The SSLV-D3 mission successfully launched EOS-08 satellite in _______.
- 2022
- 2023
- 2024
- 2025
Answer: 2024
SSLV-D3 achieved success on Aug 16, 2024, deploying EOS-08 and SR-0 demosat, validating SSLV operational capability after prior failures.
Space – GK Questions
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O-type stars are the hottest and most massive main-sequence stars.
- True
- False
Answer: True
O-stars (>30,000 K, >16 solar masses) dominate UV output and drive feedback in star-forming regions, living only few million years.
The first successful Mars landing by a European spacecraft was attempted by which mission?
- Mars Express
- ExoMars Schiaparelli
- Beagle 2
- Rosetta
Answer: ExoMars Schiaparelli
Note: Schiaparelli crashed in 2016; Beagle 2 landed but failed to deploy. No European mission has yet achieved fully successful Mars landing as of 2025.
Which space agency leads the Lunar Gateway space station project?
- Roscosmos
- CNSA
- NASA
- ESA
Answer: NASA
NASA leads Artemis/Gateway program with international partners (ESA, JAXA, CSA), establishing cislunar outpost for sustained lunar exploration.
Star trackers determine spacecraft attitude by matching observed star patterns against an onboard _______.
- Gyroscope database
- Star catalogue
- GPS ephemeris
- Sun sensor array
Answer: Star catalogue
Star trackers image star fields, compare centroids to stored catalogue entries, computing quaternion attitude with arcsecond accuracy.
The Nice model explains late heavy bombardment via planetary migration in early solar system.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Nice model posits giant planets migrated after gas disk dispersal, destabilizing planetesimal disk and triggering LHB ~4 Ga ago.
Which mission discovered active cryovolcanism on Triton?
- Voyager 1
- Voyager 2
- Cassini
- New Horizons
Answer: Voyager 2
Voyager 2's 1989 Neptune flyby revealed nitrogen geysers on Triton, indicating ongoing geological activity driven by tidal heating or insolation.
The Sachs-Wolfe effect describes CMB temperature fluctuations caused by which phenomenon?
- Doppler shift
- Gravitational redshift/blueshift
- Thomson scattering
- Synchrotron emission
Answer: Gravitational redshift/blueshift
Photons climbing out of potential wells lose energy (redshift); falling in gain energy (blueshift), imprinting primordial density perturbations on CMB.
The NETRA project establishes a network of radars and telescopes for _______ awareness.
- Weather
- Space situational
- Maritime domain
- Border surveillance
Answer: Space situational
NETRA (Network for Space Object Tracking and Analysis) monitors debris/threats to Indian satellites, integrating radar/optical sensors nationwide.
Robotic refueling missions aim to extend satellite lifetimes by replenishing propellant in orbit.
- True
- False
Answer: True
NASA's OSAM-1 and Northrop Grumman's MEV demonstrate on-orbit servicing/refueling, reducing space debris and maximizing asset value.
Superrotation in Venus's atmosphere means winds circle the planet faster than its rotation period.
- True - 60x faster
- False - slower than rotation
- True - same speed
- False - no winds exist
Answer: True - 60x faster
Venusian cloud-top winds reach 100 m/s, circling planet in ~4 days versus 243-day rotation, driven by thermal tides and wave-mean flow interactions.
Which cosmonaut holds the record for longest cumulative time in space?
- Valeri Polyakov
- Gennady Padalka
- Sergei Krikalev
- Oleg Kononenko
Answer: Oleg Kononenko
Oleg Kononenko surpassed 1,000 days in space in Feb 2024 across five missions, holding current cumulative duration record.
The Gaia DR3 catalogue released in 2022 contains astrometric data for over _______ stars.
- 100 million
- 1 billion
- 1.8 billion
- 10 billion
Answer: 1.8 billion
Gaia Data Release 3 provides positions, parallaxes, and motions for ~1.8 billion sources, revolutionizing galactic archaeology and stellar physics.
Optical (laser) communication offers higher data rates than RF but requires precise pointing.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Lasercom achieves Gbps-Tbps rates with narrow beams, demanding µrad-level pointing accuracy; demonstrated by LCRD, EDRS, and upcoming Indian missions.
The NEO Surveyor mission will detect potentially hazardous asteroids using which wavelength?
- Visible
- Infrared
- Ultraviolet
- Radio
Answer: Infrared
NEO Surveyor uses infrared detectors to find dark asteroids missed by optical surveys, identifying PHAs >140 m within 5 years of launch.
Shield volcanoes on Mars differ from terrestrial ones primarily in which aspect?
- Composition
- Size and longevity
- Eruption style
- Tectonic setting
Answer: Size and longevity
Martian shield volcanoes (e.g., Olympus Mons) are vastly larger due to stationary crust over mantle plumes, allowing prolonged eruptions without plate tectonics.
The Bhartiya Antariksh Station is planned to be operational by _______.
- 2028
- 2030
- 2035
- 2040
Answer: 2035
India aims to establish a modular space station by 2035, following Gaganyaan missions, supporting microgravity research and technology demonstration.
Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are a leading candidate for cold dark matter.
- True
- False
Answer: True
WIMPs naturally arise in supersymmetry theories, interacting via weak nuclear force/gravity, matching observed dark matter abundance through thermal freeze-out.
The first space tourist was Dennis Tito who visited the ISS in which year?
- 1999
- 2001
- 2003
- 2005
Answer: 2001
American businessman Dennis Tito paid ~$20M to fly aboard Soyuz TM-32 to ISS in Apr-May 2001, inaugurating commercial space tourism era.
Which space agency operates the Spektr-RG X-ray observatory?
- NASA
- ESA
- Roscosmos
- CNSA
Answer: Roscosmos
Spektr-RG (launched 2019) is Russian-German mission mapping X-ray sky with eROSITA/ART-XC telescopes, discovering millions of AGNs and clusters.