Space - General Knowledge Questions

Correct Answer :   IIT-Madras

Agnikul Cosmos, an IIT-Madras-based space-tech start-up, on its path towards its inaugural controlled flight, on 15 August 2023 commenced the integration process of its launch vehicle, Agnibaan SOrTeD (Sub-Orbital Technological Demonstrator), with its private launchpad located at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR at Sriharikota.

* This brings Agnikul closer to realising its vision of delivering reliable and affordable access to space.

* The event marked the official unveiling of the Agnibaan SOrTeD launch vehicle, which was unveiled at Agnikul’s Mission Control Centre after being transported to the site.

* Agnibaan SOrTeD is a single-stage launch vehicle driven by Agnikul’s patented Agnilet engine — an entirely 3D-printed, single-piece, 6 kN semi-cryogenic engine.

* Unlike traditional sounding rockets that launch from guide rails, Agnibaan SOrTeD will lift off vertically and follow a predetermined trajectory while performing a precisely orchestrated set of manoeuvres during flight.

* These flight events have been configured to validate key technologies integral to the success of the company’s upcoming orbital flights. Agnikul plans to complete its first flight in the coming few weeks, the release said..

Source : The Hindu Businessline

Correct Answer :   Aditya-L1

The first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun - Aditya-L1, is getting ready for its launch next month. ISRO said that the satellite, developed at U R Rao Satellite Centre Bengaluru, has arrived at its spaceport in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

The spacecraft is expected to be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point - L1 of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth.

A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has a major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any eclipses. This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real-time.

The spacecraft will carry seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun's corona using electromagnetic and particle field detectors.

Using its special vantage point, four payloads will directly view the Sun and the other three payloads would carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields around it, thus providing important scientific studies of the propagatory effect of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium..

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   Russia

Russia is all set to launch its first lunar landing mission on 11 August 2023 after almost 5 decades. 14 July 2023, the day when India's Chandrayan-3 was launched, Russia is ready to launch its spacecraft just after 28 days of Indian Spacecraft.



A Soyuz 2.1v rocket carrying the Luna-25 craft will blast off from the Vostochny cosmodrome, 3,450 miles (5,550 km) east of Moscow, at 2:11 a.m. on Friday (11h August 2023) Moscow time (1111 GMT on Thursday). With its upper stage boosting the lander out of Earth's orbit toward the moon over an hour later, Russia's space agency Roscosmos confirmed.

"Now we will wait for the 21st. I hope that a highly precise soft landing on the moon will happen," Borisov told workers at the Vostochny Cosmodrome after the launch, according to Interfax.

Luna-25, roughly the size of a small car, will aim to operate for a year on the moon's south pole, where scientists at NASA and other space agencies in recent years have detected traces of water ice in the region's shadowed craters.

the spacecraft is expected to reach the lunar world on Aug 21, Russia's space chief Yuri Borisov told Interfax on Friday. Russian space agency Roscosmos previously pegged Aug. 23 as the landing date.

As no country has made a soft landing on the south pole, Luna-25 and Chandrayaan-3 now will be in a race to set foot on the moon..

Source : DD News

Correct Answer :   SpaceX

SpaceX's most powerful operational rocket Falcon Heavy successfully carried the world's largest commercial communications satellite into orbit high above Earth.

The three-fuselage Falcon Heavy took off with  the massive payload at 11:04pm local time Friday (28th July 2023) from the company's launchpad at Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The satellite was deployed about three and a half hours after liftoff.

Weighing more than nine metric tons and roughly the size of a bus, the Jupiter 3 satellite will provide wireless internet connectivity over North and South America.

It will be operated by Hughes Network Systems, a unit of satellite communications company EchoStar Corp.

Musk's SpaceX opted not to recover the center core of its Falcon to ensure it had enough fuel to ferry the hulking cargo to its intended orbit. The vehicle's two side boosters, however, did successfully touch down on SpaceX's dual landing pads in Florida..

Source : Times of India

Correct Answer :   PSLV-C56

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C56) today from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The PSLV-C56 was launched from the first launch pad at around 6.30 am, 30 July 2023.

#WATCH | Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launches its PSLV-C56 with six co-passenger satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.

(Source: ISRO) pic.twitter.com/2I1pNvKvBH

— ANI (@ANI) July 30, 2023

Primary Payload Of The PSLV-C56 Mission :

The main payload of the mission is the DS-SAR satellite, equipped with a Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) capable of generating two-dimensional images or three-dimensional reconstructions of objects.

The DS-SAR satellite, weighing 360 kg, is a joint effort between DSTA, representing the Government of Singapore, and ST Engineering.

Aim : It aims to fulfill the imagery requirements of various Singapore government agencies and ST Engineering’s commercial clients.

Launched into a Near-equatorial Orbit (NEO) at an altitude of 535 km, the satellite carries an SAR payload developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). This payload enables all-weather day and night coverage and has the capacity to capture images with a remarkable 1-meter resolution at full polarimetry.

With this high-resolution capability, the Singapore government can effectively assess damage caused by natural disasters, monitor land use, track deforestation, and support security and defence operations. Additionally, commercial customers can utilize the satellite for applications such as oil and gas exploration, agriculture monitoring, and infrastructure assessment.

Other Payloads : In addition to the DS-SAR satellite, six co-passenger satellites have been launched into space. These include VELOX-AM, a microsatellite for technology demonstration; ARCADE, an experimental satellite for exploring atmospheric coupling and dynamics; SCOOB-II, a nanosatellite carrying a technology demonstrator payload; NuLIoN by NuSpace, an advanced nanosatellite enabling seamless IoT connectivity in both urban and remote areas; Galassia-2, a nanosatellite in low earth orbit; and ORB-12 STRIDER, a satellite developed through international collaboration.

PSLV-C56 : This marks the 58th flight of PSLV and the 17th flight of PSLV in Core Alone configuration. Once all the satellites are deployed, the upper stage of the rocket will be maneuvered into a lower orbit to minimize its orbital life. The PSLV-C56 was launched from the First Launch Pad (FLP) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, as stated by ISRO.

The PSLV-C56 mission not only showcases India’s expertise in space technology but also reinforces international collaborations in space research.

Correct Answer :   July 14, 2023

Chandrayaan-3 was successfully launched on July 14, 2023, from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, using the Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3).

The spacecraft consists of a lander, a rover, and a propulsion module, collectively weighing 3,900 kg.

The GSLV Mark 3 heavy-lift launch vehicle, also known as the Bahubali rocket, supports the moon lander Vikram.

The craft is scheduled to touch down on the Moon’s South Pole on August 23, following a journey lasting over 40 days.

Correct Answer :   China

A private Chinese aerospace company has won the race to launch a giant rocket powered by methane and liquid oxygen.



The Zhuque-2, a carrier rocket from LandSpace, blasted off at 9am on Wednesday (12th July 2023) morning from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert.

The rocket successfully delivered a test payload into sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), the first in the world to make such an achievement.

Earlier this year, two other liquid oxygen methane rockets – the Terran 1 from Relativity Space in the US and SpaceX’s Starship – failed in their maiden attempts to reach orbit.

This morning’s lift-off marks the second attempt for the Zhuque-2, after an unsuccessful launch on December 14.

Methane-powered engines – with their high performance and low operational costs – are particularly suited for the developing trend of reusable rockets. The technology is regarded as the front-running design in the new era of rocketry.

The Zhuque-2 team’s achievement is another success for China’s private aerospace sector this year, following the successful launch in April of Space Pioneer’s liquid-propelled Tianlong-2.

The Zhuque-2 is a two-stage liquid-propellant carrier rocket, with all independently developed engines.

According to China Space News, the 49.5 metres (162ft) long rocket with a diameter of 3.35 metres (10.9ft) has a carrying capacity of six tonnes for low Earth orbit and four tonnes for SSO..

Source : Scmp

Correct Answer :   SpaceX

A European space telescope blasted off Saturday (1st July 2023) on a quest to explore the mysterious and invisible realm known as the dark universe.

* SpaceX launched the European Space Agency’s Euclid observatory towards its ultimate destination 1.5 million km away, the Webb Space Telescope’s neighbourhood.

* It will take a month to get there and another two months before it starts its ambitious six-year survey this autumn.

* Named after the ancient Greek mathematician, Euclid will scour billions of galaxies covering more than one-third of the sky.

* By pinpointing the location and shape of galaxies up to 10 billion light-years away — almost all the way back to the cosmos-creating Big Bang — scientists hope to glean insight into the dark energy and dark matter that make up most of the universe and keep it expanding.

* The telescope’s highly anticipated 3D map of the cosmos will span both space and time in a bid to explain how the dark universe evolved and why its expansion is speeding up.

* The lead scientist for the $1.5 billion mission (€1.4 billion) said Euclid will measure dark energy and dark matter with unprecedented precision.

* Four metres tall and almost as wide, Euclid sports a 1.2-metre telescope and two scientific instruments capable of observing the cosmos in both visible light and near-infrared..

Source : Telegraph India

Correct Answer :   India

India has recently decided to join the Artemis accord, which brings together like-minded countries on a civil space exploration platform.

Under this, NASA and ISRO have also agreed on a joint mission to the International Space Station in 2024.

The Artemis Agreement is a non-binding agreement designed to advance civilian space exploration in the 21st century.

Correct Answer :   Spain

Spanish startup PLD Space aborted a test launch of its reusable Miura-1 rocket at the last moment early on Saturday (17th June 2023) in the latest setback to European attempts to develop mainland launch capacity for small payloads.

The launch in Huelva in southwest Spain was scrubbed after the countdown had reached zero, with flames and smoke briefly shooting sideways from the launchpad, images showed.

Raul Torres, CEO and co-founder of PLD Space, said in a statement that: "99.9% of all processes have been successful. Launching a rocket is very difficult, but we are getting closer and closer. We will try harder again."

The launch was halted after not all the "umbilical cables in the avionics bay were released," the company said.

The suborbital mission from a military aerospace research centre would have been the first of its kind in Western Europe.

Europe's efforts to develop capabilities to send small satellites into space are in focus after a failed orbital rocket launch by Virgin Orbit from Britain in January. That system involved releasing the launcher from a converted Boeing 747.

PLD Space's Miura-1 rocket, named after a breed of fighting bulls, is as tall as a three-storey building and has a 100-kg (220-pound) cargo capacity. It can also be used to carry out zero-gravity experiments...

Source : Reuters