between Earth and the Moon.
• This was defined based on parameters that measure the asteroid's potential to make threatening close approaches to Earth.