GK Questions

L-band (1-2 GHz) has longer wavelength enabling better penetration through buildings, foliage, and weather. Used for mobile satellite services, GPS, and emergency communications. Trade-off: lower bandwidth vs higher frequencies.

CARTOSAT series provides high-resolution imagery for cartography, urban planning, and strategic applications. EOS (Earth Observation Satellite) series focuses on climate, agriculture, and disaster monitoring. Critical for geospatial technology questions.

GEO satellites match Earth's rotation, appearing stationary from ground. Advantages: continuous coverage, simple ground equipment. Disadvantages: high latency (~250ms), polar coverage gaps. Critical for satellite communication planning.

Shukrayaan-1 is India's planned Venus orbiter mission (target launch ~2028) to study the planet's thick atmosphere, surface processes, and solar wind interactions. Will carry Indian and international payloads for comprehensive planetary science.

Gold Standard and Verra's Verified Carbon Standard certify offset projects with rigorous methodologies: additionality, permanence, leakage prevention. Critical for carbon market integrity and climate finance.

Methane (CH4) has 28-36x global warming potential of CO2 over 100 years. Capture technologies: anaerobic digesters, landfill gas collection, rice cultivation alternatives. Critical for near-term climate mitigation.

Lunar water ice (south pole craters) can be electrolyzed into hydrogen/oxygen for rocket fuel. Enables in-situ resource utilization for sustainable lunar exploration and deep space missions.

Frequency reuse assigns same frequencies to non-interfering beams/regions, multiplying network capacity. Critical for high-throughput satellites and LEO constellations serving global broadband.

IN-SPACe authorizes private space activities; NSIL commercializes ISRO technologies via industry partnerships. Together they enable India's growing commercial space ecosystem.

SPHINCS+ (NIST PQC standard) uses hash functions believed quantum-resistant. Trade-off: larger signatures (~8-49 KB) vs classical ECDSA (~64 bytes). Critical for bandwidth-constrained applications.

Quantum computers simulate quantum systems (molecules, materials) exponentially faster than classical computers for specific problems. Critical for drug discovery, materials science, and chemistry research.

AI logging records inputs, model versions, predictions, and outcomes for accountability, debugging, and regulatory compliance. Critical for high-stakes applications: finance, healthcare, criminal justice.

Efficient AI updates: Transfer Learning adapts pre-trained models; Federated Learning trains on-device; Continual Learning incorporates new data incrementally. Critical for adaptive, resource-efficient AI systems.

Data minimization (DPDP Act, GDPR) limits collection to what's necessary for specified purpose. Reduces privacy risks, storage costs, and breach impact. Critical for responsible AI data practices.

Financial Action Task Force (FATF) sets global AML/CFT standards including Travel Rule for VASPs. Countries implement through domestic laws. Critical for cross-border crypto compliance.

Proof of Stake selects block validators proportional to staked coins, reducing energy consumption vs Proof of Work. Used by Ethereum, Cardano, Solana. Critical for understanding crypto sustainability.

Programmable CBDC enables subsidies usable only for specific goods/services (food, education), preventing misuse while ensuring benefits reach intended purposes. Critical for social welfare efficiency.

India's crypto regulation is evolving: taxation (115BBH), AML (FIU registration), but comprehensive legislation pending. RBI, SEBI, MeitY coordinate on policy. Critical for understanding regulatory uncertainty.

Privacy techniques: Ring signatures obscure sender; Bulletproofs provide efficient range proofs; Confidential Transactions hide amounts using Pedersen commitments. Balance privacy with regulatory compliance.

Offline CBDC uses secure hardware (SE, TEE) to enable limited transactions without network. Critical for rural inclusion, disaster resilience, and areas with poor connectivity. Requires careful security design.