DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

NASA has re-established contact with its Ingenuity helicopter on Mars, the US space agency said recently.

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

• It is a small, autonomous aircraft. that flew to Mars aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover.
• It was sent to Mars to perform experimental flight tests to determine if powered, controlled flight at the Red Planet was possible.
• Ingenuity’s mission is experimental in nature and completely independent of the rover’s science mission.
• Ingenuity was deployed to the surface on April 4, 2021.

On April 19, it became the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet.

• • It rose to a height of 10 feet, hovered for 30 seconds, and then descended back to the ground.
  • The flight lasted 39.1 seconds.
  • It managed to fly in Mars’ thin atmosphere, which isn’t conducive for flying.

It’s piloted by onboard guidance, navigation, and control systems running algorithms.Perseverance acts as a relay between the chopper and the earth.

Perseverance Rover

• It is a robotic explorer to land on Mars as part of NASA’s ongoing Mars 2020 Mission.
• Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.
• The rover will collect samples of rock and soil, encase them in tubes, and leave them on the planet's surface to be returned to Earth at a future date.
• Launch: It was launched on July 30, 2020, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• Landing: Successfully landed on the surface of Mar's Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021.
• Features:
  • It is about 3 metres long, 2.7 metres wide, and 2.2 metres tall.
  • It is about the size of a car but weighs only about 1,025 kilograms with all instruments on board.
  • Power source: Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG).

Converts heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity.

Rs 17,490 crore has been set aside for the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (SIGHT) programme, to bolster domestic electrolyser manufacturing, green hydrogen production.

About Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (SIGHT) Programme

It is a subcomponent of National Green Hydrogen Mission.

Aim: To bolster domestic electrolyser manufacturing and green hydrogen production.

• In the initial stage, two distinct financial incentive mechanisms were proposed with an outlay of ? 17,490 crore up to 2029-30:
  • Incentive for manufacturing of electrolysers
  • Incentive for production of green hydrogen.
• Depending on the markets and technology development, specific incentive schemes and programmes will continue to evolve as the Mission progresses.
• Implementing agency: The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) would be the implementing agency responsible for the scheme’s execution.

National Green Hydrogen Mission?

• It is implemented by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy with an outlay of ? 19,744 crore from FY 2023–24 to FY 2029–30.
• The overarching objective of the Mission is to make India a global hub for the production, usage, and export of Green Hydrogen and its derivatives.
• The expected outcomes of the mission by 2030, are as follows:
  • India’s Green Hydrogen production capacity is likely to reach 5 MMT per annum, contributing to reduction in dependence on the import of fossil fuels. Achievement of Mission targets is expected to reduce a cumulative ? 1 lakh crore worth of fossil fuel imports by 2030.
  • This is likely to leverage over ?8 lakh crore in total investments and create over 6 lakh jobs.
  • Nearly 50 MMT per annum of CO2 emissions are expected to be averted through the production and use of the targeted quantum of Green Hydrogen.
• It has a provision for supporting pilot projects for low-carbon steel, mobility, shipping, and ports.
• The Mission provides allocations for various sub-components of the Mission such as SIGHT, Pilot projects, R&D etc. to fund specific selected projects.
• There is no State-wise allocation made under the Mission.

Green Hydrogen

• Green Hydrogen is produced by the process of electrolysis, where water is split into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity generated from renewable sources like solar, wind, or hydropower.
• This process results in a clean and emission-free fuel that has immense potential to replace fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions.

Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI)?

SECI was set up in 2011 to facilitate the implementation of the National Solar Mission (NSM) and to achieve the targets set forth by it. SECI was initially incorporated as a section 25 company (Not-for-profit) under the Companies Act, 1956.

Recently, the Indian Immunologicals Ltd (IIL) a wholly owned subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) launched India’s first indigenously developed Hepatitis A vaccine ‘Havisure’ in Hyderabad.

About Havisure vaccine

• It is a two-dose vaccine — first dose administered at above 12 months of age and the second at least six months after the first dose.
• The vaccine is recommended for children as part of the routine immunization as well as for individuals at risk of exposure or travel to the regions with high hepatitis A prevalence.
• In addition to this people with occupational risk of infection and suffering from chronic liver diseases also require Hepatitis A vaccination.

Hepatitis A

• It is an inflammation of the liver caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV).
• The virus is primarily spread when an uninfected (and unvaccinated) person ingests food or water that is contaminated with the faeces of an infected person.
• Hepatitis can be an acute (short-term) infection or a chronic (long-term) infection.
• There are different types of hepatitis, with different causes:
  • Viral hepatitis is the most common type. It is caused by one of several viruses -- hepatitis viruses A, B, C, D, and E.
  • Alcoholic hepatitis is caused by heavy alcohol use.
  • Toxic hepatitis can be caused by certain poisons, chemicals, medicines, or supplements.
  • Autoimmune hepatitis is a chronic type in which your body's immune system attacks your liver. The cause is not known, but genetics and your environment may play a role.
• Hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and hepatitis D spread through contact with the blood of someone who has the disease.
• Hepatitis B and D may also spread through contact with other body fluids. This can happen in many ways, such as sharing drug needles or having unprotected sex.
• Symptoms: Some people with hepatitis do not have symptoms and do not know they are infected.
• Common symptoms include: fever, malaise, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, nausea, abdominal discomfort, dark-coloured urine and jaundice.
• Treatment: There is no specific treatment for hepatitis A. Recovery from symptoms following infection may be slow and can take several weeks or months.

• Biswanath Ghat is a village in Assam, located on the banks of the Brahmaputra River and is known as "Gupta Kashi".
• The name "Gupta Kashi" is a comparison to Kashi during the Gupta Empire era.
• The village is named after the ancient Biswanath temple, a prominent religious site for centuries.

Biswanath Ghat is also known for its ghat, island, and temple built by the Ahom king.

• Chinese scientists recently announced that they have cloned a Rhesus monkey named ReTro that lived to adulthood.

The scientists created ReTro using a slightly modified version to create Dolly the Sheep and other mammals like the long-tailed macaque, which was the first primate to be cloned.

• Wings India 2024 is a civil aviation event that took place at Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad, India.
• This event is organized by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, AAI, and FICCI.

The event celebrated India's status as the world's third-largest domestic aviation market.