Statement 1 is Correct:
The SKA is a global project with eleven member countries to build world’s largest radio
telescope that aims to answer fundamental questions about the origin and evolution of the
Universe.
Statement 2 is Correct:
The SKA would be built in the southern hemisphere, in sub-Saharan states with cores in South
Africa and Australia, where the view of the Milky Way Galaxy is the best and radio interference
at its least.
Statement 3 is Incorrect:
India is a member of SKA and is represented by National Centre for Radio Astrophysics.
The capabilities of the SKA will be designed to address a wide range of questions in
astrophysics, fundamental physics, cosmology and particle astrophysics as well as extending
the range of the observable universe

Both Statements are Incorrect:
India seeks to deploy a functional ‘iron dome’ ballistic missile defence (BMD), incorporating both low-altitude and high-altitude interceptor missiles.
India’s BMD is being developed in 2 phase:
1. The first phase aims to develop a shield to intercept missile with a range up to 2000 km. 1st phase radar range is up to 600 km.
2. The second phase will have intercept missile with 5000 km range. Radar range of this phase would be 1500 km.
3. Prithvi Air Defence (PAD):
● Also referred as Pradyumna Ballistic Missile Interceptor.
● It’s designed for High altitude interception ( exo-atmospheric interception).
● Intercept missiles at altitudes between 50 – 80 km.
● The interceptor is Prithvi Defence Vehicle ( PDV) which has two-stage, both with solid
propellants.
4. Advanced Air Defence (AAD):
● Also called Ashwin Ballistic Missile Interceptor.
● It’s endo-atmospheric interception system ( for low altitude interception).
● Altitude of interception is range up to 30 km.
● It has single-stage solid fuelled missile.

Explanation
Statement 4 is Incorrect:
Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power nicknamed “Father of All Bombs” (FOAB) is a Russian-designed, bomber-delivered thermobaric weapon.
The bomb is reportedly similar to the US military’s GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast which is often unofficially called “Mother of All Bombs” derived from its official military acronym “MOAB”.
This weapon would, therefore, be the most powerful conventional (nonnuclear) weapon in the world.
Note: All thermobaric bombs use atmospheric oxygen.

Explanation
Statement 3 is Incorrect:
submarine-launched missile Sagarika also known by the code names K-15 or B-05, is a nuclearcapable submarine-launched ballistic missile with a range of 750 kilometres. It belongs to the K Missile family and forms a part of India’s nuclear triad, and will provide retaliatory nuclear strike capability.
Agni

● The Agni missile is a family of medium to intercontinental range ballistic missiles
● Agni Missiles are long range, nuclear weapons capable surface to surface ballistic missile.

● The first missile of the series, Agni-I was developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program and tested in 1991.
Agni IV

● It is capable of hitting a target at a distance of 4,000 km with 2 stage solid propellant engine.
● The missile is about 20 meters tall and weighs 17 tons.
● It is equipped with 5th generation onboard computer and distributed architecture.
● It has the latest features to correct and guide itself for in-flight disturbances. The most accurate ring laser gyro-based inertial navigation system (RINS) and supported by highly reliable redundant micro navigation system (MINGS), ensures the vehicle reaches the target within two-digit accuracy.
Agni V

● The Agni V is a solid fueled ICBM with a range of 5,500 to 5,800 km.
● Agni V is nuclear capable, with a payload capacity of 1,500 kg of high-explosive warhead.
● It has inbuilt new technologies for navigation and guidance (fire and forget system).

Dhanush Ballistic Missile
● It is a surface-to-surface missile.
● It is a naval variant of India’s indigenously-developed Prithvi missile.
● It is a single-stage, liquid-propelled missile.
● Its range is 350 km.

Nirbhay
● Nirbhay is an all-weather low-cost long-range cruise missile with stealth and high accuracy.
● The missile has a range of more than 1000 km. It weighs about one tonne and has a length of 6 metres.
● The missile is capable of being launched from multiple platforms on land, sea and air.
● The missile is capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Prahaar
● The Prahaar is India’s surface-to-surface missile with a range of 150 kms.
● The primary objective of the conventionally armed Prahaar missile is to bridge the gap between the unguided Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher (ranging 45 kms) and the guided

Prithvi missile variants.
Prithvi
● It is indigenously developed nuclear capable surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missile
(SRBM) developed by DRDO under IGMDP. It is deployed by India’s Strategic Forces Command.
Shaurya Missile
● It is a canister launched hypersonic surface-to-surface tactical missile.
● It has a range of 750 to 1,900 km
● It gives the potential to strike in the short-intermediate range against any adversary.

Shaurya
can reach a velocity of Mach 7.5 even at low altitudes.
● ‘Shaurya’ missile is a two stage, solid fueled weapon with characteristics of both ballistic and cruise missiles.
● Unlike conventional cruise missiles which cruise at extremely low altitudes and subsonic speeds using turbo fan engines, ‘Shaurya’ cruises at extremely high altitudes at hypersonic speeds using rocket power.

Explanation
All Statements are Correct:
The Scorpène-class submarines are a class of diesel-electric attack submarines jointly
developed by the French Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN) and the Spanish company
Navantia, and now by Naval Group. It features diesel propulsion and an additional airindependen propulsion (AIP).
● In 2005, India chose the Scorpène design; purchasing six submarines. Under a technology
transfer agreement, the state-owned Mazagon Docks in Mumbai will manufacture the
submarines.
● India plans to incorporate the DRDO-developed air independent propulsion (AIP) system onto
the last two submarines being built and also to equip the P75I submarines, of which the DCNS
is participating in the tender process.
● The first Scorpène submarine, named INS Kalvari, was commissioned into the Indian Navy on
14 December 2017.

Statements 1 and 2 are Correct:
The Aditya L1 will be placed in a halo orbit around a vantage point in space known as L1 Lagrange point. The point L1 has the major advantage of viewing the sun without any occultation/ eclipses. The mission will carry seven payloads including the main payload the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VLEC).
Statement 3 is Correct:
It will collect data about coronal mass ejection, which will also yield information for space weather prediction.

Very little is known on the composition and the formation mechanisms of this intense aerosol layer. This layer is of concern since it could play an important role on the climate and weather.
To understand this enigmatic layer, balloon-borne experiments along with ground based observations are being conducted under a ISRO-NASA collaborative program – “Balloon Borne measurement campaigns of Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (BATAL)”.

All Statements are Correct:
Department of Science and Technology (DST): DST is the nodal agency in the Indian nanotechnology innovation system. It has since 1980s launched may programmes/schemes to foster R&D on miniature-scale and on Nano-scale.
Department of Biotechnology (DBT): The DBT is basically active in the area of nano biotechnology R&D. In the period around 2007, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) initiated a programme on Nano biotechnology.
Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeITy): The DeITy has established Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET) at Pune, Hyderabad and Trissur. These centres are involved in nanotechnology R&D activities, particularly in nanomaterials.
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP): DIPP established a Nano Manufacturing Technology Centre (NMTC) and Academy of Excellence for Advanced ManufacturingTechnology (AEAMT) at the Central Manufacturing Technology Institute (CMTI) in Bangalore.

Statements 1 and 2 are Correct:
A black hole is a region in space where the pulling force of gravity is so strong that light is not able to escape. The strong gravity occurs because matter has been pressed into a tiny space.
This compression can take place at the end of a star’s life. Some black holes are a result of dying stars.
Statement 3 is Incorrect:
Scientific evidence suggests that every large galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its center. The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is called Sagittarius
A.
It has a mass equal to about 4 million suns and would fit inside a ball with a diameter about the size of the sun. Also, the Milky Way galaxy contains some 100 billion stars.
Roughly one out of every thousand stars that form is massive enough to become a black hole.
Therefore, our galaxy may harbor some 100 million black holes.

Statement 1 is Incorrect:
CRISPR technology is a simple yet powerful tool for editing genomes. It allows researchers to easily alter DNA and not RNA sequences and modify gene function. Its many potential applications include correcting genetic defects, treating and preventing the spread of diseases and improving crops.
Statement 2 is Correct:
“CRISPR” is shorthand for “CRISPR-Cas9.” CRISPRs are specialized stretches of DNA. The protein Cas9 (or “CRISPR-associated”) is an enzyme that acts like a pair of molecular scissors, capable of cutting strands of DNA.
Statement 3 is Correct:
CRISPR technology was adapted from the natural defense mechanisms of bacteria and archaea (the domain of single-celled microorganisms). These organisms use CRISPR-derived RNA and various Cas proteins, including Cas9, to foil attacks by viruses and other foreign bodies. They do so primarily by chopping up and destroying the DNA of a foreign invader. When these components are transferred into other, more complex, organisms, it allows for the manipulation of genes, or “editing.”

Statement 1 is Incorrect:
The Hubble Space Telescope, a joint venture between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), was launched in its orbit 552 km above Earth on April 24, 1990 by the space shuttle Discovery. It helped to measure the rate of expansion of universe.
Statements 2 and 3 are Correct:
The Hubble, which has travelled more than 3 billion miles, has made more than 1.2 million observations since 1990 by completing an orbit around the Earth every 97 minutes at a speed of about 8 km per second.
In December 1993, seven astronauts spacewalked from the shuttle Endeavour to fix the telescope in space for a spectral problem, a mission that was never attempted before.
Subsequent servicing missions to repair the telescope and to upgrade it occurred in February 1997, December 1999, March 2002 and May 2009.
The telescope’s sensitive cameras and spectrographs can view objects as nearby and small as the collision of asteroids to distant star-forming galaxies that date back to when the universe was only three percent of its current age. In fact, Hubble observations have played a key role in discovering and characterizing the dark energy that appears to permeate space. Results like these have changed our fundamental understanding of the cosmos. Hubble Telescope will be replaced by James Webb Space Telescope by 2020.

Explanation
All Statements are Correct:
AstroSat is the first dedicated Indian astronomy mission aimed at studying celestial sources in X-ray, optical and UV spectral bands simultaneously. One of the unique features of AstroSat mission is that it enables the simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of various astronomical objects with a single satellite. It was launched in September 2015.
The scientific objectives of AstroSat mission are:
To understand high energy processes in binary star systems containing neutron stars and black holes
Estimate magnetic fields of neutron stars
Study star birth regions and high energy processes in star systems lying beyond our galaxy
Detect new briefly bright X-ray sources in the sky

Explanation
Statements 1 and 2 are Correct:
It is the first of the six Scorpene-class submarines manufactured in Mumbai by Mazagon Dockyard Limited (MDL), built upon the design of French DCNS under the ‘Project-75’ of the Indian Navy.
It is powered by a diesel-electric engine and capable of indulging in all types of naval warfare.
One major advantage that the diesel engine submarines have over the nuclear-powered ones is that they produce less noise underwater, giving them an edge in stealth operations.
In addition to this, the INS Kalvari appoints advanced acoustic silencing technique, which dampens the vibrations produced by the submarine, making it even more difficult to be detected by Sonar. Even the equipment inside the pressure hull of the INS Kalvari is mounted on shock absorbing cradles for enhanced stealth.
All this firepower and stealth technology enable the INS Kalvari to be an effective player in antisubmarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence gathering, mine laying as well as area surveillance.
Statement 3 is Incorrect:
INS Kalvari has been commissioned to the Indian Navy as a first non-nuclear, indigenous stealth submarine after seventeen years. It is named after the deep-sea Tiger Shark in Malayalam, representing agility, strength and predatory prowess, carries the motto Ever Onwards‘.

NASA has announced that it would launch two missions to explore the little-understood area of 96 km above Earth‘s surface. The Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission and the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) will be launched later this year.
GOLD and ICON will team up to explore the ionosphere, a boundary area between Earth and the space where particles have been cooked into a sea of electrically-charged electrons and ions
by the Sun‘s radiation.
These layers of near-Earth space are increasingly becoming a part of human domain as it is home to radio signals used to guide airplanes, ships and Global Positioning System satellites

Explanation
All Statements are Correct:
GSLV Mk III is popularly known as ‘Fat Boy’. It is one of the most heaviest satellite launch vehicles of the World and also one of the shortest.
-It has the capacity to carry payload of 4 – 8 tonnes. It has three stage engine with solid, liquid and cryogenic phase.
-The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III also called LVM3 or GSLV-III) is a launch vehicle developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
-It is intended to launch satellites into geostationary orbit and as a launcher for an Indian crew vehicle.
-The GSLV-III features an Indian cryogenic third stage and a higher payload capacity than the current GSLV.

Statement 1 is Incorect:
AURA is an Earth Observation Satellite launched by NASA.
Statement 2 is Correct:
Launched in 2004, AURA helps scientists understand how atmospheric composition affects and responds to Earth’s changing climate.
Note:
Aura was exclusively designed to study the composition, chemistry, and dynamics of the Earth‘s upper and lower atmosphere by employing four instruments on a single platform.
Each instrument provides unique and complementary capabilities that will enable daily global observations of Earth‘s atmospheric ozone layer, air quality, and key climate parameters.

Both Statements are Correct:
5G is a wireless communication technology. It is the next-generation mobile networks technology after 4G LTE networks. The final standard for 5G will be set up by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
Advantages of 5G:
∙ As per the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) Committee on Digital Economic Policy, 5G technologies rollout will help in increasing GDP, creating employment and digitizing the economy.
∙ The 5G technology will offer far greater upload and download speed available today. This will help cloud systems to stream software updates, music, and navigation data to driverless cars. In other words, it will help aid incorporate Artificial Intelligence in our lives.
∙ It will enable Smart devices to exchange data seamlessly providing the ecosystem for Internet of Things (IoT).

Statement 2 is Incorrect:
IT DOESN’T DELETE OR CORRUPT THE FILE. WHAT THEY DO IS-
• Traffic attacks: Traffic flooding attacks send a huge volume of TCP, UDP and ICPM packets to the target. Legitimate requests get lost and these attacks may be accompanied by malware exploitation.
• Bandwidth attacks: This DDos attack overloads the target with massive amounts of junk data.
This results in a loss of network bandwidth and equipment resources and can lead to a complete denial of service.
• Application attacks: Application-layer data messages can deplete resources in the application layer, leaving the target’s system services unavailable.
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks
A denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host connected to the Internet.
Denial of service is typically accomplished by flooding the targeted machine or resource with superfluous requests in an attempt to overload systems and prevent some or all legitimate requests from being fulfilled.
In a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack), the incoming traffic flooding the victim originates from many different sources. This effectively makes it impossible to stop the attack simply by blocking a single source.
A DoS or DDoS attack is analogous to a group of people crowding the entry door of a shop, making it hard for legitimate customers to enter, disrupting trade.
Criminal perpetrators of DoS attacks often target sites or services hosted on high-profile web servers such as banks or credit card payment gateways. Revenge, blackmail and activism can motivate these attacks.

All Statements are Correct:
Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access:
● It is a wireless industry coalition dedicated to the advancement of IEEE 802.16 standards for broadband wireless access (BWA) networks.
● WiMAX can provide at-home or mobile Internet access across whole cities or countries. In many cases this has resulted in competition in markets which typically only had access through an existing incumbent DSL (or similar) operator.
● Additionally, given the relatively low costs associated with the deployment of a WiMAX network (in comparison with 3G, HSDPA, xDSL, HFC or FTTx), it is now economically viable to provide last-mile broadband Internet access in remote locations.
● WiMAX is competing with the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)’s LongTerm Evolution (LTE) in the 4G market.

Explanation
Internet of Birds:
Accenture Labs in Bengaluru and the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in Mumbai have developed an Internet of Things-based platform that identifies birds.
The cloud-based software uses Artificial Intelligence (machine learning and computer vision) to  recognise species from digital photographs.