Reusable rockets, satellite constellation for broadband in ISRO's 10-year plan - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Reusable rockets, satellite constellation for broadband in ISRO's 10-year plan.

Stepping into 2021, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has chalked out its decadal plan which includes development of a heavy lift rocket, reusable satellite launch vehicle, semi-cryogenic engine, and others, said a top official.

In the short term, the space agency has to realise the first developmental flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) operational Geo-Imaging capability, the third moon mission Chandrayaan-3, the first solar mission Aditya-L1, and the first Indian Data Relay Satellite.

"The first unmanned flight under the Gaganyaan Programme is another significant milestone to be achieved this year," said ISRO Chairman K Sivan, who is also Secretary, Department of Space, ISRO.

In his New Year message, he said all the centres/units of ISRO had actively contributed to the formulation of the decadal plan.

Sivan said: "In this decade, the VSSC (Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre), the lead centre for space transportation systems, will carry forward its competence in launch vehicle development towards heavy lift capabilities, achieving partial & full reusability and achieving progress in scramjet engine research."

According to Sivan, the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) will fructify the much-awaited high thrust semi-cryogenic propulsion capability, which is expected to boost the lifting capability of Indian rockets to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) to almost 5.5 ton while also focusing on liquid oxygen (oxidiser)-Methane propulsion, green propulsion as well as electric propulsion.

He also said ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) needed to gear up its test facilities to support the qualification of the new propulsion systems and also expand its integration facilities to realise the new semi-cryogenic and LOX/Methane engines.

"In the next decade, emphasis will be on satellite constellation for broadband communication, all electric satellite platform and high performance satellite platforms in all the application areas," Sivan said as regards the decadal plans for the UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC).

He said the Space Applications Centre (SAC) will complete its indigenisation efforts for atomic clock and traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTA).

In this decade, SAC and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) need to work towards ensuring the collection, processing and on-demand delivery of satellite data services in line with user expectations.

As regards the rocket port under the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) scaling up of the launch infrastructure to support human spaceflight as well as new heavy lift vehicles and perhaps support and facilitate the launching of private space transportation systems in the country, said Sivan.

The Semi-Conductor Laboratory SCL will work towards creating a strong micro-electronics base in the country and enhance capabilities in Very Large Scale Integrated circuit (VLSI) domain.

"A lion's share of ISRO's technology development and advanced R&D activities is expected to be carried out for facilitating the Gaganyaan (human space mission) programme and sustaining the human spaceflight activities in the long term," Sivan added.

On its part, the Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC), in association with all other ISRO centres, is working towards the enhanced capabilities essential for the human spaceflight programme including the human rated launch vehicle, Orbital Module, rendezvous and docking, regenerative life support systems and space habitats, Sivan added. (Source:defencenews.in)

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Reusable rockets, satellite constellation for broadband in ISRO's 10-year plan.

RBI Launches Digital Payments Index To Track Digital Transactions In India - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

RBI Launches Digital Payments Index To Track Digital Transactions In India.

On 1 January, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it has constructed a composite Digital Payments Index (DPI) to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country. This is in line with a significant development from the sharp pick-up in digital transactions seen in the recent past.

The RBI-DPI comprises of five broad parameters that enable the measurement of deepening and penetration of digital payments in the country over different time periods. These parameters are Payment Enablers, Payment Infrastructure - Demand-side factors, Payment Infrastructure - Supply-side factors, Payment Performance and Consumer Centricity, the RBI said.

Each of these parameters has sub-parameters which, in turn, consist of various measurable indicators, the central bank added.

The RBI-DPI has been constructed with March 2018 as the base period, i.e. DPI score for March 2018 is set at 100. The DPI for March 2019 and March 2020 work out to 153.47 and 207.84 respectively, indicating appreciable growth. Going forward, RBI-DPI shall be published on RBI's website on a semi-annual basis from March 2021 onwards with a lag of 4 months.

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RBI Launches Digital Payments Index To Track Digital Transactions In India.

When the Arctic warms, it will affect sea levels and precipitation patterns globally - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

When the Arctic warms, it will affect sea levels and precipitation patterns globally.

It is in the Arctic that global warming presents its most dramatic face; the region is warming up twice as fast as the global average. The ice cap is shrinking fast — since 1980, the volume of Arctic sea ice has declined by as much as 75 per cent.

In my school geography books, the Arctic was a frozen fastness, the distant domain of polar bears and fur-clad tribes, or the occasional intrepid explorer. But that was half a century ago.

Today the mysteries of the Arctic are literally melting away: The top of the world is falling into the sea in huge blocks, bringing with it challenges that are global in nature.

It is in the Arctic that global warming presents its most dramatic face; the region is warming up twice as fast as the global average. The ice cap is shrinking fast — since 1980, the volume of Arctic sea ice has declined by as much as 75 per cent. The Northern Sea Route (NSR) which would connect the North Atlantic to the North Pacific through a short polar arc was once the stuff of fantasy. The melting ice has now made it a reality and a trickle of commercial cargo vessels has been going through every summer since the last decade. Models predict that this route could be ice free in summer by 2050, if not earlier.

These developments will have a critical impact in several sectors, most fundamentally on climate. The loss of ice and the warming waters will affect sea levels, salinity levels, and current and precipitation patterns. Already, the Tundra is returning to swamp, the permafrost is thawing, sudden storms are ravaging coastlines and wildfires are devastating interior Canada and Russia. The phenomenally rich biodiversity of the Arctic region is under serious threat. Habitat loss and degradation, the absence of year-long ice and higher temperatures are making the survival of Arctic marine life, plants and birds difficult while encouraging species from lower latitudes to move north. The Arctic is also home to about 40 different indigenous groups, whose culture, economy and way of life is in danger of being swept away. Increasing human encroachment with its attendant stresses will only aggravate this impact and upset a fragile balance.

Yet there is a flip side: The opening of the Arctic presents huge commercial and economic opportunities, particularly in shipping, energy, fisheries and mineral resources. Commercial navigation through the NSR is the most tempting: The distance from Rotterdam to Yokohama will be cut by 40 per cent compared to the Suez route. Oil and natural gas deposits, estimated to be 22 per cent of the world’s unexplored resources, mostly in the Arctic ocean, will be open to access along with mineral deposits including 25 per cent of the global reserves of rare earths, buried in Greenland.

Fortunately, none of this is easy. Navigation conditions are dangerous and restricted to the summer. Lack of deep-water ports, a need for ice-breakers, shortage of workers trained for polar conditions, and high insurance costs add to the difficulties. Mining and deep-sea drilling carry massive costs and environmental risks. These difficulties may provide the crucial window to work out norms that are focussed on balanced and sustainable development, before human greed overtakes everything. The complication is that, unlike Antarctica, the Arctic is not a global common and there is no overarching treaty that governs it, only the UN Convention of Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Large parts of it are under the sovereignty of the five littoral states — Russia, Canada, Norway, Denmark (Greenland) and the US — and exploitation of the new resources is well within their rights.

Inevitably, given the high stakes, strategic games are afoot. Russia, Canada, Norway and Denmark have put in overlapping claims for extended continental shelves, and the right to sea-bed resources; in 2007, Russia embedded a flag on the seabed below the North Pole to bolster its claim. The US, not a party to UNCLOS, is unable to put in a formal claim but is under pressure to strengthen its Arctic presence.

For the present, Russia is the dominant power, with the longest Arctic coastline, half the Arctic population, and a full-fledged strategic policy. Claiming that the NSR falls within its territorial waters (the US believes the passage lies in international waters), Russia anticipates huge dividends from commercial traffic including through the use of its ports, pilots and ice-breakers. Russia has also activated its northern military bases, refurbished its nuclear armed submarine fleet and demonstrated its capabilities, including through an exercise with China in the eastern Arctic. China, playing for economic advantage, has moved in fast, projecting the Polar Silk Road as an extension of the BRI, and has invested heavily in ports, energy, undersea infrastructure and mining projects. This limbering up of strategic postures is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

India’s interests in these developments, though distant, are not peripheral. Our extensive coastline makes us vulnerable to the impact of Arctic warming on ocean currents, weather patterns, fisheries and most importantly, our monsoon. Scientific research in Arctic developments, in which India has a good record, will contribute to our understanding of climatic changes in the Third Pole — the Himalayas. The strategic implications of an active China in the Arctic and its growing economic and strategic relationship with Russia are self-evident and need close monitoring. Fortunately, since 2013, India has had a toehold in the region. It has observer status in the Arctic Council, which is the predominant inter-governmental forum for cooperation on the environmental and development (though not the security) aspects of the Arctic. It is high time that our presence on the Arctic Council was underpinned by a strategic policy that encompassed economic, environmental, scientific and political aspects. (Source: The Indian Express)

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When the Arctic warms, it will affect sea levels and precipitation patterns globally.