Objectives

·       To create awareness among all sections of the society

·       Inform citizens about the health impacts related due to exposure

·       Comparing air quality conditions at different locations/cities

·       To achieve the goal of NCAP “Clean air for all”.

·       In September 2022, the MoEF&CC released guidelines on ‘Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan- Ranking of Cities’ under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

·       The aim of launching Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan is to give a ranking to 130 cities in the country for implementing City Action Plans prepared as part of NCAP for reducing air pollution up to 40% by 2025-26.

·       Category-1 (population over 10 Lakhs) to Surat, Jabalpur, and Agra;

·       Category-2 (population between 3 and 10 Lakhs) to Firozabad, Amravati, and Jhansi; and

·       Category-3 (population under 3 Lakhs) to Raebareli, Nalgonda, and Nalagarh.

·       The mission was named after Giuseppe “Bepi” Colombo, an Italian mathematician and engineer who made significant contributions to the understanding of Mercury’s orbit.

·       The BepiColombo spacecraft consists of two main components:

·       Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO): The MPO is primarily provided by ESA and is responsible for mapping and studying Mercury’s surface, as well as its composition and topography.

·       Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO): The MMO is provided by JAXA and focuses on studying Mercury’s magnetic field and magnetosphere.

Objectives:

·       Investigating Mercury’s surface and composition to better understand its geological history and formation processes.

·       Studying Mercury’s magnetic field and magnetosphere to gain insights into its internal structure and how it interacts with the solar wind.

·       Measuring Mercury’s exosphere (a thin atmosphere) and understanding its composition and dynamics.

·       Conducting experiments to test certain principles of general relativity and improve our understanding of gravity.

·       It is a city in east-central Ukraine.

·       It is located 300 kilometres (189 miles) east of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

·       It lies along the Vorskla River.

History:

·       Archaeological evidence dates the city from the 8th to the 9th century, although the first documentary reference is from 1174, when it was variously known as Oltava or Ltava.

·       Destroyed by the Tatars in the early 13th century, it was the centre of a Cossack regiment by the 17th century.

·       Battle of Poltava: In 1709, Peter I the Great inflicted a crushing defeat on Charles XII of Sweden outside Poltava after Charles had laid siege to the town for three months in the Great Northern War.

·       The battle ended Sweden’s status as a major power and marked the beginning of Russian supremacy in eastern Europe.

·       The modern city of Poltava is largely new, having been reconstructed after it suffered severe damage during World War II.

·       It is the focus of a fertile agricultural region and has a range of industries processing farm produce.

·       It refers to carbon stored in non-tidal fresh water wetlands, encompassing carbon sequestered in vegetation, microbial biomass, and dissolved and particulate organic matter.

·       These ecosystems are considered to be more effective at carbon capture and storage than terrestrial forest ecosystems, and can store and sequester more carbon than any other type of terrestrial ecosystem.

·       The concept of teal carbon is a recent addition to the environmental science pertaining to organic carbon in inland fresh wetlands.

·       It is a colour-based terminology that reflects the classification of the organic carbon based on its functions and location rather than its physical properties.

·       At the global level, the storage of teal carbon across the ecosystems is estimated to be 500.21 petagrams of carbon (PgC), which is a unit to measure carbon.

·       Major sources of Teal carbon: Peatlands, freshwater swamps, and natural freshwater marshes account for a significant amount of this storage.

·       Threats: Though these wetlands play a crucial role in regulating greenhouse gases, they are vulnerable to degradation from pollution, land use changes, water extraction, and landscape modifications.

·       Terahertz waves use a relatively unoccupied portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, offering massive data-carrying capacity.

·       Terahertz waves have a shorter range compared with lower-frequency signals used in 4G and 5G networks.

·       Terahertz beam-formers address this challenge by precisely directing high-frequency signals to ensure they reach their destination without loss or degradation.

·       The recently developed silicon topological beam-former chip helps to steer terahertz waves.

·       Beam-former refers to the purpose of the chip forming terahertz waves into directed beams.

·       This chip splits a single terahertz signal into 54 smaller signals, guided through 184 tiny channels with 134 sharp turns.

·       Each beam can transmit and receive data at speeds of 40 to 72 gigabits per second.

·       The chip uses a microscopic honeycomb pattern to form lanes for the terahertz waves, designed with the help of AI.

·       The array of channels sends out focused beams covering 360 degrees around the chip.

·       Terahertz beam-formers address the challenge of shorter range compared to lower-frequency signals used in 4G and 5G.

Implications and Potential Applications:

·       Faster data transfer – Downloading a 4K movie in seconds instead of minutes.

·       Improved VR/AR experiences – Reduced lag for more immersive experiences.

·       Holographic communication – Potential for real-time, lifelike holographic interactions.

·       Smart cities – Better coordination of traffic systems and emergency responses.

·       Healthcare – Possibility of remote surgeries with doctors controlling robotic instruments from afar.

·       This technology seems to be a significant step forward in addressing the challenges of high-frequency signal transmission.

·       The ability to provide 360-degree coverage with focused beams is particularly impressive, as it could greatly improve signal quality and reliability in various settings.