NEEDED: A PANDEMIC PATENT POOL
Introduction Every April 26, we celebrate World Intellectual Property Day. This year it provided us an opportunity to reflect upon the role of intellectual property (IP) in the ongoing health crisis and dedicate IP to finding a solution. Vaccines are the only way ahead The purpose of creating and recognising patent rights is for the […]
HEALTH MINISTRY DOES A U-TURN ON PLASMA THERAPY
Why in news? Plasma therapy is not an approved treatment for COVID-19 and is only one of the several therapies which is being explored currently, the Health Ministry said on 28th April 2020, adding that the therapy is still at an experimental stage and the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) is currently studying its efficacy. […]
LIMITATIONS OF ONLINE LEARNING
Why in news? Universities and colleges were in the middle of the second semester of their academic year when the lockdown was enforced. A few universities made hasty arrangements for teachers to continue to hold their classes virtually through video conferencing services such as Zoom. The transition to virtual modes was relatively less difficult for […]
HOW THE OZONE LAYER HOLE OVER ARCTIC CLOSED?
Why in news? Last week, the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) announced that a hole in the Arctic ozone layer, believed to be the biggest reported, has closed. Why did it close? The ozone hole’s closing was because of a phenomenon called the polar vortex, and NOT because of reduced pollution levels due […]
New Space India Limited
The establishment of NSIL was announced in Budget 2019. One of the mandates of NSIL is to mass-produce and manufacture the SSLV and the more powerful PSLV in partnership with the private sector in India through technology transfers. Its aim is to use research and development carried out by ISRO over the years for commercial purposes through Indian industry […]
ISRO’s Seven Mega Missions
The seven mega missions include: Chandrayaan-2. XPoSat (to study cosmic radiation in 2020) and Aditya-L1(to the Sun in 2021). Undefined Missions – which include missions which are still in planning stage namely Mangalyaan-2 (or Mars Orbiter Mission-2 in 2022), Lunar Polar Exploration (or Chandrayaan-3 in 2024), Venus mission (in 2023), Exoworlds (exploration outside the solar […]
NISAR:
What is it? NISAR stands for NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar Mission Aims: To study the hazards and global environmental changes When? Slated to launched in 2020-21 Details: NISAR is a dual frequency (L & S Band) Radar Imaging Satellite. It will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequency. Will be launched in a Sun Synchronous Low -Earth It […]
AstroSat
It is a space observatory launched by ISRO in 2015. It was launched with a lift-off mass of about 1500 kg by PSLV-C30. It is India‘s first dedicated multi wavelength space observatory. Most other scientific satellites can observe only a narrow range of wavelength band. But AstroSat enables the simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of various astronomical […]
Bhuvan Panchayat 3.0
Recently an upgraded geo-imaging web portal, Bhuvan Panchayat 3.0 was launched during the National Workshop on “Space-based Information Support for Decentralised Planning-2″. The launch is part of the advanced Space-based Information Support for Decentralised Planning (SISDP) project. Services: This version of the portal will provide database visualisation and services for the benefit of panchayat members, among others. The targeted audiences […]
India to Set Up its Own Space Station
Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO) has announced its ambitious plan to put up a space station in the next decade. Details: The Indian space station will be much smaller (mass of 20 tonnes) than the International Space Station and will be used for carrying out microgravity experiments (not for space tourism). Preliminary plan for the space station is […]