QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 20 September 2018

Solution: d.

The Irulas live along the north-eastern coast of the state of Tamil Nadu.

The Irula Snake Catchers Industrial Co-Operative Society was formed in 1978 in Vadanemmeli to capture snakes and extract their venom. Nearly 50,000 people die of snakebites each year in the country, and the only reliable treatment is the prompt administration of antivenom. Six companies across India produce around 1.5 million vials of antivenom annually, and most of it is derived from the venom extracted by the Irulas.

BBC;

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Solution: a.

BBC: SolO is going to fly to within 43 million km of the solar surface. Parker will do it by going even closer than SolO, to within 7 million km of the solar surface.

SolO can make very similar measurements to Parker from its “gentler” vantage point. But, crucially, it will also be taking pictures. The Esa mission’s heatshield has peepholes that give telescopes an opportunity to spy the Sun’s broiling surface. Parker can’t do this. If any telescope tried to look past its shield, the hardware would rapidly melt in temperatures that exceeded 1,000C.

The European satellite is going to use a series of flybys of Venus to gravitationally manoeuvre itself into an inclined orbit so that it can look down on the Sun’s poles. This would be a first – we’ve never had pictures of these regions. Although we can’t see them, the poles are where the Sun’s magnetic field is really important. The Sun’s magnetic field is central to its dynamics; the magnetic field drives all the activity on the Sun.

And at the end of it all, scientists should have a much clearer idea of the underlying motors for the Sun’s 11-year cycles of behaviour. That’s important because the biggest outbursts from our star will rattle the Earth’s magnetic field. In the process, communications may be disrupted, satellites in orbit around the planet can be knocked offline, and power grids will be vulnerable to electrical surges. Missions like SolO and Parker should improve the tools used for forecasting these kinds of disturbances.

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Solution: d.

BBC: A British satellite has successfully deployed a net in orbit to demonstrate how to capture space debris. The event took place more than 300km above the Earth. It was part of a series of trials that will showcase different technologies to remove the redundant hardware now circling the Earth. Some 7,500 tonnes is said to be drifting aimlessly overhead, posing a collision hazard to operational missions.

From earlier this year (TH): The Kessler Syndrome is a theory proposed by scientist Donald J. Kessler in 1978. It is a scenario where two colliding objects in space generate more debris which then cause a chain reaction of collisions in low Earth orbit to an extent that it could render space activities such as a satellite launch unfeasible for many generations.

Solution: b.

The fact that such space tech incubation centres are being set up, is important. Of additional relevance is to be aware of the first city that has such a centre.

TH: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched a space technology incubation centre in Tripura capital Agartala on Tuesday. It is the first of six such centres planned nationally to build capacity in new locations.

More such space research activities will be splashed in a big way across small cities to tap their talent and include them in the space footprint, ISRO Chairman K. Sivan, said. The space agency’s new Capacity Building Programme directorate will also invest ₹2 crore in incubation facilities in Jalandhar, Bhubaneswar, Tiruchi, Nagpur and Indore.

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Solution: b.

TH: “One of the main things that the 21st century will be known for is the formation of what Bruns and Burgess call “ad hoc issue publics” or the formation of selective channels centred on a particular topic. For keyboard knights of every ideological persuasion, hashtags have become a popular, swift and efficient way of marshalling and deploying public opinion…”

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