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The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will undertake the second development flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) from Sriharikota.
The SSLV-D2 will lift off at 9.18 a.m. from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre-SHAR, Sriharikota.
The vehicle is intended to inject the ISRO’s EOS-07, the U.S.-based firm Antaris’s Janus-1 and the Chennai-based space start-up Space Kidz’s AzaadiSAT-2 satellites into a 450-km circular orbit in its 15-minute flight.
The EOS-07 is a 156.3-kg satellite designed, developed and realised by the ISRO. Its mission objective is to design and develop payload instruments compatible with micro satellite bus and technologies that are required for future operational satellites.
It would design and develop a micro satellite accommodating new technology payloads in a quick turnaround time. New experiments include mm-Wave humidity sounder and spectrum monitoring payload.
Weighing around 10.2 kg, Janus-1 is a technology demonstrator, smart satellite mission based on the Antaris software platform.
A 8.7-kg satellite, AzaadiSAT-2 is a combined effort of about 750 girl students across India guided by Space Kidz India, Chennai.
According to details provided by ISRO, SSLV caters to the launch of satellites weighing up to 500 kg to low earth orbits on a ‘launch-on-demand’ basis.
It provides low-cost access to space, offers low turnaround time and flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, and demands minimal launch infrastructure.
It is configured with three solid propulsion stages and a velocity terminal module. It is a 34-m-tall, 2- m-diameter vehicle with a lift-off mass of 120 tonnes.
Editorial
Exploring the blue in the India-France partnership (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
The celebration by India and France of 25 years of their strategic partnership (January 26) presents an important opportunity for both to introspect on their relations.
Signed in 1998, the time-tested strategic partnership has continued to gain momentum over shared values and aspirations of peace, stability and, most importantly, their desire for strategic autonomy.
There are no real substantive disagreements between the two nations. France has emerged as a key trading partner of India with annual trade of $12.42 billion in 2021-22.
It is the 11th largest foreign investor in India with a cumulative investment of $10.31 billion from April 2000 to June 2022, which represents 1.70% of the total foreign direct investment inflows into India.
More importantly, it has emerged as a key defence partner for India, becoming the second largest defence supplier in 2017- 2021. France has emerged as a major strategic partner for India with crucial defence deals and increased military to military engagement.
A key example of this is the inducting of the French Scorpene conventional submarines, being built in India under technology transfer agreement of 2005, and the Indian Air Force having received 36 Rafale fighter jets.
The Tata group has also tied up with Airbus to manufacture C-295 tactical transport aircraft in Vadodara, Gujarat. This line is expected to be expanded into other civilian and military aircraft manufacturing in a joint venture with France.
These relations are further fortified with the robust network of military dialogues and regularly held joint exercises — Varuna (navy), Garuda (air force), and Shakti (army).
The importance of the defence partnership was further underscored in the recent statement by the French Ambassador to India, Emmanuel Lenain — that France is a willing partner for India as it builds its national industrial base for the defence industry and for critical strategic defence projects.
As the complexities in the international geopolitical order have emerged, both countries have worked towards a deepening and broadening of their cooperation.
France was among the first countries with which India signed a civil nuclear deal. Paris also played a critical role in limiting India’s isolation in the non-proliferation order after the 1998 nuclear tests.
Sage stance (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Reserve Bank of India’s decision to raise its benchmark policy rate yet again, albeit by a smaller quarter percentage point, reflects a welcome resolve in staying committed to ensuring durable price stability.
Given that the Monetary Policy Committee’s primary mandate is to steer retail inflation towards a 4% target, and that core price gains have stayed stuck above or almost at 6% for 20 months, the rate setting panel voted by a 4-2 majority to continue tightening policy.
Governor Shaktikanta Das emphasised the significance of the MPC’s unwavering focus on inflation when he noted that medium-term growth prospects would be best strengthened by ‘keeping inflation expectations anchored and breaking the persistence of core inflation’.
That inflation remains the key risk to the growth outlook, notwithstanding the easing in the headline print for retail price gains over November and December, was stressed by the MPC.
The panel pointed to the deflation in vegetable prices in end 2022 and cautioned that this trend could likely dissipate as summer approaches and prices harden.
Commodity prices are also expected to see upward pressure globally, given the lifting of most COVID-related restrictions, particularly in China.
Specifically, the recent uptrend in Brent futures and the intensifying Ukraine conflict forebodes the possibility that oil costs may well upset the RBI’s assumption of an average price of $95 per barrel for India’s crude basket.
The MPC’s decision to raise rates by a marginally smaller 25 basis points (bps) this time following its December decision to temper the tightening to 35 bps after three straight half percentage point increases, shows it is cognisant of the growth-retarding challenges that rising credit costs could pose to the ongoing post-pandemic recovery.
Still, the fact that the Indian economy has proved more resilient, underpinned by a rebound in domestic demand especially for contact-intensive services and discretionary spending, has provided a degree of comfort to monetary policymakers.
This was manifest in their upgrades to the GDP growth forecasts for the first two quarters of the coming fiscal year. While the RBI raised its growth outlook for Q1 FY24 to 7.8%, a sizeable 70 bps up from its projection in December, it lifted its Q2 projection by 30 bps to 6.2%.
Explainer
Locating China in the Russia-Ukraine war (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
As the Russia-Ukraine conflict marches toward the one-year mark, there seem to be hardly any signs of de-escalation. Western powers have started providing powerful offensive weapons to Ukraine, and Russia has threatened grave consequences in response.
Moreover, as Western sanctions on Russia progressively tighten, the country is increasingly becoming reliant on China. While China has officially been speaking in a largely neutral language, there have been some instances which have come to light recently of China allegedly assisting Russia in its campaign.
China’s formal stance on the conflict has been on the lines of “all countries deserve respect for their sovereignty and territorial integrity” and that “support should be given to all efforts that are conducive to peacefully resolving the crisis”, which it has consistently been reiterating on the world stage.
With an emphasis on “all countries”, China appears to be demonstrating its position as being equidistant from both the conflicting parties.
However, despite this articulation, China’s attitude towards the conflict has often been categorised as a ‘pro-Russian neutrality’.
Russia and China are engaged in a “comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era”; and despite the conflict, China has pushed ahead with strengthening its relations with Russia.
Moreover, China has painted the U.S. and NATO as prime instigators of the crisis, echoing the Russian narrative in this regard.
It also needs to be noted that in the past one year since the start of the conflict, out of the seven resolutions put to vote in total at the UN General Assembly, Security Council, Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization by the West against Russia, China voted against three and abstained from four.
In fact, China had only voted in favour of one UN Security Council resolution — the proposal which was raised by Russia on humanitarian aid. Hence, China’s portrayal of a neutral stance has many detractors.
News
Bullet train project tunnel to bypass mangroves will raise cost to ₹10,000 crore (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
A 7-km undersea tunnel will be constructed for the bullet train project in a bid to save about 12 hectares of mangrove forests in Maharashtra’s Thane creek.
This will escalate the construction cost of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor project’s 21-km stretch from Bandra Kurla Complex Station to Shilphata, from ₹100 crore to ₹10,000 crore.
Building an underground tunnel has escalated the cost by 100 times. However, we are conserving nearly 12 hectares of mangroves in the creek.
Constructing the tunnel in the Thane creek will be a massive challenge as it will involve two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) that will meet halfway under the sea to join two parts of the tunnel by a process called docking.
For the first time, TBMs with a cutter head of 13.1 metres in diameter will be used in the process. “Usually, urban tunnels used in urban metro systems are between 5 and 6 metres. The tunnel will be a single tube tunnel to accommodate both up and down tracks.
The total length of the corridor is 508 km, of which 156 km of construction will be in Maharashtra. It is slated to cut the shuttle time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad from over 6 hours to 2-2.5 hours.
The entire project cost is estimated to be ₹1.08 lakh crore of which ₹32,000 crore has been expended by the NHSRCL.
The project was stuck due to a failure in obtaining clearances from the erstwhile Shiv Sena government in the State, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had earlier said.