Science and Technology MCQ Set 44
Showing question 216 to 220 of total 301 MCQs
MCQ Set: 44
Solve the question on your notebook and check it by clicking (Answer and Explanation) below question.
Question No: 216
Indian Space Research Organisation and which international space agency are collaborating to make satellite NISAR?
- NASA
- ESA
- Chinese space agency
- Roscosmos
Answer and Explanation
Answer: A
Explanation
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have collaborated to make an Earth-imaging satellite called NISAR.
The satellite will help scientists monitor the Earth like never before.
The expanded form of NISAR is NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar.
It is scheduled to be launched in 2021.
The estimated cost of the radar is over 1.5 billion dollars and it could possibly be the world’s most expensive Earth imaging satellite.
The two documents to launch the NASA-ISRO satellite mission were signed.
The aim of the mission is to observe Earth and establish a pathway for future joint missions for Mars exploration.
The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar will provide an unprecedented detailed view of Earth by using advanced radar imaging.
The satellite is designed to observe and take measurements of some of the planet’s most complex processes, including ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse, and natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.
Under the terms of the agreement, NASA will provide the mission’s L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid state recorder, and a payload data subsystem.
On the other hand, the ISRO will provide the satellite bus, an S-band synthetic aperture radar, the launch vehicle and associated launch services.
Data collected from the ambitious mission will unfold information about the evolution and state of Earth’s crust. It will also help scientists better understand our planet’s processes and changing climate, and aid future resource and hazard management.
The Earth-imaging satellite design will make use of a large deployable mesh antenna and will operate on dual L band and S band.
NISAR will be 3-axis stabilised and is planned to be launched into a Sun-synchronous dawn to dusk orbit with a mission life of 3 years.
NASA US Manned Programs: Know More
Apollo Skylab Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (joint)
Space Shuttle Shuttle–Mir (joint)
ISS (joint)
Mercury Gemini
Manned Venus Flyby
Manned Orbiting Laboratory
Space Transportation System
Orion Constellation
Question No: 217
Sloan Digital Sky Survey has created the first map of the bigger universe based on the position of _______.
- stars
- planets
- moons
- quasars
Answer and Explanation
Answer: D
Explanation
Astronomers using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) have created the first map of the large-scale structure of the universe based entirely on the positions of quasars.
Quasars are incredibly bright and distant points of light.
The quasars are so bright that they can be seen all the way across the universe and that is what makes them the ideal objects to use to make the biggest map yet.
The extra brightness of the quasars is due to the super- massive black holes found at their centres.
As matter and energy fall into a quasars’ black hole, they heat up to incredibly high temperatures and begin to glow.
Scientists used the Sloan Foundation Telescope to observe the innumerable quasars in order to make the map.
During the first two years of the survey, astronomers measured accurate three-dimensional positions of more than 147,000 quasars.
The telescope observations gave the team the distances of the quasars, which were used to create a three-dimensional map of where the quasars are located.
Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Know More
The survey known as Sloan Digital Sky Survey was extended to Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) to better understand the expansion history of the universe.
The process involved studying baryon acoustic oscillations, which are the present-day imprint of sound waves that travelled through the early universe, when it was much hotter and denser than today.
However, due to a sudden change in conditions when the universe was 380,000 years old, the sound waves became “frozen” in place.
These frozen waves are left imprinted in the three- dimensional structure of the present-day universe. The study confirms the standard model of cosmology that researchers have built over the last 20 years. In this standard model, the universe follows the predictions of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, but includes components that cannot be measured or causes not understood.
Question No: 218
Anti tank missile ____ was test-fired in Rajasthan in June 2017.
- Nag
- Agni
- Trishul
- Prithvi
Answer and Explanation
Answer: A
Explanation
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test fired anti-tank ‘Nag’ missile in Rajasthan.
The test was conducted by scientists of the Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Missile Complex at Hyderabad, Defence Laboratory at Jodhpur, High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) at Pune and Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) at Pune.
The anti-tank Nag missile is one of the five missile systems developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) under the integrated guided missile development programme (IGMDP).
The four other missiles developed under this programme include Agni, Akash, Trishul and Prithvi.
The Nag missile is a third generation anti-tank guided missile which works on “fire and forget” principle.
The anti-tank Nag missile has been equipped with the highly advanced Imaging Infrared Radar (IRR) seeker along with integrated avionics.
This technology is possessed by very few nations. It also possess advanced passive homing guidance system.
The missile has been designed mainly to destroy modern main battle tanks and other heavily armoured targets.
Nag can be launched from land and air-based platforms.
The helicopter launched version known as helicopter-launched NAG (HELINA) can be fired from Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH) and HAL Rudra attack helicopter.
The land-based version of the missile is at present available for integration on the Nag missile carrier (NAMICA).
DRDO: Know More
Founded: 1958
Headquarters: New Delhi
Motto: "Strength's Origin is in Science" (Sanskrit)
Minister responsible: Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister of India
Agency executive: Dr.S.Christopher, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D;
Annual budget: 135.9 billion INR (US$2.0 billion, 2016–2017)
Question No: 219
Where was the first case of conjoined twin harbour porpoises discovered in June 2017?
- Netherlands
- Australia
- US
- UK
Answer and Explanation
Answer: A
Explanation
Fishers off the coast of the Netherlands got quite a shock when they caught what has now been confirmed as the first case of conjoined twin harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena).
With a single body and two fully grown heads, this is a case of partial twinning, or parapagus dicephalus.
The sighting is extremely rare: these male porpoises are only the 10th known case of conjoined twins in cetaceans, a group of animals that also includes whales and dolphins.
“The anatomy of cetaceans is strikingly different from terrestrial mammals with adaptations for living in the sea as a mammal. Much is unknown.
Adding any extra case to the known nine specimens brings more knowledge on this aspect.
The fishers who made the discovery returned the twins - which were probably already dead when caught - to the ocean.
They believed it would be illegal to keep such a specimen, but were able to produce a series of photographs useful for research.
The twins died shortly after birth, because their tail had not stiffened - which is necessary for newborn dolphins to be able to swim, says Kompanje.
Other signs of their age were a flat dorsal fin that should have become vertical soon after entering the ocean water, and hairs on the upper lip, which should fall out shortly after birth.
Partial twinning can happen in one of two ways: two initially separate embryonic discs can fuse together or the zygote can only partially split during the early development process.
This case concerns the second known case of twinning, the first case of conjoined twins in Phocoena phocoena, the fourth known case of parapagus dicephalus in a cetacean species and the tenth known case of conjoined twinning in a cetacean species.
Conjoined Twins: Know More
Not much is known about what causes conjoined twinning in cetaceans.
In humans, conjoined twins are identical twins that are physically attached to each other.
In healthy identical twins, an embryo splits into two after fertilization, but in conjoined twins, this process abruptly stops before the separation is complete.
Question No: 220
Sloan Digital Sky Survey has created the first map of the bigger universe based on the position of _______.
- stars
- planets
- moons
- quasars
Answer and Explanation
Answer: D
Explanation
Astronomers using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) have created the first map of the large-scale structure of the universe based entirely on the positions of quasars.
Quasars are incredibly bright and distant points of light.
The quasars are so bright that they can be seen all the way across the universe and that is what makes them the ideal objects to use to make the biggest map yet.
The extra brightness of the quasars is due to the super- massive black holes found at their centres.
As matter and energy fall into a quasars’ black hole, they heat up to incredibly high temperatures and begin to glow.
Scientists used the Sloan Foundation Telescope to observe the innumerable quasars in order to make the map.
During the first two years of the survey, astronomers measured accurate three-dimensional positions of more than 147,000 quasars.
The telescope observations gave the team the distances of the quasars, which were used to create a three-dimensional map of where the quasars are located.
Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Know More
The survey known as Sloan Digital Sky Survey was extended to Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) to better understand the expansion history of the universe.
The process involved studying baryon acoustic oscillations, which are the present-day imprint of sound waves that travelled through the early universe, when it was much hotter and denser than today.
However, due to a sudden change in conditions when the universe was 380,000 years old, the sound waves became “frozen” in place.
These frozen waves are left imprinted in the three- dimensional structure of the present-day universe. The study confirms the standard model of cosmology that researchers have built over the last 20 years. In this standard model, the universe follows the predictions of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, but includes components that cannot be measured or causes not understood.