Gaganyaan mission ISRO Indian Navy conduct trials for crew module recovery (GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) along with the Indian Navy carried out initial recovery trials of the Crew Module for the Gaganyaan, a human space flight mission.
- The trials were conducted in the Navy's Water Survival Test Facility (WSTF) in Kochi.
What are recovery trials?
- A Crew Module Recovery Model (CMRM) that simulates the mass, center of gravity, outer dimensions, and externals of the actual Crew Module at touchdown was used for the trials.
- As the safe recovery of the crew is the final step to be accomplished for any successful human spaceflight, it is of paramount importance and has to be carried out with the minimum lapse of time.
- The recovery trials will be initially carried out in a closed pool, followed by trials in a harbor and in the open sea.
- Different phases of recovery trials starting with the recovery of the Crew Module to the flight crew training are planned at WSTF.
What isWater Survival Test Facility?
- WSTF is a state-of-the-art facility of the Indian Navy that provides realistic training of aircrew for escape from a ditched aircraft under varied simulated conditions and crash scenarios.
- WSTF simulates different sea state conditions, environmental conditions, and day/night conditions.
- These trials assist in validating the SoP, and training recovery teams as well as the flight crew. The feedback from the recovery team/trainers helps improve the recovery operations SoP, design various recovery accessories, and finalize the training plan.
What will Chandrayaan 3 do on the Moon?
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Why in news?
- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) likely to be launch the Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon in 2023.
Details:
- Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-up to the Chandrayan-2 mission that will demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface and consists of a lander-rover configuration.
- The mission will be launched aboard India's most powerful rocket, the LVM-III, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Targets:
- The mission is aimed at better understanding the Moon's composition. ISRO has laid out three main objectives for the mission, which include
- demonstrating a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface,
- demonstrating the rover's roving capabilities on the moon and
- performing in-situ scientific observations.
Instruments:
- The mission's Chandra Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) will measure the thermal conductivity and temperature, while the Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) will measure the seismicity around the landing site.
- The Langmuir Probe (LP) will estimate the plasma density and its variations and a passive Laser Retroreflector Array from NASA is accommodated on the mission for lunar laser ranging studies.
Lander & Rover:
- Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous Lander module (LM), Propulsion module (PM), and a Rover with the objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for Interplanetary missions.
- The Lander will have the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the Rover which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.
- The propulsion module has the Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and Polari metric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.
- The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration to about 100 kilometers of lunar orbit.
Way Forward:
- ISRO has made changes to Chandrayaan-3 following the loss of the Chandrayaan-2 mission while landing on the lunar surface in 2018.
- The mission is designed to better navigate the terrain conditions while attempting to land on the surface and deploy the rover.
Fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Why in news?
- Recently, the experts from across the world have gathered at the fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress in Canada.
Background:
- Countries agreed to protect 30 per cent of the planet’s lands and oceans by 2030 at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2022.
- Climate change is driving ocean temperature and sea level rise. The waters are turning acidic.
- Temperatures of the top few metres of the sea have increased by approximately 0.13 degrees Celsius per decade over the past 100 years.
- The expert called for efforts to establish and deploy science-based decision-support tools to ensure that 18 million square kilometres of new MPAs are climate-smart.
- Most current MPAs are located in coastal areas, while only 1.2 per cent of the high seas are protected. High seas are regions that are not controlled by any country.
Lack of Funding:
- A lack of funding poses challenges to the benefits that marine protected areas (MPA), areas managed for long-term conservation, can potentially provide.
- As many as 70 per cent of MPAs are underfunded. A well-managed and sufficiently funded MPA can restore good health to vulnerable ecosystems.
- This is crucial as nations agreed to protect 30 per cent of the planet’s lands and oceans by 2030 at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in 2022.
Example of Blue Finance:
- Blue Finance, a social enterprise, presented how they partner with local entities to build and manage four ‘bankable’ MPAs. The organisation has helped preserve 350,000 hectares (ha) of high-biodiversity coral reefs.
- This involves a partnership between the government and a local non-profit entity. The former remains the owner, while the latter is responsible for management functions.
- The four MPAs are Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve in Belize, Mindoro Network in the Philippines, North Pemba in Zanzibar and Banggai in Indonesia.
Blue credits:
- Revenue can be generated from statutory and non-statutory MPA fees for tourism programmes, blue carbon credits generated from mangrove conservation and avoided deforestation as well as seaweed farming and sustainable coastal fisheries.
- Blue credits allow businesses to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing carbon credits (removal of one tonne of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere) equivalent to their emissions.
- Credits will be generated to conserve blue carbon ecosystems, such as mangroves, seagrasses and salt marshes, which are known to sequester carbon.
- These models can fetch tangible returns for investors. It also ensures that the regions maintain independence from donors.
About MOA:
- Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) involve the protective management of natural areas for economic resources, biodiversity conservation, and species protection.
