(Current Affairs) Science & Technology, Defence, Environment | September: 2014

Science & Technology, Defense, Environment

Mars orbiter Spacecraft to Reach Target in 75 Days

  • Exactly 75 days from Saturday, India’s Mars spacecraft is scheduled for a rendezvous with the red planet, Mars Orbiter Spacecraft has travelled 525 million km on its heliocentric arc.
  • In the last crucial milestone on June 11, ISRO performed the second Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre (TCM—2) on the orbiter as a mid-course correction to keep the spacecraft on course.
  • The ambitious Mars mission under a Rs 450 crore project was launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh onboard the Pollar Satellite Launch Vehicle on November 5 2013.

Biodiversity Loss Pushing Earth Towards Sixth Mass Extinction

  • Scientists now warn that the persistent loss and decline of biodiversity is leading humanity to early days of the planet’s sixth mass biological extinction event.
  • Since 1500, more than 320 terrestrial vertebrates have become extinct. Populations of the remaining species show a 25 per cent average decline in abundance. The situation is similarly dire for invertebrate animal life.
  • While previous extinctions have been driven by natural planetary transformations or catastrophic asteroid strikes, the current die-off can be associated with human activity.
  • Where human density is high, you get high rates of defaunation, high incidence of rodents and thus high levels of pathogens, which increases the risks of disease transmission. The loss of animals is driven primarily by loss of habitat and global climate disruption, and could have trickle-up effects in our everyday lives.

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