18 Jul 2023 : The Indian Express

Editorial 1: To the moon and back: small step to moon, giant leap for India’s space journey

Recent Context:

• Recently, India’s third Moon mission, Chandrayaan-3 was launched from the Sriharikota launching range.
• The spacecraft is in an elliptical orbit, going as far as 41,762 km from Earth and coming as close as 173 km.
• While conducting various tests and calibrations, before it is transferred, free from the Earth, to be captured in orbit around the moon (translunar injection) a few days later.
  • This orbit will gradually shrink, bringing the spacecraft closer and closer to the moon and finally, it will attempt a soft landing at a location near the South Pole of the moon, from a circular orbit of about 100 km from the surface.

About Chandrayaan-3 Mission:

• Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. It consists of Lander and Rover configuration. It is launched by LVM3 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.
• Lander payloads: 
  • Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA)
  • Chandra’s Surface Thermo physical Experiment (ChaSTE)
  • Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA)
  • Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) Rover:
  • Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS)
  • Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) Propulsion Module:
  • Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE)
• The mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 are:
  • To demonstrate Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface
  • To demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and
  • To conduct in-situ scientific experiments

Significance of Chandrayaan-3 Mission:

• The significance of Chandrayaan-3 for the Indian space programme is immense.
• The mission is a major step forward in India’s lunar exploration programme, and it is sure to make significant contributions to our understanding of the moon.
• More importantly, it will showcase India’s capabilities and build its reputation in the global space community, which will help attract more investment in the country’s space industry.

Promoting the participation of private sector in space programmes:

• Private sector in India, despite being capable, is engaged in only a tiny fraction of the space enterprise in the international industrial sector, currently valued at about $500 billion. This has to change and the Indian industry must become a major global player.
• As, the government’s newly-unveiled Space Policy 2023 states that
  •  India’s space programme should “enable, encourage and develop a flourishing commercial presence in space”.

Chandrayaan-3 mission represents the coloration of private and public sector in space programmes:

• Chandrayaan-3 is a clear example of how India’s space programme is helping achieve this goal.The mission is a joint project between ISRO and the Indian private sector.
• This is the first time that India has partnered with the private sector on a major space mission and it demonstrates the government’s commitment to the new Space Policy.
• The lander and rover that will be deployed on the Moon were developed by a consortium of Indian companies in collaboration with ISRO laboratories.
• The mission’s ground control systems were also developed by ISRO with the help of the industry, and much of the mission’s data will be processed and analysed by the private sector.

ISRO joins international space accord to enhance its role in space sector

• India is now a signatory to the Artemis Accords, an agreement with the other leading Space Agencies of the world – NASA (US), ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan) and the CSA (Canada) — for moon exploration with a view to colonise it.
  •  If Chandrayaan-3 can lead the way in this challenging region, future Artemis astronauts, based on ISRO’s pioneering work, will be able to collect core samples and volatiles from these regions.
  • This could have a profound impact on the future of deep space exploration and eventual commercial activities.
• India’s scientists are now taking part in a few frontline worldwide projects that are pushing technological boundaries
• . India has dealt with hardware and software challenges in the Thirty Meter Telescope project, in collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and in the preliminary stages of the recently-approved Laser Interferometric Gravitational Wave Observatory in India (LIGO-India) and the Square Kilometre Array in Radio Astronomy.
• The technological achievements in the astrophysics and space sectors strengthens Inda’s position globally.

Chandrayaan-3 mission aims to explore south pole of Moon

• Landing site  of Chandrayaan-3 mission is  more or less the same as the Chandrayaan-2: near the south pole of the moon at 70 degrees latitude.
• AS, there are many geographical variations on the surface of the moon, and many are worth exploring.
• The southern hemisphere has many high mountains, and deep craters, which are more extreme in nature than those in the north.
•  These block sunlight, and so, there are large areas of permanently shadowed regions near the poles, where temperatures can go down to -200 degrees Celsius.
• These are home to volatiles, which are chemical elements or compounds that melt or vaporise at moderately warm temperatures. This includes water, which, we suspect, exists in large quantities in supercooled ice form.
• Therebefore, extremely cold temperatures here mean that anything trapped in the region would remain frozen in time, without undergoing much change.
• The rocks and soil in Moon’s north and south poles could therefore provide clues to the early Solar System, Hence the mission is expected to provide valuable insights into the history of the solar system.

Conclusion:

• The missions such as Chandrayaan-3 will inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.
• It was so wonderful to see the beaming faces of the youngsters at the launch, at our campus, and on the streets.
• Therefore, the success of Chandrayaan-3 will send a message to young people across the country that it is possible to do quality scientific research, and make a difference, here, on Indian soil.

Editorial 2: Climate change aiding spread of deadly virus in Europe: What is CCHF

Recent Context:

•  Europe is facing heatwave and wildfires and  the rising temperatures have also raised fears of spread of viruses generally not found in colder climates.
• Recently, Alert has been sounded about the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), an infection spread by tickas that has a high fatality rate, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
• CCHF is endemic to Africa, the Balkan countries, Middle East, and parts of Asia. The first fatality from the disease in Europe was in Spain, in 2016.
  • According to Horizon, which publishes articles about European Union-funded research, “Scientists are now warning that CCHF, which can kill between 10% and 40% of patients, is spreading northward and westward in Europe.”
  • Cases have so far been reported in Spain, Russia and Turkey, and the UK.
• In India, one person succumbed to CCHF last month in Gujarat, the state that reports the majority of the country’s cases of this disease.

What is CCHF?

• According to the WHO, “Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a viral haemorrhagic fever usually transmitted by ticks.
•  It can also be contracted through contact with viraemic animal tissues (animal tissue where the virus has entered the bloodstream) during and immediately post-slaughter of animals.
•  CCHF outbreaks constitute a threat to public health services as the virus can lead to epidemics, has a high case fatality ratio (10–40%), potentially results in hospital and health facility outbreaks, and is difficult to prevent and treat.”

Source and transmission of CCHF:

• According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), animals such as cattle, goats, sheep and hares “serve as amplifying hosts for the virus.
• Transmission to humans occurs through contact with infected ticks or animal blood. CCHF can be transmitted from one infected human to another by contact with infectious blood or body fluids”, such as sweat and saliva.
•  The ticks can also be hosted by migratory birds, thus carrying the virus over long distances.

What are the symptoms, cure of CCHF?

• CCHF symptoms include fever, muscle ache, dizziness, neck pain, backache, headache, sore eyes and sensitivity to light, according to the WHO.
• “There may be nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and sore throat early on, followed by sharp mood swings and confusion.
• After 2–4 days the agitation may be replaced by sleepiness, depression and lassitude,” the WHO’s website says.
• There is no vaccine for the virus in either humans or animals, and treatment generally consists of managing symptoms. According to the WHO, “the antiviral drug ribavirin has been used to treat CCHF infection with apparent benefit.”

Climate change and spread of diseases

• As temperature patterns are disrupted, pathogens are thriving in geographies that traditionally had a climate hostile to them.
• “The ticks are moving up through Europe due to climate change, with longer and drier summers.”
• The CDC says climate change contributes to the spread of diseases in multiple ways, including
  • warmer temperatures expanding the habitat of ticks and other insects and
  • giving them more time to reproduce;
  • the habitat offered by water undergoing changes; and
  •  animals moving to newer areas and people coming into contact with them.