UPSC Prelims Facts – 06 April 2024

UPSC Prelims Facts

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has delivered two Dornier 228 planes to the Guyana Defence Force.

  • Dornier-228 aircraft – Multi-purpose, fuel efficient, rugged, light weight twin turboprop aircraft with a retractable tricycle landing gear.
  • Modified Dornier 228 aircraft – Acquired to undertake in-house calibration of Navigational aids available after implementation of Modernised Airfield Infrastructure (MAFI) at IAF bases.

Miscreants have damaged rock art paintings at the cave at Kumittipathi, Tamil Nadu.

  • Kumittipathi rock painting – 3000 years old rock paintings in Tamil Nadu
  • Other Features –
    • Inorganic white pigment, along with natural gum, has been used to paint the figures.
    • It depicts an elephant, a chariot and the lives of early dwellers.
  • Significance – While most of the rock painting sites in Tamil Nadu are found on rock shelters, those at Kumittipathi are drawn inside a cave.

Hydroponics has emerged as a linchpin in the expansion of India’s sustainable food sector.

  • Hydroponics – It is a soil-less farming technique where plants are grown using a water-based nutrients.
  • Benefit – Can save water, land, and other resources, enhanced plant yields, etc.
  • Issues – Lack of technical knowledge, higher initial set-up cost, need of constant human intervention, etc

NASA to create Coordinated Lunar Time for the moon and other celestial bodies.

  • Aim – To provide a consistent time-keeping benchmark for lunar missions and space activities.
  • An Earth-based clock on the moon would lose an average of 58.7 microseconds per Earth-day due to time dilation.
  • Time Dilation – Time passes at different rates for different observers, depending on their relative motion or positions in a gravitational field.

The red color of Promenade beach in Puducherry last year was connected to plankton crash, an expert panel told National Green Tribunal (NGT).

  • Noctiluca Scintillans – A type of phytoplankton that turns to red color when experience a crash, leading to the release of colored pigment from their cells.
    • These pigments then stick to rocks and the sea floor, forming a biofilm-like layer and causing ‘red tides’
  • Plankton crashes – Occurs due to a lack of nutrients or lack of CO2 in the earlier part of the production cycle.

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