Science & Technology Mixed Quiz: Set 7

The correct answer is B, Rakesh Sharma. An Indian Air Force pilot, Rakesh Sharma flew to the Soviet space station Salyut 7 aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in April 1984 as part of a joint mission and spent about a week in orbit, carrying out experiments in biology and remote sensing. He is remembered for answering the Prime Minister's question about how India looked from space with a line from a well known song.

Option A, Kalpana Chawla, was the first woman of Indian origin in space, flying with NASA, and she died in the Columbia accident of 2003. Option C, Ravish Malhotra, was the backup pilot for the 1984 mission and did not fly. Option D, Sunita Williams, is another astronaut of Indian origin with NASA who has spent long periods on the International Space Station. Only Rakesh Sharma flew as an Indian citizen first.

The correct answer is C, August 2021. The Prime Minister announced the National Hydrogen Mission in his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort on 15 August 2021, with the aim of making India a hub for producing and exporting green hydrogen. Green hydrogen is made by splitting water through electrolysis using electricity from solar, wind or other renewable sources, so it releases no carbon dioxide, unlike the grey hydrogen made from natural gas. The Union Cabinet later approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission in January 2023 with an outlay of Rs 19,744 crore. Option A is wrong because May 2021 saw no such announcement. Option B is wrong because November 2021 is when the Prime Minister gave the Panchamrit climate pledges at the Glasgow COP26 summit. Option D is wrong because January 2021 belongs to the vaccination drive against Covid-19, not to hydrogen. Exam tip: announced 15 August 2021; the mission was approved by the Cabinet in January 2023.

The correct answer is A, the Brahmaputra and the Moskva. BrahMos is built by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture formed in 1998 between DRDO and the Russian firm NPO Mashinostroyeniya, and the name joins a great river of each country. It is a supersonic cruise missile flying at nearly three times the speed of sound, and versions have been made for ships, submarines, land launchers and aircraft.

Option B names the Volga, the longest river of Russia, but the Moskva is the river of the Russian capital and is the one used. Option C replaces the Brahmaputra with the Beas, a Punjab river of the Indus system. Option D names the Brahmani, a river of Odisha whose name sounds close to Brahmaputra and so makes a good distractor. The pair to remember is Brahmaputra and Moskva.

The correct answer is C, Shaurya. Shaurya is the land based version of the submarine launched K-15 Sagarika, and it is stored and fired from a sealed canister, which lets it be moved by road and launched at short notice. It leaves the canister by a gas charge, then its own motor takes over, and it re-enters at hypersonic speed, which is what the question means by hypersonic tactical missile.

Option A, Astra, is a beyond visual range air-to-air missile fired from a fighter aircraft, not a surface to surface weapon. Option B, Akash, is a medium range surface to air missile of the IGMDP that works with the Rajendra radar and is meant to shoot down aircraft. Option D, Trishul, was the short range surface to air missile of the same programme, built for ships and forward positions. Only Shaurya is fired from the surface at a surface target.

The correct answer is B, anti-tank guided missile. Nag is a third generation anti-tank guided missile of the fire and forget kind, which means the operator can leave cover once the missile has locked on to the target. It is carried on a tracked vehicle called the NAMICA, short for Nag Missile Carrier, and its helicopter-launched versions are known as Helina and Dhruvastra.

Option A describes Akash, Trishul and the Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile, which engage aircraft. Option C describes Astra, India's beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile carried by the Su-30MKI and the Tejas. Option D describes the Agni-V class, with a range beyond five thousand kilometres. All four categories exist in the Indian inventory, so the question tests whether the name has been tied to the right role.

The correct answer is D, 1.6 W/kg. The Specific Absorption Rate measures how much radio energy from a handset the body takes in, in watts per kilogram of tissue. From 1 September 2012 the Department of Telecommunications made 1.6 W/kg, averaged over one gram of human tissue, the limit for every new mobile handset design sold in India. Before that India followed the older figure of 2.0 W/kg averaged over ten grams. The rules also require the SAR value to be printed on the handset and its box, and a buyer can check it by dialling a code given by the maker. India's limit matches the standard used in the United States. Option A is wrong because 1.8 W/kg is not a prescribed limit anywhere. Option B is wrong because 2.1 W/kg is not a SAR standard. Option C is wrong because 2.2 W/kg is only a distractor. Exam tip: India's SAR limit is 1.6 W/kg over 1 gram of tissue, in force from 1 September 2012.

The correct answer is B, 1958. DRDO was formed in that year by bringing together the Technical Development Establishment of the Indian Army, the Directorate of Technical Development and Production and the Defence Science Organisation, so that defence research would be done under one roof. It began with a handful of laboratories and now runs more than fifty, arranged in clusters such as missiles, aeronautics, armaments, naval systems, electronics and life sciences.

Option A, 1947, is the year of independence but not of this organisation. Option C, 1969, is the year ISRO was formed, which is the commonest confusion in this question. Option D, 1983, is the year the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme was approved, twenty-five years after DRDO itself came into being. The order to remember is DRDO 1958, ISRO 1969 and IGMDP 1983.

The correct answer is D, Ability. Bias in an artificial intelligence system is traced to three sources, the data it learns from, the algorithm that learns, and the people who build and use it; ability is not one of them, because the skill of a model is a measure of how well it performs, not a place where unfairness enters. Data bias appears when the training set leaves out or under-represents a group, as with a face recognition system trained mostly on one kind of face. Algorithmic bias comes from the choices made in designing a model, such as the features it is allowed to use. Human bias enters through labelling, sampling and the assumptions of the team. Options A, B and C are therefore wrong answers to this question because each one is a genuine source of bias. Exam tip: remember data, algorithm and people as the three sources of AI bias.

The correct answer is A, medium-range surface-to-air missile. Akash was one of the five missiles of the IGMDP and is meant to destroy aircraft and helicopters at medium range. It is notable for using a ramjet engine, which lets it keep thrust through the flight, and it works with the Rajendra phased array radar. Both the Army and the Air Force use it, and an export version has been cleared by the government.

Option B describes the K series, the K-15 or Sagarika and the K-4, built for the Arihant class of submarines. Option C describes Rudram, the air-launched missile that homes in on enemy radars. Option D describes Nirbhay, the long-range cruise missile powered by a turbofan engine. Each is a real Indian system, so the answer turns on the role of Akash as an air defence missile.

The correct answer is B, 1983. The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, usually written IGMDP, was approved in 1983 and placed under the Defence Research and Development Organisation, with A. P. J. Abdul Kalam as its head. Its aim was to build five missiles together rather than one after another, and the programme was formally declared complete in 2008.

Option A, 1974, is the year of Pokhran-I, the peaceful nuclear explosion codenamed Smiling Buddha, which candidates often bring here. Option C, 1991, is remembered for economic liberalisation, not for missiles. Option D, 1998, is the year of Pokhran-II, the series of nuclear tests at Pokhran under Operation Shakti, and it is the commonest wrong choice because the same period saw Agni tests. Only 1983 belongs to the IGMDP.

The correct answer is B, a long range subsonic cruise missile. Nirbhay flies below the speed of sound but for a much greater distance than BrahMos, staying low to avoid radar, and it can change course in flight and loiter over an area before striking. That combination of range and manoeuvre is what a subsonic cruise missile offers, and it is powered by a small turbofan engine rather than a rocket motor.

Option A describes BrahMos, which is supersonic but of shorter range, so the two are exactly the pair examiners set against each other. Option C, an intercontinental ballistic missile, follows a high arching path outside the atmosphere and belongs to the Agni class, of which Agni-V crosses five thousand kilometres. Option D, a surface to air missile, is a weapon against aircraft, such as Akash or Trishul, and not a strike weapon at all.

The correct answer is B, STUDSAT. STUDSAT, short for Student Satellite, was the first pico satellite built in India. A pico satellite is one that weighs under about one kilogram, and STUDSAT weighed less than that. It was built by students of engineering colleges in Bengaluru and Hyderabad and was launched in 2010 by a PSLV flight as an auxiliary payload, carrying a small camera for imaging the Earth.

Option A, INSAT, is not a single satellite but the Indian National Satellite System, a family of heavy communication satellites in geostationary orbit. Option C, GSAT-4, was an experimental communication satellite that was lost when its launch vehicle failed in 2010. Option D, ANUSAT, was built by Anna University and launched in 2009, but it was a micro satellite of about forty kilograms, not a pico satellite, which is exactly the distinction the question is testing.

The correct answer is B, beyond-visual-range air-to-air. Astra is fired from a fighter aircraft at another aircraft that is still beyond the pilot's sight, which is what beyond visual range means, and it uses an active radar seeker in its final phase. It is integrated on the Su-30MKI and on the Tejas light combat aircraft, and it replaces imported missiles of the same class.

Option A, surface-to-surface, describes Prithvi, Agni, Prahaar and Pralay. Option C, anti-tank, describes Nag with its NAMICA carrier and its helicopter versions Helina and Dhruvastra. Option D, anti-ship, describes the naval role of BrahMos and of the Sea Eagle class of weapons. The word Astra, meaning a weapon that is thrown, is easy to confuse with the others, so fix it in memory as the air-to-air missile.

The correct answer is B, Soviet Union. Sputnik 1 was launched on 4 October 1957 and became the first artificial satellite to circle the earth, sending out a simple radio signal that stations across the world could hear. The launch opened the space age and pushed the United States to create NASA the next year. Sputnik 2, launched a month later, carried the dog Laika, the first animal to orbit the earth.

Option A, the United States, launched its first satellite Explorer 1 in early 1958, a few months later. Option C, the United Kingdom, built early satellites such as Ariel 1 but they were launched by American rockets. Option D, France, became the third country to launch a satellite with its own rocket, in 1965, and later led the European effort. The first place belongs to the Soviet Union.

The correct answer is B, air to air. Astra is a beyond visual range air-to-air missile, which means it is fired from a fighter aircraft at an enemy aircraft the pilot cannot see with the eye, using radar to find and follow the target. It is carried on Indian Air Force fighters and was developed to replace imported missiles of the same class, giving India a weapon it can make and improve at home.

Option A, surface to surface, covers Prithvi, Agni and Shaurya, which are fired from the ground at ground targets. Option C, surface to air, covers Akash, Trishul and QRSAM, which are fired from the ground at aircraft, so the direction is the reverse of Astra. Option D, anti-tank, is the class of Nag and HELINA. Keeping the first word as the launch place and the second as the target makes these questions easy.

The correct answer is C, 104. PSLV-C37 carried the Cartosat-2 series satellite as its main passenger along with two Indian nano-satellites and 101 small foreign satellites, releasing all of them one after another from its restartable liquid fourth stage. The flight is a standing example of the PSLV's ability to serve as a shared ride for many small payloads.

Option A, 36, is the size of a batch of communication satellites carried on a later commercial LVM3 flight, which is why the number feels familiar. Option B, 68, and option D, 140, match no Indian launch. The point examiners test is the combination of vehicle, date and number, so fix the three together: PSLV-C37, 15 February 2017, 104 satellites, with the Cartosat-2 series satellite as the primary payload.

The correct answer is D, more than five thousand kilometres. Agni-V is a three-stage solid-fuelled missile with a range beyond five thousand kilometres, which places it in the intercontinental ballistic missile class. It is canisterised, so it is stored in and launched from a sealed canister that can be carried by road or rail, which cuts the time needed to make it ready, and it has been tested with multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle technology under the mission named Divyastra.

Option A, about seven hundred kilometres, is the class of Agni-I. Option B, about two thousand kilometres, is the class of Agni-II. Option C, about three thousand five hundred kilometres, is closer to Agni-III and to the submarine-launched K-4. The family rises step by step, so the safest way to remember it is that each number in the name takes the range further out.

The correct answer is B, an anti-satellite weapon. In Mission Shakti, on 27 March 2019, an interceptor developed for ballistic missile defence was used to destroy one of India's own satellites in low earth orbit, showing that the country could strike a target in space. A low orbit was chosen deliberately so that the debris would fall back into the atmosphere quickly, and India became one of the very few nations with this proven ability.

Option A is wrong because the hypersonic demonstrator flew separately, in September 2020, using a scramjet engine. Option C, a nuclear device, refers to the tests at Pokhran in 1974 and 1998, which were held underground and are a different story altogether. Option D, a submarine launched ballistic missile, describes the K-15 Sagarika and K-4 tests for the Arihant class, which are naval weapons and not a space intercept.

The correct answer is B, Sagarika. K-15, called Sagarika, is the first of the K series of submarine-launched ballistic missiles, developed for the Arihant class of nuclear powered submarines, and the longer-ranged K-4 follows it in the same family. A submarine-launched missile matters because a submarine at sea is hard to find, which is what gives a country the ability to strike back after being struck.

Option A, Dhanush, is the ship-launched version of Prithvi, fired from a surface vessel rather than from under the sea. Option C, Shaurya, is a canister-launched surface-to-surface missile that shares technology with the K series but is land based. Option D, Prahaar, is a short-range tactical surface-to-surface missile of about one hundred and fifty kilometres. All four names come from the same programme family, which is why they are offered together.

The correct answer is A, a short range surface to air missile. Trishul was designed as a quick reaction weapon to protect warships and forward army positions from low flying aircraft and from sea skimming missiles, so it needed very fast response over a short distance rather than long reach. It was one of the five missiles taken up together under the IGMDP in 1983.

Option B, a long range ballistic missile, is the Agni family, which runs from Agni-I to Agni-V. Option C, an anti-ship cruise missile, is the role BrahMos performs, and BrahMos was never part of the IGMDP since it came from a later joint venture with Russia. Option D, an air to air missile, is the class of Astra. Within the IGMDP, both Trishul and Akash were surface to air, the first short range and the second medium range.