Mission Deployed in Red Sea INS Chennai

INS Chennai

• It is the Indian Navy’s indigenously designed and constructed guided missile destroyer.
• It is the third and last ship of the Kolkata-class stealth-guided missile destroyers (Project 15A).
• It was constructed by the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) at Mumbai.
• INS Chennai was commissioned into the Indian Navy on November 21, 2016.
• Features:
  • It measures 163 meters in length and has a beam of 17.4 meters.
  • Displacement: Over 7,500 tons.
  • Top Speed: 30 knots (approx 55 KM/hour)
  • It is powered by four reversible gas turbine engines.
  • It can carry 350 to 400 people.
  • Armament: It is armed with Vertical launch and long-range surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missile systems like supersonic BrahMos, ‘Barak-8’ Long Range Surface to Air missiles.
  • The ship is equipped to fight under nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) warfare conditions.
  • It is fitted with a modern Surveillance Radar, which provides target data to the gunnery weapon systems of the ship.
  • The ship’s Anti Submarine Warfare capabilities are provided by the indigenously developed Rocket Launchers and Torpedo Launchers.

Red Sea:

• It is a semi-enclosed inlet (or extension) of the Indian Ocean between the continents of Africa from Asia.
• It is connected to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean to the south through the Gulf of Aden and the narrow strait of Bab el Mandeb.
• The northern portion of the Red Sea is bifurcated by the Sinai Peninsula into the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez, where it is connected to the Mediterranean Sea via the famous Suez Canal.
• It contains some of the world’s hottest and saltiest seawater.
• Bordering Countries:
  • A total of 6 countries in Asia and Africa border the Red Sea.
  • The countries of Yemen and Saudi Arabia border the Red Sea to the east.
  • It is bordered by Egypt to the north and west, and by Sudan, Eritrea, and Djibouti to the west.

Meteor shower visibility will peak in Connecticut this week

Meteor Shower

• A meteor is a space rock that comes into Earth''s atmosphere.
• As it falls, the air makes it really hot because of the friction.
• The bright streak we see is not the rock itself, but the hot air around it.
• When many space rocks hit the atmosphere over Earth together, we call it a meteor shower.
• These meteors travel at incredible speeds, reaching tens of thousands of kilometers per hour before disintegrating due to the intense heat generated by friction with the atmosphere

Perseid Meteor Shower

• It is one of the most popular and well-known meteor showers that occurs annually.
• It usually takes place in August, specifically around August 11th to 13th, with its peak occurring around August 12th.
• These meteors are fast and bright, leaving trails of light and color behind them as they move through the sky.
• During the Perseids, you can see around 50 to 100 meteors every hour.
• They usually show up when the weather is warm and the nights are comfortable for watching the sky.
• The Perseids are special because they often generate fireballs.
• Fireballs are big bursts of light and color that last longer than a regular shooting star.
• This happens because fireballs come from larger pieces of material from comets.

Exercise Malabar to be held off Sydney from August 11-21

Exercise Malabar

• It was started in 1992 as a bilateral naval exercise between India and US navy.
• The first Malabar Exercise in the Bay of Bengal took place in 2007.
• It was expanded into a trilateral format with the inclusion of Japan in 2015.
• In 2020, the Australian Navy joined the Malabar Exercise, making it a quadrilateral naval exercise.
• The aim of the Malabar Exercise of India, the US, Japan and Australia is to coordinate for a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific.
• It takes place annually in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans alternatively.
• This exercise includes a diverse range of activities such as fighter combat operations and maritime interdiction operations.

Other Joint Maritime Exercises of India

• IBSAMAR It is a maritime exercise held by India, South Africa, and Brazil.
• SIMBEX: India and Singapore.
• SLINEX: India and Sri Lanka.

Biden Announces Abrams Tanks to be Delivered to Ukraine

M1 Abrams Tank

• It is the United States main battle tank.
• The first M1 tank was manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) in 1978 and was delivered to the US Army in 1980.
• It was named in honor to General Abrams, commander of US forces during the Vietnam War.
• The export version of the Abrams is used by the armies of Australia, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Poland, and Saudi Arabia.
• Features:
  • It uses a powerful and complex turbine enginethat produces 1,500 horsepower and requires four persons to operate.
  • It is one of the heaviest tanks in service at nearly 62 metric tons.
  • The M1 tanks have a maximum speed of 45.
  • Armament: The Abrams is armed with a 120 mm main gun and .50 caliber and 7.62 mm machine guns.
  • It can destroy tank-size targets at a range of 2 km while firing on the move.
  • In modern versions of the Abrams tank, there are layers of depleted uranium armour which provides substantial protection to those inside.

Unleashing Limitless Energy: US Scientists Repeat Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough

Nuclear Fusion Reaction

• Nuclear fusion reaction involves combining two atomic nuclei to form a single heavier one, releasing an enormous amount of energy.
• Such reactions do not occur at room temperature and large amounts of energy are required to create conditions conducive to generating fusion-powered energy.
• It is the same fundamental reaction that powers the sun and other stars.

Nuclear Fission

• Nuclear Fission is a type of nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom is split into two or more smaller nuclei, along with the release of a significant amount of energy.
• Process:
  • It occurs when a large, heavy atomic nucleus, typically of elements like uranium-235 or plutonium-239, absorbs a neutron.
  • The nucleus becomes unstable and splits into two or more smaller nuclei, releasing additional neutrons, gamma rays, and a vast amount of energy in the form of kinetic energy.
  • The additional neutrons can further cause fission in nearby nuclei, leading to a chain reaction.

Nuclear Reactors:

• Nuclear fission is employed in nuclear reactors to generate electricity.
• In these reactors, controlled fission reactions take place within fuel assemblies, typically using enriched uranium or plutonium.
• The heat produced during fission is used to generate steam, which drives turbines to produce electricity.
• Issues with Nuclear Fission Reactors:
  • Radioactive Waste: Nuclear fission produces radioactive waste that remains hazardous for thousands of years.
  • Nuclear Accidents: The potential for nuclear accidents, although rare, is a significant concern.
  • High Initial Costs: Building nuclear fission reactors involves substantial upfront costs, making it a capital-intensive energy option.
  • Limited Fuel Supply: Most nuclear fission reactors use enriched uranium as fuel, which is a finite resource. While there is plenty of uranium in the world, the high-grade, economically viable deposits are limited.
• Advantages of Nuclear Fusion Reactors:
  • Nuclear Fusion produces more energy than fission does. This means that a given amount of fuel yields much greater amounts of energy with fusion than with fission.
  • It also doesn’t produce radioactive byproducts that need to be stored, or harmful carbon emissions; it simply produces inert helium and a neutron.
  • Unlimited Fuel supply: The fuel to make fusion happen is simply heavy hydrogen atoms, which can be found in something that Earth has in abundance: No mining of uranium is required.
  • It is much safer than nuclear fission, since fusion can’t create runaway reactions.

Plight of the vaquita forces International Whaling Commission to issue first extinction alert

Vaquita Porpoise

• It is the world’s smallest cetacean.
• It is unique among the porpoises as it is the only species of that family found in warm waters, and the size of the dorsal fin is believed to be an adaptation to that, allowing for extra body heat to dissipate.
• The name vaquita means "little cow" in Spanish.
• Habitat
  • It has the smallest range of any whale, dolphin or porpoise, and only lives in a small 1,500 square-mile area in Mexico’s upper Gulf of California, near the town of San Felipe.
• Appearance
  • It has a large dark ring around its eyes and dark patches on its lips that form a thin line from the mouth to the pectoral fins.
  • It only measures up to five feet in size.
• Threat
  • The vaquita population has been declining precipitously for decades due to bycatch in gillnet set to catch shrimp and fish, including totoaba.
• Conservation status
  • IUCN: Critically Endangered
  • CITES: Appendix I

International Whaling Commission

• It was set up under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) which was signed in Washington DC in 1946.
• Objective: To provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.
• Headquarter: Impington, near Cambridge, England.

Oldest fossils of a plant-eating dinosaur discovered in Rajasthan

Dicraeosaurid dinosaur

• It is a long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur species.
• The remains are 167 million years old and belong to a new species, unknown to scientists thus far.
• It has been named ‘Tharosaurus indicus’, the first name referring to the ‘Thar desert’ where the fossils were found, and the second after its country of origin.
• According to the scientists, fossils of dicraeosaurid dinosaurs have been found previously in North and South Americas, Africa and China, but such fossils were not known from India.
• The rocks in which the fossils were found are dated to be around 167 million years old, which makes this new Indian sauropod not only the oldest known dicraeosaurid but also globally the oldest diplodocoid (broader group which includes dicraeosaurids and other closely related sauropods).
• Theories so far had suggested that the oldest dicraeosaurid was from China (about 166-164 million years old).

Shaligrams, the sacred fossils that have been worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists for over 2,000 years, are becoming rarer because of climate change

Shaligrams

• For more than 2,000 years, Hinduism, Buddhism and the shamanic Himalayan religion of Bon have venerated Shaligrams.
• These are ancient fossils of ammonites, a class of extinct sea creatures related to modern squids.
• Originating from a single remote region in northern Nepal in the Kali Gandaki River Valley of Mustang.
• These stones are viewed primarily as manifestations of the Hindu god Vishnu.
• Because they are not human-made, but created by the landscape, they are believed to have an intrinsic consciousness of their own.
• As a result, Shaligrams are kept in homes and in temples, where they are treated as both living gods and active community members.

Impacts of climate change

• Climate change, faster glacial melting, and gravel mining in the Kali Gandaki are changing the course of the river, which means fewer Shaligrams are appearing each year.
• This is mainly because the Kali Gandaki is fed by meltwater from the Southern Tibetan Plateau.
• But with the glacier disappearing, the river is becoming smaller and shifting away from the fossil beds that contain the ammonites needed to become Shaligrams.

Monitor lizard rescued from residential areas in Thane, released in the wild

Monitor Lizards

• They are a group of large reptiles belonging to the family Varanidae.
• They are known for their distinctive appearance, with long bodies, powerful limbs, and well-developed tails.
• They are considered to be the most intelligent of all lizards and some of the most intelligent reptiles in general.
• Distribution:
  • They are mainly native to Asia, Africa, and Australia.
  • India is home to four Monitor lizards– the Bengal Monitor (Varanus bengalensis), the Asian Water monitor (Varanus salvator), the Yellow monitor (Varanus flavescens) and the Desert monitor (Varanus griseus).
• Features:
  • They have large claws, powerful tails, long necks, and well-developed legs.
  • They can move quickly and powerfully in pursuit of prey.
  • Most monitor lizards are terrestrial and largely carnivorous.
  • They do not blink and they have very good vision.
  • They have forked tongues which they use for smelling.
• Conservation Status:
  • Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule 1

Komodo dragon

• It is a type of monitor lizard.
• Scientific Name: Varanus komodoensis.
• It is the largest species of monitor lizard, and it can grow up to ten feet long and weigh 300 pounds.
• They are also generally known to be the most dangerous types of monitor lizards
• The skin of a Komodo dragon is also unusual compared to other monitors. It has tiny bones called osteoderms throughout its skin, which reinforces its toughness against predators.

Centre to look into Havana Syndrome in India

Havana Syndrome

• It refers to a set of mental health symptoms that are said to be experienced by United States intelligence and embassy officials in various countries.
• It is worth noting that in general, the word ‘syndrome’ simply means a set of symptoms.
• It does not mean a unique medical condition, but rather a set of symptoms that are usually experienced together whose origins may be difficult to confirm.
• Symptoms: Such as hearing certain sounds without any outside noise, nausea, vertigo and headaches, memory loss and balance issues.
• Origin
  • As the name suggests, it traces its roots to Cuba in late 2016.
  • This was about a year after the US opened its embassy in the capital city of Havana after ties between the two countries were normalised in 2015.
  • Some US intelligence officials and members of the staff at the embassy began experiencing sudden bursts of pressure in their brains followed by persistent headaches, feelings of disorientation and insomnia.
  • In India, the first such case was reported in 2021, when a US intelligence officer travelling to New Delhi with CIA director William Burns reported symptoms of Havana Syndrome.
• No one is entirely sure about the causes of this syndrome.