”UPSC Prelims Bits Today” covers various topics from UPSC Prelims Syllabus and is very helpful and time managing for UPSC Aspirants.
The framing of this daily current affairs compilation article is easy to read and understandable.
33 Country’s Call For Urgent UNSC Reform
Why in news?
Thirty two countries including India have called for urgent and comprehensive reforms in the UN Security Council in order to adapt the United Nations to contemporary world realities.
Key Points
- A group of pro-reform like-minded States in a joint statement said that they are determined to work towards a more inclusive, responsive, and participatory international governance architecture.
- They said that a resilient world needs reformed and effective multilateralism to deliver solutions for developmental challenges, poverty, climate change, pandemics, global food security, international conflicts and crises, and international terrorism.
- They emphasized that a legitimate Security Council must be reflective of the aspirations and perspectives of the developing world, which form the majority of the UN’s global membership.
- An expansion of the Security Council in both permanent and non-permanent categories, as well as reform in its working methods, is indispensable to making UNSC more representative, legitimate, and effective.
- The signatories include Brazil, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mongolia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, and Vanuatu.
National Center for Seismology
Why in news?
- An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 on the Richter scale occurred in Campbell Bay in Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the wee hours today, September 24.
- National Center for Seismology said, the depth of the earthquake was 75 km below the ground and it occurred at 2:30 am. No loss of life or property has been reported after the earthquake.
National Center for Seismology (NCS)
- National Center for Seismology (NCS) is the nodal agency of the Government of India for monitoring of earthquake activity in the country.
- NCS maintains National Seismological Network of more than 150 stations each having state of art equipment and spreading all across the country.
- NCS monitors earthquake activity all across the country through its 24×7
Earthquake Monitoring in India: Background
- The history of instrumental earthquake monitoring in India dates back to 1898 when the first seismological observatory of the country was established at Alipore (Calcutta) on 01 December 1898 after the great Shillong plateau earthquake of 1897.
- The occurrence of devastating earthquakes such as the 1905 Kangra earthquake, 1934 Nepal-Bihar, Assam, and many other strong earthquakes, necessitated strengthening the national seismological network progressively from a paltry 6 in 1940 to 8 in 1950, 15 in 1960, and 18 in 1970.
- The early 1960s marked a very important landmark in the history of seismic monitoring when the WWSSN(World Wide Standardized Seismic Network) stations started functioning globally.
The fuel of choice for space expeditions
Why in news?
NASA successfully conducted a cryogenic tanking test for the Artemis 1 mission but it suffered another hydrogen leak during the test.
Why liquid hydrogen became the fuel of choice for space expeditions?
- Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen are both cryogenic gases, meaning that they can only be liquified at extremely low temperatures.
- Due to this, the fuel poses enormous technical challenges. Liquid hydrogen must be stored at about minus 217 degrees celsius and should be handled with extreme care.
- The tanks of rockets fuelled with liquid hydrogen must be insulated from all sources of heat, including the exhaust from the rocket’s engine and air friction during flight. But despite these challenges, Hydrogen offers some inimitable advantages.
- It is the element with the lowest molecular weight amongst all known substances and burns very intensely, at higher than 2,600 degrees Celsius.
- When combined with liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen yields the highest specific impulse (or efficiency) with respect to the amount of propellant consumed.