Aditya-L1: India’s First Mission To Study The Sun Will Be Launched By June-July says ISRO Chairman

• Recently, the ISRO chairman S. Somanath, speaking at the handover ceremony of the Visible Line Emission Coronagraph (VELC) payload said that the Aditya-L1 mission will be launched by June or July as the launch window for the mission would close by August.
• Aditya-L1 is the first Indian space mission to observe the Sun and the solar corona.

Highlights

• ISRO will launch the Aditya-L1 mission into the L1 orbit (which is the first Lagrangian point of the Sun-Earth system).
• L1 orbit allows Aditya-L1 to look at the Sun continuously.
• Aditya-L1 is equipped with a total of seven payloads, the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) being the primary one.
• It was created and manufactured by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bengaluru.
• Lagrange points are positions in space where objects sent there tend to stay put.
• At Lagrange points, the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them.
• These points in space can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position.

Aditya L1

• Aditya-L1 is the first observatory-class space-based solar mission from India.
• The spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around the first Lagrange point, L1, of the Sun-Earth system.
• A satellite around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without occultation/eclipses.
• This position provides a greater advantage of observing solar activities continuously.
• Aditya-L1 carries seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere, and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic and particle detectors.
• Four payloads directly view the Sun from the unique vantage point of L1, and the remaining three payloads carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1.

VELC payload

• VELC payload will be able to observe the corona continuously and the data provided by it is expected to answer many outstanding problems in the field of solar astronomy.
• No other solar coronagraph in space has the ability to image the solar corona as close to the solar disk as VELC can.
• It can image it as close as 1.05 times the solar radius.
• It can also do imaging, spectroscopy, and polarimetry at the same time, and can take observations at a very high resolution (level of detail) and many times a second.

India and Saudi Arabia: Strengthening the Bond

Context

• Saudi Arabia and India ties have undergone a significant transformation in recent years. The camaraderie between the two nations is rooted in our cultural and civilisational ties. The Kingdom and India share mutual respect and appreciation which opens doors for our collaboration and partnership. These ties have been cemented by diplomatic visits made by leaders from both countries.

Recent visits by the leaders of India and Saudi Arabia

• Visit by Prince: The visit of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister then, to New Delhi in February 2019
• PM Modis visit to Saudi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Riyadh in October of the same year are two watershed moments in our journey of strategic ties.

Outcome of such visits

• Number of MoU’s for multiple sectors: During these visits, both nations concluded a number of MoUs for multiple sectors including energy, civil aviation, security, defence production, regulation of medical products, strategic petroleum reserves, small and medium scale industries, and the training of diplomats in our respective academies.
• Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) and working group: These two high-level visits anchored the historic formation of Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) at the leadership level. The SPC also saw the formation of working groups in multiple sectors significant to both nations.
• Comprehensive review of agreements and new opportunities: Since 2019, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and India have taken a comprehensive review of the agreements and have explored opportunities to work together.

Energy security and Bilateral trade between the two

• Trade extended to other sectors apart from energy: While our ties stem from energy security, over the years they have percolated into many other sectors, including pharma, IT and telecommunications. The Kingdom alone accounts for 18 per cent of India’s crude oil import.
• India is the second largest trading partner: Saudi Arabia is also the fourth largest trading partner of India while India is the second largest trading partner of Saudi Arabia with our bilateral trade close to $43 billion.
• Conducive business environment in the Kingdom: A number of leading Indian companies have also set up a base in Saudi Arabia, signifying the conducive business environment in the Kingdom.
• Joint ventures signifies trust and strong relationship: There are close to 750 Indian companies registered as joint ventures or 100 per cent owned companies based in Saudi Arabia, further indicating the strong relationship and trust between the nations.
• Huge investment via Public Investment fund: Since the formation of our SPC, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) has made investments of about $2.8 billion in digital and retail sectors of India. Similarly, Indian investments in Saudi Arabia have also reached $2 billion which are distributed amongst different sectors.
• Shared vision of the two: Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and its 13 vision realisation programmes are closely aligned with India’s flagship initiatives of Make in India, Start-up India, Smart Cities, Clean India, and Digital India. Both economies have seen robust growth in the last decade.
• Close cooperation in important fields: Both nations have now been working closely together in important fields to achieve mutual and strategic objectives. This was in part achieved by allocating funds to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation (CEPI), The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI), and other international and regional health organisations and programmes.

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030

• Economic and social reforms: Under the aegis of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia aims to transform its economy and society. Saudi Arabia is undergoing path-breaking economic and social reforms. The Kingdom has been working towards fostering its growing investment sector that will stimulate the economy.
• Cultural investment: The Kingdom, as part of Vision 2030, has also been investing in its culture with events such as the Red Sea Film Festival, which is dedicated to celebrating excellence in cinema and fostering the resurgent creative energy of Saudi and Arab filmmakers.
• Investment for sustainable infrastructure: The launch of the Events Investment Fund (EIF) by HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aims to develop a sustainable infrastructure for the culture, tourism, entertainment, and sports sectors across the Kingdom. The fund seeks to develop world-class sustainable infrastructure including indoor arenas, art galleries, theatres, conference centres, horse-racing tracks, auto racing tracks, and other facilities across the Kingdom.

Way ahead

• The opportunities presented under Vision 2030 can be leveraged by India to invest in the Kingdom.
• With India assuming the G20 presidency, it paves the way for the perfect opportunity to sustain meaningful dialogue around accelerated and inclusive growth while achieving Sustainable Development Goals as the global economy navigates through the post-Covid era.

Conclusion

• Amidst current global circumstances, India continues to successfully manoeuvre itself towards greater economic progress, built on strong foundations of sustainability and a thriving local community a feat and vision that it shares with its close partner Saudi Arabia. As India celebrates its 74th Republic Day with a vision of progress and prosperity, strengthening collaboration between India and Saudi Arabia will drive both economies and promote peace and stability in the region and the world.

Similipal National Park

Similipal National Park has turned out to be the hunting ground for animal poachers over the last few years.

• Most recently, the carcass of a male elephant was found in the Talabandha wildlife range

Simplipal National Park

• Located in northern part of Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district
• Similipal derives its name from ‘Simul’ (Silk Cotton) tree
• It is a national park and a Tiger Reserve
• The tiger reserve is spread over 2750 sq km and has some beautiful waterfalls like Joranda and Barehipani.
• The park is surrounded by high plateaus and hills, the highest peak being the twin peaks of Khairiburu and Meghashini (1515m above mean sea level).
• At least twelve rivers cut across the plain area, all of which drain into the Bay of Bengal –  Burhabalanga, Palpala Bandan, Salandi, Kahairi and Deo.
• Prominent tribes – Kolha, Santhala, Bhumija, Bhatudi, Gondas, Khadia, Mankadia and Sahara.
• The vegetation is a mix of deciduous with some semi-evergreen forests
• Sal is the dominant tree species

Biodiversity in the park:

• An astounding 1078 species of plants including 94 species of orchids find their home in the park.
• These forests boast of many plants that have medicinal and aromatic properties.
• The park is known for the tiger, elephant and hill mynah.
• It holds the highest tiger population in the state of Odisha.
• Apart from the tiger, the major mammals are leopard, sambar, barking deer, gaur, jungle cat, wild boar, four-horned antelope, giant squirrel and common langur.
• Grey hornbill, Indian pied hornbill and Malabar pied hornbill are also found here.
• The park also has a sizeable population of reptiles, which includes the longest venomous snake, the King cobra and the Tricarinate hill turtle.
• The Mugger Management Programme at Ramatirtha has helped the mugger crocodile to flourish on the banks of the Khairi and Deo Rivers
• Similipal has turned out to be the haven for hunters and poachers as the region has witnessed several killings of elephants, tigers and leopards

Threats:

• About 20 adult breeding male elephants die each year, mostly to unnatural causes like poaching and electrocution.
• The dwindling breeding male population and the isolated populations due to fragmented forests is weakening the gene pool due to mating among immature individuals and inbreeding.
• There  is a link between poaching and trading of elephant tusks, tiger skins and leopard skins since these fetch a huge price in the international market despite the global ban
• Even though Elephants are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, there is a rise in poaching cases
• While tiger population has gone up in most Indian states, in Odisha it has come down or remained static

Earth’s inner core rotating slower than surface: Study

Earth’s inner core, a hot iron ball the size of Pluto, has stopped spinning faster than the planet’s surface and might now be rotating slower than it, research suggested.

A quick recap of Earth’s Interior

Structure of earth’s interior is fundamentally divided into three layers – crust, mantle and core.

[A] Crust

• It is the outermost solid part of the earth, normally about 8-40 kms thick.
• It is brittle in nature.
• Nearly 1% of the earth’s volume and 0.5% of earth’s mass are made of the crust.
• The thickness of the crust under the oceanic and continental areas are different. Oceanic crust is thinner (about 5kms) as compared to the continental crust (about 30kms).
• Major constituent elements of crust are Silica (Si) and Aluminium (Al) and thus, it is often termed as SIAL(Sometimes SIAL is used to refer Lithosphere, which is the region comprising the crust and uppermost solid mantle, also).
• The mean density of the materials in the crust is 3g/cm3.
• The discontinuity between the hydrosphere and crustis termed as the Conrad Discontinuity.

 [B] Mantle

• The portion of the interior beyond the crust is called as the mantle.
• The discontinuity between the crust and mantleis called as the Mohorovich Discontinuity or Moho discontinuity.
• The mantle is about 2900kms in thickness.
• Nearly 84% of the earth’s volume and 67% of the earth’s mass is occupied by the mantle.
• The major constituent elements of the mantle are Silicon and Magnesium and hence it is also termed as SIMA.
• The density of the layer is higher than the crust and varies from 3.3 – 5.4g/cm3.
• The uppermost solid part of the mantle and the entire crust constitute the Lithosphere.
• The asthenosphere (in between 80-200km) is a highly viscous, mechanically weak and ductile, deforming region of the upper mantle which lies just below the lithosphere.
• The asthenosphere is the main source of magma and it is the layer over which the lithospheric plates/ continental plates move (plate tectonics).
• The discontinuity between the upper mantle and the lower mantleis known as Repetti Discontinuity.
• The portion of the mantle which is just below the lithosphere and asthenosphere, but above the core is called as Mesosphere.

[C] Core

• It is the innermost layer surrounding the earth’s centre.
• The core is separated from the mantle by Guttenberg’s Discontinuity.
• It is composed mainly of iron (Fe) and nickel (Ni) and hence it is also called as NIFE.
• It constitutes nearly 15% of earth’s volume and 32.5% of earth’s mass.
• It is the densest layer of the earth with its density ranges between 9.5-14.5g/cm3.
• It spins independently because it floats in the liquid metal outer core. One cycle of the swing is about seven decades approximately.
• It consists of two sub-layers: the inner core and the outer core.
• The inner core is in solid state and the outer core is in the liquid state (or semi-liquid).
• The discontinuity between the upper core and the lower core is called as Lehmann Discontinuity.
• Barysphere is sometimes used to refer the core of the earth or sometimes the whole interior.

What should one understand about the interior of the earth?

• It is not possible to know about the earth’s interior by direct observations because of the huge size and the changing nature of its interior composition.
• It is an almost impossible distance for the humans to reach till the centre of the earth (The earth’s radius is 6,370 km).
• The rapid increase in temperature below the earth’s surface is mainly responsible for setting a limit to direct observations inside the earth.

Sources of Information about the interior of the earth

Direct Sources:

1. Rocks from mining area
2. Volcanic eruptions

Indirect Sources

1. By analyzing the rate of change of temperature and pressurefrom the surface towards the interior.
2. Meteors, as they belong to the same type of materials earth is made of.
3. Gravitation, which is greater near poles and less at the equator.
4. Gravity anomaly, which is the change in gravity value according to the mass of material, gives us information about the materials in the earth’s interior.
5. Magnetic sources.
6. Seismic Waves: the shadow zones of body waves (Primary and secondary waves) give us information about the state of materials in the interior.

What is the new study about?

• Exactly how the inner core rotates has been a matter of debate between scientists— and the latest research is expected to prove controversial.
• A new research has analyzed seismic waves from repeating earthquakes over the last six decades.
• It shows that- the inner core started rotating slightly faster than the rest of the planet in the early 1970s, the study said.
• But it had been slowing down before coming in sync with Earth’s rotation around 2009.

What made the core spin slower?

• So far there is little to indicate that what the inner core does has many effects on surface dwellers.
• The researchers said this rotation timeline roughly lines up with changes in what is called the “length of day”— small variations in the exact time it takes Earth to rotate on its axis.
• But the researchers said they believed there were physical links between all of Earth’s layers, from the inner core to the surface.

Renewable Energy Transition

• Livelihoods powered by clean energy are major outliers in the country that’s the third-largest emitter of planet-warming gases in the world
• India missed its target to install 175 gigawatts of renewable energy to its overall power production by 2022.
• To meet its 2030 renewable energy target of installing a total of 450 gigawatts, India needs to build out clean energy at a far greater rate than it is doing now.

Role of coal in India’s Energy mix

• Coal is by far the largest share of dirty fuels.
• Nationwide fossil fuels generate more than 70% of India’s electricity and have been doing so for decades.
• The Indian government has repeatedly defended its use of coal and its energy transition strategy, stating that the fuel is necessary for the nation’s energy security.
• In 2021, India announced its biggest-ever auction for coal mines inviting bids for 141 mines spread across 12 states in the country
• It will contribute to its target of producing 1 billion tons of coal by April 2024.
• From 2001 to 2021, India installed 168 gigawatts of coal-fired generation, nearly double what it added in solar and wind power combined, as per Ember data.
• Coal India limited, a government-owned company, is the largest state-owned coal producer in the world.
• It is responsible for about 82% of the total coal produced in India.
• The country’s coal-fired power plants have an average age of 13 years and India has 91,000 MW of new proposed coal capacity in the works, second only to China
• According to the Draft National Electricity Plan 2022, coal’s share in the electricity generation mix will decrease to 50% by 2030, compared to the current contribution of 70%

Status of Renewable energy

• Contribution It currently contributes about 10% of India’s electricity needs.
• Price of renewable energy has plummeted.
• The cost of solar power has dropped roughly sixfold from 12 rupees (14 cents) per kilowatt-hour in 2011 to 2.5 rupees (0.03 cents) per kilowatt-hour.
• Economic savings The planned buildout of 76 GW of solar and wind power by 2025 will avoid the use of almost 78 million tons of coal annually and could lead to savings of up to 1.6 trillion rupees ($19.5 billion) per year.
• Gujarat
• Coal’s share in producing electricity for Gujarat fell from 85% to 56% in the last six years, according to analysis by London-based energy think tank Ember
• The share of renewable energy for Gujarat grew from 9% to 28% in the same period.
• Gujarat is one of four of India’s 28 states that met their renewable energy targets for 2022.
• Other states Most states have installed less than 50% of their targets and some states such as West Bengal have installed only 10% of their target.

Challenges in transition

• Reducing the share of coal in the electricity generation mix is particularly acute because the sector is growing rapidly
• Development goals India’s quickly developing economy and growing electricity consumption per capita is causing rising demand
• Historically, countries that have achieved substantial and rapid transitions away from coal-fired power tend to have had either slowly growing or stagnant or even slightly declining electricity demand
• Growing demand India’s federal power ministry estimates that its electricity demand will grow up to 6% every year for the next decade.
• Acquiring land for clean energy projects in tough due to resistance from local communities.
• While longstanding contracts with coal plants also make it easier for state-run electricity companies to buy coal power instead of clean power.
• Inefficiency of DISCOMS As of December 2022, Indian state-owned electricity distribution companies owed power generators $3.32 billion in overdue payments.
• Their poor financial health has dampened their ability to invest in clean energy projects
• Skewed Lending scenario 60% of lending to the mining sector was for oil and gas extraction, while one-fifth of manufacturing sector debt is for petroleum refining and related industries.
• High-carbon industries — power generation, chemicals, iron and steel, and aviation — account for 10% of outstanding debt to Indian financial institutions. However, these industries are also heavily indebted, and therefore have less financial capacity to respond to shocks and stresses.

Suggestions for future:

• Planning It is great that India has a 2070 net zero target, but changes need to happen now for us to achieve this.
• Building renewables capacity and energy storage– electricity distribution companies need to allow for more rooftop solar installations even if it results in short-term economic losses for them.
• Investing in modernizing and building new wind energy projects will also speed up the transition.
• India needs $223 billion to meet 2030 renewable capacity goals
• Enacting more progressive policies — such as the $2.6 billion government scheme that encourages making components required to produce solar energy — and ensuring these policies are being implemented is essential to speed up a move toward renewables
• New laws such as the energy conservation bill as well as updated mandates issued by the federal government that make it necessary for electricity companies to purchase renewables provide hope
• Investment in new technology such as clean fuels like green hydrogen may improve battery storage for renewables to provide uninterrupted electricity
• Sovereign green bonds India is expected to launch its first-ever sovereign green bonds auction, with the Reserve Bank of India

Way forward

• A report by the Global Energy Monitor ranks India among the top seven countries globally for prospective renewable power.
• At the end of the day what is needed is speeding up the installation of renewables and associated infrastructure
• Ultimately in India, renewable energy is a highly cost-effective technology. The perception that coal is cheap is changing