In a rare occurrence, 1 trillion cicadas from two different broods are expected to begin appearing in the Midwest and Southeast regions of the United States at the end of April.
About Cicadas
There are two groups of periodical cicadas – those that emerge every 13 years and those that emerge every 17 years. For most of their lives, cicadas live underground and then emerge once the soil reaches 64 degrees. They are expected to arrive in mid-May.
This year, both the 13-year and the 17-year cicadas will emerge, arriving in numbers that have not been seen in generations.
They mate, molt and then die, leaving behind their offspring to burry themselves into the soil and lay dormant until their brood's next cycle.
Where will cicadas be in 2024?
The 13-year cicadas, called Brood XIX, will emerge in Georgia and the Southeast. The 17-year cicadas, called Brood XIII, will appear in Illinois. This will be the first time since 1803 that two broods emerged at the same time. The next time this happens will be 2037.
The overlap of these two broods has been dubbed by an expert as "cicada-geddon" – but it won't be the biggest cicada event. In 2076, the two largest broods –XIX and XIV – will come out together.
Anti-dumping duty
Time to Read :🕑 3 Mins
Why in news?
The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has now recommended imposition of anti-dumping duty on sodium cyanide (NaCN) imported from China, the European Union, Japan and Korea.
About
Dumping is exporting at below national market cost to gain market share on the world market.
Anti-dumping duties are taxes imposed on imported goods in order to compensate for the difference between their export price and their normal value, if dumping causes injury to producers of competing products in the importing country.
Anti-dumping duties are enabled by Article VI of the GATT.
Cochin Shipyard
Time to Read :🕑 5 Mins
Why in news?
Recently, Cochin Shipyard signed a Master Shipyard Repair Agreement (MSRA) with the U.S. Navy.
About
The MSRA is a non-financial agreement and is effective from April 05, 2024.
India and the United States look to expand cooperation in ship repair and maintenance to turn India into a regional hub, Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) became the third Indian shipyard to enter into a Master Shipyard Repair Agreement (MRSA) with the U.S., which will enable to repair U.S. Navy ships.
The State-run shipbuilding facility in Kochi is the latest in the line after Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL).
L&T shipyard in Kattupalli near Chennai, which has so far repaired three U.S. Navy fleet support ships, was the first Indian shipyard to sign the agreement in July last year.
Last month, a United Kingdom naval ship arrived for the first time at Kattupalli for repairs.
Neptis philyra
Time to Read :🕑 7 Mins
Why in news?
Rare butterfly species discovered in Arunachal's Tale Sanctuary.
About
A rare butterfly species named Neptis philyra, commonly known as long-streak sailor, has been discovered for the first time in India in Tale Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh.
Till date, the butterfly species was known to be found across various regions of east Asia, including eastern Siberia, Korea, Japan, central and southwest China.
The butterfly has serrated wings with rich brownish-black on the upper side and yellow brown on the underside and fore wing white cell streak forming “hockey stick” markings with spots in space.
The discovery of the species has been formally published in the current issue of the peer-reviewed journal, “Tropical Lepidoptera Research”.
Talley Valley Wildlife Sanctuary
Talley Valley Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, India.
Arunachal Pradesh as a whole contains 40% of the floral and faunal species in India.
The Ziro valley has a good share of this biodiversity. 30 kilometres from the town of Ziro is the sanctuary.
At the altitude of 2400 metres, Talley is a plateau with dense forest of silver fir trees, pine clad plateau of beautiful grandeur, and a vast wasteland.
Zero Orbital Debris
Time to Read :🕑 11 Mins
Why in news?
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said its PSLV-C58/XPoSat mission has practically left zero debris in earth’s orbit.
More detail about news
The space agency explained that the last stage of the Polar Satellite Launch vehicle (PSLV) used in the mission was transformed into a kind of orbital station — called the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module-3 (POEM-3) — before it was left to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere instead of floating in orbit once its mission was completed.
ISRO said that after it completed the primary mission of injecting all satellites into their target orbits, the fourth stage of the PSLV was transformed into the POEM-3. It was subsequently de-orbited from 650 kilometres to 350 kilometres, rendering it more susceptible to being pulled towards the earth and burning up in the atmosphere.
What is POEM?
Developed by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) as an inexpensive space platform, POEM uses the spent fourth stage of a PSLV rocket as an orbital platform. Used for the first time in the PSLV-C53 mission in June 2022, ISRO had POEM orbit the earth as a stabilised platform to perform in-orbit scientific experiments with various payloads.
POEM is powered by solar panels mounted on the fuel tank of the rocket’s fourth stage and a lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery.
It has a dedicated navigation, guidance, and control (NGC) system to stabilise its altitude along with helium control thrusters.
The NGC system has four Sun sensors, a magnetometer, and gyroscopes, and talks to ISRO’s NavIC satellite constellation for navigation.
POEM also has a telecommand system to communicate with the ground station.
What has POEM-3 achieved?
ISRO launched the PSLV C-58 mission in January 2024.
After deploying the XpoSat satellite in its desired orbit of 650 km, the fourth stage, now called POEM-3, was lowered to a 350-km high circular orbit.
The lower a satellite is in orbit around the earth, the more drag it experiences and the more energy it needs to expend to stay in orbit.
POEM-3 Achievement significant
With the rise in the number of satellites in orbit around the earth, space debris has become a pressing issue. Space debris in the low earth orbit (LEO) mainly comprises pieces of spacecraft, rockets, and defunct satellites, and the fragments of objects that have deteriorated explosively as a result of anti-satellite missile tests.
This debris often flies around at high speeds of up to 27,000 kilometres per hour. Due to their sheer volume and momentum, they pose a risk to several space assets.
According to ISRO’s Space Situational Assessment report 2022, the world placed 2,533 objects in space in 179 launches in 2022, up from 1860 objects in 135 launches in 2021.
Space debris also leads to two major risks – it creates unusable regions of the orbit due to excessive debris, and leads to the ‘Kessler syndrome’ – creation of more debris due to cascading collisions resulting from one collision.
International space laws
Currently, there are no international space laws pertaining to LEO debris. However, most space-exploring nations abide by the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines 2002 specified by the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), which the U.N. endorsed in 2007.
The guidelines outline methods to limit accidental collisions in orbit, break-ups during operations, intentional destruction, and post-mission break-ups. They also advise against the long-term presence of spacecraft and launch vehicle orbital stages in LEO and limit their interference in the GEO region.
NASA had instituted its Orbital Debris Program in 1979 to find ways to create less orbital debris and design equipment to track and remove existing debris. Currently, the sixth U.S. Armed forces wing, called the Space Force, tracks space debris and collisions in LEO. However, the agency has not implemented any technology to clean such debris yet; most such ideas are in the conceptual stage.
Similarly, the European Space Agency (ESA) has adopted a ‘Zero Debris charter,’ which includes multiple ways to mitigate space debris. It has also called for zero space debris by 2030 and seeks that other agencies adopt it as well.
Japan also has a project, called the Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration (CRD2), to tackle space junk.
India and Space debris
India is working to mitigate space debris. Apart from the POEM missions, ISRO has set up a Space Situational Awareness Control Centre to protect its high-value assets from close approaches and collisions with inactive satellites, pieces of orbiting objects, and even near-earth asteroids.
An Indian start-up named Manastu Space is working on technologies like in-space refuelling, de-orbiting of old satellites, and satellite life extension.
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