2 min series (9th August 2025)

1. Nuclear Reactor: Recently, the United States has accelerated plans to deploy a nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030, aiming to power a future lunar base and strengthen its position as a leader in space exploration.

• Key Highlights: Limitations of Solar Power: Lunar nights last around 14 Earth days, making continuous solar energy generation impractical.Batteries alone cannot sustain long-duration operations.
• Need for Nuclear Power: Space nuclear power expert Roger Myers emphasizes the necessity of nuclear energy for sustained lunar missions. Planned reactor output: 100 kilowatts—enough to power 70–80 U.S. homes, far smaller than the 1 gigawatt of typical Earth-based plants.
• How It Would Work: Similar to terrestrial reactors, using uranium fuel to produce heat and electricity.
  • Cooling System: Large radiators to dissipate heat directly into space (no water or atmosphere).
  • High-Temperature Operation: Higher operating temperatures to improve heat dissipation.

1. Third Launch Pad (TLP): Recently, India announced plans for a Third Launch Pad (TLP) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, scheduled to be operational by March 2029.

• About TLP : Designed for next-generation rockets, the TLP will significantly expand the country’s capacity for heavy-lift launches and human spaceflight missions.
• Objectives: Support NGLV Operations: Provide infrastructure for the 91m-tall Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV).
• Backup for LVM3: Ensure mission continuity in case of single-pad unavailability.
• Enable Human Spaceflight: Critical for Gaganyaan and future astronaut missions.
• Advance Deep Space Goals: Facilitate lunar landings, space station assembly, and interplanetary missions.
• Key Features: Advanced Propellant Systems: Compatible with cryogenic and semi-cryogenic fuels for high-thrust missions.
• Make in India Focus: Active participation of private players and MSMEs in infrastructure development.
• Higher Capacity & Design: Supports rockets twice the height of LVM3, with greater thrust and new jet deflection systems.
• Modular Construction: Multiple work packages to improve efficiency and scalability.

1. Great Barrier Reef: Recently, the Great Barrier Reef recorded its steepest decline in hard coral cover in nearly four decades, driven by climate change-induced heat stress, tropical cyclones, and outbreaks of coral-eating starfish, pushing this iconic ecosystem to the brink.

• About the Great Barrier Reef: A vast network of coral reefs, shoals, and islets in the Pacific Ocean’s Coral Sea, off the northeastern coast of Australia.
  
  
• World’s largest and longest reef system and the largest living structure on Earth.
• Stretches over 2,000 km in a northwest–southeast direction, lying 16–160 km offshore, and spans 60–250 km in width.
• Covers an area of about 350,000 sq. km, representing 10% of the world’s coral reef ecosystems.
• It comprises about 2,100 individual reefs and 800 fringing reefs (around islands or along coastlines).
• Biodiversity: 400 coral species, 1,500 fish species, 4,000 mollusk species.
• Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981.

1. Kartavya Bhavan: Recently, the Prime Minister inaugurated Kartavya Bhavan-03, the first of ten planned Common Central Secretariat buildings under the Central Vista redevelopment project.

• About Kartavya Bhavan: A newly built green, smart, and centralised CCS facility serving as the headquarters for several key Union ministries. It is part of the Central Vista plan to modernise and integrate government infrastructure.
• Location: New Delhi
• Purpose: Consolidate over 50 currently scattered ministry offices into 10 state-of-the-art CCS buildings.
• Enhance administrative efficiency, reduce rental and maintenance expenses, and incorporate sustainable and digital systems into governance.
• Smart Systems: Digital workspaces, sensor-based lighting, CCTV monitoring, and smart ID-enabled access.
• Centralised command centre for building management.
• Ministries Housed: Home Affairs, External Affairs, Rural Development, Petroleum & Natural Gas, MSME, DoPT, and the Principal Scientific Adviser’s Office.

1. Nauru: Recently, the small Pacific island nation of Nauru, which has started selling passports to raise funds for climate action, has approved only six applicants so far this year.

• About Nauru: Location: A microstate in Oceania, situated in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. About 1,300 km northeast of the Solomon Islands; its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island (Kiribati), ~300 km to the east.
• Topography: A raised, fossilised coral atoll and one of the three major phosphate rock islands in the Pacific.
• Dominated by a central phosphate plateau surrounded by coral cliffs.
• Phosphate mining has severely degraded the land, leaving nearly 80% uninhabitable and uncultivable.
• Capital: No official capital; Yaren District on the southern coast serves as the de facto capital.
• Language: Nauruan (native) and English (used for government and commerce).
• Political System: Independent since 1968 with a republican, Westminster-style parliamentary system under its constitution.

1. Rudrastra: Recently, Indian Railways successfully completed the trial run of ‘Rudrastra’, the longest in Asia, between Ganjkhwaja (Uttar Pradesh) and Garhwa (Jharkhand). This marks a significant leap in freight logistics efficiency.

• About Rudrastra: A 5 km-long freight train created by linking six standard rakes into one operational unit.
• Developed and operated by Indian Railways through the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya (DDU) Division of East Central Railway.
• Trial run coordinated with Dhanbad Division for operational integration.
• Objective: Carry larger cargo volumes in a single trip.
• Reduce duplication in crew, scheduling, and routing.
• Lower transit time and resource consumption in goods movement.
• Route: Combination of Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and conventional railway tracks

1. Bharat Forecast System (BharatFS): Recently, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences informed the Rajya Sabha about the launch and capabilities of the Bharat Forecast System (BharatFS). It is an advanced, indigenously developed weather prediction model.

• About BharatFS : An indigenous advanced weather forecasting system designed to provide high-resolution, local-level predictions.
• Operates on the Triangular Cubic Octahedral (TCo) dynamical grid with a 6 km horizontal resolution, a major upgrade from the earlier GFS T1534 (~12 km) model and global operational norms (9–14 km).
• Technical Backbone: Supported by supercomputing facilities: Arka – IITM Pune
  and Arunika – NCMRWF Noida
• Developed collaboratively by scientists from IITM-Pune, NCMRWF-Noida, and the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
• Objectives: Provide forecasts at the cluster of panchayats level.
• Improve prediction accuracy for extreme weather events.

1. Teak Defoliator Moth: Recently, the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) successfully identified and mass-produced the Hyblaea puera Nucleopolyhedrosis Virus (HpNPV).This an eco-friendly alternative to chemical pesticides for controlling the teak defoliator moth (Hyblaea puera).

• About Teak Defoliator Moth (Hyblaea puera)
• Type: Moth; cryptic species and a major pest of teak trees.
• Other Host: Also attacks Avicennia marina, a key mangrove species along India’s west coast, causing severe defoliation.
• First Recorded Outbreak in India: 1898, Konni Forest Division, Kerala.
• Distribution: Native to South & Southeast Asia — from India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh to Thailand, New Guinea, and north Queensland (Australia).
• Occurrence: Seasonal outbreaks are common in teak plantations.
• Economic Impact: Causes significant timber production losses.
• About Hyblaea puera Nucleopolyhedrosis Virus (HpNPV): Nature: A naturally occurring biocontrol virus lethal to teak defoliator larvae.
• Effectiveness: Multiplies a trillion times inside a single larva.
  • When the larva dies, its body ruptures, releasing massive amounts of viral inoculum.
  • Even sub-lethal infections remain in the pest’s system, passing on to the next generation and eventually killing them.
  • Advantage: Eco-friendly, highly specific to the pest, and avoids the harmful impacts of chemical pesticides.