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Daily Current Capsules - 15th January 2020

Space Awareness
Ariane rocket to launch ISRO's GSAT-30 satellite on January 17

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Communication satellite and about GSAT-30) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of space)
What's the NEWS
  • India would launch a communication satellite GSAT-30 onboard Ariane-5 launch vehicle (VA 251) from French Guiana on January 17
Know! more about it
  • The 3,357-kg satellite is slated to blast off from the Ariane Launch Complex at Kourou, a French territory located along the northeastern coast of South America, at 02:35 hrs IST.
  • GSAT-30 is to serve as a replacement to INSAT-4A spacecraft services with enhanced coverage
  • The satellite provides Indian mainland and islands coverage in Ku-band and extended coverage in C-band covering Gulf countries, a large number of Asian countries and Australia
  • With a mission life of 15 years, GSAT-30 is an operational communication satellite for DTH, television uplink and VSAT services.
  • The satellite is configured on ISRO's enhanced I-3K bus structure to provide communication services from geostationary orbit in C and Ku bands.
  • The satellite derives its heritage from ISRO's earlier INSAT/GSAT satellite series.
  • The spacecraft would be extensively used for supporting VSAT network, television uplinking and teleport services, digital satellite news gathering (DSNG), DTH television services, cellular backhaul connectivity and many such applications.
  • Since the launch of India's APPLE experimental satellite on Ariane Flight L03 in 1981, Arianespace has orbited 23 satellites and signed 24 launch contracts with the Indian space agency
Know! about communication satellites
  • The Indian National Satellite (INSAT) system is one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in Asia-Pacific region with nine operational communication satellites placed in Geo-stationary orbit.
  • Established in 1983 with commissioning of INSAT-1B, it initiated a major revolution in India's communications sector and sustained the same later.
  • GSAT-17 joins the constellation of INSAT System consisting 15 operational satellites, namely - INSAT-3A, 3C, 4A, 4B, 4CR and GSAT-6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 18.
  • The INSAT system with more than 200 transponders in the C, Extended C and Ku-bands provides services to telecommunications, television broadcasting, satellite newsgathering, societal applications, weather forecasting, disaster warning and Search and Rescue operations.
Prelims Factoids
Bushfire crisis: Australia may list koalas as 'endangered' species

Relevance IN - Prelims (about KOALAS)
What's the NEWS
  • The Australian government has said it could declare Koalas as an "endangered" species after their population suffered "extraordinary hit" in the bushfire crisis, which destroyed 30 per cent of their habitat across the country.
Know! about the bush fire and how it is affecting the wild animals
  • Since September last year, the raging Australian bushfires, one of the worst in its history, have killed at least 26 people, burned over 10 million hectares of land, destroyed over 2,000 homes and pushed many species towards extinction.
  • Over 1.25 billion animals are believed to be dead in the wake of bushfires and experts believe that hundreds of billions of insects may have been wiped out, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.
  • The government has established a 50-million Australian dollar emergency fund to address the devastating loss of wildlife.
  • The Threatened Species Scientific Committee will need to assess whether koalas have moved from a "vulnerable" listing to being "endangered" in some parts of the country
  • Koala populations across the country are not all impacted by the fires.
  • Koalas are listed as vulnerable in northern New South Wales (NSW) and south-east Queensland, and the fires have likely put them under more pressure there
  • With 30 per cent of their habitat already been destroyed in the devastating bushfires, koalas -- the herbivorous marsupial animal native to Australia -- have become a big focus for the Australian government.
  • They are found in coastal areas of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. The IUCN red list currently puts Australian Koala under vulnerable Category.
Education
NIIT University Welcomes Launch Of NEAT Portal By MHRD To Encourage Edtech Startups
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about NIIT and NEAT ) + Mains ( GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources)
What's the NEWS
  • Established with a vision to bring about innovation in higher education and learning in emerging areas of the knowledge society, the not-for-profit NIIT University (NU) is to be a part of MHRD's pioneering initiative NEAT (National Education Alliance for Technology) to encourage EdTech start-up culture amongst students in the country.
  • NIIT was established in 1991. It is a non-profit university of higher education and research.
Know! more about it
  • The university looks forward to working with AICTE to implement MHRD's vision of harnessing technology for better learning outcomes.
  • To encourage the scheme of MHRD, so that more faculty members and students come forward in the forthcoming selection of EdTech companies, NU will institute five awards of Rs 50,000 each for faculty members and ten awards for students of Rs 10,000 each.
  • Future with an emphasis on Innovation and Entrepreneurship with a deep interest in Education Technology, NU has been laying emphasis on the usage of technologies right from inception in all areas of the University including academic operations, assessments and examinations, and administration.
  • NEAT - The National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT) was launched to customize learning process using Artificial Intelligence.
  • NEAT will create a common one-stop access to technological solutions. The solutions will be developed by the EdTech companies. T he institutes developing solutions are free to charge the companies according their policy. The NEAT programme is being implemented by AICTTE.
Prelims Factoids
Statue of Unity finds place in '8 Wonders of SCO'

Relevance IN - Prelims (about statue of Unity + about wonders of SCO)
What's the NEWS
  • The 182-meter tall Statue of Unity in Gujarat has been included in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's '8 Wonders of SCO' list
Know! more about it
  • The 'Statue of Unity', the world's tallest statue, is a monumental tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India's first home minister as well as deputy prime minister.
  • The statue was inaugurated in October 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of Patel's 143rd birth anniversary.
  • The 182-metre-tall statute is a monumental tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was India's first home minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
  • The statue is located near the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the river Narmada in Kevadiya colony in Gujarat.
  • Designed by Indian sculptor Ram V Sutar, the project was first announced in 2010 and was finally unveiled on October 31, 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
  • In November 2019, the world's tallest statue surpassed the footfall at the 133-year-old Statue of Liberty in the US, with an average of over 15,000 tourists visiting the monument in Gujarat daily.
Apart from Statue of Unity, the other seven wonders of SCO include
  • Daming Palace in China
  • Navruz Palace in Tajikistan
  • Mughals Heritage in Pakistan
  • Tamgaly Gorge in Kazakhstan
  • Po-i-Kalan Complex in Uzbekistan
  • The Golden Ring of Russia and
  • Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan
Know! about SCO
  • The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), or Shanghai Pact,is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance,
  • It was announced on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai, China by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
  • The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Charter, formally establishing the organisation, was signed in June 2002 and entered into force on 19 September 2003.
  • The original five nations, with the exclusion of Uzbekistan, were previously members of the Shanghai Five group, founded on 26 April 1996.
  • Since then, the organisation has expanded its membership to eight countries when India and Pakistan joined SCO as full members on 9 June 2017 at a summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.
  • The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO, it meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organisation.

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