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Space - General Knowledge Questions
A)
China
B)
Japan
C)
Russia
D)
Israel

Correct Answer : Option (A) - China

China’s Zhurong rover has peered under the surface of Mars and has found evidence of two huge floods that shaped the landscape.
 
Since May 2021, Zhurong has been exploring Utopia Planitia, in Mars’s northern hemisphere.

Images from the rover’s ground-penetrating radar found layered patterns under the surface, which are made of sedimentary rocks carried in by two major floods around 1.6 billion years ago.

China's Zhurong rover landed in the Utopia Planitia, a 2,000-miles-wide (3,300 kilometers) basin in the Northern Hemisphere of Mars, in May 2021.

Since then, the rover has been studying local geology, chemical composition of rocks, and local weather conditions using its six scientific instruments. 

Zhurong has already completed its primary mission of 90 sols. But the rover is continuing its way to the south of its landing site, collecting data as it goes.

Source : The Hindu

A)
Yelena Serova
B)
Johanna Maislinger
C)
Samantha Cristoforetti
D)
Jessica Watkins

Correct Answer : Option (C) - Samantha Cristoforetti

Italy's Samantha Cristoforetti on Wednesday(28th Sep 2022) became the first European woman to take over command of the International Space Station during a ceremony broadcast live from space.
 
The outgoing commander, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, used the occasion to seemingly make a rare space-bound reference to the war in Ukraine, saying that "despite the storms on Earth, our international cooperation continues".
 
During a relaxed ceremony, Artemyev handed Cristoforetti a golden key, symbolising that she is the new commander of the space station until she returns to Earth on October 10.
 
Cristoforetti, a 45-year-old European Space Agency astronaut and former Italian air force pilot, arrived for her second tour on the ISS in April.
 
She holds the record for the longest stay in space by a woman after spending 199 days in orbit in 2014 and 2015.
 
She is fifth woman—and the first non-US woman—to become commander since the role was created in 2000..

Source : Phys

A)
India and Japan
B)
Russia and UK
C)
USA and France
D)
China and UAE

Correct Answer : Option (D) - China and UAE

* China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed to join hands to help further the latter’s space ambitions.

* The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) of the UAE and the China National Space Agency (CNSA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work together on the UAE’s moon missions. The agreement marks the first joint space project between the two countries.

* The UAE has been pushing to become an important space player. Its collaboration with China involves the “landing of an MBRSC rover aboard a CNSA lander.” Under the project, the UAE will develop a rover dubbed Rashid-2; China will help it with the landing, data transmission, observation, and control. MBRSC director-general Salem Humaid Al Marri and CNSA deputy director Wu Yanhua signed the MoU.

* The MBRSC is already working with two private-sector partners on its Emirates Lunar Mission, which is scheduled to send the small Rashid rover to the moon late this year. The robotic mission will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and the 22-pound (10 kilograms) Rashid will touch down aboard Hakuto-R, a lander built by the Tokyo company ispace.

* Tapping China for future moon work as well makes a lot of sense, given the nation's impressive lunar exploration record. In the past decade, China has launched three lunar surface missions, all of them successful..

Source : Space

A)
EchoStar Corporation
B)
OneWeb Telecommunications
C)
Hughes Communications India Ltd.
D)
Aletheia Technologies Pvt. Ltd

Correct Answer : Option (C) - Hughes Communications India Ltd.

India’s first High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) broadband service was launched on Monday(12th Sep 2022) with support from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Hughes Communications India Private Limited (HCI), a leading provider of broadband satellite and managed network services, announced the commercial launch of the HTS service at an event held in Le Meridien Hotel, New Delhi.

S Somanath, Chairman of the ISRO, Partho Banerjee, President and Managing Director of HCI, and Shivaji Chaterjee, Executive Vice President, HCI, were present at the event. 
 
HCI’s HTS broadband service will combine Ku-band capacity from ISRO's GSAT-11 and LSAT-29 satellites with Hughes JUPITER Platform ground technology.

Ku-band is a microwave frequency band used for satellite communication and broadcasting, and uses frequencies of about 12 gigahertz for terrestrial reception, and 14 gigahertz for transmission. By combining Ku-band capacity from ISRO’s satellite with Hughes technology, high-speed broadband can be delivered across India, including the most remote areas. These regions are beyond the reach of terrestrial networks..

Source : News.abplive

A)
Mars
B)
Uranus
C)
Venus
D)
Mercury

Correct Answer : Option (B) - Uranus

On Wednesday (14th Sept 2022), the moon will pass in front of Uranus in an event called a lunar occultation that will be visible from parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe. 
 
The occultation will begin at 6:26 p.m. ET (2226 GMT) when Uranus  —  an ice giant planet located towards the outer edge of the solar system  —  begins to disappear behind the moon for about an hour. After this, the planet will emerge from behind the moon. 
 
The occultation will be visible at around 12 degrees to 13 degrees above the eastern horizon in the U.K. (A fist at arm's length corresponds to roughly ten degrees in the sky.) Using a pair of binoculars or a small telescope, skywatchers will see Uranus gradually disappear behind the bright limb of the moon.
 
Source : Space

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

Correct Answer : Option (A) - NASA

NASA’s Experiment MOXIE: An gadget the size of a lunchbox (MOXIE by NASA) is demonstrating its ability to consistently carry out the work of a tiny tree on the red and dusty surface of Mars, some 100 million miles from Earth. Since April 2021, roughly two months after it landed on the Martian surface as part of NASA’s Perseverance rover and Mars 2020 mission, the MIT-led Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, or MOXIE, has been producing oxygen from the Red Planet’s carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere.

MOXIE : Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment
 
NASA’s Experiment MOXIE :

* Researchers say that by the end of 2021, MOXIE was able to manufacture oxygen on seven experimental runs, in a variety of atmospheric circumstances, including day and night and throughout the Martian seasons, according to a paper published in the journal Science Advances.
The instrument produced six grammes of oxygen per hour on each run, or roughly the same amount as a small tree on Earth.

* According to researchers, a scaled-up MOXIE may be transported to Mars before a human trip to create oxygen continually at the rate of several hundred trees.

* At that capacity, the system should be able to produce enough oxygen to support people once they arrive as well as power a rocket for astronauts returning to Earth.

* As of now, MOXIE’s consistent output represents a positive first step in that direction.

* This is the first instance of utilising materials from the surface of another planetary body and chemically converting them into something useful for a human mission.

A)
Canada
B)
Australia
C)
Germany
D)
United States

Correct Answer : Option (B) - Australia

As many as six space industry memorandums were exchanged between Australia and India on Monday(5th Sep 2022), at the Bengaluru Space Expo (BSX) 2022, including two with Bengaluru-based companies.
 
MoUs were exchanged between six Australian and Indian companies, with Bengaluru-based aerospace manufacturer Ananth Technologies collaborating with Space Machines Company in developing product integration, testing, technology development and joint space programmes.
 
Meanwhile, Bengaluru-based space data and analytics company SatSure will be collaborating with QL Space, work on building satellites and AI solutions to support mining, defence and agriculture industries, as well as explore applications in space. 
 
Apart from the two companies, MoUs were signed between India’s DCube and SABRN Health, Altdata, Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace and HEX20 as well as QL Space, and Chennai-based GalaxEye and QL Space
 
The various partnerships will be working towards a variety of goals, including space mineral exploration missions and development of technology for monitoring the health of astronauts.
 
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath said foreign participation in BSX and the Indian space industry has increased, which is very encouraging. “The opening up of the space sector has contributed largely to its growth on a large scale. 
 
The most exciting part of the space ecosystem is startups. There are hundreds of space startups in India today and they are working on various systems, which is promising,” he said..

Source : New Indian Express

A)
1st Sep 2022
B)
2nd Sep 2022
C)
3rd Sep 2022
D)
4th Sep 2022

Correct Answer : Option (C) - 3rd Sep 2022

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully tested a technology that could aid cost-effective recovery of spent rocket stages and safely land payloads on other planets.
 
The Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD) was designed, developed and successfully test-flown by ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).
 
What is IAD?

* The IAD was successfully test flown in Rohini-300 (RH300 Mk II) sounding rocket from Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) here on Saturday(3rd Sep 2022).
 
* Rohini sounding rockets are routinely used for flight demonstration of new technologies being developed by ISRO as well as by scientists from India and abroad.
 
* The IAD serves to decelerate an object plunging down through the atmosphere.
 
* The IAD was initially folded and kept inside the payload bay of the rocket. At around 84 km altitude, the IAD was inflated and it descended through the atmosphere with the payload part of a sounding rocket.
 
* The IAD has systematically reduced the velocity of the payload through aerodynamic drag and followed the predicted trajectory.
 
* The force on an object that resists its motion through a fluid is called drag. When the fluid is a gas like air, it is called aerodynamic drag or air resistance.
 
Significance : The IAD has huge potential in a variety of space applications like recovery of spent stages of rocket, for landing payloads on to Mars or Venus and in making space habitat for human space flight missions..

Source : The Hindu

A)
Mars
B)
Saturn
C)
Jupiter
D)
Venus

Correct Answer : Option (C) - Jupiter

The images of Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, have always been the same. A yellowish-orange sphere is how most of us remember the gas giant from our school textbooks and encyclopedias. However, the new images of Jupiter captured by NASA’s newest James Webb telescope show the planet in a very different avatar.
 
A greenish blue view of Jupiter can be seen in the latest infrared images of the planet released by NASA. The images show the planet complete with all its signature elements including the giant storms, auroras and regions of extreme temperature. Check out the images below.

Jupiter

Source : Indian Express

A)
Karnataka
B)
Tamil Nadu
C)
Andhra Pradesh
D)
Uttarakhand

Correct Answer : Option (D) - Uttarakhand

India’s first commercial space situational awareness observatory, to track objects as small as 10 cm in size orbiting the earth, will be set up in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand by Digantara, a space sector start-up.
 
The space situational awareness (SSA) observatory will help India track any activity in space including that of space debris and military satellites hovering over the region.
 
Currently, the United States is a dominant player in monitoring space debris with observatories in multiple locations and commercial companies providing additional inputs from across the world.
 
“The observatory in Uttarakhand will fill the crucial gap in SSA observations in the region as there is a lack of such facilities between Australia and southern Africa,” Anirudh Sharma, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Digantara.
 
The high-quality observations, along with those of its partner ground-based sensor network, would help improve its ability to monitor events occurring in deep space, especially in the geostationary, medium-Earth, and high-Earth orbits..

Source : The Print