PSLV-C45
Category: Science & technology
- PSLV-C45/Emisat mission scheduled for an April 1 lift-off from Sriharikota will be a memorable one for the
- For one, it will be ISRO’s first attempt at placing payloads in three different orbits.
- The chief payload — the 436 kg Emisat — will be injected into a 749 km orbit.
- After that, the fourth stage of the rocket will be manoeuvred to a 504 km orbit for releasing 28 international satellites. Once that job is over, the fourth stage will be restarted and guided to an altitude of 485 km. For the next six months, this stage will serve as an orbital platform for space-based experiments. This is another first for the ISRO. Normally, the spent stage simply becomes space junk.
- For the first time, ISRO will be employing four XL strap-on motors on the first stage.
Note Verbal
Category: International
- India has raised with Pakistan the alleged abduction of two minor Hindu girls in that country and their alleged conversion to Islam.
- The government raised the matter through a note verbale sent to the Pakistan Foreign Ministry.
- A note verbale is a diplomatic communication from one government to another, delivered through each other’s diplomatic representatives.
- Like many other diplomatic terms, note verbale is French, and literally means a verbal note, because it was meant to be delivered orally to the recipient.
- In modern times, it is a written note.
- A note verbale is written on the sending entity’s letterhead, and stamped with that entity’s seal, but not signed. It is written in the third person.
- Notes verbale are the commonest method of formal diplomatic communication. They are used to convey information or requests of all kinds.
Meghalaya Rocks
Category: Geography
- Rocks in Meghalaya cave connect Northeast monsoon to El Niño.
- India’s summer monsoon, in the months of June, July, August and September, which brings in about 70% of annual rainfall in the country, is already known to be heavily influenced by the variability in sea-surface temperatures of Pacific Ocean. student Elli Ronay studies a stalagmite in Mawmluh Cave. Jessica Oster/Vanderbilt University
- A study on the rock formations in Meghalaya has found the evidence that India’s winter rainfall could be influenced by the state of the ocean waters in the faraway Pacific.
- India’s summer monsoon is already known to be heavily influenced by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This relationship is not so strongly established with the winter monsoon, also called as the northeastern monsoon.
- The latest study has found new evidence to suggest that the state of Pacific Ocean do indeed impact the winter rains.
- It says the “unexpected connection” between winter rainfall amounts in northeast India and climatic conditions in the Pacific Ocean, could help in predicting the rainfall during the winter months.
- The findings are based on research on stalagmites (mineral deposits, mainly limestone, in caves) of the Mawmluh Cave, near Cherrapunji.
- These solid stalagmite structures, or mineral deposits, are the result of slow but steady water dripping in the caves, and contain several thin layers of different kinds of minerals that that get picked up while the water is flowing.
Rising Sea level
Category: Environment
- The fragile water table in the coastal areas is under threat of severe seawater intrusion due to anticipated rise in sea levels in the next few decades.
- There is a rise in sea level by 2mm every year.
- The increasing sea level would also force the water table along the coastline to move upwards.
- It would slowly replace the freshwater at the bottom of the aquifer.
- The volume of fresh water would gradually reduce in the coastal areas.
