UPSC Prelims News 10th September 2022

UPSC Prelims News of 10th September 2022

Quick Reaction Surface-To-Air Missile (QRSAM)

Context: DRDO and Indian Army have successfully completed six flight-tests of the QRSAM system from the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur off the Odisha coast.

About the News

QESAM is the India’s first indigenous mobile air defence system developed by DRDO, meant for protecting moving armoured columns of the Army from enemy aerial attacks.
It is a short-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system.
After the sixth successful flight tests, the system is now ready for induction into the Army.

Capabilities

It is an all-weather missile system.
It is capable of detecting and tracking targets on the move and engaging targets with short halts.
It can be mounted on a truck and stored in a canister.
It has a range of 25 to 30 km, and can target an altitude of up to 10 km.

Functioning

The system uses a single stage solid propelled missile.
It has a fully automated Command and Control System.
The missile system possesses two four-walled radars both of which encompass a 360-degree coverage, apart from the launcher while Laser proximity fuse ensures that missile can’t be jammed.

NASA’s Sonification Project

Context: NASA will be carrying out sonification of the images and data gathered by James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Sonification of Images and Data

Sonification converts the visual images by encoding information, like colour, brightness, star locations, or water absorption signatures, as sounds.
Conversion into sound: The data gathered will be converted into sound by a team of musicians so as to give unique experience to listeners.
- Musicians assign different notes to each part of the image, from the semi-transparent regions to the very dense areas of gas and dust.
Examples of sonification:
- Carina Nebula: The JWST had captured one of the clearer images of Carina Nebula, which is 7,600 light years away.
  - The sound becomes louder for brighter parts of the image, but that depends on the position of light in the image.
- Southern Ring Nebula: The colours in the image were mapped to the pitches of sound by directly converting the light frequencies into sound frequencies.
- Near-infrared light is represented by higher frequency sound.