Hard Level – GK Questions

NASA's Magellan orbiter (1990-1994) used synthetic aperture radar to map 98% of Venus's surface, revealing volcanic plains, tectonic features, and impact craters.

51 Pegasi b was discovered in 1995 using radial velocity method with ground-based ELODIE spectrograph at Observatoire de Haute-Provence, not a space telescope. Note: Question tests precision—no space telescope made this discovery.

NASA's DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) successfully impacted Dimorphos in September 2022, altering its orbit around Didymos, proving planetary defense capability.

Stephen Hawking theorized that quantum effects near the event horizon cause black holes to emit thermal radiation, leading to gradual mass loss over immense timescales.

Navigation satellites in MEO (e.g., GPS at ~20,200 km altitude) have an orbital period of approximately 12 hours, ensuring global coverage with multiple overlapping orbits.

ChASTE (Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment) measured the thermal conductivity and temperature profile of the lunar topsoil near the south pole, providing critical data for future landing missions.

ESA's Rosetta orbited comet 67P from 2014-2016, deploying the Philae lander. It provided unprecedented data on cometary composition and activity.

LIGO made the first direct detection of gravitational waves (GW150914) on September 14, 2015, from merging black holes, confirming Einstein's prediction.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission returned a capsule containing asteroid Bennu samples to Utah on September 24, 2023, for laboratory analysis.

While initial discoveries came from ground-based TRAPPIST telescopes, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope confirmed and characterized the seven-planet system in 2017.

Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater, an ancient river delta site chosen for its potential to preserve biosignatures and organic molecules.

The Huygens probe, part of the Cassini-Huygens mission, landed on Titan on January 14, 2005, providing the first direct data from the outer solar system's surface.

On April 10, 2019, the EHT collaboration released the first direct image of a black hole's shadow and photon ring, located in the galaxy Messier 87.

The ISS orbits at an average altitude of approximately 400 km in Low Earth Orbit, traveling at about 7.66 km/s.

China's Chang'e 4 mission successfully landed on the far side of the Moon in January 2019, a first in history.

JAXA's Hayabusa2 mission successfully collected samples from the asteroid Ryugu and returned them to Earth in December 2020.

The Philae lander, part of the ESA's Rosetta mission, became the first spacecraft to soft-land on a comet (67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko) in November 2014.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission consisted of the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover. Pragyan means 'wisdom' in Sanskrit.

Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way. The first image of Sgr A* was released by the Event Horizon Telescope in 2022.

Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is the farthest human-made object from Earth. It entered interstellar space in 2012 and continues to transmit data.