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The Challenger Space Shuttle disaster occurred in _______.
- 1984
- 1986
- 1988
- 1990
Answer: 1986
Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff on January 28, 1986, killing all seven crew members. The cause was O-ring failure in cold weather.
The observable universe is expanding at an accelerating rate.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Observations of distant supernovae in the late 1990s revealed that cosmic expansion is accelerating, attributed to dark energy. This discovery won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.
The Perseverance rover landed in which crater on Mars in February 2021?
- Gale Crater
- Jezero Crater
- Endeavour Crater
- Victoria Crater
Answer: Jezero Crater
Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater, an ancient river delta site chosen for its potential to preserve biosignatures and organic molecules.
Which ISRO launch vehicle was used to launch Chandrayaan-1?
- ASLV
- PSLV-C11
- GSLV Mk II
- LVM3
Answer: PSLV-C11
Chandrayaan-1 was launched aboard PSLV-C11 on October 22, 2008, from Sriharikota. PSLV-XL variant was used for heavier payload capacity.
The Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) coordinating Gaganyaan activities is located in _______.
- Sriharikota
- Bengaluru
- Thiruvananthapuram
- Hyderabad
Answer: Bengaluru
HSFC was established in Bengaluru in 2019 to coordinate all aspects of India's human spaceflight programme, including astronaut training and mission management.
Jupiter's rings were discovered by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1979.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Unlike Saturn's bright rings, Jupiter's faint ring system was unknown until Voyager 1 imaged them in 1979. They consist mainly of dust particles.
The Pleiades star cluster is also commonly known as the _______.
- Seven Sisters
- Big Dipper
- Southern Cross
- Hunter's Belt
Answer: Seven Sisters
The Pleiades, or Messier 45, is an open star cluster in Taurus, traditionally called the Seven Sisters in Greek mythology and many cultures worldwide.
Chandrayaan-3's Pragyan rover confirmed the presence of which element on the lunar surface near the south pole?
- Gold
- Sulphur
- Uranium
- Platinum
Answer: Sulphur
Pragyan's LIBS instrument unambiguously detected Sulphur (S) in the lunar regolith near the south pole, along with Aluminum, Calcium, Iron, Chromium, Titanium, Manganese, Silicon, and Oxygen.
The Chandra X-ray Observatory is operated by _______.
- ESA
- NASA
- JAXA
- ISRO
Answer: NASA
Chandra is a flagship NASA space telescope launched in 1999, dedicated to X-ray astronomy, observing high-energy phenomena like black holes and supernova remnants.
ISRO was established in 1969, replacing INCOSPAR.
- True
- False
Answer: True
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was formed on August 15, 1969, superseding the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) established in 1962.
Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the solar system, is located on which planet?
- Earth
- Venus
- Mars
- Io
Answer: Mars
Olympus Mons on Mars stands about 22 km high, nearly three times the height of Mount Everest, making it the largest known volcano in the solar system.
Which U.S. President announced the goal of landing a man on the Moon before the decade was out?
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- John F. Kennedy
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Richard Nixon
Answer: John F. Kennedy
President John F. Kennedy declared this goal in a speech to Congress on May 25, 1961, initiating the Apollo program that culminated in the 1969 Moon landing.
The EOS series of ISRO satellites replaced the earlier _______ designation for earth observation missions.
- INSAT
- IRS
- GSAT
- Cartosat
Answer: IRS
ISRO renamed its earth observation satellites from IRS (Indian Remote Sensing) to EOS (Earth Observation Satellite) starting with EOS-01 in 2020 to better reflect mission purpose.
White dwarfs are the remnants of low-to-medium mass stars like our Sun.
- True
- False
Answer: True
After exhausting nuclear fuel, stars like the Sun shed their outer layers as planetary nebulae, leaving behind a dense core called a white dwarf.
The crew escape system tested for Gaganyaan is designed to pull the crew module away safely during which phase?
- Re-entry only
- Launch abort scenarios
- Orbital operations
- Landing
Answer: Launch abort scenarios
The Crew Escape System (CES) is designed to rapidly separate the crew module from the launch vehicle in case of emergencies during ascent, ensuring astronaut safety.
Trojan asteroids share their orbit with which planet?
- Mars
- Jupiter
- Saturn
- Earth
Answer: Jupiter
Jupiter trojans are asteroids that share Jupiter's orbit around the Sun, clustered near the stable Lagrange points L4 and L5, 60° ahead and behind the planet.
ISRO's Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) completed its first autonomous landing test in _______.
- 2016
- 2019
- 2023
- 2025
Answer: 2023
The RLV-TD LEX (Landing Experiment) successfully demonstrated autonomous landing on a runway at Aeronautical Test Range, Chitradurga, in April 2023.
Reusable launch vehicles aim to reduce the cost of access to space.
- True
- False
Answer: True
By recovering and reusing major components (like boosters), launch costs can be significantly reduced compared to expendable rockets. SpaceX's Falcon 9 is a prominent example.
Dark matter constitutes approximately what percentage of the total mass-energy content of the universe?
- 5%
- 27%
- 68%
- 95%
Answer: 27%
Current cosmological models estimate dark matter makes up ~27% of the universe, dark energy ~68%, and ordinary (baryonic) matter ~5%.
Which mission successfully landed on Titan, Saturn's moon, in 2005?
- Cassini
- Huygens
- Galileo
- Juno
Answer: Huygens
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.