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7th November 2022 (7 Topics)

The Falcon Heavy launch: the most powerful operational rocket in the world

Context

Recently, SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy rocket into geosynchronous Earth orbit.

About

More about the current mission
  • The rocket is carrying satellites to space for the U.S. military in a mission named U.S. Space Force (USSF)-44.
  • The mission deployed two spacecraft payloads:
    • One of which is the TETRA 1 microsatellite created for various prototype missions in and around the geosynchronous earth orbit.
    • The other payload is for national defense purposes. It will place the satellites for the Space Systems Command’s Innovation and Prototyping.
Geosynchronous orbit (GEO):
  • A geosynchronous orbit (GEO) is a low inclination orbit about Earth having a period of 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds.
  • The synchronization of rotation and orbital period means that, for an observer on Earth's surface, an object in geosynchronous orbit returns to exactly the same position in the sky after a period of one sidereal day
About Falcon Heavy:
  • Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two.
  • The rocket has a height of 70 m, a width of 12.2 m, and a mass of 1,420,788 kg.
  • It has the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb).
  • Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy.
  • Falcon Heavy is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft.
  • Merlin engines: Merlin is a family of rocket engines developed by SpaceX for use on its Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles.
    • Merlin engines use RP(Rocket Propellant)-1 and liquid oxygen as rocket propellants in a gas-generator power cycle. The Merlin engine was originally designed for recovery and reuse.
    • These engines were designed for recovery and reuse.
  • The company hails this as the most powerful operational rocket in the world, afterSaturn V.
  • This is the fourth launch of the giant rocket system.
  • However, it is the first one in nearly three years since its last launch in 2019.
When was the Falcon Heavy launched?
  • SpaceX last launched its Falcon Heavy rocket in June 2019 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
  • It carried 24 satellites as part of the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program-2.

                                              Short News

As the winter season sets in, Delhi has yet again turned into a "gas chamber".

The curse of poor geography

  • India’s capital city lies to the
    • north-east of the Thar Desert
    • north-west of the central plains
    • south-west of the Himalayas
  • As winds arrive from the coasts, bringing with them pollutants picked up along the way, they get ‘trapped’ right before the Himalayas.
  • The air pressure pushes from one direction, and with the inability to escape quickly in the other, the particulate matter accumulates over the northern plains.
  • This accumulation and entrapment affect not only Delhi but the entire expanse between Punjab in the west to West Bengal in the east.

Earth's closest-ever black hole found, is 10 times the size of the Sun

  • Astronomers working at the International Gemini Observatory in the US have found a black hole, named Gaia BH1 that lies closest to the Earth.
  • It is the first-ever detected dormant stellar-mass black hole of the Milky Way galaxy.
  • Its size is 10 times that of the Sun in our solar system.
  • It's located 1600 light-years away.
  • The team used the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF's NOIRLabin the US.

 

India Pavilion at COP 27

  • Union Minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change inaugurated the India Pavilion at the 27th Session of the Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
  • India is hosting a pavilion with the theme of LiFE- Lifestyle for Environment at COP 27.
  • The Pavilion has been designed to send out the message of LiFE through various audio-visuals, logos, 3D models, set up, decor, and side events.

World Travel Market

  • India is participating in the three-day World Travel Market in London to showcase itself as a preferred destination for tourism.
  • The theme of this year’s exhibition is ‘The Future of Travel Starts Now’.

 

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