Daily Current Capsules - 11th JUNE 2019

Space Awareness
ISRO gears up for Chandrayaan-2 mission
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Chandrayaan - 2 mission) + Mains ( GS III space awareness)
What's the NEWS

• Chandrayaan-2, the country's first moon lander and rover mission, is a month away from launch.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation has marked mid-July for the take-off and kept the launch window open from July 9 to 16.

Know! more about the mission

• After putting the spacecraft through manoeuvres at the earth end, a journey of over a month and a few more orbital manoeuvres as it approaches the moon, ISRO has set September 6 as the date to soft-land its landing craft at the lunar south pole - a region where no agency has got to so far.
• ISRO recently listed at least six complexities of soft landing a mission on the Moon - something that pioneers Russia and the U.S. could not achieve easily back in the mid-1960s.
• Soft landing, it says, is the most challenging part of the mission.
• The lander is named Vikram (meaning valour, after the father of the Indian space programme, Vikram Sarabhai). It will release a small robotic rover, named Pragyan (wisdom), to move around, feel and understand the lunar surface.
• Vikram must gently descend on a harsh rugged lunar surface, without getting damaged. It must also avoid landing in a shadowy patch. It needs sunlight for generating its power.
• Meanwhile, the mother ship or the orbiter that carries Vikram and Pragyan will go around the moon at a distance of about 100 km, taking pictures and gathering surface information and sending them back to earth.

• The moon's constantly sunny side gets light for 14 Earth days or one lunar day. The lander and the rover are expected to work for just that duration.
• The mission carries 14 payloads or instruments to observe and gauge the lunar scene - both from a distance and on its surface.
• One of them is a tiny NASA reflectometer to mark the spot for future missions and assess the distance from the earth.
• Weighing about 3,500 kg, Chandrayaan-2 will be launched on the heavy-lift GSLV-Mk III rocket. The mission has missed many dates and its lander elements have been revamped as recently as in 2018.

Defence/Bilateral Relations
US approves sale of armed drones, NASAMS-II air defence systems to India
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about NASAMS -II air defence and other air defence deals ) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations and various security challenges)
What's the NEWS

• The United States has approved the sale of armed drones to India also offered integrated air and missile defence systems.
• Its objective is to improve India's military capabilities and to protect Indo-Pacific region.

• US administration is likely to send the final draft of the ‘letter of acceptance' for the sale of NASAMS-II to India under its foreign military sales programme, at a cost of over Rs 6,000 crore (about US dollar 1 billion), by July-August.

Know! about NASAMS-II Air Defence system

• NASAMS-II (National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System - NASAMS) is an upgraded version of the NASAMS developed by Raytheon in partnership with KONGSBERG Defence and Aerospace of Norway.
• It has been operational since 2007. It features new 3D mobile surveillance radars and 12 missile launchers for quicker reaction.
• NASAMS-II is highly adaptable mid-range solution for any operational air defence requirement. 
• It provides tailor-able, state-of-the-art defence system that can maximise the ability to quickly identify, engage and destroy current and evolving enemy aircraft, UAV or emerging cruise missile threats.
• NASAMS-II is armed with 3D Sentinel radars, short and medium-range missiles, launchers, fire-distribution centres and command and control units to quickly detect, track and shoot down multiple airborne threats.
• It is part of the air defence network guarding US capital city Washington DC. It is also deployed in several NATO countries.

Know! more about the deal

• India has become the first non-treaty partner to be offered an MTCR Category-1 Unmanned Aerial System - the Sea Guardian UAS manufactured by General Atomics.
• India signed the S-400 deal with Russia in October 2018 after four years of extensive negotiations and an inter-governmental agreement despite the threat of sanctions under the US law called CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions Act).

International Relations/Organisations
Trade and Economy Ministers of G-20 nations meet in Japan's Tsukuba to discuss trade rules and digital economy

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the G-20 meet on trade and digital economy + Mains GS III economic developments)
What's the NEWS

• Trade and Economy Ministers of the Group of 20 major economies met in Japan to discuss ways to reorder trade rules and finances in an era of technological change and protectionism.

Know! more about the meeting

• The meetings of financial leaders in the southern city of Fukuoka and of economic ministers in Tsukuba, near Tokyo, are aiming to forge a consensus on a range of issues to be endorsed by leaders who will meet in late June in Osaka.
• The central bank governors and other financial regulators meeting in Fukuoka flagged risks from upsets to the global economy as Beijing and Washington clash over trade and technology.
• Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal attended the G-20 ministerial meeting on Trade and digital economy in Japan.
• He participated in discussions relating to increasing trade and cooperation to harness the potential of digital economy.

Know! more about the meeting

• Japan has assumed its 1st ever rotating presidency in G20 thus a series of various ministerial meetings are being held in Japanese cities in 2019.
• Japan's presidency will be culminating during G20 summit in Osaka on 28-29 June 2019.
• Over 50 Trade and Digital Economy Ministers got together for 1st time in G20 history in Tsukuba, Japan.
• G20 Trade Ministers deliberations will form part of G20 Summit Leaders agenda in formal discussions and will also be a part of Summit Declaration.
• This is for first time that Ministers of Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Union Ministry of Commerce (MCA) will participate in a joint session on Digital Economy at G20 Ministerial Meeting

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving
TEAM CL IAS