Zhurong – Mars rover

GS-Paper-3: S&T-Space – UPSC PRELIMS – Mains Application

The Chinese government announced that its first Mars rover will be named Zhurong after a traditional fire god. This name fits with the Chinese name for Mars - “Huo Xing” or fire star.

The rover is aboard the Tianwen-1 probe that arrived in Mars orbit in February 2021 and is due to land in May to look for evidence of life. The top candidate for the landing site on Mars is Utopia Planitia, a rock-strewn plain where the U.S. lander Viking 2 touched down in 1976.

Tianwen-1's Goals - To analyse and map the Martian surface and geology, look for water ice, study the climate and surface environment. China would become the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to put a robot rover on Mars.

Perseverance rover

About:

Launched on July of 2020.

It is expected to touch down on Mars at the Jezero Crater.

The primary task of Perseverance is to seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and reglolith to possibly return these to Earth.

1. Perseverance is fueled by electrical power by using heat of plutonium’s radioactive decay.
2. NASA Perseverance gets shape memory alloys to remain steady on surface of Mars.
3. Armed with drills, cameras and lasers, Perseverance is set to explore Mars.

Why is this mission significant?

1. Perseverance will carry a unique instrument, MOXIE or Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment: which for the first time will manufacture molecular oxygen on Mars using carbon dioxide from the carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere (ISRU means In Situ Resource Utilization: or the use of local resources to meet human needs or requirements of the spacecraft).
2. It will carry Ingenuity, the first ever helicopter to fly on Mars. This is the first time NASA will fly a helicopter on another planet or satellite.

Previous Mars Missions by NASA:

1. NASA has been sending rovers on Mars since 1997 when the Mars Pathfinder Mission was initiated.
2. As the mission turned out to be successful, NASA decided to continue going to Mars to find evidence.
3. Second time, the space organization sent twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity to Mars in 2003.
4. The third attempt was by sending Curiosity in 2012.

The Global Climate 2020

GS-Paper-3: Environment – UPSC PRELIMS – Mains Application

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its annual State of the Global Climate for 2020 on April 20, 2021. Irrespective of the widespread surmise that lockdowns and shutdowns to curb the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic would lower emissions and reduce the impact on climate, the report has scary findings.

According to the report:

Extreme weather combined with COVID-19 in a double blow for millions of people in 2020. However, the pandemic-related economic slowdown failed to put a brake on climate change drivers and accelerating impacts.

Key Points

• This annual report is released by the World Meteorological Organization.
• It has found that the lockdowns and shutdowns to curb the Covid-19 pandemic would lower emissions and reduce the impact on climate.
• Double blow - According to the report, extreme weather combined with Covid-19 in a double blow for millions of people in 2020.
• However, the pandemic-related economic slowdown failed to put a brake on climate change drivers and accelerating impacts.
• Temperature - It reiterates that 2020 was one of the three warmest years on record, despite a cooling La Niña event.
• The global average temperature was about 1.2° Celsius above the pre-industrial (1850-1900) level. The six years since 2015 have been the warmest on record. 2011-2020 was the warmest decade on record.
• The WMO report listed five key indicators of irreversible changes in the global climate - Greenhouse gases, oceans, sea-level rise, the Arctic and the Antarctica.

Five Key Indicators

• Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) - Despite the economic slowdown due to the pandemic, emission of major GHGs increased in 2019 and 2020. It will be higher in 2021.
• Oceans - In 2020, the oceans had the highest heat content on record. Over 80% of the ocean area experienced at least one marine heatwave.
• The percentage of the ocean that experienced strong marine heat waves (45%) was greater than that which experienced moderate marine heat waves (28%).
• Sea-level rise - Since record-taking started in 1993 using the satellite altimeter, sea level has been rising partly due to the increased melting of the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica.
• However, there was a blip in the summer of 2020 that recorded a drop in sea level, which is due to the La Niña-induced cooling.
• The Arctic - The 2020 Arctic sea-ice extent minimum after the summer melt was 3.74 million square kilometres, marking only the second time on record that it shrank to less than 4 million sq km.
• In the Siberian Arctic, temperatures in 2020 were more than 3°C above average, with a record temperature of 38°C in the town of Verkhoyansk.
• Antarctica - The Antarctic sea-ice extent remained close to the long-term average. However, the Antarctic ice sheet has exhibited a strong mass loss trend since the late 1990s.
• This trend accelerated around 2005 due to the increasing flow rates of major glaciers in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula.

Odisha’s first case of harlequin ichthyosis

WHY?

Mutations in the ABCA 12 gene are stated to cause harlequin ichthyosis. The ABCA12 protein plays a major role in transporting fats in cells which make up the outermost layer of skin. Severe mutations in the gene lead to the absence or partial production of the ABCA12 protein. This results in lack of lipid transport and as a result, the skin development is affected by varying degrees according to the severity of the mutation, a doctor said citing a research paper on the disease.

Condition: The facial features of the baby, including the mouth, eyes and ears were deformed, restricting breathing and eating. The disease affected one in three million births and is caused due to a mutated gene inherited from the parents. The disease sees the skin form large diamond-shaped plates across the body that are separated by deep cracks (fissures). The skin is dry and scaly, almost like fish skin and hence the term ‘icthyosis’, derived from ‘ikthus’, Greek for fish.

Imp Points:

• Odisha reported its first-ever case of a baby born with harlequin ichthyosis in Ganjam district. India’s first case was recorded in Nagpur, Maharashtra in 2016.
• The disease is an extremely rare genetic disorder that resulted in thickened skin forming over nearly the entire body at birth.
• Causes - The disease is caused due to mutations in the ABCA 12 gene (a mutated gene inherited from the parents).
• The ABCA12 protein plays a major role in transporting fats in cells which make up the outermost layer of skin.
• Severe mutations in the gene lead to the absence or partial production of the ABCA12 protein, which results in lack of lipid transport.

Occurrence - The disease affects one in three million births. There are around 200 to 250 such cases across the world. India’s first recorded case of a baby born with harlequin ichthyosis was in 2016, at a private hospital in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Such cases were also reported in Delhi, Patna and West Bengal.

SUPACE Portal

The Supreme Court unveiled its Artificial Intelligence (AI) portal, the Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Court’s Efficiency (SPACE). A pet project of Chief Justice of India S A Bobde, SUPACE is a tool that collects relevant facts and laws and makes them available to a judge.

• The portal is not designed to take decisions, but only to process facts and to make them available to judges looking for input for a decision.
• It is designed to make research easier for judges, thereby easing their workload.

Initially, it will be used on an experimental basis by the judges of Bombay and Delhi High Courts who deal with criminal matters.

Thotlakonda Buddhist destination

Historians and biologists campaign to protect the ancient Buddhist site of Thotlakonda - Home to around 90 species of birds. The site is found at a hill of Mangamaripeta Village, Bheemunipatnam Taluka of Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh.

Significance of the site - In 1976, during a helicopter survey by the Indian Navy to set up a naval facility, ruins of the Buddhist site were spotted. Subsequently, the entire hill was declared as an area comprising a protected monument under the Andhra Pradesh Ancient and Historical Monument and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1960.

The State Archaeology Department’s excavation (1988-1992) found,

1. 1. Ancient pottery such as tan ware, black red ware,
   2. Coins from the Satavahana period and Roman coins,
   3. Labels with Brahmi inscriptions, Inscribed Chhatra pieces,
   4. Terracotta and glass beads, bangles,
   5. Stuccos and stone sculptural remains.

It gave a clear indication that the area housed remnants of a flourishing monastery, practising Hinayana Buddhism, which was most active for 400 years from 200 BCE to 200 CE.

Lockdown Generation

The International Labour Organization (ILO) termed the current young population as the ‘lockdown generation’ citing the massive impacts of the pandemic on them.

The lockdown generation emerged, as young people constitute major victims of social and economic consequences of the pandemic, and there is a risk that they will be scarred throughout their working lives.

According to ILO and various other estimates, during the pandemic,

1. 1. Some 90% of young people have reported increased mental anxiety,
   2. One in six young people worldwide has lost their jobs.