EMISAT
Category: Science & technology
- PSLV mission carrying EMISAT — the country’s first satellite for gathering electronic intelligence (ELINT) to locate hostile radars for the military — will also be the longest flight for the Indian polar launch vehicle.
- The April 1 mission is numbered C-45 and carries 28 small, foreign customer satellites from four countries.
- This is the third consecutive PSLV mission in which ISRO will re-use its fourth stage as a space testbed. Earlier, the stages wasted away as floating debris once they released the satellites.
Ramappa Temple
Category: Art & Culture
- Telangana may get its first Unesco World Heritage Site- the Ramappa Temple.
- It is a Siva temple.
- It is perhaps the only one in the country that is known by the name of the architect rather than the king who commissioned it or its presiding deity.
- The temple belongs to the Kakatiya era.
LCU L56
Category: Defence & Security
- The sixth indigenously designed and built transport ship, LCU L56, has been inducted into the Navy.
- Amphibious operations capability, including transport of troops and equipment, will be enhanced with the addition of this Landing Craft Utility ship.
Batracochytrium Dendrobatidis
Category: Science
- It is a fungus.
- It is affecting amphibian species globally, even causing extinctions.
- Strangely, the fungus does not seem to be causing declines in amphibian populations in Asia, the place of its origin.
Ocean Heat
Category: Environment
- Ocean heat hit a record high in 2018, the United Nations has said, raising urgent new concerns about the threat global warming is posing to marine life.
- About 93 percent of excess heat — trapped around the Earth by greenhouse gases that come from the burning of fossil fuels — accumulates in the world’s oceans.
