Space: Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander successfully soft-landed near the Moon's south pole at 18:04 IST on 23 August 2023, making India the first nation to land on the lunar south pole. India became the fourth country to achieve a soft lunar landing.
International: The 15th BRICS Summit continued in Johannesburg; leaders endorsed principles for BRICS expansion.
Governance: 23 August was declared National Space Day by the Government of India to commemorate the Chandrayaan-3 landing.
Economy: The B20 Summit (Business 20 under India's G20 Presidency) adopted the theme "RAISE": Responsible, Accelerated, Innovative, Sustainable, Equitable.
1. Chandrayaan-3: historic lunar south pole landing
GS area: Science and Technology (space)
India's Chandrayaan-3 mission achieved a landmark success on 23 August 2023 when the Vikram lander touched down near the lunar south pole at 18:04 IST.
Historic first: India became the first nation to soft-land a spacecraft at the lunar south polar region. The previous three nations to achieve soft lunar landings were the Soviet Union (1966), the United States (1966), and China (2013).
Landing site: The Vikram lander touched down at approximately 69.37 degrees south latitude, within the south polar region. The government named the landing site "Shiv Shakti Point."
What makes the south pole significant: Permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles trap water ice deposited by comets and asteroid impacts over billions of years. This ice is a potential resource for oxygen, drinking water, and rocket propellant for future human missions.
Mission objectives: Demonstrate safe and soft landing, rover deployment and operation, and in-situ scientific analysis of the lunar surface.
Vikram lander instruments: RAMBHA (Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere) is a Langmuir probe. ChaSTE (Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment) measures surface thermal properties. ILSA (Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity) is a seismometer.
Pragyan Rover: Six-wheeled; carries LIBS (Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope) and APXS (Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer) for elemental and mineralogical analysis.
Cost: Approximately 615 crore rupees (about 75 million dollars), notably lower than comparable missions.
National Space Day: The government declared 23 August as National Space Day to mark the landing anniversary.
Static linkage: Space science, ISRO missions, science and technology (GS Paper 3).
On the second day of the summit, BRICS leaders endorsed principles for expansion to new members.
Consensus: The leaders reached consensus on "guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures" for BRICS expansion. They did not publish detailed membership criteria publicly.
Invitation announced: Six nations were invited to join as full members from 1 January 2024: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Argentina's subsequent withdrawal: Argentina's new government elected in November 2023 later declined to join.
Summit theme: "BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism."
India's BRICS Space Consortium proposal: PM Modi proposed that BRICS countries cooperate in space exploration and satellite data sharing.
Significance: The expansion, if fully realised, would bring BRICS together with five of the world's most important oil producers (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, Ethiopia had no oil but strategic location, Argentina had energy resources).
The Government of India declared 23 August as National Space Day to commemorate Chandrayaan-3's landing.
Shiv Shakti Point: The Vikram lander's touchdown site was named Shiv Shakti Point by the Prime Minister. "Shiv" symbolises the mission's strength and "Shakti" the empowerment of women.
Tiranga Point: The Vikram crater visible near the 2019 Chandrayaan-2 landing site was named Tiranga (Indian national flag) Point to honour that attempt.
ISRO's future missions:
Aditya-L1: Solar observatory mission, launched 2 September 2023.
LUPEX (Lunar Polar Exploration Mission): Joint ISRO-JAXA mission planned for 2024-25 to investigate water abundance in the lunar polar region.
XPoSat: India's first polarimetry X-ray astronomy mission.
NISAR: Joint NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite for Earth observation.
Static linkage: ISRO future missions, space policy (GS Paper 3).
4. B20 Summit: "RAISE" principles
GS area: International Relations, Economy
The B20 (Business 20) Summit, the business advisory group to the G20, concluded under India's G20 presidency with the adoption of the RAISE framework.
RAISE: Responsible, Accelerated, Innovative, Sustainable, Equitable. These are the principles proposed for global business conduct.
B20 role: B20 provides recommendations to G20 leaders from the business community. Its recommendations are advisory; G20 leaders decide how to act on them.
India's G20 priorities: Digital public infrastructure, climate finance, sustainable development, and reform of multilateral institutions.
G20 Leaders' Summit: Scheduled for 9-10 September 2023 in New Delhi.
Static linkage: G20, international economic governance (GS Paper 2).
5. SVAMITVA Scheme: Gold award
GS area: Governance, Rural Development
The SVAMITVA Scheme won the National e-Governance Gold Award in 2023.
SVAMITVA: Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas. Maps property rights in rural inhabited areas using drones.
Technology: Drones and GIS provide property card accuracy to approximately 5 cm.
Purpose: Provides rural households with a property rights document that can be used as collateral for institutional credit.
Coverage: Targeted all inhabited villages across India. By 2023, hundreds of thousands of property cards had been distributed.
Ministry of Panchayati Raj: The implementing ministry.
Static linkage: Digital governance, rural development, land rights (GS Paper 2).
6. Briefly noted
Emperor penguin breeding failure: The British Antarctic Survey reported widespread breeding failure among Emperor penguins in Antarctica due to unprecedented sea ice loss. Penguin chicks need sea ice to survive until they develop adult waterproof feathers. This is a direct climate change impact on the species.
Exercise BRIGHT STAR-23: The Indian Air Force participated for the first time in Exercise BRIGHT STAR-23 in Egypt. This is Egypt's multinational air exercise involving forces from multiple countries.
Exercise AUSINDEX-23: India and Australia conducted their bilateral AUSINDEX naval exercise, building on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries.
Practice MCQs
Check yourself
Consider the following statements about Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander: 1. India was the first nation to land on the lunar south pole. 2. The landing site was named Shiv Shakti Point. 3. The Pragyan Rover's RAMBHA instrument is a seismometer. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Check yourself
The six nations invited to join BRICS from January 2024 at the Johannesburg Summit included:
Check yourself
LUPEX, a joint ISRO-JAXA mission planned for the future, is designed to:
Check yourself
The SVAMITVA Scheme, which won the National e-Governance Gold Award in 2023, is implemented by which Ministry?
Check yourself
Which are the first three nations (in chronological order) to have achieved a soft lunar landing before India?