Space for Prelims

Network for Space Objects Tracking and Analysis (NETRA) project: Project NETRA is an initiative by ISRO which is an early warning system in space to detect debris and hazards to the Indian satellites. Under this project, ISRO plans to put up many observational facilities like telescopes, connected radars, data processing units, and a control centre. …

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Artemis I: It is an uncrewed space mission by NASA. It is the first of NASA’s deep space exploration systems. The spacecraft will be launched through a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which is the most powerful rocket in the world. The SLS rocket has been designed for space missions beyond low-earth orbit and can carry crew …

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ExoMars: It is a two-stage mission: First Stage: Its first mission launched atop a Proton-M rocket in 2016 and consisted of the European Trace Gas Orbiter and test lander called Schiaparelli. The orbiter was successful while the test lander failed during its descent to Mars. Second Stage: It comprises a rover and surface platform. This second part of the …

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Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT): Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) is an array of thirty fully steerable parabolic radio telescopes. It is located in Narayangaon, near Pune in India. It is an indigenous project. It is operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. It functions at the …

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What is a Geomagnetic Storm? A geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance of Earth’s magnetosphere that occurs when there is a very efficient exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding Earth. Solar Storms occur during the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots and can last for a few minutes or hours. The magnetosphere shields our home planet from …

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Starlink Project: Starlink is a SpaceX project to build a broadband network with a cluster of orbiting spacecraft that could eventually number thousands. The Starlink satellites carry Hall thrusters, which use electricity and krypton gas to generate an impulse, to manoeuvre in orbit, maintain altitude and guide the spacecraft back into the atmosphere at the end of their …

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EOS-04 satellite: EOS-04 is a radar-imaging satellite, designed to provide high-quality images under all weather conditions for applications such as agriculture, forestry & plantations, soil moisture and hydrology, and flood mapping. The EOS-04 satellite would be placed in a sun-synchronous polar orbit.

Heartbeat stars: These stars path resemble to an  electrocardiogram of the human heart, hence they are called heartbeat stars. These star travels in a highly elliptical orbit around a common centre of mass. The distance between the two stars varies drastically as they orbit each other. When the stars are at their closest, there is …

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Tianhe or Heavenly Harmony module: Tianhe is the core module of China’s permanent space station. The space station is named Tiangong Space Station. The module was launched into space aboard a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang Launch Center in China. The module consists of three sections: The habitable living quarter, The non-habitable service section, A docking …

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