28, March 2019 28/03/2019 – Posted in: Daily News – Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mission Shakti : Anti-Satellite (ASAT)

 

News Flash

India has shot down a low-earth orbit satellite in space, propelling itself into an elite club of nations, which has mastered this anti-satellite (ASAT) missile technology.

Scientists and engineers at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) launched a missile from the Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Island launch complex near Balasore in Odisha that struck a predetermined target: a redundant Indian satellite that was orbiting at a distance of 300 km from the Earth’s surface.

 

 

Aim

The technology is aimed at destroying, if necessary, satellites owned by enemy countries.

 

History of the Technology’s development

The first anti-satellite test (ASAT) was carried out by the US military way back in 1959. The then Soviet Union followed a year later. China did it only in 2007. A year later, US brought down a non-functional spy satellite. Other countries which could have the capability, like Israel, have not shown an intention to test.

 

ASAT

Anti-satellite is the technological capability to hit and destroy satellites in space through missiles launched from the ground. It can be used both for defence and attack.
• Defence : It can target the threats coming from satellites owned by enemy countries.
• Attack: A large number of crucial applications are now satellite-based.

These include navigation systems, communication networks, broadcasting, banking systems, stock markets, weather forecasting, disaster management, land and ocean mapping and monitoring tools, and military applications. Destroying a satellite would make these applications useless. It can disable enemy infrastructure, and bring it down on knees, without causing any threat to human lives.

 

Why do few countries have it?

It requires propelled capacities in both space and missile technologies that very few nations have. Further, almost every country agrees that space must not be used for wars and has spoken against weaponisation of space.
Besides this there are international treaties obligations, which govern the use of space, that mandate that outer space, and celestial bodies like the Moon, must only be exploited for peaceful purposes. Mainly there are three treaties in this regard:

(i) Outer Space Treaty 1967

It prohibits countries from placing into orbit around the earth “any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction”. India is signatory to this treaty. It also prohibits the stationing of such weapons on celestial bodies, like the moon, or in outer space.

(ii) US-USSR Treaty on limited capacity building of Anti-ballistic Missile Systems.

(iii) 2014’ treaty on prohibition on installation of weapons in outer space.

 

Why it is path-breaking

  • Anti-satellite technology has so far been in the hands of very few countries: the United States, Russia and China. The development and demonstration of this technology make India a member of an elite group of countries.
  • The fact that this anti-satellite technology is indigenously developed adds to India’s credentials in technology development.
  • The anti-satellite space technology shows India’s focus on security challenges, emanating beyond Pakistan.
  • The acquisition of this technology is expected to have spin-offs that India can exploit for commercial use, both domestic and globally.
Low earth orbit : Upto 2000 kilometre from earth’s surface, most satellites, the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle, and the Hubble Space Telescope are all in Low Earth Orbit (commonly called “LEO”).

Medium earth orbit: Between the altitude of 2000 to 35787 km, The most common use for satellites in this region is for navigation, such as the GPS.

Geosynchronous Orbit:  About 35,786 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, satellites are in geostationary orbit. From the centre of the Earth, this is approximately 42,164 kilometers. This distance puts it in the high Earth orbit category.This makes geosynchronous satellites particularly useful for telecommunications and other remote sensing applications.

Geostationary Orbits: While geosynchronous satellites can have any inclination, the key difference to geostationary orbit is the fact that they lie on the same plane as the equator. Geostationary orbits fall in the same category as geosynchronous orbits, but it’s parked over the equator. This one special quality makes it unique from geosynchronous orbit.

Source: Livemint

 

 

Electoral Bonds and transparency in Politics

 

News Flash

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has told the Supreme Court that electoral bonds, contrary to government claims, wreck transparency in political funding.

 

What are Electoral Bonds

  • These are interest-free bearer instruments (like Promissory Notes) that are available for purchase from the State Bank of India within a designated window of 10 days in every quarter of the financial year.
  • Every party that is registered under section 29A of the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and has secured at least one per cent of the votes polled in the most recent Lok Sabha or State election will be allotted a verified account by the Election Commission of India. Electoral bond transactions can be made only via this account.
  • An additional period of a month will be notified in the year of elections to Lok Sabha.
  • The life of the bond would be only 15 days. (It) can only be encashed in a predeclared account of a political party (which) will have to disclose the amount… to the Election Commission.
  • These were announced in 2017 budget and later on several laws related to the political funding were amended for the purpose:the corresponding amendments carried out in the Income Tax Act, the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the Companies Act, 2013.

 

The Indian Government claimed that following will be the benefits of the scheme;

  • Transparency in political funding, as. donors have to declare in their accounts the amount of bonds that they have purchased and all parties have to declare the quantum of bonds that they have received
  • Encouragement to the cashless transactions.

 

It was criticised because

  • The public will not know which individual, company, or organisation has funded which party, and to what extent.
  • Through the SBI the government — will know who is getting what from whom and this will result in biased treatment with the entities who are not supporting the party in power.
  • The EC yesterday argued in the court that it will put donations received by a political party out of the ambit of reporting them as per provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
  • Other than this, it cannot be ascertained whether the political party has taken any donation in violation of provisions under Section 29B of the Representation of the People Act 1971, which prohibits political parties from taking donations from government companies and foreign sources.

Source: The Hindu

 

 

 

Copenhagen first city to declare carbon neutral status by 2025

 

News Flash

Copenhagen became the first city to present a plan to cancel out its carbon footprint by 2025.

 

Background

Before the UNFCCC’s summit at Katowice, in 2018 climate scientists released a report targeted at urban policymakers. The 30-page document was a follow-up to the IPCC’s seminal report, which had stressed on the urgency of keeping global warming to less than 1.5ºC above preindustrial levels.

Urban centres are responsible for 75% emissions of the total global carbon emissions, scientists say in that study.so the urban centres have much responsibility to achieve the goal of limiting temperature rise below 1.5.C.

 

How Copenhagen doing it ?

  • Using non-motorised transport mediums. Cycles etc.
  • Making energy from the waste.
  • Use of ICT to increase the efficiency of public transport.
  • Promoting energy efficient buildings.

 

What India can learn ?

India where cities are becoming polluted beyond the limits, its very necessary to understand the role of urban governance and tower planners in making cities low carbon emitting units of development and human inhabitation.

 

Carbon Neutral

Carbon neutrality, or having a net zero carbon footprint, refers to achieving net zero carbon dioxide emissions by balancing carbon emissions with carbon removal or simply eliminating carbon emissions altogether.

It is used in the context of carbon dioxide-releasing processes associated with transportation, energy production, and industrial processes.

 

Source: Indian Express