Science & Technology: March 2022 Current Affairs | Science & Technology for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Thermobaric Weapon

According to reports from the Ukraine government and human rights groups, Russian forces in Ukraine may use thermobaric weapons.

About Thermobaric Weapon

• Thermobaric weapons are generally deployed as rockets or bomb.
• The thermobaric bomb involves a two-stage munition.
  (i) The first stage converts carbon-based fuel into minute metal particulates, which are discharged as an aerosol.
  (ii) The second part detonates the aerosol, converting it into a huge fireball and simultaneously creating an impactful shock wave. Inside this shock wave, a vacuum is created, which draws in (sucks) the nearby oxygen and exponentially enhances the severity of the explosion.
• They work by releasing fuel and explosive charges. Different fuels can be used, including toxic powdered metals and organic matter containing oxidant.
• The explosive charge disperses a large cloud of fuel which then ignites in contact with the oxygen in the surrounding air.
• They can penetrate bunkers and other underground locations, starving the occupants of oxygen.
• It is also known as an aerosol bomb, fuel-air explosive (FAE), or vacuum bomb.
• Vacuum bombs are not prohibited by any international law or agreement, but their use against civilian populations in built-up areas, schools or hospitals, could attract action under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907
• It causes significantly greater devastation than a conventional bomb of comparable size.

Cluster Munitions

• A cluster munition means a “conventional munition that is designed to disperse or release explosive submunitions each weighing less than 20 kilograms, and includes those explosive submunitions”.
• Cluster munitions are non-precision weapons that are designed to injure or kill human beings indiscriminately over a large area, and to destroy vehicles and infrastructure such as runways, railway or power transmission lines.
• They can be dropped from an aircraft or launched in a projectile that spins in flight, scattering many bomblets as it travels.
• Many of these bomblets end up not exploding, but continue to lie on the ground, often partially or fully hidden and difficult to locate and remove, posing a threat to the civilian population for long after the fighting has ceased.

Daylight Harvesting Technology

Ministry of Science & Technology has decided to promote a unique, possibly India's first, Start-up in latest Daylight Harvesting Technology.

About Daylight Harvesting Technology

• It is one of the most advanced techniques used in sustainable lighting designs for contemporary buildings.
• It is basically bringing natural sunlight inside the rooms.
• It automatically adjusts the brightness of light in conjecture to the amount of light available in that space.
• The systems use a light level sensor, a photosensor, to detect the prevailing light level, luminance or brightness, in open-loop or closed-loop systems.
• Photosensors are used to adjust electric lighting based on the available daylight in the space.

Significance

• The solar energy spectrum has 45% energy as visible light and this can be used to harvest building illumination for about 9-11 hours a day.
• The technology used is completely indigenous, economically viable and easy to deploy and requires minimal maintenance over a long period of time.
• This can reduce the consumption of electric lighting energy by 70-80%, in addition to reducing the consumption of air-conditioning (cooling load).
• The daylight harvesting technology will be the next step towards a sustainable future.
• It will contribute to meet one of the commitments of the five nectars of “PANCHAMRIT” i.e., to make India a Net Zero emission country by 2070.

Kilonova

• Astronomers may have spotted the afterglow from an epic kilonova explosion.
• This kilonova scattering event has seen with the Chandra X-ray Observer.
• Kilonovas occur when two hyper-dense neutron stars collide, which are the remnants of stars that died in supernova explosions.
• They produce a luminous flash of radioactive light that produces large quantities of important elements like silver, gold, platinum and uranium.
• A kilonova is 1,000 times brighter than a classical nova. 

Europa Clipper

NASA Begins Assembly of Europa Clipper Spacecraft.

About Europa Clipper

• Formerly known as the Europa multiple flyby mission, it is an interplanetary mission being developed by NASA.
• The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in October 2024.
• It is being designed to study the moon Europa through a series of flybys while orbiting Jupiter.
• Europa is an icy moon of the planet Jupiter. It has long been a high priority for its exploration because it holds a salty liquid water ocean beneath its icy crust.
• The ultimate aim of this mission is to determine if Europa is habitable, possessing all three of the ingredients necessary for life: liquid water, chemical.

Noor 2 Satellite

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) successfully launched a military satellite, Noor-2, into orbit at an altitude of 500 km above Earth.

About Noor 2 Satellite

• This is the Islamic Republic’s second military satellite launch.
• In April 2020, the first Noor military satellite was launched.
• Placing a second satellite in space would be a major advance for Iran's military.
• The satellite weighs 45 kg or less than 100 pounds.
• The three-stage Qased, or "Messenger", carrier launched the Noor 2, from Shahroud space port.
• Further details about the Noor-2 satellite were not released by the country's officials.

Newest Crater On Moon

• A leftover piece of a spacecraft flying through space, hit the surface of the moon, creating a new crater that may be around 65 feet wide.
• The piece of space was from the third-stage booster of Chang'e 5-T1, a lunar mission launched by the China in 2014.
• This is the first recorded unintentional case of space junk hitting the Moon.
• The speed, trajectory, and time of impact were calculated using earth-based telescope observations called Project Pluto (blog that tracks near-earth objects).

About Lunar Craters

• Lunar craters are impact craters on Earth's Moon.
• The Moon's surface has many craters, all of which were formed by impacts.
• International Astronomical Union currently recognizes 9,137 craters, of which 1,675 have been dated.
• The largest crater on the Moon is called South Pole-Aitken Basin.
• Craters on the moon are of a more permanent nature than those on earth. Moon’s lack of water, atmosphere, and tectonic plates, there is little erosion, and craters are found that exceed two billion years in age.

About Space Junk

• Space junk also called space debris, is any piece of machinery or debris left by humans in space.
• This material is orbiting Earth but is no longer functional.
• It can refer to big objects such as dead satellites and can also refer to smaller things, like bits of debris or paint flecks that have fallen off a rocket.
• There are approximately 23,000 pieces of debris larger than a softball orbiting the Earth.
• They travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph, fast enough for a relatively small piece of orbital debris to damage a satellite or a spacecraft.
• Kessler Syndrome: It says if there is too much space junk in orbit, it could result in a chain reaction where more and more objects will collide and create new space junk in the process, to the point where Earth's orbit becomes unusable – a Domino Effect

Solar Spicules

Researchers from India and the U.K. led by astronomers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru, have explained the origin of ‘spicules’ on the Sun Anomaly Of Sun’s Temperature

• The temperature at the core of the Sun is nearly 15 million degrees Celsius, while that at its surface layer, known as the photosphere, is merely 5,700 degrees C.
• The natural thing to expect is that still further outwards, in its atmosphere, known as the corona, the temperatures would be comparable to that at the surface (photosphere).
• However, the temperature of the corona is much higher.
• It starts increasing outside the photosphere, reaching a value of about one million degrees or more in the corona.

About Solar Spicules

• Solar spicules are jets of plasma, shooting out from the Sun’s outermost layer the chromosphere and making incursions into its atmosphere. These solar spicules emanate from the interface of the corona and the photosphere.
• A typical spicule may be 4,00012,000 kilometres long and 3001,100 kilometres wide.
• These are structures that are believed to transport momentum to the solar wind and to provide heat to the solar Corona
• It has been suspected that these spicules act as conduits through which mass and energy from the lower atmosphere bypass the photosphere and reach the corona.
• They are made of plasma – a mixture of positive ions and negatively charged electrons. The coronal plasma emits light in extreme ultraviolet.
• They move upwards with speeds between 15 and 110 km/s from the photosphere and last a few minutes each.
• In solar physics, a spicule, also known as a fibril or mottle.
• These jets rise and fall back under the influence of the Sun’s gravity, which is 20 to 30 times greater than Earth.
• Some jets are so energetic that they propel into the solar corona and beyond.
• The four ingredients that favour solar plasma jets are gravity, its fluid nature, strong quasi periodic triggers to eject plasma and Sun’s powerful magnetic field.
• Plasma is ejected from the sun’s surface as jet streams through periodic kicks of convection.

Gallium Nitride (GaN)

The Union Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology visited the Gallium Nitride Ecosystem Enabling Centre and Incubator (GEECI) facility.

About Gallium nitride (GaN)

• It is a very hard, mechanically stable wide bandgap semiconductor as it has a hexagonal crystal structure.
• With high breakdown strength, fast switching speed, high thermal conductivity and low resistance, power devices based on GaN outperform silicon-based devices.
• Gallium nitride crystals can be grown on a variety of substrates, including sapphire, silicon carbide (SiC) and silicon (Si).
• GaN is used in the production of semiconductor power devices as well as RF components and light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
• GaN has demonstrated the capability to be the displacement technology for silicon semiconductors in power conversion, RF, and analog applications.
• GaN Technology is of strategic importance with its application to 5G, space and defence application. It offers a window of opportunity to play a key role in enabling e-vehicles and wireless communication.

About GEECI Facility

• It is situated at Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc), Bengaluru.
• The facility has been jointly set up by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and IISc Bengaluru.
• It aimed at establishing GaN based Development Line Foundry facility, especially for RF and power applications, including strategic applications. 

Away From Reactor (AFR) Facility

Kudankulam Village Panchayat has passed a resolution against the construction of the Away From Reactor (AFR) facility at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) site for storing nuclear waste.

About AFR Facility

• The scheme for the storage of spent fuel in a nuclear power plant is two-fold.
  (i) One facility is located within the reactor building/service building, generally known as the spent fuel storage pool/bay.
  (ii) Another is located away from the reactor, called the Away From Reactor (AFR) Spent Fuel Storage Facility, but within the plant’s premises.
• The spent fuel storage pool inside the reactor building has a limited capacity and is used for immediate storage of the spent fuel removed from the reactor during refuelling.
• The fuel remains in the pool initially for a few years for it to be cooled sufficiently before it is shifted to the facility.
• The AFR Spent Fuel Storage Facility is functionally similar to the Spent Fuel Pool inside the reactor building, except in terms of capacity.

Reason for Resolution

• The gram panchayat is of the view that the AFR site will lead to radioactive pollution and deplete groundwater, which is used for drinking water and irrigation.

Arguments of Union Government

• The proposed AFR facility at KKNPP reactors 1 and 2 is for storage of spent fuel only and not for storage of nuclear waste, as perceived by a few.
• The design ensures that there would not be any adverse impact of the facility on the personnel, the public and the environment.
• The radiation dose on account of AFR to the public would be negligible, when compared to the exposure from natural radiation background sources like soil, sun etc.
• This has been established at the Tarapur and Rawatbhata sites, where AFRs have been in operation for many years.

About Nuclear Waste

• Also called radioactive waste, which is a by-product of nuclear reactors, fuel processing plants and research facilities. It is also generated during the shutdown and destrruction of nuclear reactors and other nuclear facilities.
• There are two broad classifications: high-level or low-level waste.
  (i) High level waste is mainly spent fuel extracted from reactors after power generation.
  (ii) Low level waste comes from reactor operations and the medical, educational, industrial and other commercial uses of radioactive material.

White Phosphorus Bombs

• Russia accused of attack on Ukraine using illegal phosphorus bombs.
• International law prohibits the use of white phosphorus shells in heavily populated civilian areas but allows them in open spaces to be used as cover for troops.

About White Phosphorus Bombs

• White phosphorus bombs are weapons that use one of the common allotropes of the chemical element phosphorus.
• It is used in fumes, lights and incendiary warships, and is usually the burning element of tracer ammunition.
• It is pyrophoric which mean it ignites on contact with air, burns fiercely and can ignite clothing, fuel, ammunition and other flammable materials.

About White Phosphorus

• It is a colourless, white or yellowish, waxy solid.
• It does not happen naturally. It is produced using phosphate rocks.
• It is a highly flammable substance that reacts with oxygen in the air.
• It can catch fire at a temperature of 10 to 15 degrees above room temperature.

About Chemical Weapons

• Chemical weapons are weapons and other equipment that use the toxic effects of chemicals on living organisms to cause death or other harm.
• To qualify as a chemical weapon, the toxic effects of warheads must not necessarily be fatal.
• Chemical weapons are considered weapons of mass destruction, as toxic chemicals can spread over large areas and affect large numbers of people.

International Law Regarding Use of Chemical Weapons

• Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is a multilateral treaty banning chemical weapons and requiring their destruction within the stipulated time.
• Negotiations for the CWC began in 1980 at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament.
• The convention was opened for signature in January 1993. It became effective from April 1997.
• Members should also declare the riot-control agents (tear gas) in possession of them.
• India signed the treaty in January 1993. The Chemical Weapons Convention Act, 2000 was passed to implement the CWC.
• Apart from CWC, Australia Group seeks to check proliferation of chemical or biological weapons. India joined (as 43rd Participant) the Australia Group (AG) in January 2018.

Man Portable Air Defence System (MANPADS)

United States and NATO approved a arms package for Ukraine, which would include US-made Stinger Missiles, which are a type of shoulder-fired Man-Portable Air-Defence Systems.

About MANPADS

• MANPADS are portable, short-range surface-to-air missiles.
• It can be fired by individuals or small groups to destroy aircraft or helicopters.
• It has a maximum range of 8 kilometres and can engage targets at altitudes of 4.5 km.
• It can be shoulder-fired, launched from atop a ground-vehicle, fired from a tripod or stand, and from a helicopter or boat.
• Most MANPADS have a passive or 'fire and forget' guidance system
• Countries such as India, Pakistan, Germany, UK, Turkey and Israel have also used MANPADS in their defence efforts.
• Russia is by far the biggest exporter of MANPADs, having sold over 10,000 such systems between 2010-2018 to various countries including Iraq, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, and Libya.

HANSA-NG

• HANSA-NG has successfully completed the sea-level trials in Puducherry.

About HANSA-NG

• HANSA-New Generation (NG) is first of its kind, indigenously developed aircraft trainer.
• It developed by the CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL).
• It is an upgraded version of HANSA, which saw the first flight in 1993, and was certified in 2000.
• It is designed to meet the need for trainer aircraft by flying clubs in India.
• The Centre approved HANSA-NG in 2018 and NAL retro-modified HANSA-3 aircraft with a glass cockpit and got it certified by DGCA .
• It is an ideal aircraft for Commercial Pilot Licensing (CPL) due to its low cost and low fuel consumption. 

SARAS 3 Radio Telescope

SARAS 3 radio telescope refutes recent claim of the discovery of a radio wave signal from cosmic dawn.

Background Of The Discovery

• In 2018 a team of researchers from Arizona State University (ASU) and MIT in the US detected a signal from stars emerging in the early universe using data from the EDGES radio telescope.
• The study published in the journal Nature created much excitement in the astronomy community around the world.
• Researchers had claimed the discovery of a radio wave signalling the birth of the First Stars.
• However, the world awaited confirmation from independent researchers.

Current Findings

• After a rigorous statistical analysis, a researcher at Raman Research Institute (RRI) said that SARAS 3 did not find any evidence of the signal claimed by the EDGES experiment.
• However, astronomers still do not know what the actual signal looks like.
• Having rejected the ASU/MIT claim, the SARAS experiment is geared towards discovering the true nature of Cosmic Dawn
• Cosmic Down is the time in the infancy of our Universe when the first stars and galaxies came into existence.

About SARAS 3

• Shaped Antenna Measurement of the Background Radio Spectrum (SARAS) 3 radio telescope was invented and built by the astronomers at RRI.
• In the year 2020 the radio telescope was deployed in lakes in Northern Karnataka, on Dandiganahalli Lake and Sharavati backwaters.
• It is a courageous attempt to design, build and deploy in India a precision radio telescope to detect extremely faint radio wave signals from the depths of time, from our Cosmic Dawn. It’s a niche high-risk high-gain experimental effort.

Distribution Of Argon-40 In Lunar Exosphere

• Chandrayaan-2 makes first observation of global distribution of Argon-40 in lunar exosphere.

Major Findings

• The Chandra’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer-2 (CHACE-2), a quadrupole mass spectrometer on Chandrayaan-2 mission made the observations.
• The gas found in the lunar exosphere is believed to have escaped from the lunar surface.
• The observation of CHACE-2 suggests that Argon-40 (Ar-40) has significant spatial heterogeneity in distribution.
• There are localised enhancements (termed as Argon bulge) over several regions including the KREEP [potassium (K), Rare-Earth Elements, and Phosphorus (P)] on South Pole Aitken terrain (impact crater on the far side of the Moon).
• Ar-40 is such an important tracer atom to study the dynamics of the lunar exospheric species.
• Ar-40 originates from the radioactive decay of Potassium-40 (K-40) present below the lunar surface.
• Once formed, it diffuses through the inter-granular space in the lunar surface dust and makes its way up to the lunar exosphere through seepage and faults.

Significance Of The Discovery

• These observations provide insight on dynamics of the lunar exospheric species, as well as on the radiogenic activities in the first few tens of metres below the lunar surface.
• The CHACE-2 observations provide the diurnal and spatial variation of Ar-40 covering the equatorial and mid latitude regions of the Moon.
• The uniqueness of this result lies in the fact that although Apollo-17(1972) and Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE Mission 2014) have detected the presence of Ar-40 in the lunar exosphere, the measurements were confined to the near-equatorial region of the Moon.

About Exosphere

• Exosphere is the outermost region of the upper atmosphere of a celestial body where the constituent atoms and molecules rarely collide with each other and can escape into space.

• Earth's Moon features a surface-boundary-exosphere.

• For the Moon, various components of the exosphere are fed from the surface by various processes, such as thermal desorption, solar wind sputtering, photo-stimulated desorption, and micrometeorite impact vaporization

Pacer Initiative

Polar Science and Cryosphere (PACER) scheme has been approved for continuation during 2021-2026.

About The Scheme

• The scheme is implemented through National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• Scheme comprising the Antarctic program, Indian Arctic program, Southern Ocean program and Cryosphere and Climate program.

Major Achievements

• Expedition to Antarctica: Executed 39th& 40th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. 41st Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica is ongoing.
• Ice-sheet dynamics: Ten sediment cores were collected from the lakes to reconstruct past climates associated with ice sheet dynamics.
• Various glacial and geophysical measurements were carried out in the coastal Drowning Maud Land (cDML) to understand the modern ice accumulation patterns surrounding ice rise and the remote contribution to glacial chemical processes.
• Field-based studies were conducted in the lakes of Larsemann hills, East Antarctica for understanding of biogeochemical process in supra-glacial environments.
• Clear-air atmospheric observatories containing automatic weather stations, a suite of sensors to measure aerosol and greenhouse gas concentrations has been established at Maitri and Bharati stations.
• 23 research projects related to glaciology, marine science, polar biology, and atmospheric science were successfully carried out during 2019-20 Arctic Expedition.
• IndARC mooring system along with Hydrophone system was successfully retrieved and deployed in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard.
• Coastal cruises were undertaken in the Arctic Svalbard archipelago to carry out biogeochemical and microbial research in the glacio-marine system.
• Glaciological field campaigns were carried out in six benchmark glaciers in Chandra basin of Lahaul-Spiti region of Western Himalaya.
• Two new Automatic Weather Station (AWS) systems were installed at Baralacha La, a high elevation site in the arid Spiti region to strengthen infrastructure across the Chandra basin.