DRDO Flight-Tests High-Altitude Platform, Reaches 21 km

The correct answer is the Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE), Agra. The release states that this laboratory is designing and developing the High-Altitude Platform, a lighter-than-air system meant to work as a long endurance stratospheric aerial surveillance platform. Option B is wrong because the electronics laboratory at Hyderabad is not named as the developer of this platform. Option C is wrong because the establishment at Bengaluru is not credited with the High-Altitude Platform in this trial. Option D is wrong for the same reason; no such centre is mentioned in connection with the system. Candidates should connect the laboratory with the kind of work it does: aerial delivery systems and lighter-than-air platforms, which is why the high-altitude airship project sits with it. The trial itself was carried out in coordination with the Indian Air Force, CEMILAC, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Airports Authority of India.

The correct answer is 21 km. In the experimental flight the High-Altitude Platform climbed to that altitude above mean sea level, and it then remained at 20 km above mean sea level for more than 30 minutes before it was commanded to descend back to the ground. The system was recovered successfully and the flight performance data was analysed afterwards. Option A is wrong because the platform went considerably higher than that height. Option B is wrong because, although the platform passed through that level on the way up, the altitude attained in the trial was greater. Option D is wrong because the platform did not reach any such height in this flight. For the examination, keep the two altitudes apart in memory: the peak reached and the level at which the platform loitered, along with the duration of that loiter.

The correct answer is that it is a lighter-than-air stratospheric surveillance platform. The release describes the High-Altitude Platform as a lighter-than-air system being developed as a long endurance stratospheric aerial surveillance platform, and the Defence Minister spoke of the trial as a milestone towards realising a long endurance stratospheric airship. Option A is wrong because the platform is not a missile of any kind; it carried instrumentation such as an inertial measurement unit, a Global Positioning System receiver, onboard cameras and an altitude control mechanism. Option C is wrong because the platform is neither submarine-launched nor a small drone; it climbed into the stratosphere and was recovered after a commanded descent. Option D is wrong because it does not launch satellites. Remember that the flight data reached the Ground Control Station in real time throughout the flight.