Current Context : Recently,Space-based Multi-band Variable Object Monitor (SVOM) mission was launched.

• It is a joint satellite was launched by China and France into orbit for studying the farthest explosion of stars.
• Objective : to the study of the most distant explosions of stars, the gamma-ray bursts.
• It was lifted by a Chinese carrier rocket launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan.

Current Context : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has conducted the third landing experiment of the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV LEX-03) named ‘Pushpak’.

ABOUT PUSHPAK  (RLV LEX -03) :

• It is named after the mythical ‘Pushpak Viman’ from the Ramayana.
• It aims to not just launch missions to space, but also return the same way as the American shuttle missions.
• It is designed as an all-rocket, fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle.
• It uses multisensor fusion including sensors like the Inertial sensor, Radar altimeter, Flush air data system, Pseudolite system and NavIC.
• RLV-LEX-03 mission reused the winged body and flight systems as such without any modification, from the LEX-02 mission.

Current Context : Recently, Armenia has officially recognised Palestine as a State.

ABOUT ARMENIA

• Location: It is a landlocked country of Transcaucasia (populated region to the south of the Caucasus Mountains).
• Bordering counteries : Azerbaijan, Turkey, Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (an exclave of Azerbaijan), Georgia, and Iran.
• Topography : Mountainous terrain with no lowlands.
• Highest Peak : Mount Aragats (Alaghez)
• River : Aras River

Current Conext : New Study by the researchers from the University of Gothenburg finds that, thousands of tonnes of methane may have dissolved in Baltic Sea.

ABOUT NORD STREAM

• It is a pair of offshore natural gas pipelines in Europe that run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.
• It consists of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2.
• It pass through the territorial waters and/or Exclusive Economic Zones of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.
• Impacts of Nord Stream Leakage: The high concentration of methane in water may have promoted the growth of methanotrophic bacteria.

ABOUT METHANE :

• Methane (CH4) is a hydrocarbon that is a primary component of natural gas.
• It is a colorless, odorless gas, flammable water insoluble gas.
• Also known as marsh gas or methyl hydride.
• The largest sources of methane are agriculture, fossil fuels and decomposition of landfill waste.

ABOUT BALTIC SEA

• Location : Northern Europe.
• Bordering Countries : Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Germany.
• It connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the Danish Straits.
• Major gulfs: Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga

Current Conext : Recently, KisanKraft Limited has joined the Low Methane Rice project (LMRP) under UPPAP programmme to promote the Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) in Uttar Pradesh.

• LMRP is an initiative of World Bank 2030 Water Resource Group (WRG).
• The WRG is a multi-donor trust fund hosted by the World Bank Group.

ABOUT UPPAP

• Launched by Uttar Pradesh Multi-Stakeholder Platform and is supported by 2030 WRG.
• It is implemented by the support of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
• Objective : to enhance agricultural practices and boost incomes by promoting water-use efficiency and low-carbon methods.

ABOUT DIRECT SEEDED RICE (DSR)

• Direct seeding is a crop establishment system wherein rice seeds are sown directly into the field without use of water, as opposed to the traditional method of growing seedlings in a nursery and then transplanting into flooded fields.
• It is seen to be most productive, environmentally friendly and financially feasible rice production system.

Current Conext : Recently, Qatar offered to sell 12 Mirage 2000 fighter aircrafts to India.

ABOUT MIRAGE 2000

• It was first commissioned into Indian Air Force in 1985.
• Manufactured by Dassault Aviation, France.
• It is a single engine delta-wing multirole aircraft.
• It is supersonic combat aircraft with maximum speed of Mach 2.2+.
• It can carry laser guided bombs, air-to-air and air-to surface missiles and has a Thomson-CSF RDY (Radar Doppler Multitarget) radar on board.
• It played a important role in 1999 Kargil war and operation Bandar of 2019.

Current Context : Recently, Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report has been released.

• It is publsihed by the World Bank.
• Report is compiled with the help of World Bank’s Global Flaring and Methane Reduction (GFMR) Partnership.

Relevant Data

• 139 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas was flared at upstream oil across the globe in 2022.
• Global gas flaring in 2023 has increased by 7% from 2022 leading to a rise of 23 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.
• Contributing nations : Russia, Iran, Iraq, USA, etc.

About Gas Flaring

• It refers to the burning of the natural gas associated with oil extraction.
• Reasons: due to safety Concern (de-pressurise the equipment).
• It is practised from the beginning of oil production over 160 years ago.
• Impacts : It produces nitrogen oxides which directly and indirectly impacts air quality.

Celebrated on 25 June

• Aim : to honour the vital contribution that seafarers for their contribution to the world economy and the civil society and for the risks and personal costs they bear while on their jobs.
• The first Day of the Seafarer was observed on June 25, 2011.
• In 2010, International Maritime Organization (IMO), designated 25 June as the International Day of the Seafarer.

Current Context : Recently, Three-day state-level historic Shoolini fair is inaugrated by Health Minister in Solan.

ABOUT FAIR

• The fair signifies faith and devotion in Goddess Shoolini.
• It marks the sojourn of the ruling deity of the area at her elder sister Goddess Durga’s temple located at Ganj Bazaar.
• Held in the month of
• it is a three-day event that attracts thousands of tourists, pilgrims, traders, rural sports players and others to Solan.
• Goddess Maa Shoolini halts at her sister’s place for three days and then returns to her own domicile.
• The return journey of the Goddess to her own temple is celebrated on the last day of Shoolini Mela.

Current Context : Recently, Chad has become the first country in 2024 and the 51st globally to eliminate a neglected tropical disease (NTD),the gambiense form of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT).

ABOUT HUMAN AFRICAN TRYPANOSOMIASIS (HAT).

• It is also also known as sleeping sickness.
• It is caused by protozoan parasites that transmitted by infected tsetse flies and endemic in sub-Saharan Africa.
• It takes 2 forms, depending on the subspecies of the infecting parasite:
• Trypanosoma brucei gambiense: It is found in 24 countries of west and central Africa, currently accounts for 92% of reported cases and causes a chronic illness.
• Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense: It is found in 13 countries of eastern and southern Africa accounts for 8% of reported cases and causes an acute disease.