This is the most important point of Science and Tech based on current affairs. China recently launched a satellite into space to detect signs of pulsars. About The satellite operates in a Sun-synchronous orbit and will conduct in-orbit experiments using pulsar detectors to demonstrate new technologies. It was carried by a Long March-11 rocket, the 239th flight mission by a Long March carrier rocket series. Prelims facts A pulsar (short for pulsating radio star) is a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. Neutron stars are very dense, and have short, regular rotational periods. This produces a very precise interval between pulses that range roughly from milliseconds to seconds for an individual pulsar. A Sun-synchronous orbital so called a helio-synchronous orbit is a geocentric orbit that combines altitude and inclination in such a way that the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local solar time.

1. XPNA China’s Pulsar Satellite (V-1)
India’s first private mission to
moon
RESOURCESAT-2A

2. XPNA China’s Pulsar Satellite (V-1)
China recently launched a satellite into space to detect signs of pulsars.
About
The satellite operates in a Sun-synchronous orbit and will conduct in-orbit experiments using pulsar
detectors to demonstrate new technologies.
It was carried by a Long March-11 rocket, the 239th flight mission by a Long March carrier rocket series.
Prelims facts
A pulsar (short for pulsating radio star) is a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of
electromagnetic radiation.
Neutron stars are very dense, and have short, regular rotational periods.
This produces a very precise interval between pulses that range roughly from milliseconds to seconds for
an individual pulsar.
A Sun-synchronous orbital so called a helio-synchronous orbit is a geocentric orbit that combines altitude
and inclination in such a way that the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the
same local solar time.

4. India’s first private mission to moon
Team Indus, a Bangalore-based private aerospace company is to send a spacecraft to the Moon on December
28, 2017 aboard an ISRO rocket.
About
The aim of the mission is to land this aircraft on moon, have it travel at least 500 metres, and beam HD
videos, images and data back to the Earth.
Except for the launch vehicles, all the technology to be used under the mission has been developed inhouse By
the company
It is one of the four international teams running for the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a $30 million competition to
encourage private companies to take up space missions.
ISRO’s PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) would launch the spacecraft in a three-day window after
completing a rotation around the earth.
The space craft would land on Mare Imbrium, a region in the North western hemisphere of the moon.

6. Prelims facts
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)is an expendable launch system developed and operated by
the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into Sun synchronous
orbits, a service that was, until the advent of the PSLV, commercially available only from Russia.
PSLV can also launch small size satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
In 2015 India successfully launched 17 foreign satellites belonging to Canada, Indonesia, Singapore, the
United Kingdom and the United States.
Some notable payloads launched by PSLV include India's first lunar probe Chandrayaan-1, India's
first interplanetary mission, Mangalyaan (Mars obiter) and India's first space observatory, Astrosat.
On 15 February 2017, India successfully launched a payload of 104 foreign satellites in polar orbit around
the Earth using PSLV tripling the previous record held by Russia for most number of satellites sent to
space in a single launch.

7. RESOURCESAT-2A
In its 38th flight PSLV-C36 successfully launched RESOURCESAT-2Asatellite from Satish Dhawan Space
Centerin Sriharikota.
This is the thirty-seventh consecutive successful mission of PSLV.
About
It is a remote sensing satellite which will provide information on water bodies, farm lands, crop extent,
forests, mineral deposits, coasts, rural and urban spreads for the next five years.
The satellite was launched into the Sun Synchronous Orbit at 825 km height.
Much like its predecessors RESOURCESAT 1 and 2, RESOURCESAT-2A also has a three tier imaging
system.
It is equipped with an Advanced White Field Sensor (AWiFS) that provides images of 56 metre resolution,
(LISS-3) Linear Imaging Self-scanning Sensor and LISS-4 provides image of 23.5m and 5.6m resolution
respectively.
RESOURCESAT-2A will be useful in crop area and production estimation, drought monitoring, soil
mapping, cropping system analysis and farm advisories generation.
For the first time ISRO used cameras on-board that showed the separation stages during the flight and the
deployment of solar panels of the satellite.

9. Prelims facts
Satish Dhawan Space Centre or Sriharikota High Altitude
Range is a rocket launch centre operated
by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
It is located in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
The IRS system is the largest constellation of remote sensing
satellites for civilian use in operation today
in the world, with 11 operational satellites.
All these are placed in polar Sun-synchronous orbit and
provide data in a variety of spatial, spectral and
temporal resolutions.