Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander successfully soft-landed on August 23, 2023 at a point near the Moon’s south pole (69.37°S), which PM Modi named ‘Shiv Shakti Point’. The rover Pragyan explored the lunar surface. The mission made India the first country to land near the lunar south pole, and the 4th country overall to achieve a soft landing on the Moon (USA, USSR, China, India).

Aditya-L1 was launched on September 2, 2023 and placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange Point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, about 1.5 million km from Earth. L1 is a gravitational equilibrium point where a spacecraft can maintain position relative to the Sun with minimal fuel. From this vantage point, Aditya-L1 continuously observes the Sun without eclipses. It carries 7 payloads.

PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) is designed primarily for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) missions — typically for earth observation, remote sensing, and scientific satellites. GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) is used for Geostationary orbits (communication satellites). PSLV has the most successful launch record among ISRO vehicles. The famous Chandrayaan-1 and Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) were also launched by PSLV.

India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM/Mangalyaan) entered Mars orbit on September 24, 2014. Launched on November 5, 2013, it made India the first country to reach Mars in its first attempt, and the first Asian country to do so. India joined an elite club: USA, USSR/Russia, and European Space Agency. Mangalyaan operated until September 2022 — well beyond its designed 6-month life.

Agni-V is India’s longest-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range of 5,000+ km (some sources suggest up to 8,000 km), making it an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) class. It is nuclear-capable and can carry multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV — demonstrated in Agni-V MIRV test 2024). Agni series: Agni-I (700km), Agni-II (2000km), Agni-III (3500km), Agni-IV (4000km), Agni-V (5000+km).

BrahMos is a joint venture between India’s DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia (hence the name: Brahmaputra + Moskva). It is one of the world’s fastest operational cruise missiles (Mach 2.8-3). Range: 290-800 km (extended versions). It can be launched from land, sea, submarine, and air. BrahMos-II (hypersonic, Mach 7+) is under development. Several countries have expressed interest in purchasing it.

CRISPR stands for ‘Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats’. CRISPR-Cas9 acts like ‘molecular scissors’ — it can precisely cut, edit, or replace specific DNA sequences in any organism. Scientists Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for its development. Applications: genetic diseases, cancer research, crop improvement, disease-resistant livestock.

Covaxin is India’s first indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine, developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. It is an inactivated virus vaccine. Covishield was developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and manufactured in India by Serum Institute. ZyCoV-D is India’s DNA vaccine.

Quantum Supremacy (now called Quantum Advantage) refers to a point where a quantum computer can perform a specific computation that would be practically impossible for even the fastest classical supercomputer in a reasonable timeframe. Google claimed to achieve this in 2019 with its Sycamore processor — completing a task in 200 seconds that would take the world’s fastest supercomputer 10,000 years.

UPI is managed and governed by NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India), an umbrella organization for retail payment systems. UPI was launched in April 2016. It enables instant money transfer between bank accounts using a Virtual Payment Address (VPA) or mobile number. India is the world leader in real-time digital payments by volume. UPI processed over 13 billion transactions in a single month in 2024.

The Higgs Boson is called the ‘God Particle’ (a nickname from physicist Leon Lederman’s book) because it is the particle responsible for giving mass to all other fundamental particles through the Higgs field (a field that permeates all of space). Without the Higgs Boson, particles would be massless and unable to form atoms, molecules, or the structures we observe. Its discovery in 2012 completed the Standard Model of particle physics.

OneWeb and Starlink (SpaceX) are Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation systems for broadband internet access. They use thousands of small satellites in LEO (typically 500-1200 km altitude) to provide global internet coverage with low latency (20-40 ms), unlike traditional geostationary satellites (35,786 km altitude, 600+ ms latency). ISRO’s OneWeb India partnership launched several batches using ISRO’s GSLV Mk III rocket.

One nanometer = 10⁻⁹ metres (one billionth of a metre). A human hair is about 80,000-100,000 nanometers wide. At this scale, materials often exhibit different properties than their bulk counterparts (different optical, electrical, magnetic properties). Applications: drug delivery, cancer treatment, stronger materials, electronics (transistors in chips are now 2-5 nanometers).

Bhadla Solar Park in Jodhpur district, Rajasthan is India’s (and one of the world’s) largest solar power parks with a capacity of 2,245 MW. It became fully operational in 2020. Rajasthan is ideal for solar power due to high solar irradiance (the Thar Desert region receives among the highest solar radiation in India). India’s solar capacity has grown rapidly under the ‘International Solar Alliance’ initiative.

India’s target is 500 GW of non-fossil fuel energy by 2030, with 280 GW from solar energy. This is part of India’s climate commitments made at COP26 (Glasgow, 2021). India had initially set a target of 100 GW solar by 2022. India is already among the top 5 countries in installed solar and wind capacity. International Solar Alliance (ISA) was co-founded by India and France.

Graphene is a single layer (one atom thick) of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal (honeycomb) lattice. It is the thinnest, strongest, and most electrically conductive material known. Properties: 200x stronger than steel, excellent conductor of heat and electricity, nearly transparent, flexible. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov discovered it in 2004 and won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.

mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccines work by introducing mRNA instructions into the body’s cells, which then produce the target protein (e.g., COVID-19 spike protein). The immune system recognizes this protein as foreign and mounts an immune response (producing antibodies). After the process, the mRNA degrades — it does NOT alter DNA. mRNA vaccines can be designed quickly making them ideal for pandemics.

AI hallucination refers to when AI systems (especially large language models like ChatGPT) generate information that seems plausible and confident but is factually incorrect, fabricated, or nonsensical. The term comes from the AI’s tendency to ‘confidently’ produce false information — like a person hallucinating. This is a major challenge in AI deployment, especially in healthcare, legal, and educational contexts.

The Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) was primarily designed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bangalore, with DRDO as the nodal agency. HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) is responsible for production. GTRE (Gas Turbine Research Establishment) developed the Kaveri engine (though the current Tejas uses GE F404 engines). DRDL developed the Agni and Nag missiles.

NAVIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) is India’s independent regional navigation satellite system (ISRO), providing accurate real-time positioning and timing information over India and a region extending about 1,500 km around India. It is similar to GPS (USA), GLONASS (Russia), Galileo (EU), BeiDou (China). NAVIC has 7 satellites (3 geostationary + 4 geosynchronous). India is one of only 5 countries to have its own navigation system.

The Doppler Effect is the change in frequency (or wavelength) of waves when the source and observer are in relative motion. When moving closer: frequency increases (blue shift); moving away: frequency decreases (red shift). Doppler Radar uses microwave radiation to detect precipitation (rain, hail), wind patterns, and storm intensity for weather prediction. India’s IMD uses Doppler weather radars across the country.

Antibiotic resistance develops through natural selection and evolution of bacteria. When antibiotics are used, susceptible bacteria die but resistant variants survive and multiply. Key causes: overuse/misuse of antibiotics (in humans and livestock), not completing full courses, use in agriculture. WHO considers antibiotic resistance one of the biggest threats to global health. India is among the largest consumers of antibiotics globally.

5G offers: (1) Speed: 10-100x faster than 4G (up to 20 Gbps peak theoretical), (2) Ultra-low latency: <1ms (vs 30-50ms for 4G), (3) Massive device connectivity: can support 1 million devices per sq km, enabling IoT (Internet of Things). Key applications: autonomous vehicles, telemedicine surgery, smart cities, Industry 4.0. India launched 5G in October 2022.

The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project that completely sequenced the human genome — all 3 billion base pairs of human DNA across 23 chromosome pairs, identifying approximately 20,000-25,000 genes. It started in 1990 and was declared essentially complete in April 2003. India participated through the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) involves: (1) Capturing CO2 from power plants, industrial facilities, and other large emission sources before it reaches the atmosphere, (2) Transporting it via pipeline, (3) Storing it in geological formations (depleted oil/gas fields, saline aquifers) underground permanently. It is seen as a key technology for achieving net-zero emissions while allowing continued use of fossil fuels in the transition period.

According to current cosmological understanding: Ordinary matter (atoms, stars, planets, galaxies — everything we can see) = ~5%, Dark Matter (invisible matter that interacts gravitationally but not electromagnetically) = ~27%, Dark Energy (hypothetical energy causing accelerating expansion of universe) = ~68%. Together, Dark Matter + Dark Energy = ~95% of the universe. We cannot directly observe either.

Stem cells are undifferentiated (unspecialized) cells that can: (1) Self-renew (divide indefinitely), (2) Differentiate into specialized cells (heart, brain, liver, blood cells). Types: Embryonic stem cells (pluripotent — can become any cell), Adult stem cells, and iPSC (induced Pluripotent Stem Cells — reprogrammed adult cells). Applications: treating blood diseases, Parkinson’s, diabetes, spinal cord injuries, regenerative medicine.

Green Hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water using electricity generated from renewable energy sources (solar, wind). It is the cleanest form of hydrogen — no greenhouse gas emissions in production. ‘Grey Hydrogen’ is produced from natural gas (produces CO2). ‘Blue Hydrogen’ is from natural gas with CCS. India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission aims to produce 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030.

Blockchain was first introduced in 2008 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto as the underlying technology for Bitcoin cryptocurrency. A blockchain is a distributed, immutable, decentralized ledger where data is stored in ‘blocks’ chained together cryptographically. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, transaction data, and timestamp. Applications beyond crypto: supply chain, healthcare records, smart contracts, voting.

Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), launched in 2021, aims to create a digital health ecosystem by: (1) Assigning a unique 14-digit Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) ID to every citizen, (2) Creating a Health Professionals Registry (HPR), (3) Creating a Health Facility Registry (HFR), (4) Enabling digital health records that can be accessed by any authorized doctor. It is building a National Digital Health Infrastructure.

ISRO’s Gaganyaan mission plans to send a 3-member crew to a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude of approximately 400 km for a 3-7 day mission. This will make India the 4th country to independently send humans to space (after Russia/USSR, USA, and China). Test flights with uncrewed Vyommitra (humanoid robot) are being conducted first. The crew capsule is being developed by ISRO.

The Standard Model is the theoretical framework describing all known fundamental particles (quarks, leptons, bosons) and three of the four fundamental forces (electromagnetic, weak nuclear, strong nuclear — but NOT gravity). It has been remarkably successful but is considered incomplete because it doesn’t include gravity (described by General Relativity) or explain dark matter and dark energy.

India purchased 5 squadrons of S-400 Triumf air defence systems from Russia (contract signed October 2018, ~$5.43 billion). S-400 is one of the world’s most advanced long-range surface-to-air missile systems — capable of tracking 300 targets and engaging 36 targets simultaneously. The USA threatened sanctions under CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) but granted India a waiver.

India has the world’s largest reserves of thorium (about 25-30% of world’s thorium) — primarily in monazite sands along the coastlines of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha. Thorium-based nuclear reactors (like India’s Advanced Heavy Water Reactor – AHWR) are significant because uranium reserves are limited but thorium reserves could fuel India’s energy needs for centuries. India’s 3-stage nuclear power programme (Homi Bhabha) aims to use thorium in Stage 3.

Deep Fake technology primarily uses GANs (Generative Adversarial Networks) — a type of machine learning where two neural networks compete: a Generator (creates fake content) and a Discriminator (detects fakes). The generator improves until the discriminator cannot distinguish real from fake. Deep fakes create convincing fake videos/images of real people. They pose serious threats to democracy, national security, and individual privacy.

The ‘One Health’ concept recognizes that human health, animal health, and ecosystem/environmental health are interconnected and interdependent. Approximately 75% of emerging infectious diseases (COVID-19, Ebola, SARS, Nipah, Avian influenza) are zoonotic (originating in animals). One Health approach addresses this by coordinating public health, veterinary, and environmental science efforts. WHO, FAO, and OIE promote this concept globally.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), launched December 25, 2021, primarily observes in infrared wavelengths (0.6-28 micrometers). Infrared allows it to: (1) Peer through dust clouds that block visible light, (2) Observe the most distant/early galaxies (their light is redshifted to infrared), (3) Study exoplanet atmospheres, (4) Observe star formation. JWST operates at Lagrange Point L2, about 1.5 million km from Earth.

GenomeIndia Project (launched 2020) is India’s initiative to sequence and analyze 10,000 genomes from diverse Indian populations (representing India’s 4,000+ ethnic groups and genetic diversity). Led by Centre for Brain Research (IISc), it will create a comprehensive reference genome database. This will help understand disease susceptibility specific to Indian populations, develop personalized medicines, and identify new genetic variants.

An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase for aircraft. India’s aircraft carriers: INS Vikrant (R11) — India’s first aircraft carrier (1961-1997, decommissioned), INS Viraat (R22) — second (1987-2017), INS Vikramaditya (R33) — currently operational (ex-Russian Admiral Gorshkov). INS Vikrant (IAC-1) — India’s first indigenously built aircraft carrier, commissioned September 2022.

IoT (Internet of Things) refers to the network of physical devices (‘things’) embedded with sensors, software, and connectivity that enable them to collect and exchange data over the internet without human intervention. Examples: Smart homes (thermostats, lights), wearables (smartwatches), industrial sensors, smart agriculture, connected vehicles, smart cities. It is projected to have 75+ billion connected devices globally by 2025.

Neutrinos are fundamental subatomic particles with no electric charge and extremely small mass (if any). They interact with matter only through the weak nuclear force and gravity, making them extremely difficult to detect. Trillions of neutrinos pass through our bodies every second without interaction. The India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) in Pottipuram, Tamil Nadu, aims to study atmospheric neutrinos using Iron Calorimeter (ICAL) detector.

Covaxin (BBV152) was developed as an inactivated (killed) whole virion vaccine — the virus is killed/inactivated and then used as the antigen. It is NOT the first inactivated virus vaccine in the world (inactivated vaccines have been used for decades for polio, influenza), but it was India’s first indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine and India’s first domestically approved COVID-19 vaccine with DCGI approval in January 2021.

GSAT-11 is India’s heaviest and most powerful communication satellite (5,854 kg), launched by Ariane-5 rocket (ISRO does not have a rocket powerful enough for GSAT-11) in December 2018. It provides high-throughput broadband connectivity with a capacity of 16 Gbps across India. GSAT-19 was the first satellite launched by GSLV Mk III. CMS-01 is a communication satellite for C-band services.

The ozone layer is a region of Earth’s stratosphere (15-35 km altitude) containing high concentrations of ozone (O3) that absorbs 97-99% of harmful solar UV radiation. It is primarily destroyed by Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) — chemicals used in refrigerants, aerosols, foam. The Montreal Protocol (1987) successfully led to a phase-out of CFCs. The ozone layer is recovering but Antarctica’s ozone hole still persists.

Bt Cotton (containing Bacillus thuringiensis gene Cry1Ac) was India’s first GM crop approved for commercial cultivation in 2002. It was approved by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC). Bt Cotton produces a natural insecticide (Bt protein) that kills bollworm pests without using chemical pesticides. India is now the world’s largest producer of Bt Cotton. GM Mustard (HT Mustard) has been approved but its commercial release has been controversial.

Nuclear Fusion = combining (fusing) light atomic nuclei (like Hydrogen isotopes — Deuterium and Tritium) to form a heavier nucleus (Helium), releasing enormous energy. This is how the Sun generates energy. Nuclear Fission = splitting heavy atoms (Uranium-235 or Plutonium-239), used in current nuclear power plants. Fusion produces more energy per unit mass, has less radioactive waste, and abundant fuel (hydrogen from seawater). ITER project aims to achieve commercial fusion by ~2035.

Aadhaar collects three biometrics: (1) Ten fingerprints, (2) Two iris scans, (3) Photograph (face). It also collects demographic information. Aadhaar has enrolled 1.3+ billion Indians — making it the world’s largest biometric identity database. UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) manages Aadhaar. In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld its validity but ruled it cannot be mandatory for private entities.

Hypersonic missiles travel at Mach 5 or above (5 times the speed of sound, approximately 6,175 km/h). This makes them extremely difficult to intercept with conventional missile defence systems. Hypersonic weapons: (1) Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGVs) — launched by rockets then glide unpredictably, (2) Hypersonic Cruise Missiles — powered by scramjet engines. USA, Russia, China, India, and France are developing hypersonic missiles. India’s DRDO is developing the Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV).

Pharmacogenomics is the study of how a person’s genetic makeup (genome) affects their response to drugs. It explains why the same drug at the same dose may work well for some patients, cause severe side effects in others, or have no effect at all — due to genetic variations in drug-metabolizing enzymes (like CYP450 enzymes). It enables personalized medicine — prescribing the right drug at the right dose for the right patient based on their genes.

PARAM Siddhi-AI is a high-performance computing-AI supercomputer developed under India’s National Supercomputing Mission (NSM). It is ranked among the world’s top 100 supercomputers. NSM aims to build supercomputing infrastructure across IITs, IISc, NIT, and national labs. PARAM Siddhi-AI has a computing capacity of 210 AI Petaflops, enabling advanced AI research, genomics, climate modeling, and drug discovery.