In News:

The Indian Navy has signed a significant contract with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bengaluru for the implementation of the National Maritime Domain Awareness (NMDA) Project, a strategic initiative to strengthen India’s maritime and coastal security infrastructure.

Key Objectives and Scope

• Purpose: The NMDA Project aims to create a unified, real-time maritime surveillance and information-sharing framework to safeguard India's vast coastline and maritime interests.
• It seeks to enhance coordination among maritime stakeholders, including national agencies, coastal states, and union territories.

Major Components of the Project

• Upgrade of NC3I Network: The existing National Command, Control, Communication and Intelligence (NC3I) Network will be upgraded to a more advanced NMDA Network.
• AI Integration: Artificial Intelligence-enabled software will be deployed to enable smart surveillance, automated threat detection, and informed decision-making.

Multi-Agency NMDA Centre

• The Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) at Gurugram — currently the nodal agency of the NC3I Network — will be transformed into a Multi-Agency NMDA Centre.
• The upgraded centre will include representatives from 15 national agencies across seven key ministries, such as Defence, Shipping, Petroleum, and Fisheries, ensuring seamless inter-agency coordination.

Operational and Strategic Benefits

• Integrated Maritime Picture: The system will link various stakeholders to provide a comprehensive operational view of India’s maritime domain.
• Enhanced Response: It will improve response mechanisms to maritime threats, search and rescue operations, environmental incidents, and other contingencies.
• Data Integration: Inputs from sectors such as commercial shipping and fisheries will be integrated into the system for improved situational awareness.

Execution and Administration

• The project will be implemented on a turnkey basis and administered by the Indian Navy.
• BEL will act as the lead system integrator, delivering both hardware and AI-enabled software solutions for the project.

In News:

A significant discovery by Indian and international astronomers has unveiled the existence of miniature plasma loops in the lower layers of the Sun’s atmosphere, shedding new light on how the Sun stores and releases magnetic energy—a long-standing mystery in solar physics.

• These loops are tiny in scale, measuring 3,000–4,000 km in length and less than 100 km in width, making them difficult to detect with earlier instruments. Despite their short lifespan of only a few minutes, they offer crucial insights into magnetic reconnection—a process where tangled magnetic field lines snap and realign, releasing immense energy.
• The research was led by scientists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), in collaboration with global institutions including NASA, the Max Planck Institute, and the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO).

Key Findings and Instruments Used

• The team used high-resolution imaging and multi-wavelength spectroscopy, combining data from the Goode Solar Telescope (BBSO), NASA’s IRIS, and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
• The loops were observed in the H-alpha spectral line from hydrogen atoms—crucial for studying the solar chromosphere.
• Spectroscopic data from IRIS revealed non-thermal broadening of spectral lines, indicating explosive magnetic activity.
• Plasma jets erupting from the tops of these loops point to reconnection-driven events, similar to those that cause large-scale solar eruptions.
• Using Differential Emission Measure (DEM) analysis, the plasma inside these tiny loops was found to reach temperatures of several million degrees, which is unexpectedly high for regions in the dense chromosphere.

Why It Matters

• Although coronal loops in the outer solar atmosphere have been studied for decades, these miniature loops offer a unique window into the fine-scale dynamics of the Sun's magnetic environment. Understanding them is crucial for grasping the mechanisms behind solar flares, coronal heating, and space weather phenomena that impact Earth.

Future Prospects

• The findings highlight the need for next-generation solar observatories. India’s upcoming National Large Solar Telescope (NLST)—a 2-meter aperture facility proposed near Pangong Lake, Ladakh—aims to provide sharper images of the Sun’s chromosphere and better magnetic field data.

In News:

In a rare and ecologically significant event, the Great Hornbill (Buceros bicornis), Kerala’s State Bird, was recently spotted in the coastal belt of Kakkampara, near Ezhimala in Kannur district. This area lies well outside the species’ typical forested habitats, making the sighting both unusual and important for biodiversity assessments.

About the Great Hornbill

• The Great Hornbill, also known as the great Indian hornbill or great pied hornbill, is one of the largest members of the hornbill family.
• It is primarily found in the Western Ghats, forests along the Himalayas, and parts of Southeast Asia.
• Its preferred habitat includes wet evergreen and moist deciduous forests at elevations between 600 to 2000 meters.
• This large, vividly colored bird measures between 95 to 120 cm in length with a wingspan of 151 to 178 cm, and typically weighs around 3 kilograms.
• The hornbill is easily identifiable by its prominent casque, a hollow structure on top of its large yellow bill. Males and females look similar, although males can be distinguished by their red irises and slightly larger casques, whereas females have white irises.
• Hornbills are primarily frugivorous, feeding on a variety of forest fruits, especially figs. However, they are opportunistic and may also consume small reptiles, birds, and mammals.
• A distinctive feature of the Great Hornbill is the tinted oil secreted by its preen gland, which gives its feathers, bill, and casque a yellow to reddish hue during grooming.

Conservation Status and Legal Protection

• The Great Hornbill is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List due to habitat loss, hunting, and fragmented populations.
• In India, it is provided the highest level of protection under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, making it illegal to hunt or trade the species.

Ecological Importance of the Ezhimala Sighting

The occurrence of the Great Hornbill in a coastal region far from its usual forest range is considered a valuable ecological indicator. Experts believe such sightings could hint at changing habitat patterns, microhabitat availability, or even displacement due to habitat disturbance in core forest areas. The area around Ezhimala, despite human habitation, appears to sustain enough ecological richness to attract such a rare forest species.

In News:

The Government of India is preparing to implement a Battery Passport framework to enhance safety, traceability, and export readiness of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The initiative is being spearheaded by NITI Aayog in collaboration with multiple ministries and stakeholders.

What is a Battery Passport?

A Battery Passport is a digital identity assigned to each EV battery, embedded in a QR code, which stores complete lifecycle information. This includes:

• Origin and manufacturing details
• Chemical composition and configuration
• Performance metrics and carbon footprint
• Date of manufacture and service history
• End-of-life data for recycling and reuse

The system assigns each battery a unique ID, akin to an Aadhaar for batteries, ensuring transparency and traceability across its lifecycle.

Key Features:

Why is it Needed?

• Battery Safety: Addresses concerns due to frequent EV fire incidents linked to faulty or mismatched battery cells.
• Battery Swapping: Ensures interoperability and standardisation, essential for the upcoming battery-swapping policy.
• Export Promotion: Positions Indian batteries to comply with global traceability norms, especially in EU markets.
• Lifecycle & Performance Transparency: Batteries make up ~40% of EV cost; users benefit from informed decision-making.
• Circular Economy: Facilitates reuse, recycling, and end-of-life recovery to promote sustainability.

Expected Benefits

• Improved EV safety and reliability
• Enhanced consumer confidence
• Boost to India’s EV exports
• Support for circular economy in battery usage
• Industry-wide quality and compliance enforcement

In News:

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has unveiled its first stunning images, highlighting the capabilities of its 3,200-megapixel digital camera — the most powerful ever constructed.

Location and Background:

• Situated 8,684 feet above sea level on Cerro Pachón mountain, Chilean Andes.
• Named after Vera C. Rubin, the astronomer who first provided evidence for dark matter in the 1970s.
• Joint initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Objective:
The observatory aims to conduct an unprecedented 10-year survey of the southern sky, addressing critical questions like:

• Structure and formation of the Milky Way
• Existence of Planet 9
• Detection of potentially hazardous asteroids
• Nature of dark matter and dark energy

Key Features:

1. Simonyi Survey Telescope

A state-of-the-art telescope, unique for:

a) Wide Field of View:

• Captures an area equivalent to 40 full Moons in a single shot.
• Utilizes a three-mirror design:
  • Primary Mirror: 8.4 m
  • Secondary Mirror: 3.5 m
  • Tertiary Mirror: 5 m (part of primary)
• Enables scanning of the entire visible sky every three nights.

b) Largest Digital Camera in the World:

• Size: Comparable to a small car
• Weight: 2,800 kg
• Resolution: 3,200 megapixels
• Sensor sensitivity: Detects objects 100 million times dimmer than visible to the naked eye
• Has six optical filters to capture various wavelengths (e.g., UV for hot stars, IR for distant galaxies)

c) Fastest Slewing Capability:

• Adjusts from one celestial target to another in just five seconds
• Enables up to 1,000 images per night

Scientific Potential and Impact

• Will collect 20 terabytes of data every night, generating nearly 10 million alerts per night for any detected changes in the sky.
• Already identified 2,104 new asteroids, including 7 near-Earth objects, using only 10 hours of preliminary data.
• Expected to catalogue:
  • 5 million+ asteroids
  • 100,000 near-Earth objects
  • More than double the total known asteroids within a year of full operation
• Facilitates a high-resolution map of the universe’s structure—vital to understand the distribution of dark matter and dark energy, which together constitute 95% of the universe.