GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

A group of Indian scientists have discovered a new species of eel from among specimens collected from the Kalamukku and Digha Mohana fishing harbours in Kerala and West Bengal respectively. 

About New Eel Species – Ariosoma Indicum:

• The newly discovered eel belongs to the Congrid eels group.
• It has been named Ariosoma indicum.
• The term ‘Indicum’ means that it was found in India.
• The total length of the new species is 362 millimetres.
• The eel has the following features according to the recent paper:
• A greenish-brown body, with faint dark bands on the dorsal portion of the head
• Minute dark pigmentation patches on the extremities of the lower jaw
• Bicoloured pectoral fin
• A short wedge-shaped pointed vomerine teeth patch, with three or four rows in the anterior portion
  
• Ariosoma indicum is possibly distributed along the Indian coast, including the coastal waters of Kerala and West Bengal.
• The Ariosoma genus has seven species, including the newly identified eel that have been documented in Indian waters.
• Globally, there are 223 species in the genus.
• The new eel species is not listed as ‘Threatened’ or ‘Endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List or the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
  

Though, it is believed that volcano has its own “personality”, it has been found that volcanoes share behaviour traits — and this could form the basis for an eruption warning system.

About Whakaari Island:

• Whakaari/White Island is currently New Zealand’s most active cone volcano.
• It is located in the Bay of Plenty sitting 48 kilometres offshore.
• The cone has been built up by continuous volcanic activity over the past 150,000 years.
• The island covers an area of around 325 hectares and this is only about 30 per cent of the volcanos mass - the rest is under the sea.
• Even so, it is only about half the size of other cone volcanoes like Mount Ruapehu, Tongariro or Taranaki.
• It is a tourist magnet, with its alien landscape and spectacular hydrothermal features. 
  

2019 Explosive Eruption

• A fatal explosive volcanic eruption occurred in December 2019.
• Tragically some visitors and guides on the island at the time were killed, and many injured.
• The eruption removed the Crater Lake, formed new vents and generated landslides into the active crater area.

Deciphering volcanic language

• Every volcano behaves differently: some have crater lakes while others are “dry”, they have diverse magmas and rise to different elevations.
• Despite these differences, we think volcanoes such as Whakaari, Ruapehu and Tongariro in New Zealand could be driven to eruption by common processes in the shallow sub-surface below their craters.
• The new study noted that one pattern repeatedly in the days before all the known Whakaari eruptions over the past decade, and most Ruapehu and Tongariro ones.
• This pattern is a slow strengthening of a quantity called Displacement Seismic Amplitude Ratio (DSAR), which peaks a few days before each event.
• DSAR is a ratio that compares the “activity” of fluids (gas, hot water, steam) at the volcano’s surface to those several hundred metres deep.
• When DSAR increases, surface fluids are quiet, but deep ones are still actively moving and circulating vigorously below ground.
• This indicates a blockage or seal has formed, preventing gas escape. Like a pressure-cooker, if the gas can’t escape a volcano, it explodes.

Russia announced that it successfully test-launched a Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile recently.

About Sarmat Intercontinental Ballistic Missile:

• Sarmat is an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of nuclear charges.
• The weapon can be deployed with 10 or more warheads on each missile.
• The long-range missile has been in development since the 2000s.
• The Sarmat is designed to elude anti-missile defence systems with a short initial boost phase, giving enemy surveillance systems a tiny window to track.
• Weighing more than 200 tonnes and able to transport multiple warheads, Putin says the missile can hit any target on Earth.
• Sarmat is the most powerful missile with the longest range of destruction of targets in the world.
• The Sarmat missile test took place at the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northwest Russia's Arkhangelsk region.
• Dubbed Satan 2 by Western analysts, the Sarmat is among Russia's next-generation missiles that Putin has called "invincible," and which also include the Kinzhal and Avangard hypersonic missiles.
• Last month, Russia said it used Kinzhal for the first time in warfare to strike a target in Ukraine, where Russian troops have been engaged in a special military operation since February 24.
  

Oil India Limited (OIL) has recently taken the first significant step towards Green Hydrogen Economy in India with the commissioning of India’s First 99.999% pure Green Hydrogen pilot plant.

About India’s first pure green hydrogen plant:

• Oil India Limited (OIL), India’s second largest National Exploration & Production Company, has taken the first significant step towards Green Hydrogen Economy in India with the commissioning of India’s First 99.999% pure Green Hydrogen pilot plant with an installed capacity of 10 kg per day at its Jorhat Pump Station in Assam.
• The plant was commissioned in a record time of 3 months.
• The plant produces Green Hydrogen from the electricity generated by the existing 500kW Solar plant using a 100 kW Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) Electrolyser array. The use of AEM technology is being used for the first time in India.
• This plant is expected to increase its production of green hydrogen from 10 kg per day to 30 kg per day in future.

Vagsheer, the sixth submarine of the P75 project of the Indian Navy was launched recently.

About Submarine ‘Vagsheer’:

• Vagsheer is named after the sand fish, a deep sea predator of the Indian Ocean.
• The first submarine Vagsheer, from Russia, was commissioned into the Indian Navy on December 26, 1974, and was decommissioned on April 30, 1997.
• The new Vagsheer will be officially named at the time of its commissioning.
• Specifications:
• Vagsheer can take up to eight officers and 35 men.
• It is 67.5 metres long and 12.3 metres high, with a beam measuring 6.2 metres.
• Vagsheer can reach top speed of 20 knots when submerged and a top speed of 11 knots when it surfaces.
• The hull, fin and hydroplanes are designed for minimum underwater resistance and all equipment inside the pressure hull is mounted on shock-absorbing cradles for enhanced stealth.
• Features:
• Vagsheer is a diesel attack submarine, designed to perform sea denial as well as access denial warfare against the adversary.
• It can do offensive operations across the spectrum of naval warfare including anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, mine laying and area surveillance.
• It is enabled with a C303 anti-torpedo counter measure system.
• It can carry up to 18 torpedoes or Exocet anti-ship missiles, or 30 mines in place of torpedoes.
• Its superior stealth features include advanced acoustic absorption techniques, low radiated noise levels, hydro-dynamically optimised shape, and it has the ability to launch a crippling attack using precision guided weapons, underwater or on surface.
• Scorpene submarines can undertake various types of missions such as anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, mine laying, area surveillance etc.

Project 75 India (P-75I)

• P75I was first cleared in 2007, but lay dormant until now after undergoing numerous changes.
• The P75I project is part of a 30-year submarine building plan that ends in 2030.
• The project cost is about Rs. 45,000 crore.
• As part of this plan, India was to build 24 submarines — 18 conventional submarines and six nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) — as an effective deterrent against China and Pakistan.
• This project envisages the construction of six conventional submarines with better sensors and weapons and the Air Independent Propulsion System (AIP).
• The project has been cleared under the strategic partnership model.
• Under P75, INS Kalvari, INS Khanderi, INS Karanj and INS Vela have been commissioned. Sea trials are on for Vagir. Vagsheer is the sixth; its production was delayed due to the pandemic.

Researchers from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a way to make bricks from Martian soil with the help of bacteria and urea. 

About bricks made by ISRO and IISc:

• These ‘space bricks’ can be used to construct building-like structures on Mars that could facilitate human settlement on the red planet.
• The team first made the slurry by mixing Martian soil with guar gum, a bacterium called Sporosarcina pasteurii, urea and nickel chloride (NiCl 2).
  • This slurry can be poured into moulds of any desired shape, and over a few days the bacteria convert the urea into crystals of calcium carbonate.
  • These crystals, along with biopolymers secreted by the microbes, act as cement holding the soil particles together.
• This method ensures that the bricks are less porous, which was a problem with other methods used to make Martian bricks.
  • The bacteria seep deep into the pore spaces, using their own proteins to bind the particles together, decreasing porosity and leading to stronger bricks.
• In the past, the team had made bricks out of lunar soil using a similar method.
  • However, the previous method could only produce cylindrical bricks, while the current slurry-casting method can also produce bricks of complex shapes.
• Another challenge was the composition of Martian soil, which has a lot of iron that causes toxicity to organisms.
  • In the beginning, our bacteria did not grow at all.
  • Adding nickel chloride was the key step in making the soil hospitable to the bacteria.
    

Future study:

• The team is now gearing up to investigate how the atmosphere in Mars combined with low gravity affects the ‘space bricks’.
• Martian atmosphere is a hundred times thinner than that of Earth’s, and contains over 95% carbon dioxide, which may significantly affect bacterial growth, stated the release.
• To recreate conditions on the red planet, researchers have constructed a device–MARS (Martian AtmospheRe Simulator).
• As per the release, the team has also developed a lab-on-a-chip device that aims to measure bacterial activity in micro-gravity conditions.
• The device is being developed keeping in mind our intention to perform experiments in micro-gravity conditions in the near future.

Defence Secretary recently inaugurated, the 8th edition of two-day National Level Pollution Response Exercise, ‘NATPOLREX-VIII’, being conducted by Indian Coast Guard (ICG) off Mormugao harbour, Goa.

About the exercise:

• The objective of NATPOLREX-VIII is to enhance the preparedness and response capability of all the stakeholders in combating marine spills.
• It aims at validating the procedures and guidelines as contained in the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOSDCP) at the national and regional levels under the aegis of SACEP MoU to which India is a member state.
• The event is being attended by more than 85 participants from 50 agencies, including 29 observers from 22 friendly foreign countries & International Organisations and two Coast Guard ships from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.