Space – GK Questions

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.

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 (CES) is designed to rapidly separate the crew module from the launch vehicle in case of emergencies during ascent, ensuring astronaut safety.

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.

The RLV-TD LEX (Landing Experiment) successfully demonstrated autonomous landing on a runway at Aeronautical Test Range, Chitradurga, in April 2023.

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.

Current cosmological models estimate dark matter makes up ~27% of the universe, dark energy ~68%, and ordinary (baryonic) matter ~5%.

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.

Artemis is NASA's lunar exploration program, with international partners, aiming to land the first woman and next man on the Moon's south pole region.

Since Pluto's reclassification as a dwarf planet in 2006, Neptune remains the eighth and farthest known major planet from the Sun.

NavIC transmits navigation signals in the L5 band (1176.45 MHz) and S-band (2492.028 MHz). Future satellites may include L1 band compatibility for wider civilian use.

The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, characterized by a central bar-shaped structure composed of stars, from which spiral arms extend.

Aditya-L1 carries seven payloads: four for remote sensing (e.g., VELC, SUIT) and three for in-situ measurements (e.g., ASPEX, PAPA), studying the photosphere, chromosphere, corona, and solar wind.

Laika died during the flight aboard Sputnik 2 due to overheating and stress. There was no technology at the time to return the spacecraft safely to Earth.

PSLV is a four-stage vehicle alternating between solid and liquid propulsion. The first (PS1) and third (PS3) stages use solid propellants, while the second (PS2) and fourth (PS4) use liquid propellants.

The Oort Cloud is a hypothetical spherical shell of icy objects surrounding the solar system at distances up to 100,000 AU. It is believed to be the reservoir of long-period comets.

SAC is located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It designs and develops payloads for communication, navigation, and remote sensing satellites.

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.

With Mangalyaan's success in 2014, ISRO became the first space agency in the world to reach Mars orbit on its maiden attempt. Previous attempts by USA, USSR, and others had failures before success.

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