50 Important Topics – Science & Technology (Part – 1)

What is the Universe?

• The universe is everything.

Expansion of UNIVERSE

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 Dark ENERGY
• It had always been assumed that the matter of the Universe would slow its rate of
expansion.
• Mass creates gravity, gravity creates pull, the pulling must slow the expansion. But
observations showed that the expansion of the Universe, rather than slowing, is
accelerating.
• Something, not like matter and not like ordinary energy, is pushing the galaxies apart.
• This “stuff” has been dubbed dark energy

Dark MATTER
• The velocity of rotation for spiral galaxies depends on the amount of mass contained in
them.
• But the outer arms of the Milky Way are rotating much too fast to be consistent with the
amount of matter that we know exists in them.
• Such fast rotation is possible only when there is more mass, and that extra mass is believed
to come from the dark matter.
• Dark matter is made up of particles that do not have a charge — which means they do not
interact through electromagnetic interactions. So, these are particles that are “dark”, namely
because they do not emit light, which is an electromagnetic phenomenon, and “matter”
because they possess mass like normal matter and hence interact through gravity.

Evidences
• Rotation of galaxies
o There is strong indirect evidence for dark matter. At the shortest distance scale,
consider the rotation of galaxies. If you look at stars all the way from the centre of
any galaxy to its rim, the way the velocities of the observed stars change may be
plotted.
o In the lab this same function may be plotted on a graph by assuming the visible
matter is all that exists.
o There is a marked difference between the observed plot of star speeds and the
calculated value as you move from the inner part of the galaxy towards its rim. Now
if you assume there is a certain fraction of matter which exerts a gravitational pull
on the rest of the stars in the galaxy, for it cannot be seen in any other way, and
recalculate the plot, it fits in with the observed value. This means that there is a
definite amount of dark matter in the galaxy.

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• Bullet cluster of galaxies
o The Bullet cluster is formed through the merging of two galaxy clusters. Physicists
found from their calculations that the way these mergers took place could not be fully
explained if we believed that the visible universe were all that existed. Therefore,
there should be something like dark matter as well as an estimate of how much dark
matter there should be in the universe.
• Gravitational Lensing
o According to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, massive objects bend light
from background sources. Observations of gravitational lensing, such as in galaxy
clusters, show much more bending of light than can be accounted for by visible
matter alone. This excess lensing indicates the presence of dark matter.

Life cycles of stars

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 What Is a Black Hole?
• A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get
out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can
happen when a star is dying.
• Because no light can get out, people can't see black holes. They are invisible. Space
telescopes with special tools can help find black holes. The special tools can see how stars
that are very close to black holes act differently than other stars.
• Primordial Black hole
o Smallest
o Size-atom with mass of mountain
o Formation after big bang
o Not much of evidence
• Stellar Black hole
o Medium
o Size-20 times mass of sun
o Formation-Collapse of star- supernova explosion
o Indirect evidence
• Supermassive black hole
o Massive

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 o Size-of solar system
o Almost every galaxy contain BH at centre
o Indirect evidence
o Sagitarius A star (Milky way),BH in M-87

Supermassive black holes

• Context-An international team of researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope
(JWST) and the Chandra X-ray observatory has discovered a bizarre black hole that may
provide insights into the genesis and growth of supermassive black holes.

About
• The newfound black hole, designated LID-568, is a low-mass supermassive black hole that
existed just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. If the universe were a human, it could be
said to be around eight years old at this time.
• A detailed analysis of its effects on its neighbourhood indicated that the black hole was
feeding on a surrounding cloud of matter at an exceptional rate — almost 40-times greater
than what astrophysicists thought was the upper limit.

Supermassive black hole

• Supermassive black holes are among the most common types of black holes in the universe.
Most galaxies contain a supermassive black hole at their centres. These black holes have
masses ranging from millions to billions of times that of the sun. The supermassive black
hole Sagittarius A* located at the center of the Milky Way galaxy has a mass of
approximately 4.3 million solar masses.

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 • However, scientists are not yet fully certain how these giants grow to become so big.

How it was identified

• Scientist first identified this unusual object through Chandra X-ray observations, as it was
exceptionally bright in X-rays but completely invisible in the deepest optical and near-
infrared observations, even with the Hubble Space Telescope.
• Because it was only detected in X-rays, scientist couldn’t determine its nature. With JWST’s
unparalleled sensitivity in the infrared, we were finally able to uncover this exotic object,
highlighting the complementary power of these observatories.

Eddington limit
• The rate at which a black hole feeds on matter is governed by what astronomers call the
Eddington limit. This limit — named after the English astronomer Arthur Stanley
Eddington because he worked it out first — is also related to how brightly a black hole can
shine.
• Nothing can escape a black hole of course. But when a black hole pulls surrounding matter
towards itself, the infalling material becomes compressed, heats up, and emits radiation,
especially X-rays.
• The concept behind the Eddington limit is straightforward: as matter collects around the
black hole and gets packed into the disc, it heats up and emits radiation that generates an
outward pressure capable of counteracting the gravitational pull of the black hole. When
this radiation pressure balances the force of gravity, the black hole will stop accruing the
matter. There is a limit on how brightly the black hole can shine.
• If this limit is crossed, the scenario is called a super-Eddington accretion. This is the
category in which LID-568 lies.
• Experts measured the total light coming from the black hole and its mass using observations
from Chandra and JWST’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument, which revealed the
exceptional accretion behavior of LID-568.
• Experts have hypothesised that super-Eddington black holes can exist. They have even
found a few. But LID-568 has defied their expectation in two ways.
• First, it’s much, much farther away. The most distant of these other black holes is ‘only’
around 2.3 billion light years from earth.
• Second, while the known rule-breakers exceeded the Eddington limit by a factor of two or
three, LID-568 has done so by a factor of roughly 40.

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Super-Eddington episodes in black holes are expected to be short-lived, so it is also remarkable that
researchers captured LID-568 in action.

Significance
• Spermassive black holes reside at the centres of many galaxies that should have formed
when the universe was less than a billion years old. However, they can’t explain how these
objects came to be when the universe was so young, when there shouldn’t have been enough
matter for them to form.
• According to some traditional models, supermassive black holes are thought to form from
the death of the first star, i.e. light seeds with 10-100 times the mass of the sun, and/or
through the direct collapse of primordial gas clouds, such as heavy seeds with 1,000-100,000
times the mass of the sun.
• However, these models lack direct observational confirmation and require sustained,
continuous accretion of large amounts of matter over several hundred million years to
account for the most extreme supermassive black holes observed in the early universe,
which is likely difficult,” she added.
• The discovery of LID-568 is crucial because it suggests that large black holes could have
put on a significant fraction of their weight during short-lived episodes of rapid feeding.
If true, this mechanism would do away with black holes having to feed on large quantities
of matter for a very long time, and offer “a convincing explanation for how supermassive
black holes could form so quickly, regardless of their initial seed mass,” whether heavy or
light.
• The researchers also found that the galaxy where LID-568 resided wasn’t producing many
new stars — the result of the black supermassive hole driving powerful streams of material
outward from the centre, called outflows. These outflows could be preventing matter
from accumulating in enough quantities to form stars.
• To confirm this idea as well as to inform it with more data, teams are planning to examine
similar galaxies and examine their outflows, especially those driven by very large black fast-
snacking holes.
• The research team is also planning to find out how long a black hole can accrue matter at a
super-Eddington rate as well as what percentage of all black holes do so.

The triple system

• Context-A new study says scientists have discovered a “black hole triple” in space for the
first time.

About
• The system comprises a black hole at its centre, currently in the process of consuming a
small star spiralling very close to it. There is also a second star, which appears to be circling

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 the black hole but is actually far away.
• It raised questions about how black holes are formed.
• A black hole is a region in space where the pull of gravity is so strong that no matter or light
can escape it. Astronomers believe most black holes are formed after massive stars
explode at the end of their lives — known as a supernova. However, the triple system
suggests a gentler process.

The triple system

• Many black holes discovered until now have been part of binary systems, consisting of a
black hole and a secondary object (such as a star or another black hole).
• But the black hole triple not only has one star which orbits the black hole about every 6.5
days, but also a more far-off star which orbits it every 70,000 years.
• Situated in the constellation of Cygnus, the system features one of the oldest known black
holes, the V404 Cygni, which is nine times as big as the Sun in our solar system.
• Researchers accidentally discovered the distant star while looking through a repository of
astronomical observations taken by telescopes.

Failed supernova
• V404 Cygni has two stars around it as the black hole did not arise from a supernova, which
typically kicks away outer stars in the explosion.
• Instead, it was formed through another process called “direct collapse”, where the star
caves in after expending all its fuel, but does not explode.
• We call these events a ‘failed supernova’. Basically, the gravitational collapse just acts too
quickly for the supernova to be able to trigger and you get an implosion instead — which
sounds super dramatic and awesome but it is ‘gentle’ in the sense that you do not expel any
matter

White holes
• are theoretical cosmic regions that function in the opposite way to black holes.
• Just as nothing can escape a black hole, nothing can enter a white hole.
• Physicists describe a white hole as a black hole's "time reversal’’
• While a black hole's event horizon is a sphere of no return, a white hole's event horizon is a
boundary of no admission — space-time's most exclusive club. No spacecraft will ever reach
the region's edge.

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How do white holes differ from black holes?
• The white hole is, in a hand-wavy sense, the inverse of a black hole. So in a black hole, you
have an intense gravitational field that pulls things in you've got this one-way membrane
called the event horizon. You cross that event horizon, and then you are captured, you
cannot escape from that black hole. Gravity has got you, and your future is destined to be
at the center of the black hole, no matter what you do.
• Now a white hole is the flip of that. So a white hole is almost like anti-gravity endlessly
ejecting material. With a white hole, you have an event horizon, where stuff from the inside
crosses the event horizon and gets ejected into the universe, and you can't actually get into
the white hole.
• So in the black hole, you can pass inwards, but not outwards in a white hole, you can pass
outwards but not inwards.

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 Microgravity
• Micro- very small
• condition where gravity seems to be very small
• Astronauts can float in their spacecraft - or outside, on a spacewalk.
• Heavy objects move around easily.
• Sometimes called "zero gravity," but this is misleading.

Is there Gravity in Space?

• Gravity causes every object to pull every other object toward it.
• In fact, a small amount of gravity can be found everywhere in space.
• Gravity is what holds the moon in orbit around Earth. Gravity causes Earth to orbit the sun.

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Why Do Objects Float in Orbit?
• If 90 percent of Earth's gravity reaches the space station, then why do astronauts float there?
• The answer is because they are in free fall

Microgravity-Significance
• To learn what happens to people and equipment in space
• Learn about the effects of microgravity to keep astronauts safe and healthy on other planets

Impacts
• Fire burns differently
• Crystals grow better

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What Happen to human body in Space?

Impact of Microgravity on human body

• On Earth the human heart has to pump against gravity, in space, it does not have to do that.
So it weakens with time leading to cardiac problems, low red blood cells,
immunodeficiency, etc.

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 Navigation satellites
• A system of satellites that provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning with global
coverage
• Designed expressly to aid the navigation of sea and air traffic via. Radio waves
• It allows small electronic receivers to determine their location to high precision using time
signals transmitted along a line of sight by radio from satellites
• A satellite navigation system with global coverage may be termed a global navigation
satellite system (GNSS)

Global
• Global Positioning System (GPS)
• Russian-GLONASS
• China-BeiDou Navigation Satellite System
• European Union’s Galileo

Regional
• Japan -Quasi-Zenith Satellite System
• India-Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)

How Does GPS Work?

GPS is made up of three parts:
• Satellites
• Ground stations
• Receivers.
• GPS is a system of 30+ navigation satellites circling Earth.
• The ground stations use radar to make sure they are actually where we think they are.
• A GPS receiver in your phone listens for these signals.
• Once the receiver calculates its distance from four or more GPS satellites, it can figure out
where you are.

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3-D Trilateration
• Trilateration pinpoint a location by measuring distance.

Reusable Launch Vehicle Mission RLV LEX

• Recently Indian Space Research Organisation and its partners successfully demonstrated a
precise landing experiment for a Reusable Launch Vehicle at the Aeronautical Test Range
(ATR), Chitradurga, Karnataka.
• One of the first trials of an RLV was announced by ISRO as far back as 2010, but was put
off due to technical reasons. Another was hinted at in 2015 but was again grounded over
technical issues.
• The Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV LEX) test was the
second of five tests that are a part of ISRO’s efforts to develop RLVs, or space
planes/shuttles, which can travel to low earth orbits to deliver payloads and return to earth
for use again.

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RLV TD project
• According to ISRO, the series of experiments with the winged RLV-TD are part of efforts
at developing essential technologies for a fully reusable launch vehicle to enable low-
cost access to space.
• The RLV-TD will be used to develop technologies like hypersonic flight (HEX),
autonomous landing (LEX), return flight experiment (REX), powered cruise flight, and
Scramjet Propulsion Experiment (SPEX).
• ISRO’s RLV-TD looks like an aircraft. It consists of a fuselage, a nose cap, double delta
wings, and twin vertical tails.
• The 2016 experiment involved sending a winged spacecraft on a rocket powered by a
conventional solid booster (HS9) engine used by ISRO into space.
• The spacecraft traveled at a speed of Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound) when re-
entering the earth’s orbit and traveled a distance of 450 km before splashdown in the Bay of
Bengal.

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What are its advantages?
• With the costs acting as a major deterrent to space exploration, a reusable launch vehicle is
considered a low-cost, reliable, and on-demand mode of accessing space.
• Nearly 80 to 87 percent of the cost in a space launch vehicle goes into the structure of the
vehicle.
• The costs of propellants are minimal in comparison.
• By using RLVs the cost of a launch can be reduced by nearly 80 percent of the present cost

How advanced are RLV technologies globally?

• Reusable space vehicles have been in existence for a long time with NASA space shuttles
carrying out dozens of human space flight missions.
• The use case for reusable space launch vehicles has revived with the private space launch
services provider Space X demonstrating partially reusable launch systems with its Falcon
9 and Falcon Heavy rockets since 2017. SpaceX is also working on a fully reusable launch
vehicle system called Starship.

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 Tiangong space station
• China selects mystery astronauts for 2023 missions to Tiangong space station

About
• China will later this year send two crews to the now fully operational Tiangong to spend
six months in orbit conducting science experiments and keeping the space station
maintained.
• Two three-person crews have been selected for the Shenzhou 16 mission, due to launch in
May, and the following Shenzhou 17 mission, launching six months later. The missions
will lift off atop Long March 2F rockets from Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert
• Tiangong, which means "Heavenly Palace," will consist of Tianhe the main habitat for
astronauts, and two modules dedicated to hosting experiments, Mengtian and Wentian
• Tiangong will be much smaller than the International Space Station (ISS)
• Tiangong will also be lighter than the ISS, which weighs about 400 tons (450 metric tons)
• China is only the third country in history to have put both astronauts into space and to
build a space station, after the Russia and the US.

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 Helium use in rockets
• Context-Two NASA astronauts aboard Boeing’s Starliner will stay on the International
Space Station for months because of a faulty propulsion system whose problems included
helium leaks.

Why helium is used?

• Helium is inert - it does not react with other substances or combust - and its atomic number
is 2, making it the second lightest element after hydrogen.
• Rockets need to achieve specific speeds and altitude to reach and maintain orbit. A heavier
rocket requires more energy, not only increasing fuel consumption but also needing more
powerful engines, which are more expensive to develop, test, and maintain.
• Helium also has a very low boiling point (-268.9° C), allowing it to remain a gas even in
super-cold environments, an important feature because many rocket fuels are stored in that
temperature range.
• The gas is non-toxic, but cannot be breathed on its own, because it displaces the oxygen
humans need for respiration.

How is it used?
• Helium is used to pressurize fuel tanks, ensuring fuel flows to the rocket’s engines without
interruption; and for cooling systems.

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 • As fuel and oxidiser are burned in the rocket’s engines, helium fills the resulting empty
space in the tanks, maintaining the overall pressure inside.
• Because it is non-reactive, it can safely mingle with the tanks’ residual contents.

Is it prone to leaks?
• Helium’s small atomic size and low molecular weight mean its atoms can escape through
small gaps or seals in storage tanks and fuel systems.
• But because there is very little helium in the Earth’s atmosphere, leaks can be easily
detected - making the gas important for spotting potential faults in a rocket or spacecraft’s
fuel systems.
• In May, hours before Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft made an initial attempt to launch its first
astronaut crew, tiny sensors inside the spacecraft detected a small helium leak on one of
Starliner’s thrusters that NASA spent several days analysing before deeming it low-risk.
• Additional leaks were detected in space after Starliner launched in June, contributing to
NASA’s decision to bring Starliner back to Earth without its crew.
• The frequency of helium leaks across space-related systems, some engineers say, have
highlighted an industry-wide need for innovation in valve design and more precise valve-
tightening mechanisms.

Alternative
• Some rocket launches have experimented with gases such as argon and nitrogen, which are
also inert and can sometimes be cheaper. Helium, however, is much more prevalent in the
industry.
• Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket ditched the helium of its predecessor Ariane 5 for a novel
pressurization system that converts a small portion of its primary liquid oxygen and
hydrogen propellants to gas, which then pressurizes those fluids for the rocket engine.
• That system failed in space during the final phase of Ariane 6’s otherwise successful debut
launch in July, adding to the global rocket industry’s long list of pressurization challenges.

Parker Solar Probe

• Context- NASA's Parker Solar Probe made history by coming closer to the Sun than any
spacecraft ever has, flying within 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometres) of the Sun, into
the blistering heat of its outer atmosphere, the corona.
• Travelling at speeds of up to 430,000 mph and withstanding temperatures of up to 982°C,
the Parker Solar Probe is on a mission to "touch" the Sun, aiming to help scientists better
understand the star

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 • No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star, so Parker will truly be returning
data from uncharted territory

Parker solar Probe

• NASA's Parker Solar Probe launched on Aug. 12, 2018
• The revolutionary solar probe became the first spacecraft to "touch" the sun when it
swooped inside the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, during its eighth flyby on April 28,
2021.
• The Parker Solar Probe is named after pioneering astrophysicist Eugene Parker, who first
proposed the existence of solar wind in 1958
• When the probe makes its closest approach to the sun, its solar shields will encounter
temperatures approaching 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit
• Parker is helping scientists understand key Sun mysteries, such as the origin of solar wind,
the heat of the corona, and the formation of coronal mass ejections.

Main scientific objectives of the Parker Solar Probe are:

• Trace the flow of energy that heats and accelerates the solar corona and solar wind.
• Determine the structure and dynamics of the plasma and magnetic fields at the sources of
the solar wind.
• Explore mechanisms that accelerate and transport energetic particles

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Why Won’t Parker Solar Probe Melt?
Heat Vs Temperature
• One key to understanding what keeps the spacecraft and its instruments safe, is
understanding the concept of heat versus temperature. Counterintuitively, high
temperatures do not always translate to actually heating another object.
• In space, the temperature can be thousands of degrees without providing significant heat
to a given object or feeling hot.
• Temperature measures how fast particles are moving, whereas heat measures the total
amount of energy that they transfer.
• Particles may be moving fast (high temperature), but if there are very few of them, they
won’t transfer much energy (low heat). Since space is mostly empty, there are very few
particles that can transfer energy to the spacecraft.

Heat shield
• Parker Solar Probe makes use of a heat shield known as the Thermal Protection System, or
TPS, which is 8 feet (2.4 meters) in diameter and 4.5 inches (about 115 mm) thick. Those few
inches of protection mean that just on the other side of the shield, the spacecraft body will
sit at a comfortable 85 F

Sensors
• Several sensors, about half the size of a cell phone, are attached to the body of the spacecraft
along the edge of the shadow from the heat shield. If any of these sensors detect sunlight,
they alert the central computer and the spacecraft can correct its position to keep the sensors,
and the rest of the instruments, safely protected.

Lignosat
• Context-Recently world’s first wood-panelled satellite was launched into space.
• The tiny Japanese spacecraft named LignoSat, developed by Kyoto University and
homebuilder Sumitomo Forestry, arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on
November 5 aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule. After a month, it will be released into
orbit above the Earth, where it will remain in orbit for six months.

What is LignoSat?
• LignoSat measures just 4 inches (10 centimeters) on each side, and weighs 900 grams.
• The satellite is named after the Latin word for wood, with panels built from a type of
magnolia tree, using a traditional Japanese crafts technique without screws or glue to hold
it together.

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 • The satellite will test the durability of wood in the extreme environment of space where
temperatures fluctuate from -100 to 100 degrees Celsius every 45 minutes, even as objects
traverse through sunlight and darkness
• the satellite will also gauge timber’s ability to reduce the impact of space radiation on
semiconductors.
• The use of wood is not entirely new either. Early 1900s airplanes were made of wood. A
wooden satellite should be feasible, too.
• However, LignoSat is not entirely made of wood. The satellite uses traditional aluminium
structures and electronic components in a wood panel casing. Its sensors will monitor how
the wood reacts to the extreme space environment in the six months it will orbit the Earth.

Significance
• The Kyoto University researchers anticipate that wood may come to replace some metals
used in space exploration.
• Wood is more durable in space than on Earth because there’s no water or oxygen that
would rot or inflame it
• Conventional satellites, made primarily of aluminium, tend to burn up in the Earth’s
atmosphere at the end of their lives and generate aluminium oxides. These gases can
damage the planet’s protective ozone layer
• By substituting magnolia for aluminium, the satellite wouldn’t introduce damaging
pollutants into the atmosphere when it falls back to Earth.

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 Dyson sphere
• Imagine you are an astronomer looking deep into space in search of extraterrestrial life. You
spot a star that is emitting infrared radiation in anomalous fashion. You zoom in and see a
swarm of solar panels covering the star like a shell, quietly collecting an enormous amount
of solar energy from the star. you have found a Dyson sphere.
• The Dyson sphere is named after theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson (1923-2020), who
hypothesised its existence. He said that technologically advanced civilisations will have
such a tremendous demand for energy that they will have to harness the entire radiative
power of a star, using solar energy collectors arranged in a sphere around the orb.
• Dyson also figured that these spheres would emit excess heat from the star as infrared
radiation, which he said astronomers could look for as an indirect sign of intelligent life —
especially life capable of building such megastructures.
• Of course, not all unusual infrared radiation emissions are indicative of Dyson spheres. In
May this year, scientists set out to look specifically for the signature of Dyson spheres. They
scanned 5 million stars within 1,000 light years of the earth. After analysing this data, they
found seven stars whose infrared radiation they couldn’t explain.

MACE telescope
• Context- Recently The Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment (MACE) telescope is a
state-of-the-art ground-based gamma-ray telescope inaugurated in Hanle, Ladakh

About
• Located at around 4.3 km above sea level, it is the highest imaging Cherenkov telescope
in the world. It boasts of a 21-metre-wide dish, the largest of its kind in Asia and second-
largest in the world
• The facility was built by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, the Tata Institute of
Fundamental Research, the Electronics Corporation of India Ltd., and the Indian Institute

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 of Astrophysics.

Methodology to study Gamma rays

• Gamma rays are produced by exotic energetic objects in the cosmos, including rapidly
spinning pulsars, supernova explosions, hot whirlpools of matter around black holes, and
gamma-ray bursts. Because of their high energy, gamma rays are a health hazard.
• They can damage living cells and may even trigger deleterious mutations in DNA.
• Fortunately the earth’s atmosphere blocks gamma rays from reaching the ground. Thus,
astronomers who want to study objects that emit gamma rays prefer using space
observatories — although there are indirect techniques to detect gamma rays with very
high energies from the ground.
• When a gamma ray from a cosmic source enters the atmosphere, it interacts with molecules
in the air to produce a copious shower of electron-positron pairs.
• As these charged particles travel through the atmosphere at speeds greater than the speed
of light in air, they emit a faint blue light, called Cherenkov radiation. This radiation has
wavelengths typical of violet and blue light of the visible spectrum and of the ultraviolet
wavelength range.
• The light is emitted in about a fraction of a second, and the light-particles spread out evenly
over a vast region on the earth’s surface. This region is a suitable place to locate a detector
that can collect the photons and study them to indirectly understand the gamma rays.
• Instruments used for this kind of detection are called imaging atmospheric Cherenkov
telescopes (IACTs). The MACE telescope is an IACT.

Skull for the humanoid on Gaganyaan mission

Gaganyaan mission
• India’s first attempt at sending humans into space, is scheduled for next year. But before
that two uncrewed preparatory missions, Gaganyaan-1 (G1) and Gaganyaan-2 (G2), would
be flown, the first one later this year.
• G1, scheduled for launch in December, will mainly test the safe re-entry of the spacecraft
and its orientation upon its dive into the sea.
• The G2 mission will carry Vyommitra inside the human-rated pressurised crew module,
where the astronauts would be seated in the actual flight.
• The robot will be tasked with recording all parameters that will be used to study the impacts
of the flight on humans.
• The Gaganyaan mission will carry three Indian astronauts into space, about 400 km from
the Earth’s surface, for three days.

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Training
• Prime Minister had introduced the four Indian Air Force pilots — Group Captain Prasanth
Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap and Wing
Commander Shubhanshu Shukla — selected for the Gaganyaan mission who have been
undergoing training for the last few years.
• Of these, Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla has been shortlisted for a joint ISRO-
NASA space flight next year which will take him to the International Space Station.

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 LIGO project
• Seven years after an in-principle approval, the government’s final go-ahead to the LIGO
project paves the way for construction to begin on India’s largest scientific facility that
will bolster global efforts to probe the universe through the detection and study of
gravitational waves.

LIGO, or Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory

• It is an international network of laboratories meant to detect gravitational waves — the
ripples in space-time produced by the movement of large celestial bodies like stars and
planets.
• First discovered in 2015 by two LIGOs based in the United States
• Two years later, in 2017, this experimental verification of the century-old theory received
the Nobel Prize in Physics
• Besides the United States (in Hanford and Livingston), such gravitational wave
observatories are currently operational in Italy (Virgo) and Japan (Kagra).

LIGO-India
• It is part of the plan to expand the network of gravitational wave observatories in order
to increase the chances of detecting these waves from anywhere in the observable universe
and improve the accuracy and quality of information gleaned from them.
• Until now, at least 10 events producing gravitational waves have been detected.
• Besides the United States, such gravitational wave observatories are currently operational
in Europe and Japan. LIGO-India will be the fifth, and possibly the final, node of the
planned network.
• To be located in Hingoli district of Maharashtra, about 450 km east of Mumbai, LIGO-India
is scheduled to begin its scientific runs from 2030. The final approval, involving a budget of
Rs 2,600 crore, has taken several years in coming.
• The LIGO detector in India would be similar to the two that are located in the United States
– in Hanford and Livingston.

Gravitational Waves
• Gravitational waves are 'ripples' in space-time caused by some of the most violent and
energetic processes in the Universe.
• Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1916 in his general theory
of relativity.
• Einstein's mathematics showed that massive accelerating objects (such as neutron stars or
black holes orbiting each other) would disrupt space-time in such a way that 'waves' of
undulating space-time would propagate in all directions away from the source. These

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 cosmic ripples would travel at the speed of light, carrying with them information about
their origins, as well as clues to the nature of gravity itself.
• The strongest gravitational waves are produced by cataclysmic events such as colliding
black holes, supernovae (massive stars exploding at the end of their lifetimes), and colliding
neutron stars.
• Other waves are predicted to be caused by the rotation of neutron stars that are not perfect
spheres, and possibly even the remnants of gravitational radiation created by the Big Bang.

Sources and Types of Gravitational Waves

• Every massive object that accelerates produces gravitational waves. This includes
humans, cars, airplanes etc., but the masses and accelerations of objects on Earth are far
too small to make gravitational waves big enough to detect with our instruments. To find
big enough gravitational waves, we have to look far outside of our own solar system.
• It turns out that the Universe is filled with incredibly massive objects that undergo rapid
accelerations that by their nature, generate gravitational waves that we can actually detect.
• Examples of such things are orbiting pairs of black holes and neutron stars, or massive
stars blowing up at the ends of their lives.

NISAR Mission
• ISRO-NASA built NISAR satellite ready to be shipped to India for launch

About NISAR
• An earth-observation satellite jointly developed by NASA and ISRO that will help study
Earth’s land and ice surfaces in greater detail
• This mission will be a powerful demonstration of the capability of radar as a science tool
and help us study Earth’s dynamic land and ice surfaces in greater detail than ever before
• ISRO and NASA joined hands in 2014 to build the 2,800 kg satellite. In March 2021, ISRO
sent its S-Band SAR payload developed in India to NASA for integration with the L-Band
payload built by JPL (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
• This marks an important milestone in our shared journey to better understand planet Earth
and our changing climate. NISAR will provide critical information on Earth’s crust, ice
sheets, and ecosystems
• NISAR will gather radar data with a drum-shaped reflector antenna almost 12 meters in
diameter. It will use a signal-processing technique called interferometric synthetic aperture
radar, or InSAR, to observe changes in Earth’s land and ice surfaces down to fractions of an
inch.
• The satellite will help researchers detect slow-moving variations of a land surface that can

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 precede earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic eruptions.

Benefits
• Data about such movements could help communities prepare for natural hazards such as
the Joshimath land subsidence.
• Measurements of melting sea ice and ice sheets will improve understanding of the pace
and impacts of climate change, including sea level rise.
• Over the course of its three-year prime mission, the satellite will observe nearly the entire
planet every 12 days, making observations day and night, in all weather conditions

Compact Research Module for Orbital Plant Studies (CROPS)

• Context-The lobia (black-eyed pea) seeds that the Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) sent to space on December 30 as a part of its Compact Research Module for Orbital
Plant Studies (CROPS) germinated recently

How did ISRO grow lobia in space?

• The ISRO CROPS box is like a mini greenhouse. It has a soil-like medium, lobia, water,
sunlight-mimicking lights, and Earth-like air.
• The only thing different is gravity, at around 0.01 g”, or 1% of the gravitational strength
on the Earth’s surface.
• For the soil-like medium, ISRO used some highly porous clay comprising tiny pellets. The
porosity helped absorb and retain water. The pellets consisted of a water-activated slow-
release fertiliser, which was to provide nutrients to the plant in a controlled manner over a
period of time.
• For photosynthesis, ISRO used four warm LEDs and four cool LEDs. The lights are
programmed to be on for 16 hours and off for 8 hours, simulating day and night conditions.
• Temperatures inside the module were regulated between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius, and
Earth-like atmospheric conditions were maintained. Water was injected into the soil-like
medium by an electric valve operated from Earth.
• Seeds sprouted on the fourth day of the experiment, and the next day, two leaves were also
visible.

Why grow plants in space?

• As humans venture out on lengthy space missions to colonise celestial bodies like Mars and
the Moon, space-grown plants can provide a sustainable food source.
• With minimal scope of restocking supplies, astronauts cannot simply rely on a limited stock
of multivitamins during missions that may go on for years.

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 • Pre-packaged vitamins break down and lose their nutritive value over long periods of time.
• Since plants release oxygen during photosynthesis, growing them in space can help keep
the air aboard spacecraft breathable.
• Plants can recycle carbon dioxide and organic waste, creating a closed-loop life support
system. Tending to plants can also help reduce stress and improve astronauts’ overall
mental well-being,

Challenges
• The most significant challenge is microgravity, the condition in which people or objects
appear to be weightless.
• The lack of gravity precludes plants’ roots from growing downwards, in addition to making
nutrient delivery a difficult task. Since water tends to cling to any surface it touches in
microgravity, when sprayed onto the base of a plant, it does not trickle down to the roots
where it would be absorbed.
• Plants grown in space also need to be protected from the high levels of radiation that can
damage their DNA and hinder growth, and insulated from temperature fluctuations —
often hundreds of degrees — that are normal in space.
• Light conditions, especially in the outer Solar System where sunlight is scarce, pose another
challenge. Without light, photosynthesis stops, and plants begin to consume more oxygen
than they produce.

How are plants being grown in space?

• Scientists have so far grown plants in space on a fairly small scale. The space garden aboard
the International Space Station, known as ‘Veggie’ or the Vegetable Production System, is
the size of the average carry-on bag. It typically holds six plants.
• There are several ways in which plants can be grown in space. The most common is
hydroponics. Water and nutrients in hydroponically grown plants are delivered via liquid
solutions, rather than through the soil.
• Plants can also be grown aeroponically, which eliminates the need for soil or any other
medium. This method reduces water usage by 98%, fertiliser usage by 60%, and eliminates
the need for pesticides altogether.
• Plants grown in aeroponic systems have been shown to absorb more minerals and vitamins,
making them healthier and potentially more nutritious. Plants can also be grown in space
in soil-like media.

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What kind of plants are ideal for growing in space?
• Plants are selected based on their growth rate, nutrient content, and compatibility with
space farming systems.
• Leafy green vegetables like lettuce, spinach, and kale, which grow quickly, require little
space, and are rich in nutrients, are ideal space plants.
• Beans and peas are also cultivated since they are protein-dense and can fix nitrogen in the
soil-like medium, improving nutrient cycles.
• Radishes and carrots grow well in compact space. Wheat and rice are grown for long-term
sustenance in space habitats.
• Fruits such as tomatoes and strawberries can also be grown.

CROPS
• CROPS stands for Compact Research Module for Orbital Plant Studies which is an
unmanned experimental module designed to develop ISRO’s capabilities for growing and
sustaining plants in space.
• CROPS first mission (CROPS – 1) is designed to demonstrate germination of a seed and
growth of plant up to two leaves stage in space. It is an airtight container of diameter 300mm
and height 450mm simulating earth like environment in space except gravi
• CROPS – 1 was flown in PSLV C60 mission in POEM 4 payload to demonstrate
germination of a seed and sustenance up to two leaves stage in space for 5 to 7 days.
• Cowpea (Scientific name: Vigna Unguiculata) was chosen based on ground trials on a
variety of seeds due to its shorter germination time.
• After launch and main satellite separation, POEM platform was lowered to 350 km orbit
and CROPS – 1 payload was switched on. All system parameters were found normal and
the temperature was regulated precisely between 20 to 30 deg Celsius.

SpaDex mission
• The SpaDeX mission consists of two small spacecraft (about 220 kg each) to be launched by
PSLV-C60, independently and simultaneously, into a 470 km circular orbit at 55° inclination,
with a local time cycle of about 66 days.

Objectives:
• The primary objective of the SpaDeX mission is to develop and demonstrate the technology
needed for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft (SDX01, which is
the Chaser, and SDX02, the Target, nominally) in a low-Earth circular orbit. Secondary
objectives include:

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 • Demonstration of the transfer of electric power between the docked spacecraft, which is
essential for future applications such as in-space robotics,
• Composite spacecraft control, and
• Payload operations after undocking.

Space Docking
• Docking is a process by which two fast-moving spacecraft are brought to the same orbit,
and then closer to each other manually or autonomously, and finally joined together. This
capability is necessary for carrying out missions that require heavy spacecraft that a single
launch vehicle may not be capable of lifting off with
• In 1966, the Gemini VIII spacecraft became the first to dock with the Agena target vehicle.
It was a crewed mission orbiting the Earth. Interestingly, one of the astronauts on board
was Neil Armstrong, who went on to become the first person to set foot on the moon in
1969.
• While the US mission had astronauts on board to steer the spacecraft, the then Soviet Union
in 1967 demonstrated the first uncrewed, automated docking of Kosmos 186 and Kosmos
188 spacecraft.
• China first demonstrated its docking capability in 2011, when the unmanned Shenzhou 8
spacecraft docked with the Tiangong 1 space laboratory.

What will happen during the docking experiment?

• To demonstrate docking, several manoeuvres will be carried out to progressively bring the
SDX01 or Chaser satellite close to the SDX02 or Target satellite. The satellites will drift
closer and halt at 5 km, 1.5 km, 500 m, 225 m, 15 m, and 3 m. Finally, the extended rings on
both satellites will come in contact and join. The rings will then be retracted and locked in
place.
• Once connected, the satellites will share electrical power. The ISRO scientists will also
demonstrate giving commands to both the satellites as one. Once successful, the spacecraft
will undock and then drift away to remain in space and conduct experiments for the next
two years

Significance for India

• With its vision of setting up a space station by 2035 and sending humans to the moon by
2040, ISRO has been working on key technologies to realise the vision, such as a new heavy-
lift launch vehicle capable of carrying up to 30 tonnes to low earth orbit (an altitude of 2,000
km or less). The missions, however, would require docking capability. Take, for example,
the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, which will be built by bringing together five modules in
space. The first robotic module is slated to be launched in 2028.
• Docking capability will also be required for the next lunar mission Chandrayaan-4, which

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 aims to bring back samples from the moon.

Radio thermoelectric generators

• Context-India’s space agency, ISRO is jointly developing a nuclear-powered engine along
with Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC)
• ISRO-BARC are developing what are called Radio thermoelectric generators (RTGs).

Reason
• Chemical engines, such as those that power the thrusters in satellites, are fine up to a point,
but if you want to send a spacecraft deep into space, such as into inter-planetary missions,
they will not do—neither can they carry that much fuel nor can they be solar powered
because sunlight will not reach a solar panel at such long distances.

Radio thermoelectric generators (RTGs)

• The nuclear engines are not to be thought of as nuclear fission reactors that generate
electricity. The RTGs use radioactive materials, such as Plutonium-238 or Strontium-90,
which release heat as they decay.
• Essentially, the engine contains two parts—the radioisotope heater unit (RHU) which
generates heat, and the RTG, which converts the heat into electricity.
• This heat is transferred to a ‘thermocouple’--a material that develops a voltage if there is
a heat gradient across it. To put it in simple terms, think of it as a rod—if one end is hot and
the other end is not, there will be a voltage across the rod (‘Seeback Effect’).
• The voltage can be harnessed to charge batteries that can provide motive force to a satellite.
ISRO is targeting a 5W RTG.
• RTGs, however, are not entirely new. US spacecrafts such as the Voyager, Cassini and
Curiosity have been powered by RTGs.

Quantum satellite
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)
• Technique that allows for secure distribution of keys to be used for encrypting and
decrypting messages.
• Whereas in QKD achieves security through the laws of quantum physics i.e.
superposition and entanglement.

Superposition
• means that each qubit can represent both a 1 and a 0 at the same time.

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Quantum entanglement
• Subatomic particles become inextricably linked or “entangled” in such a way that any
change in one disturbs the other even if both are at opposite ends of the universe.
• Quantum Satellite serves as source of pairs of entangled photons, twinned light particles
whose properties remain intertwined no matter how far apart they are.
• This means any attempt at hacking entangled particles would be impossible.

• Context- Recently Mission Governing Board of the nascent National Quantum Mission, said
India plans to launch a quantum satellite in “2-3 years for quantum communications”.

National Quantum Mission

• It is a Department of Science & Technology programme to accelerate the use of quantum
physics in the development of next-generation communications and sensing systems.
• The Union Cabinet approved the NQM in April 2023 at a total cost of Rs 6,000 crore, to be
implemented from 2023 to 2031. The planned quantum satellite is an experiment in this
package.

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Quantum satellite
• A quantum satellite is a term for a communications satellite that uses quantum physics to
secure its signals.
• Communications is a broad term that refers to technologies that send and receive signals.
An important part of these technologies is security: preventing bad actors from
intercepting a message being transmitted across large distances, through multiple
networks.
• The advent of quantum computers threatens the technologies currently being used to secure
messages. Fortunately, quantum physics has also paved the way for new forms of
protection, and quantum satellites are expected to facilitate them.

How can quantum physics protect messages?

• Quantum cryptography uses the tenets of quantum physics to secure messages. Its most
famous type is quantum key distribution (QKD).
• For example , person A used a secret code to encrypt or ‘lock’ his message and perspn B had
the key to decrypt and read the message. QKD is concerned with sharing the key with
person A and B such that if person C is eavesdropping on the transmission, everyone will
find out and the sharing is aborted.

Quantum physics can reveal eavesdropping in different ways.

• One is quantum measurement — the act of measuring the properties of a quantum system,
like a photon (the subatomic particle of light). According to the rules of quantum physics, a
quantum measurement changes the state of the system. Suppose there are three persons i.e
A,B and C. If information about the key is encoded in a stream of photons (in two states,
one representing 0 and the other 1) and person C traps and measures them to look for it, the
state of the photons will change and person A and B will know the key has been
compromised.
• Another way is to use quantum entanglement: when two photons are entangled, any
change to one particle will instantaneously change the other. (This is a necessarily simplistic
description.)
• Since the key will be lost irrespective of what technological capabilities person C possesses,
QKD is said to provide unconditional security.

Has QKD been implemented?

• China currently operates the world’s largest QKD network with three quantum satellites
and four ground stations.
• Experts are also trying to implement QKD across longer distances. In the two decades
since its experimental proof in 1992, the distance of reliable transmissions has increased to
several hundred kilometres either through fibre-optic cables or free space.

35
 • In 2013, researchers from China reported that they had implemented QKD between a
ground station and a moving hot-air balloon (carrying a payload of instruments) 20 km up.
This demonstration bolstered the case for quantum satellites.
• In an October 2024 study, researchers at the Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru, reported
that the Indian Astronomical Observatory in Hanle, Ladakh, offered the best atmospheric
conditions through which to transmit data for a satellite-based QKD system. It had an
estimated signal loss of 44 dB, compared to 50 dB in the Chinese experiment.
• Our main signal would be at 810 nm while the uplink and downlink would use 532 nm and
1550 nm of wavelength, respectively,” the paper’s lead author Satya Ranjan Behera told
the Department of Science & Technology. The planned beam distance is 500 km.

Limitations
• QKD does not provide a means to authenticate the QKD transmission source
• Since QKD is hardware-based , QKD networks can’t be upgraded or patched easily;
• QKD increases infrastructure costs and insider threat risks that eliminate many use cases
from consideration
• The actual security provided by a QKD system is not the theoretical unconditional security
from the laws of physics but rather the more limited security that can be achieved by
hardware and engineering designs
• Since eavesdroppers can cause a transmission to stop, they can deny the use of a
transmission by its intended users (a.k.a. a denial-of-service attack).
• Post-quantum cryptography refers to cryptographic techniques that resist attacks from both
quantum and classical devices using more advanced classical encryption.
• Quantum physics also imposes some restrictions. For example, non-quantum information
can be amplified before being transmitted across large distances whereas the no-cloning
theorem prohibits the amplification of quantum information.

3D Printing
• 3D printing or additive manufacturing uses computer-aided designing to make prototypes
or working models of objects by laying down successive layers of materials such as plastic,
resin, thermoplastic, metal, fibre or ceramic.
• The model to be printed is first developed by the computer, which then gives instructions
to the 3D printer.

Significance
• Companies can make specific products for projects where there are very specific
demands such as lightweight equipment, etc.

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 • One of the key applications for such products is in the medical and allied sector.
• The USA remains the global leader in 3D printing, with more than 35% market share.
• In Asia, about 50% of its market is cornered by China, followed by Japan at 30%, and South
Korea at 10%.

Challenges
• Lack of Standards: No global qualifications and certification norms.
• Risk of Job Losses
• High cost
• largest consumer of 3D printing is the automotive industry Put more pressure after BS
VI

India's first 3D printed house

• It was built by IIT-Madras startup Tvasta was inaugurated on the campus.
• The house, which has a built-up area of 600 square feet, has a bedroom, a hall and a kitchen.
• The entire house was designed using software and printed using concrete 3D printing
technology.
• Using this technology, a new house can be built in five days against four or five months in
conventional mode.

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 4D Printing
• 4D printing is the process through which a 3D printed object transforms itself into another
structure over the influence of external energy input as temperature, light or other
environmental stimuli.

3D Printing Vs 4D Printing
• 3D Printing is about repeating a 2D structure, layer by layer in a print path, from the bottom
to the top, layer by layer until a 3D volume is created. 4D Printing is referred to as 3D
printing transforming over time. Thus, a fourth dimension is added: time. So, the big
breakthrough about 4D Printing over 3D Printing technology is its ability to change
shape over time.
• A 4D printed object is printed just like any 3D printed shape. The difference is that the 4D
Printing technology uses programmable and advanced materials that perform a different
functionality by adding hot water, light or heat. That’s why a non-living object can change
its 3D shape and behavior over time.

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Potential Advantages of 4D Printing
• Size changing
o Since the 4D printed objects can change shape, can shrink and unfold, objects that
are too large to fit a printer can be compressed for 3D printing into their secondary
form.
o 4D printing could allow to just print a flat board that will curl up into a chair by just
adding water or light to it.
• New materials= new properties
o Shapememory polymer will resemble tailorable shapes is very important for the
health industry. For instance, we could make devices that will change shape are
release medicine when the patient gets fewer.
• Self-repair piping system
o Pipes that could possibly heal themselves automatically if they crack or break, due
to their ability to change in response to the environment’s change.

• Fashion
o One of the ideas is that clothing could change accordingly to the weather or the

39
 activity. For instance, shoes could change their shape when you start running to
provide you with better comfort and amortization.

Dark patterns
• Context-The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), the country’s top consumer
watchdog, has notified guidelines for the “prevention and regulation” of dark patterns
• The Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023, issued under section
18 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, have been notified by the CCPA in the Official
Gazette on November 30.
• The guidelines that have now come into force will apply to all platforms, systematically
offering goods or services in India; advertisers and sellers. They prohibit “against engaging”
in dark patterns
• “No person, including any platform, shall engage in any dark pattern practice,” as per the
norms.

Dark pattern
• Dark patterns are tactics used by online platforms to mislead customers and prevent them
from making right choices.
• The guidelines define dark patterns as “any practices or deceptive design pattern using
user interface or user experience interactions on any platform that is designed to mislead or
trick users to do something they originally did not intend or want to do, by subverting or
impairing the consumer autonomy, decision making or choice, amounting to misleading
advertisement or unfair trade practice or violation of consumer rights.”
• The guidelines, have a list of 11 specified dark patterns. These are— false urgency; basket
sneaking; confirm shaming; forced action; subscription trap; interface interference; bait and
switch; drip pricing; disguise advertisement; nagging; trick question; Saas billing; and rogue
malwares.
• In the draft guidelines, the Centre had given the list of 10 specified dark patterns. However,
in the final guidelines this list has been expanded to 13.

Specified Dark Patterns

False Urgency
• It means falsely stating or implying the sense of urgency or scarcity so as to mislead a user
into making an immediate purchase or taking an immediate action, which may lead to a
purchase, including –
o showing false popularity of a product or service to manipulate user decision;
o stating that quantities of a particular product or service are more limited than they

40
 actually are.

Basket sneaking
• Means inclusion of additional items such as products, services, payments to charity or
donation at the time of checkout from a platform, without the consent of the user, such
that the total amount payable by the user is more than the amount payable for the product
or service chosen by the user: Provided that the addition of free samples or providing
complimentary services or addition of necessary fees disclosed at the time of purchase, shall
not be considered as basket sneaking.

Confirm shaming
• Means using a phrase, video, audio or any other means to create a sense of fear or shame
or ridicule or guilt in the mind of the user so as to nudge the user to act in a certain way that
results in the user purchasing a product or service from the platform or continuing a
subscription of a service, primarily for the purpose of making commercial gains by
subverting consumer choice.

Forced action
• Mean forcing a user into taking an action that would require the user to buy any additional
goods or subscribe or sign up for an unrelated service or share personal information in order
to buy or subscribe to the product or service originally intended by the user.

Subscription trap
• Means the process of- (i) making cancellation of a paid subscription impossible or a
complex and lengthy process; or (ii) hiding the cancellation option for a subscription; or
(iii) forcing a user to provide payment details or authorization for auto debits for availing a
free subscription; or (iv) making the instructions related to cancellation of subscription
ambiguous, latent, confusing, cumbersome.

Interface interference
• Means a design element that manipulates the user interface in ways that (a) highlights
certain specific information; and (b) obscures other relevant information relative to the
other information; to misdirect a user from taking an action as desired.

Bait and switch

• Means the practice of advertising a particular outcome based on the user’s action but
deceptively serving an alternate outcome.

Drip pricing-means a practice whereby-

• Elements of prices are not revealed upfront or are revealed surreptitiously within the user
experience; or
• Revealing the price post-confirmation of purchase, i.e. charging an amount higher than the

41
 amount disclosed at the time of checkout; or
• A product or service is advertised as free without appropriate disclosure of the fact that the
continuation of use requires in-app purchase; or
• A user is prevented from availing a service which is already paid for unless something
additional is purchased.

Disguised advertisement
• Means a practice of posing, masking advertisements as other types of content such as user-
generated content or new articles or false advertisements, which are designed to blend in
with the rest of an interface in order to trick customers into clicking on them.

Nagging
• Means a dark pattern practice due to which a user is disrupted and annoyed by repeated
and persistent interactions, in the form of requests, information, options, or
interruptions, to effectuate a transaction and make some commercial gains, unless
specifically permitted by the user.

Trick Question
• Means the deliberate use of confusing or vague language like confusing wording, double
negatives, or other similar tricks, in order to misguide or misdirect a user from taking
desired action or leading consumer to take a specific response or action.

Saas billing
• Refers to the process of generating and collecting payments from consumers on a recurring
basis in a software as a service (SaaS) business model by exploiting positive acquisition
loops in recurring subscriptions to get money from users as surreptitiously as possible.

Rogue Malwares
• Means using a ransomware or scareware to mislead or trick user into believing there is a
virus on their computer and aims to convince them to pay for a fake malware removal tool
that actually installs malware on their computer.

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 Cookies
• Context-cookies offer undeniable advantages, there is a flip side to considering privacy
concerns and the potential for data misuse.

How do cookies work?

• Think of cookies as the key to a secure, members-only club. Just like the club bouncer
recognises regular patrons and grants them seamless access, cookies remember your login
information on websites. This means you do not have to repeatedly enter your credentials
every time you revisit a site, making it convenient for use.
• On websites like Amazon, cookies remember your previous interactions; from products
you have browsed to purchases you have made. Armed with this knowledge, Amazon
serves up tailored product recommendations and content, making your online shopping
feel like a personalised boutique experience.
• Platforms like Facebook and Google use cookies to track online behaviour, ensuring the
ads you encounter align with your preferences.
• While cookies offer undeniable advantages, there is a flip side to considering privacy
concerns and the potential for data misuse.

Types of cookies
• Session cookies -are temporary cookies like post-it notes for websites. They are stored in
your computer’s memory only during your browsing session. Once you close your
browser, they vanish. Session cookies help websites remember your actions as you navigate,
like items in your shopping cart.
• Persistent cookies -are the digital equivalent of bookmarks. They stay on your device after
your browsing session ends. Persistent cookies remember your login information,
language preferences, and even the ads you have interacted with. They are handy for a
more personalised web experience.
• Secure cookies are only sent over encrypted connections, making them safer from prying
eyes. Secure cookies are often used for sensitive data like login credentials.
• Third-party cookies- are similar—they come from a domain other than the one you are
visiting. They are often used for tracking and advertising purposes, which can be both
useful and, at times, intrusive.

Inside the digital world of cookies

Uses of cookies
• Firstly, they act as digital ID cards, aiding in user authentication by allowing websites to
recognise and keep you logged in during your visit.
• Secondly, they foster a sense of personalisation, recalling your preferences such as

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 language choice or website theme.
• Thirdly, they function as the digital equivalent of a persistent shopping cart, ensuring that
items you have added online remain there when you return.
• Additionally, cookies facilitate website owners in gathering invaluable analytics data
about user interactions, enabling them to make enhancements and customise content.
• Finally, cookies play a pivotal role in targeted advertising, as advertisers use them to
display ads that align with your interests and browsing history, making online shopping
more enticing. Navigating the world of cookies is not all sweetness; but it comes with its set
of challenges.

Challenges
• Firstly, privacy concerns arise as cookies could track your online behaviour, which, while
often harmless, can sometimes encroach upon your digital privacy.
• Secondly, security risks loom when cookies are inadequately secured, opening doors for
cybercriminals to pilfer your personal information.
• Thirdly, the era of user consent has dawned, thanks to privacy regulations like the General
Data Protection Regulation and The California Consumer Privacy Act, necessitating
websites to seek your approval before deploying certain cookie types, resulting in those
somewhat irksome pop-ups and prompts.
• India’s newly enacted Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 now necessitates websites
to acquire explicit consent from users prior to collecting or processing their personal data
via cookies.
• In contrast to earlier regulations that often accepted implied consent as satisfactory, the
updated law highlights the significance of transparent and well-informed consent.
• Fourthly, third-party cookies have sparked debates, prompting many web browsers to
curb their usage to safeguard user privacy.
• Lastly, the data deluge generated by the multitude of cookies can potentially clog your
browser, leading to a sluggish web experience.
• Conclusively, cookies are both sweet and complex. They play a crucial role in enhancing
your online experience, but they also come with privacy and security challenges. As the
digital landscape continues to evolve, so will the way cookies will be used and regulated.
So, the next time you enjoy a warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie, remember the digital
cookies that make your online adventures more personalised, even if they sometimes leave
a few crumbs behind..

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 5G INTERNET
• 5G is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks.
• Bands in 5G
o Low band spectrum:
o Mid-band spectrum:
o High-band spectrum:

Low band spectrum • Great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet
• Maximum speed is limited to 100 Mbps
• Main use- commercial cell phones

Mid-band spectrum • Higher speeds compared to the low band

• Limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of
signals
• Use-industries and specialized factory units for building
captive networks

High-band spectrum • Highest speed of all the three bands

• Extremely limited coverage and signal penetration
strength.
• Use-IoT

• Millimeter wave spectrum is the band of spectrum between 30 GHz and 300 GHz.
• Wedged between microwave and infrared waves, this spectrum can be used for high-

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 speed wireless communications
• Millimeter wave spectrum
o The 5G networks will operate in the millimeter wave spectrum (30-300 GHz) which
have the advantage of sending large amounts of data at very high speeds because
the frequency is so high, it experiences little interference from surrounding signals.

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 Gravity energy
• Context-Gravity energy storage is emerging as a viable solution to address a major
challenge of solar and wind power which is intermittent supply

What Are Gravity Batteries?

• Gravity batteries, also known as gravitational energy storage systems, are a type of energy
storage technology that uses the force of gravity to store and release energy.
• These systems typically consist of a large mass, such as a heavy block or a column of water,
that is raised to a certain height using excess energy generated from renewable sources such
as solar or wind power.
• When energy is needed, the mass is allowed to fall, converting potential energy into kinetic
energy that can be used to generate electricity.

How Do Gravity Batteries Work?

• Gravity batteries operate on the principle of storing and releasing potential energy
through the force of gravity.
• The basic components of a gravity battery system include a heavy mass, a lifting
mechanism, and a generator to convert the falling mass into electricity. The process of
storing and releasing energy in a gravity battery can be broken down into the following
steps:
• Step 1: Energy Generation
o The first step in the operation of a gravity battery system is the generation of excess
energy from renewable sources such as solar or wind power. This excess energy is
used to lift the heavy mass to a certain height, where it is stored as potential energy.
• Step 2: Energy Storage
o Once the heavy mass is raised to the desired height, it is locked in place using a
mechanical or hydraulic system to prevent it from falling prematurely. The potential
energy stored in the mass can be calculated using the formula E = mgh, where E is
the potential energy, m is the mass of the object, g is the acceleration due to gravity,
and h is the height of the object.
• Step 3: Energy Release
o When energy is needed, the locking mechanism is disengaged, allowing the heavy
mass to fall under the force of gravity. As the mass descends, it converts its potential
energy into kinetic energy, which is used to drive a generator and produce electricity.
The amount of energy released can be controlled by adjusting the height from which
the mass falls.
• Step 4: Energy Conversion

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 o The kinetic energy generated by the falling mass is converted into electricity using a
generator, such as a turbine or a flywheel. This electricity can then be stored in a grid-
connected system or used to power electrical devices directly.

Benefits of Gravity Batteries

• High Energy Storage Capacity: Gravity batteries have the potential to store large amounts
of energy for extended periods of time, making them ideal for storing excess energy
generated from renewable sources.
• Long Lifespan: Gravity batteries have a longer lifespan compared to traditional batteries,
with some systems capable of lasting for decades with minimal maintenance.
• Cost-Effective: Gravity batteries are a cost-effective solution for storing renewable energy,
as they have lower maintenance requirements and longer lifespans than other energy
storage technologies.
• Environmentally Friendly: Gravity batteries do not rely on chemical reactions to store and
release energy, making them a more environmentally friendly option for energy storage.
• Grid Stability: Gravity batteries can help to stabilize grid networks by storing excess energy
during periods of low demand and releasing it during peak demand times.
• A recent study found that while gravity energy storage and battery energy storage
increased solar energy penetration by up to 7.26 percent, the former outperforms the latter
in lifetime costs and energy efficiency.

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Challenges and Limitations
• Efficiency: Gravity batteries have lower round-trip efficiency compared to other energy
storage technologies, as energy is lost during the process of lifting and lowering the heavy
mass.
• Site Constraints: Gravity batteries require a large amount of space to accommodate the
heavy mass and lifting mechanism, which can be a limiting factor in urban environments or
areas with limited land availability.
• Environmental Impact: While gravity batteries are more environmentally friendly than
traditional batteries, the manufacturing and installation of these systems can still have an
impact on the environment, particularly in terms of resource extraction and emissions.
• Cost: Gravity batteries can be expensive to install and maintain, particularly for large-scale
applications, which can be a barrier to widespread adoption.

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