Technology Questions and Answers

Answer: C

India's first experimental satellite launch vehicle is the SLV-3.

The Satellite Launch Vehicle-3, a four-stage all-solid rocket developed at ISRO under A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as project director, could place payloads of about 40 kg in low Earth orbit. On 18 July 1980 it put the Rohini satellite into orbit from Sriharikota, making India a spacefaring nation.

The others came later and carried more. The Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) was the next step, for 150 kg class satellites. The PSLV is the operational workhorse for much heavier payloads, and the GSLV Mk III, now LVM3, is ISRO's heavy-lift launcher.

Answer: A

Statements A and B are correct, so the answer is Only A and B.

India's supercomputer programme began in the late 1980s, when the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) was set up in 1988 after India was refused the import of a Cray supercomputer (A). C-DAC's PARAM 8000, unveiled in 1991, is regarded as India's first supercomputer (B).

Statement C is wrong: Aaditya is the supercomputer of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, used for weather and climate modelling. BARC's in-house supercomputers are the Anupam series. Any option containing C is therefore wrong.

Answer: D

All three statements are true, so the answer is A, B and C.

The nuclear fuel cycle is the series of industrial processes involved in producing electricity from uranium in nuclear power reactors (A). It begins with mining uranium ore and ends with the disposal of nuclear waste (B), so it covers both the front end, before the reactor, and the back end, after it.

To prepare uranium for a reactor it is mined, milled into uranium oxide concentrate (yellowcake), converted into uranium hexafluoride gas, enriched to raise the share of uranium-235, and fabricated into fuel pellets and assemblies (C). These three statements follow the standard description, so no option leaving one out is correct.

Answer: C

Precision agriculture applies information technology and satellite based technology.

Precision agriculture manages variation within a field rather than treating the whole field alike. It uses satellite positioning (GPS), remote sensing, geographic information systems, soil and crop sensors and data analysis to apply water, fertiliser and pesticides at the right place, time and rate.

Better tools, seed drills or extension strategies can all improve farming, but none of them is what defines precision agriculture, which is the site-specific management made possible by information and satellite technology.

Answer: C

Statements 1 and 3 are correct, so the answer is 1 and 3 only.

A CFL is a fluorescent tube folded into a compact shape: an electric discharge through mercury vapour gives ultraviolet light, which the phosphor coating turns into visible light (1). An LED produces light directly from a semiconductor junction. Because an LED wastes far less energy as heat, it gives more light per watt, so a CFL is the less energy-efficient of the two (3).

Statement 2 is the wrong one. An LED lamp typically lasts around 25,000 hours or more, several times the 8,000 to 10,000 hours of a typical CFL, so the CFL's life span is shorter, not longer. Any option including 2 fails.

Answer: A

The justified advantage is 1 only.

5G's high data rates, very low latency and capacity for many connected devices make it suitable for telemedicine, remote education and similar services, so statement 1 is right.

The others are wrong. 5G offers extremely low latency, not high latency. Analog 'brick' phones belong to the first generation (1G) of the 1980s. And LTE is a 4G standard that came before 5G; 5G does support VPNs.

Answer: B

The agency is the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC).

NRSC, in Hyderabad, is the ISRO centre responsible for acquiring and processing remote sensing satellite data, disseminating data products, and running the Decision Support Centre for disaster management, which provides satellite-based information during floods, cyclones and other disasters.

The Development and Educational Communication Unit makes educational and development programmes, the Physical Research Laboratory does basic research in space and earth sciences, and the Space Applications Centre designs satellite payloads; none of them handles national data acquisition.

Answer: D

The one that is not an e-governance initiative is Swachha Bharat Mission.

The Swachh Bharat Mission, launched on 2 October 2014, is a sanitation campaign for ending open defecation and improving solid waste management. It is run through the ministries for drinking water and sanitation and for urban affairs, not as a digital service.

The other three are digital governance initiatives under Digital India: DigiLocker stores and issues documents electronically, DigiDhan promoted digital payments, and MobileSeva delivers government services through mobile phones.

Answer: B

The one that is not a feature of e-Governance is manual paper work.

E-Governance means using information and communication technology to deliver government services, exchange information and carry out transactions. Its whole point is to replace files and paperwork with electronic processes.

The other three are its stated benefits: efficient delivery of services to citizens, faster and more efficient communication between government and people, and greater transparency because records and decisions are available online and harder to manipulate.

Answer: D

The user segment consists of receivers that can be handheld or mounted in cars.

GPS has three segments. The space segment is the constellation of satellites orbiting the Earth. The control segment is the network of ground stations that track the satellites and correct their orbits and clocks. The user segment is the GPS receivers, in phones, cars, ships and handheld units, that pick up the satellite signals and compute position.

So the satellites belong to the space segment, and the ground stations and processing centres to the control segment.