1) Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV): It is a 3 stage Launch Vehicle configured with three Solid Propulsion Stages and liquid propulsion based Velocity Trimming Module (VTM) as a terminal stage.
- All three stages of the SSLV will be solid propulsion stages.
- The SSLV can carry satellites weighing a maximum 500 kg to low orbit, while the PSLV can launch satellites weighing above 1000 kg.
- Low cost, with low turn-around time, flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, Launch on demand feasibility, minimal launch infrastructure requirements, etc
- ISRO’s first SSLV launch develops glitch as satellites were injected into a wrong orbit. The new rocket was carrying an Indian Earth Observation Satellite, EOS-02, weighing 145 kg and AzaadiSat, made by 750 schoolgirls to celebrate 75 years of Independence
2) Cheruthoni dam: Located in Idukki District, Kerala, India, it is a 138m tall concrete gravity dam. This dam was constructed in 1976 as part of the Idukki Hydroelectric Project.
- The Idukki Dam is a double curvature arch dam constructed across Periyar River in a narrow gorge between two granite hills and is the tallest double curvature arch dam in Asia.
3) Great Barrier Reef: The highest levels of coral cover, within the past 36 years, has been recorded in the nothern and central parts of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
- The entire ecosystem was inscribed as World Heritage in 1981
- It is the world’s most extensive and spectacular coral reef ecosystem composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands.
- The reef is located in the Coral Sea (North-East Coast), off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
- It can be seen from outer space and is the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms.
4) Stablecoins: A stablecoin is a digital currency whose value is pegged to a ‘stable’ asset, such as the U.S. dollar or gold.
- The best-known stablecoin in the crypto ecosystem today is arguably Tether (USDT), whose market cap is close to $66 billion, putting it below Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency in existence
- Across the world, stablecoins can serve as lifelines. In countries such as Turkey, Nigeria, and Argentina where the local currency is rapidly losing value, converting funds to stablecoins is one way for residents to try and safeguard their earnings.
5) Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR): It is an autonomous body established in 1942.
- funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology and it operates as an autonomous body through the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
- It covers a wide spectrum of streams – from radio and space physics, oceanography, geophysics, chemicals, drugs, genomics, biotechnology and nanotechnology to mining, aeronautics, instrumentation, environmental engineering and information technology.
- President: Prime Minister of India (Ex-officio), Vice President: Union Minister of Science and Technology (Ex-officio)
- CSIR has, for the first time in its 80-year history, appointed a woman Director-General., N. Kalaiselvi
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