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Space - General Knowledge Questions
A)
Canada
B)
China
C)
Russia
D)
United States

Correct Answer : Option (B) - China

China on Monday(31st Oct 2022) successfully launched a second lab module to be part of its ambitious space station currently under construction.
 
The lab module called Mengtian was launched using a Long March-5B Y4 rocket, one of China’s biggest rockets, from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan.
 
Scientific equipment in the Mengtian module, the second lab component of China’s under-construction space station, will be used for studying microgravity and carrying out experiments in fluid physics, materials science, combustion science, and fundamental physics, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
 
The Wentian lab which was sent earlier focused more on biological and space life sciences.
 
Also, the Mengtian will carry the world’s first space-based set of cold atomic clocks consisting of a hydrogen clock, a rubidium clock, and an optical clock.
 
“If successful, the cold atomic clocks will form the most precise time and frequency system in space, which should not lose one second in hundreds of millions of years,” said Zhang Wei, director of the Utilisation Development Centre of Technology and Engineering Centre for Space Utilisation under the Chinese Academy of Sciences told the state-run Global Times recently.
 
China is currently building its space station and according to an announcement by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC) its construction was expected to be completed this year(2022)..

Source : The Print

A)
36 satellites
B)
39 satellites
C)
43 satellites
D)
45 satellites

Correct Answer : Option (A) - 36 satellites

In a big success, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) today(23rd Oct 2022) launched 36 satellites in its heaviest rocket, LVM3.
 
ISRO's heaviest rocket blasted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota in the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday(23rd Oct 2022) at 12:07 am to place 36 broadband communication satellites into the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for a UK-based OneWeb.
 
OneWeb is a private satellite communications company, in which India's Bharti Enterprises is a major investor and shareholder.
 
ISRO's heaviest vehicle, LMV3, is also dubbed as one of the heaviest for its ability to carry satellites up to 8,000 kg.
 
The mission assumes significance as this was LVM3's maiden commercial mission and also NewSpace India's (NSIL) first with the said launch vehicle. NSIL is a central public sector enterprise under the Department of Space.
 
ISRO Chairman S Somanath had conducted a special pooja on Saturday morning at "Sri Chengalamma Parameshwari Devi Temple at Sullurpeta" in the Tirupati district for the success of GSLV Mark-3 rocket launch.
 
The 43.5 metre tall rocket was launched at 12.07 am after at the end of the 24-hour countdown with a payload of 5,796 kg. The LVM3-M2 rocket is a three-stage launch vehicle consisting of two solid propellant S200 strap-ons on its sides and core stage comprising L110 liquid stage and C25 cryogenic stage.
 
Just after 19 minutes after the launch, the LVM3 placed the 36 small broadband communication satellites in low earth orbit (LEO).
 
The launch is also the first for LVM3-M2 to place the satellites in the Low Earth Orbit (up to 1,200 kms above the earth) unlike Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).
 
ISRO scientists have rechristened the launch vehicle its present name from GSLV-MKK III as the newest rocket is capable of launching 4,000 kilogram class of satellites into GTO and 8,000 kgs of payloads into LEO..

Source : Economic Times

A)
2026
B)
2025
C)
2024
D)
2023

Correct Answer : Option (D) - 2023

Indian Space Research Organisation planned to launch its third mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-3, in June 2023.
 
The move will help the organisation in its future interplanetary explorations. In addition to setting the timeline for Chandrayan-3, ISRO has also lined up the first test flight of the 'abort mission for Gaganyaan, the country's first human spaceflight, early next year(2023).
 
"Chandrayaan-3 (C-3) launch will be in June next year(2023) onboard the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3)," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S Somanath told.
 
After informing about the first test flight of the ‘abort mission’, he also said ISRO has decided to fly Indian astronauts into orbit by the end of 2024 after carrying out successful abort missions and uncrewed test flights.
 
It is worth noting that India failed in its maiden attempt to land a rover on the moon after the Vikram lander onboard the Chandrayaan-2 mission crashed on the moon in September 2019.

"C-3 is ready now. It is not a replica of C-2. The rover is there. The engineering is significantly different. We have made it more robust so that it does not have problems like last time," Somnath said.

Source : Mint

A)
A. S. Kiran Kumar
B)
Dr. Sankarasubramanian K
C)
Nambi Narayanan
D)
K. Radhakrishnan

Correct Answer : Option (B) - Dr. Sankarasubramanian K

The Indian Space Research Organisation on Wednesday(19th Oct 2022) said Dr. Sankarasubramanian K has been designated as the Principal Scientist of the Aditya-L1 mission.

Aditya-L1 is the first observatory-class space-based solar mission from India. "The spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around the first Lagrange point, L1, of the Sun-Earth system," the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency said in a statement.

A satellite around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without occultation/eclipses. This position provides a greater advantage of observing solar activities continuously.

Abour Dr. Sankarasubramanian K :

* Dr. Sankarasubramanian K. is a senior solar scientist at the U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru. He obtained his PhD in Physics from Bangalore University through the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru.

* His research areas of interest are the Solar Magnetic field, Optics, and Instrumentation. He has contributed to AstroSat, Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2 missions of ISRO in several capacities. Currently, he is heading the Space Astronomy Group (SAG) of URSC.

* SAG is involved in developing scientific payloads for the upcoming missions of Aditya-L1, XPoSat, and science payload onboard the Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module. He is also the Principal Investigator for one of the X-ray payloads onboard Aditya-L1..

Source : Times Now News

A)
ESA
B)
JAXA
C)
NASA
D)
ISRO

Correct Answer : Option (C) - NASA

NASA has announced that Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft has successfully managed to change the motion of the asteroid 'Dimorphos'.
 
This is the first demonstration of the “kinetic impactor” method of asteroid mitigation
 
It was launched in November 2021 and crashed into the space rock on September 26, 2022
 
Prior, it took Dimorphos 11 hours and 55 minutes to orbit its asteroid Didymos, now it changed the moonlet asteroid’s orbit by 32 minutes..

Source : CNN

A)
Russia
B)
China
C)
Israel
D)
United States

Correct Answer : Option (A) - Russia

Russia launched its Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying the GLONASS-K navigation system on Monday(10th Oct 2022) from a northern cosmodrome.
 
The GLONASS-K satellite lifted off on the Soyuz rocket at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, about 800 km (500 miles) north of Moscow.
 
GLONASS-K is a navigation satellite intended as a part of the Russian GLONASS radio-based satellite navigation system
 
Russia has spent billions of dollars in the past two decades on developing the GLONASS system seen as a potential rival to the U.S. global positioning system (GPS)..

Source : Hindustan Times

A)
Japan
B)
Russia
C)
China
D)
South Korea

Correct Answer : Option (C) - China

* The Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), nicknamed Kuafu-1 in Chinese, was launched aboard a Long March-2D rocket at 9th Oct 2022, 07:43 a.m. (Beijing Time) and entered its planned orbit successfully.
 
* The solar observatory, named after Kuafu, a giant in Chinese mythology who indefatigably chased the sun, will extend its working hours to over 96 percent of the year.
 
* Kuafu-1, with three payloads onboard -- the Lyman-alpha Solar Telescope (LST), the Hard X-ray Imager (HXI), and the Full-disk Vector MagnetoGraph (FMG) -- is an all-rounder satellite specially designed for solar detection.
 
* Kuafu-1's scientific objectives are described as the probe on "1M2B" -- M for the solar magnetic field and two Bs for two violent bursts, i.e. solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), and their potential interplay..

Source : News

A)
Anne McClain
B)
Kayla Barron
C)
Christina Koch
D)
Nicole Mann

Correct Answer : Option (D) - Nicole Mann

A US astronaut, Nicole Mann became the first Native American woman in space following a NASA launch on October 5, 2022. Nicole Mann is one of the four astronauts who blasted off from Florida at midday bound for the International Space Station (ISS).

Nicole Mann is a veteran combat pilot who has made spaceflight history not just as the first indigenous woman in orbit but also as the first woman to command a Crew Dragon Capsule.

A)
October 6, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. ET, 16:00 UTC
B)
October 5, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. ET, 16:00 UTC
C)
October 4, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. ET, 16:00 UTC
D)
October 3, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. ET, 16:00 UTC

Correct Answer : Option (B) - October 5, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. ET, 16:00 UTC

On Wednesday, October 5, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. ET, 16:00 UTC, Falcon 9 launched Dragon's fifth operational human spaceflight mission (Crew-5) to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Following stage separation, Falcon 9's first stage landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship.
 
Dragon will autonomously dock with the space station on Thursday, October 6, at approximately 4:57 p.m. ET, 20:57 UTC. Follow Dragon and the crew's flight below.
 
During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct over 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations in areas such as human health and lunar fuel systems.
 
Webcast coverage will resume approximately two hours prior to docking.
 
Crew Members : SpaceX Crew5 astronauts, Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, NASA astronaut Josh Cassada, NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata pose for a photo as they leave the Operations and Checkout building before heading to Launch Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, for a mission to the International Space Station..

Source : SpaceX

A)
7 Years
B)
8 Years
C)
9 Years
D)
10 Years

Correct Answer : Option (B) - 8 Years

India’s Mars Orbiter craft has run out of propellant and its battery is drained beyond the safe limit, fuelling speculation that the country’s maiden interplanetary mission Mangalyaan may have finally completed its long innings.
 
The ₹450 crore Mars Orbiter Mission was launched onboard PSLV-C25 on November 5, 2013, and the MOM spacecraft was successfully inserted into the Martian orbit on September 24, 2014 in its first attempt. “Right now, there is no fuel left.
 
The satellite battery has drained,” a source in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. “The link has been lost.” There was, however, no official word from the country’s national space agency.
 
ISRO officials noted that the Mars orbiter craft functioned for almost eight years(8 Years), well beyond its designed mission life of six months.
 
The MOM — a technology demonstration venture — carried five scientific payloads (total 15 kg) collecting data on surface geology, morphology, atmospheric processes, surface temperature and atmospheric escape process.
 
The five instruments are: Mars Color Camera (MCC), Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS), Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA) and Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP).
 
“MOM is credited with many laurels like cost-effectiveness, short period of realisation, economical mass-budget, and miniaturisation of five heterogeneous science payloads", ISRO officials pointed out.
 
Highly elliptical orbit geometry of MOM enabled MCC to take snap shots of ‘Full disc’ of Mars at its farthest point and finer details from closest point.
 
The MCC has produced more than 1000 images and published a Mars Atlas..

Source : News18