Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL)

♦ The Defence Ministry signed a contract with Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) on 30 November 2024 for the Short Refit and Dry Docking (SRDD) of INS Vikramaditya at an overall cost of Rs.1,200 crore.

♦ This project is an important step towards development of CSL as Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO) Hub for supporting the industrial ecosystem of India.

♦ The project envisages the involvement of nearly 50 MSMEs and would lead to employment generation for more than 3500 personnel.

♦ INS Vikramaditya is an Indian Aircraft Carrier commissioned in the Indian Navy in November 2013. After completion of the Refit, INS Vikramaditya will join the active fleet of the Indian Navy with upgraded combat capability.

K-4 ballistic missile

♦ The Indian Navy test-fired the 3,500 km range K-4 ballistic missile from the newly-inducted nuclear submarine INS Arighaat off the coast of Visakhapatnam on 28 November 2024.

♦ It was the first test of the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from a submarine. With the test, India became part of a small group of nations having the capability to fire a nuclear missile from land, air and undersea.

♦ INS Arihant and Arighaat are the two nuclear submarines in the Indian Navy's arsenal that have the capability to fire ballistic missiles. Arighaat was inducted in 2024 August at the Vishakhapatnam-based Ship Building Centre.

Indian Naval Sailing vessel INSV Tarini

♦ The Indian Naval Sailing vessel INSV Tarini sailed out from Fremantle, Australia on 24 November 2024 for the second leg of the NSP-II's expedition to Lyttelton, New Zealand.

♦ Tarini  and her intrepid crew were seen off by an enthusiastic crowd cheering for the safe passage to Lyttelton. Navika Sagar Parikrama-II, which was flagged off by the Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi on 02 October 24, is an Indian Navy expedition undertaking a dual-handed circumnavigation of the earth by two women officers of the Navy onboard 56 ft INSV Tarini.

♦ Phase II of the expedition will see INSV Tarini cross Cape Leeuwin, the Great Australian Bight, Tasmania and the South Island of New Zealand before calling on at Lyttelton.

♦ The voyage will cover 3400 nautical miles (6300 kilometres) in approximately 20 days, and it will see the crew experience varied weather conditions, including frontal weather systems and dropping temperatures.

Indian Institute of Science (IISc)

♦ Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) developed a new language system that could change how we understand and design nanoporous materials, with significant implications for carbon capture and gas separation technologies.

♦ The system, dubbed STRONG (STring Representation Of Nanopore Geometry), translates complex nanopore structures into simple character sequences, similar to how DNA is represented by genetic code.

♦ This innovation addresses a long-standing challenge in the field of 2D materials research, where the unpredictable formation of nanopores - tiny holes in materials like graphene - hampered scientific understanding.

♦ The STRONG system assigns specific letters to different atomic configurations — for example, ‘F’ represents a fully bonded atom with three bonds, while ‘C’ denotes a corner atom with two bonds.

♦ This solution allows machine learning models to “read” and analyse nanopore structures much like ChatGPT processes text.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

♦ Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Australian Space Agency (ASA) have signed an Implementation Agreement (IA) for further strengthening cooperation in space activities between Australia and India.

♦ The IA, which enables cooperation between both space agencies on crew and crew module recovery for Gaganyaan missions.

♦ The IA was signed by D K Singh, Director, Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) on ISRO's side at Bengaluru and Jarrod Powell, General Manager, Space Capability Branch, on ASA's side at Canberra. 

♦ The IA enables the Australian authorities to work with Indian authorities to ensure support for search and rescue of crew and recovery of crew module as part of a contingency plan for ascent phase that aborts near Australian waters. 

Dr. Jitendra Singh

♦ Science and Technology Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh inaugurated the Viksit Bharat Initiative for Student Innovation and Outreach Network (VISION) in New Delhi on 21 November 2024.

♦ The initiative is aimed at nurturing education, skill development, and innovation among underprivileged children.

♦ VISION provides an opportunity for even the most underprivileged to get a feel of what is happening in the mainland, Jitendra Singh said. 

♦ The Minister pointed out that India’s biotech startups have grown from just 50 in 2014 to nearly 9,000 today, thanks to the growing interest in areas like DNA vaccines and biotechnology research. 

GSAT-N2

♦ India’s GSAT-N2 communication satellite was successfully deployed into orbit by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on 19 November 2024.

♦ The satellite launched from Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. GSAT-N2 was developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and its commercial arm, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), is a Ka-band high-throughput communication satellite designed to address India’s expanding broadband and in-flight connectivity needs.

♦ The satellite, weighing 4,700 kg, will provide high-throughput communication services with a throughput capacity of 48 Gbps, covering all of India, including remote areas like the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. 

♦ GSAT-N2 is equipped with 32 user beams, including narrow spot beams for the Northeast region and wide spot beams for the rest of India, ensuring robust coverage even in the most remote areas.

♦ This launch is part of the Indian government’s 2020 space sector reforms, which mandate NSIL to develop satellites based on service demand. With a mission life of 14 years, GSAT-N2 is poised to significantly enhance the country’s digital infrastructure and connectivity.

AI Chatbot

♦ NASA has teamed up with Microsoft to develop the Earth Copilot, a custom AI chatbot designed to respond to users’ queries related to Earth with easy-to-understand data.

♦ The Earth Copilot uses natural language processing to simplify access to Nasa’s data, making it easier for a wider range of users to interact with Earth Science information.

♦ The Earth Copilot allows users to interact with Nasa’s data repository using plain language queries.

♦ For example, users can ask questions like, “What was the impact of Hurricane Ian on Sanibel Island?” or “How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect air quality?” The AI will then retrieve and present relevant datasets in an easy-to-understand manner.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation

♦ The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted a successful flight-trial of India’s first long-range hypersonic missile. The missile was launched from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Island, off the coast of Odisha on 17 NOvember 2024.

♦ The hypersonic missile was designed to carry various payloads for ranges greater than 1,500 km for the Armed Forces.

♦ Only the United States, Russia and China have developed technologies to field fast-manoeuvring hypersonic missiles that fly at lower altitudes and are extremely hard to track and intercept.

♦ This missile was indigenously developed by the laboratories of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Missile Complex, Hyderabad, along with various other DRDO laboratories and industry partners.

Union Minister for Youth Affairs Sports,

♦ Union Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya has launched the ‘Know Your Medicine (KYM)’ app.

♦ This innovative tool aims to empower athletes with critical information, helping them avoid inadvertent doping and maintain fair play.

♦ This is part of a nationwide initiative to combat doping in sports. 

♦ The KYM app is part of National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) India’s broader mission to raise anti-doping awareness and education, equipping athletes with essential information to stay clean.

♦ The app allows users to easily verify whether a specific medicine or its ingredients contain any substances listed as prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

♦ Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully completed the Flight Tests of Guided Pinaka Weapon System on 14 November 2024.

♦ It conducted as part of Provisional Staff Qualitative Requirements (PSQR) Validation Trials. The flight tests have been conducted in three phases at different field firing ranges.

♦ Twelve  rockets from each production agency from two in-service Pinaka launchers upgraded by the launcher production agencies have been tested.

♦ The precision strike variant for Pinaka Multiple Launch Rocket System is a totally indigenous weapon system designed and developed by Armament Research and Development Establishment in association with Research Centre Imarat, Defence Research and Development Laboratory, High Energy Materials Research Laboratory and Proof & Experimental Establishment with Munitions India Limited and Economic Explosives Limited as production agencies for ammunition and Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Larsen & Toubro for Pinaka launcher and Battery Command Post.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

♦ Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted the maiden flight test of the Long Range Land Attack Cruise Missile from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha, from a mobile articulated launcher on 12 November 2024.

♦ The test was carried out using a mobile articulated launcher, and the missile performed as expected, meeting all primary mission objectives.

♦ The missile performance was monitored by several range sensors like Radar, Electro Optical Tracking System and telemetry deployed by ITR at different locations to ensure complete coverage of the flight path.

♦ LRLACM has been developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment, Bengaluru along with contribution from other DRDO laboratories and Indian industries.

♦ Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad and Bharat Electronics Limited, Bengaluru are the two Development-Cum-Production-Partners for LRLACM and they are engaged in the missile development and integration. 

Antariksha Abhyas-2024

♦ Defence Space Agency inaugurated a first-ever space exercise Antariksha Abhyas-2024 in New Delhi on 11 November 2024.

♦ It is a first of its kind exercise being conducted and is expected to help secure national strategic objectives in space and integrate India’s space capability in military operations.

♦ The Space Exercise aims to provide enhanced understanding of space based assets and services and to gain understanding of operational dependency on space segment between stakeholders. 

♦ The three-day exercise will be concluded on 13 November 2024. 

India and Australia joint military Exercise AUSTRAHIND

♦ The 3rd edition of the India and Australia joint military Exercise AUSTRAHIND commenced at the Foreign Training Node, Pune on 8 November 2024. This exercise will be conducted till November 21. 

♦ AUSTRAHIND is an annual event conducted alternatively in India and Australia. Last edition of the same exercise was conducted in Australia in December 2023. 

♦ The aim of this exercise is to promote military cooperation between India and Australia through enhancement of interoperability in conduct of joint sub conventional operations in semi-urban environment in semi-desert terrain under Chapter VII of the UN mandate.

♦ The Indian contingent comprising 140 personnel will be represented mainly by a battalion of the DOGRA Regiment and 14 personnel from the Indian Air Force. The Australian Army contingent comprising 120 personnel will be represented by the 13th Light Horse Regiment of the 10th Brigade of 2nd Division.

Japan launched the worlds first wooden satellite LignoSat

♦ Japan launched the world’s first wooden satellite - LignoSat into space on 5 November 2024 to understand the feasibility of timber in space.

♦ It will be flown to the International Space Station on a SpaceX mission, and later released into orbit about 400 km (250 miles) above the Earth. 

♦ LignoSat was jointly developed by Kyoto University and homebuilder Sumitomo Forestry. It is made of honoki, a kind of magnolia tree that was traditionally used to make sword sheaths. 

♦ LignoSat is a 4 inches cube-sized satellite that weighs around 2 pounds, prepared with japanese techniques. 

♦ The satellite will measure how wood endures the extreme environment of space, where temperatures fluctuate from -100 to 100 degrees Celsius every 45 minutes as objects orbit through darkness and sunlight.

♦ It will also gauge timber’s ability to reduce the impact of space radiation on semiconductors. 

Indias inaugural analog space mission

♦ The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched India’s inaugural analog space mission in Leh, Ladakh on 1 November 2024. The mission, spearheaded by ISRO’s Human Spaceflight Centre, brings together partners from AAKA Space Studio, the University of Ladakh, IIT Bombay, and is supported by the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council. 
♦ This mission aims to simulate interplanetary habitat conditions, helping scientists explore the feasibility of establishing a sustainable base station beyond Earth. 
♦ Ladakh’s extreme isolation, dry climate, and barren, high-altitude terrain make it ideal for simulating conditions similar to Mars and the Moon. The environment presents an opportunity for researchers to gather critical data that will support India’s Gaganyaan program and future missions.