S&T

 

SALSA	For the Research on ANTARCTIC LAKES SCIENTIFIC ACCESS) for study of microbes and living specimens in a Subglacial Lake Mercer of Antarctica.   Benefit? Evolution of Earth knowledge, about Jupiter and Saturn, habitat deep under Mars etc.
DNA	DNA is made up of molecules called nucleotides. Each nucleotide contains a phosphate group, a sugar group & a nitrogen base. The four types of nitrogen bases are adenine(A), thymine(T), guanine(G) & cytosine (C).DNA is a double helix formed by base pairs mattached to a sugar-phosphate backbone.
t Human Microbiome Project (HMP)	To Know about the diff of immunity of urban vss tribal. Why they not affected by as many diseases we do? Pathogens resistance in human?
Genome Editing   CRISPR Ca 19	CRISPR is the DNA-targeting part of the system which consists of an RNA molecule, or ‘guide’, designed to bind to specific DNA bases through complementary base-pairing. o Cas9 is the nuclease part that cuts the DNA.  A recent approach to genome editing is known as CRISPR-Cas9, which is short for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated protein 9. o It was adapted from a naturally occurring genome editing system in bacteria.
Earth Bio Genome Project	• It aims to sequence, catalog and characterize the genomes of all of Earth’s eukaryotic biodiversity over a period of ten years. • It involves projects by various countries: o US-led project to sequence the genetic code of tens of thousands of vertebrates. o Chinese project to sequence 10,000 plant genomes. o The Global Ant Genomes Alliance, which aims to sequence around 200 ant genomes. o UK participants, led by the Wellcome Sanger Institute, will also sequence the genetic codes of all 66,000 species inhabiting Britain in a national effort called the Darwin Tree of Life.
HGP	Human Genome Project (HGP): HGP-Read: • This was an international and multi-institutional effort that took 13 years [1990-2003] to produce a blueprint of the human genome. • The HGP has revealed that there are probably about 20,500 human genes composed of over 3 billion base pairs. • India did not participate in HGP-read. HGP-Write: • This project was launched in 2016 to write or build an artificial human genome from scratch with sophisticated bioengineering tools. • Potential applications include growing transplantable human organs, engineering immunity to viruses in cell lines, engineering cancer resistance into new therapeutic cell lines, and accelerating high-productivity, cost-efficient vaccine etc.
Gagaanyaan	that ISRO will be sending its first human spaceflight mission into the space by 2022.
ISRO	Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), 1969. • It’s the pioneer space exploration agency of the GoI, with headquarters at Bengaluru. • Vision: To develop and harness space technology in national development, while pursuing planetary exploration and space science research. • ISRO replaced its predecessor, INCOSPAR (Indian National Committee for SpaceResearch), established in 1962 by India’s first Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and scientist Vikram Sarabhai. • It operates through a countrywide network of centre such as Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore, Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota Island, near Chennai, Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad, National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad etc. • ISRO’s commercial arm is Antrix Corporation, which has its headquarters in Bangalore.
GSAT 11   Geosynchronous: Equator Internet Broadband	Why in News? GSAT-11, the heaviest satellite built by ISRO was launched from French Guiana by Ariane-V Rocket of Arianespace (a joint venture of Airbus and Safran).
GTO	Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) is an elliptical orbit, with an apogee (high point) of 35,784 kilometers and an inclination 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.
Ku nd Ku Band	• Ku band ranges between 12-18 GHz while Ka Band ranges from 26.5-40 GHz. • Most satellites today use Ku Band Transponders because it is difficult to build hardware and software for Ka Band Transponders.
HySIS	great precision and detail. • Hyperspectral images provide much more detailed information about the scene by dividing the spectrum into many more bands than a normal color camera, which only acquires three different spectral channels corresponding to the visual primary colors red, green and blue.
Hyperspectral and Multispectral Imaging   Why: Gr8 Precision	Hyperspectral imagery consists of much narrower bands (10-20 nm). A hyperspectral image could have hundreds or thousands of bands. In general, it comes from an imaging spectrometer.
YUVIKA	Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has recently launched Young Scientist Programme/ YUva VIgyani KAryakram (Yuvika) for school students. About the Young Scientist Programme • It aims to inculcate and nurture space research fervor in young minds.
NASA Missions	Parker Solar Probe • It is first to fly direct into the Sun’s atmosphere known as corona. The Sun’s unstable corona produces: solar winds, flares, magnetic and plasma explosions. • It will take measurements of the Sun’s electric fields and waves.   InSight Mars Lander • First spacecraft designed to explore the deep interior of the red planet. • The landing site is Elysium Planitia, close to Mars’ equator.   Opportunity Rover • It has been recently declared as complete. It confirmed that water once flowed on the Mars.   Cassini  Huygens • It was launched through collaboration between NASA, ESA and the Italian space agency to study Saturn and its system of rings and moons (Saturn’s largest moon is Titan) • It was first spacecraft to orbit Saturn.   Voyager 1 and 2 • Voyager 2 has become the second human-made object in history to enter the interstellar space after crossing the heliopause (region where the tenuous, hot solar wind meets the cold, dense interstellar medium). • Voyager 1 was the first spacecraft to have entered interstellar space   New Horizons probe • It recently completed the flyby of the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule and set the record for the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft. • It is the first mission to the Pluto System and the Kuiper belt. • The farthest ever trajectory correction maneuvers (TCM) or course correction has been performed on this spacecraft. • Ultima Thule is a contact binary i.e it’s a single object, with two lobes, but the lobes are gently in contact. NASA dubbed the larger lobe Ultima, and the other, which is about three times smaller, Thule. • Kuiper Belt is a donut-shaped region of icy bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune.   Dawn mission • Only mission ever to orbit two extraterrestrial targets - giant asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. • Ceres is the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is only dwarf planet located in the inner circle of the solar system, rest all are located on the outer edges.   OSIRIS-REx • It is a space probe launched for a near earth asteroid Bennu in 2016. • These first images of Bennu present a remarkable similarity with the ones recently obtained by the JAXA Hayabusa2 mission (Japanese mission) of another primitive asteroid, Ryugu.