Uttarakhand Affairs
Must repopulate deserted areas near border in Uttarakhand: CDS
Chief of DEFENCE StaffGeneral Anil Chauhan emphasised the need to repopulate the unoccupied areas near the border in Uttarakhand, saying if repopulation isnt possible, then such areas should be madetourist hubs.
In Uttarakhand, there are vast unoccupied areas which are even far away from the last villages of the state towards the border. We have to see if we can repopulate them and, if, that is prob-lematic, we have to see if we can popularise border tourism there, the CDS said at an event in New Delhi.
National and International Affairs
Sagar Defence has developed the countrys first Autonomous Weaponised unmanned boat with the capability for swarming. The contract was signed under anIndian Navy projectof the Defence India Start-up Challenge (DISC 7) SPRINT initiative.
DRDOhas tested 3 remote unmanned weaponized boats in Pune ahead of DEFENCE Expo.
TheAutonomous Weaponised Boatswere developed in collaboration with Sagar Defence Engineering, a private start-up.
The vessel is capable of relying on the video feed to theground control stationand can be very useful for surveillance and patrolling.
iDEXis an initiative by the Government of India to build an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging innovators and entrepreneurs to deliver technologically advanced solutions to Indias armed forces.
The objective of iDEX is to engage industries including MSMEs, Startups, individual innovators, R&D institutes, and academia to provide them with funding and support to carry out R&D development.
ISRO Shukrayaan I mission to planet Venus reportedly shifted to 2031
In the budget year 20222023, ISRO was given an allocation of 13,700 crores, a small increase from the previous year. Gaganyaan, the human spaceflight mission, received the majority of it. Various groups have created a wishlist ahead of the upcoming budget announcement and in response to recent reforms in the private spaceflight sector, which include increases in local manufacturing and procurement.
TheVERITAS and EnVision missionsof the American and European space agencies, respectively, both have Venus missions scheduled for 2031, but China might go anytime: 2026, 2027, whenever they want to go.
The pandemic was mentioned by ISRO as the reason for delaying Shukrayaan Is launch from mid-2023 to December 2024. Delays in manufacturing and obligations to commercial launch Services have also had an impact on other ISRO projects, such as Aditya L1 and Chandrayaan III.
Shukrayaan-I will be a mission for an orbiter. A high-resolution synthetic aperture radar and a ground-penetrating radar are two of its current scientific payloads. From an elliptical orbit, the mission will likely research Venuss geological and volcanic activities, emissions on the surface, wind speed, cloud cover, and other planetary features.
Scientists said the recovery is gradual and will take many years. If current policies remain in place, the ozone layer is expected torecover to 1980 levels before the appearance of the ozone hole by 2040, the report said, and will return to normal in theArctic by 2045. Additionally,Antarcticacould experiencenormal levels by 2066.
Scientists and environmental groups have long lauded the global ban of ozone-depleting chemicals as one of the most critical environmental achievements to date, and it could set a precedent for broader regulation of Climate-warming emissions.