RISAT-2B
Category: Sc/tech
- RISAT-2B, the satellite due to be launched, will be the first in a new array of Indian all-seeing radar imaging satellites to be deployed after seven years.
- At least a half-dozen could be foreseen in the near future, mainly to add to the reconnaissance capability from about 500 km in space.
- A constellation of such space-based radars means a comprehensive vigil over the country.
- If ISRO orbited its first two radar satellites in 2009 and 2012, it plans to deploy four or five of them in 2019 alone.
- When it is cloudy or dark, ‘regular’ remote-sensing or optical imaging satellites — which work like a light-dependent camera — cannot perceive hidden or surreptitious objects on the ground.
- Satellites that are equipped with an active sensor, the synthetic aperture radar (SAR), can sense or ‘observe’ Earth in a special way from space day and night, rain or cloud. This all-weather seeing feature is what makes them special for security forces and disaster relief agencies.
Troll Patrol
Category: Sc/tech
- Amnesty India is recruiting 2,000 digital volunteers — for Troll Patrol India — to analyse abusive tweets sent to 100 women candidates in the ongoing Lok Sabha election, during, before and after polling.
- Amnesty hopes to build an evidence base on the extent and nature of online abuse faced by prominent women politicians and its effect on their freedom of expression, and to initiate dialogue on the response and transparency procedures needed from online platforms.
Cyclone Resisting Trees
Category: Environment
- Plant lovers have urged the Bhuvaneswar administration to undertake plantation of native species which could withstand strong cyclonic winds in future.
- 99% of trees had suffered damage when Cyclone Fani hit the city on May 3.
- Native species such as Karanja (Pongamia pinnata) and Chhatiana (Alstonia Scholaris) were found to have withstood ferocious wind speed of Fani.
Ultima Thule
Category: Sc/tech
- NASA has found evidence of a unique mixture of methanol, water ice, and organic molecules on Ultima Thule’s surface.
- Ultima Thule is the farthest world ever explored by mankind.
- It is an ancient relic from the era of planet formation.
