Connect to Current -Daily Current Capsules - 18^th April 2019

International Organisations
External affairs ministry sets up Indo-Pacific wing

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Indo - Pacific Wing) + Mains ( GS II -bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India or affecting India's interest)

What's the NEWS

• India has just set up an Indo-Pacific division in the foreign office

• The division will integrate the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), ASEAN region and the Quad to the Indo-Pacific table

• The US recently renamed its Pacific Command to the Indo-Pacific Command as it seeks to give teeth to its Indo-Pacific policy

Know! more about the Indo - Pacific wing

• The Ministry of External Affairs has set up an Indo-Pacific division in the foreign office.

• The Indo-pacific division is intended to give a coherent architecture to the Indo-Pacific policy articulated by PM Narendra Modi at the Shangri-La Dialogue in 2018.

• The Indo-Pacific Wing is currently headed by joint secretary Vikram Doraiswami.

• The Indo-Pacific Wing is a big step by the government and it is expected to give thrust to the Indo-Pacific centred policymaking.

• The Indo-Pacific Wing integrates the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), ASEAN region and the Quad.

• The Indo-Pacific diplomacy of India has repeatedly placed ASEAN at the centre of its policy.

• Even the US has recently renamed its Pacific Command to the Indo-Pacific Command as it seeks to give teeth to its Indo-Pacific policy.

Know! about IORA

• The Indian Ocean Rim Association is an inter-governmental organisation which was established on 7 March 1997.

• The vision for IORA originated during a visit by late President Nelson Mandela of South Africa to India in 1995

• The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is a dynamic inter-governmental organisation aimed at strengthening regional cooperation and sustainable development within the Indian Ocean region through its 22 Member States and 9 Dialogue Partners.

• IORA's apex body is the Council of Foreign Ministers (COM) which meets annually. The Republic of South Africa will assume the role for 2017-2019, followed by the United Arab Emirates.

• Promoting sustained growth and balanced development within the Indian Ocean region, IORA strengthens cooperation and dialogue with Member States namely:

• Commonwealth of Australia, People's Republic of Bangladesh, Union of Comoros, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Madagascar, Malaysia, Republic of Mauritius, Republic of Mozambique, Sultanate of Oman, Republic of Seychelles, Republic of Singapore, Federal Republic of Somalia , Republic of South Africa, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, United Republic of Tanzania, Kingdom of Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Republic of Yemen.

Space Awareness
Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) planetary-defence mission

Relevance in - Prelims ( about DART mission) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of space)

What's the NEWS

• NASA has announced that SpaceX will fly its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) planetary-defence mission.

Know! all about DART mission

• Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is a planned space probe that will demonstrate the kinetic effects of crashing an impactor spacecraft into an asteroid moon for planetary defense purposes.

• The mission is intended to test whether a spacecraft impact could successfully deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.

• DART is a planetary defense-driven test of one of the technologies for preventing the Earth impact of a hazardous asteroid: the kinetic impactor.

• DART's primary objective is to demonstrate a kinetic impact on a small asteroid.

• The binary near-Earth asteroid (65803) Didymos is the target for DART.

DART Planetary-Defense Mission

• DART planetary-defence mission will be will launched by the Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in June 2021.

• The spacecraft will slam into "Didymoon," the 540-foot-wide (165 meters) satellite of the near-Earth asteroid Didymos which is located at about 4 million miles from Earth in October 2022.

• Scientists will observe the impact with telescopes and measure the change in the Didymoon's orbit around the asteroid.

• Scientists hope to move it by just a fraction of a per cent off its path, which is enough to deflect any future asteroids off course since Didymos poses no threat to Earth.

• DART won't be the first spacecraft to wallop an asteroid. Earlier this month, Japan's Hayabusa2 probe smashed a copper cannonball into the space rock Ryugu, to unearth pristine subsurface material for study.

NASA's annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the NASA's Rover challenge)

What's the NEWS

• Three teams from India have won awards at the NASA's annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge which invites high school and college students to build and test roving vehicles for future missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

Know! more about rover challenge

• The team from KIET Group of Institutions in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, won the "AIAA Neil Armstrong Best Design Award", which recognises systems best designed to meet the Rover Challenge performance requirements.

• The team from Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering from Mumbai, Maharashtra, won the "Frank Joe Sexton Memorial Pit Crew Award" for ingenuity and persistence in overcoming problems during the race as well as the "System Safety Challenge Award".

• The team from Lovely Professional University in Phagwara, Punjab, won the "STEM Engagement Award", presented to the team that best-informed others about rocketry and other space-related topics.

Human Exploration Rover Challenge

• The annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge of NASA is an engineering design challenge to engage students worldwide in the next phase of human space exploration.

• The challenge evaluates the teams by mimicking the opportunities, challenges and decision-making that our future planetary explorers will face in interplanetary space.

Environment Conservation
4th Resilient Cities Asia-Pacific 2019 Congress

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the congress and outcomes of the conference ) + Mains ( GS III environment conservation)

What's the NEWS

• The 4th Resilient Cities Asia-Pacific 2019 Congress is being organised by International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and hosted by South Delhi Municipal Corporation in New Delhi.

• The Congress was inaugurated by Vice-President Venkiah Naidu. The outcomes of the RCAP 2019 will be presented in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) Conference to be held in Berlin in June this year.

Know! more about the congress

• The congress will offer cities & regions from Asia-Pacific a variety of innovative solutions that build resilience to climate change at the sub-national level.

• The congress will host combination of high-level plenaries and technical sessions on the implementation and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and the New Urban Agenda of 2016, while at the same time bringing together experts and practitioners who will share their experiences and encourage cities to take actions on resilience.

Know! the objectives of RCAP Congress 2019

• To share and learn about good urban resilience practices and showcase innovative ideas, solutions and initiatives

• To provide local governments with exposure and access to tools and processes that help mainstream resilience considerations into policy and practice

• To provide a networking platform to promote concerted and coordinated action in Asia among the main players in the field of urban resilience

• To explore tangible opportunities for creating partnerships between local governments and the private sector

Prelims Practise Questions

Consider the following statements

1. Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is a planned space probe that will demonstrate the kinetic effects of crashing an impactor spacecraft into an meteoroids for planetary defense purposes.

2. DART planetary-defence mission will be will launched by the Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in June 2021.

3. The spacecraft will slam into "Didymoon," the 540-foot-wide (165 meters) satellite of the near-Earth asteroid Didymos which is located at about 4 million miles from Earth in October 2022.

4. In an earlier mission of this month, NASA's Hayabusa2 probe smashed a copper cannonball into the space rock Ryugu, to unearth pristine subsurface material for study.

Find the correct statements from the options given below

a. 2 and 3
b. 1 2 and 4
c. All
d. 1 3 and 4

Consider the following statements about IORA

1. The vision for IORA originated during a visit by late President Nelson Mandela of South Africa to India in 1995

2. The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is a dynamic non-governmental organisation aimed at strengthening regional cooperation and sustainable development within the Indian Ocean region through its 22 Member States and 9 Dialogue Partners.

3. IORA's apex body is the Council of Foreign Ministers (COM) which meets annually. The Republic of South Africa will assume the role for 2017-2019, followed by the United Arab Emirates.

Find the correct statement from the option given below

a. 1 2 and 3
b. 1 and 3
c. 2 only
d. 3 only

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