Chandrayaan 1

Chandrayaan-1 was India's first lunar probe. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation in October 2008 and operated until August 2009. The mission included a lunar orbiter and an impactor. It was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, by the PSLV C-11 on 22 October 2008. The spacecraft was orbiting around the Moon at a height of 100 km from the lunar surface for chemical, mineralogical, and photo-geologic mapping of the Moon. The spacecraft carries 11 scientific instruments built in India, the USA, the UK, Germany, Sweden, and Bulgaria.

Soyuz spacecraft

• The Soyuz (SAW-yooz) is a Russian spacecraft. Astronauts and cosmonauts travel to the International Space Station on the Soyuz.
• The Soyuz transports crews to the International Space Station and returns them to Earth after their missions.
• The Soyuz is like a lifeboat for the space station. At least one Soyuz is always docked at the space station. If there is an emergency, the station crew can use the Soyuz to return to Earth.
• The Soyuz is the only means of reaching the ISS since the U.S. retired the space shuttle in 2011.

Chang’e 4

• Chang’e 4 is the fourth mission in the country’s lunar mission series which is being named after the Chinese moon goddess.
• The tasks of the Chang’e-4 probe include low-frequency radio astronomical observation, surveying the terrain and landforms, detecting the mineral composition, and measuring the neutron radiation and neutral atoms to study the environment on the far side of the moon.

Yutu-2

• It follows the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System  China’s homegrown Global Positioning System that started worldwide service last month.
• The rover has been programmed to launch ground penetration radar that would help map the moon’s inner structures.
• It would also analyze soil and rock samples for minerals, apart from activating a radio telescope to search for possible signals from deep space.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

1. Context

2. Key Points

• Located in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho was established by the 42nd United States Congress with the Yellow Stone National Park Protection Act signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.
• It spans an area of over 9,000 sq km comprising lakes, canyons, rivers, and iconic geothermal features such as the Old Faithful geyser and mountain ranges.
• Over the years, it has been at the centre of many successful conservation endeavours and today is the most famous megafauna location in the contiguous United States home to grizzly bears, wolves and free-ranging herds of the endangered bison and elk.
• Native Americans were hunting and gathering here for at least 11,000 years. They were pushed out by the government after the park was established.

Image source: Wikipedia

3. Establishing a "National Park"

• The Original legislation stated that Yellowstone would be reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy or sale under the laws of the United States and that it would be set aside as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.
• In the lead-up to Yellowstone becoming a national park, three major expeditions in 1869, 1870 and 1871 raised public awareness of the area's natural beauty.
• The last of these known as the Hayden expedition was particularly important.

4. Actual motivations

• While there were those like Hayden who were concerned about the desecration of Yellowstone due to those trying to "make merchandise of these beautiful specimens", for US lawmakers, the actual motivation was different.
• Closing off Yellowstone to settlement and making it a tourist destination would be extremely profitable for his rail company, which would become the solely available mode of transportation to and from Yellowstone which lay in the still relatively less developed American West.

5. Ignoring the Native Americans

• Whatever the reason might have been since 1972, Yellowstone has been maintained as a pristine wilderness, with no permanent settlements.
• However, what this ignores is that the area had been home to many Native American tribes before being closed off for settlement.
• From archaeological research and oral history, it can be gleaned that at least 27 current Native American Tribes have connections to Yellowstone.
• However, when the national park status was being debated in Congress, there was next to no mention of the Native American presence.
• Once Yellowstone National Park Came into existence, several different tribal groups who used to camp there were removed by the US Army.

6. Settling in the Wild West 

• Post the Civil War (1861-1865), spurred by the development of railways in the American West, white settlers began moving westwards and settling there in hopes of a prosperous future. The settlers soon transformed the land.
• Huge herds of American bison that once roamed the plains were almost completely wiped out.
• Farmers ploughed the natural grasses to plant wheat and other crops. There was also a mining boom.
• Most importantly, the westward migration ushered in an era of conflict between the settlers and the Native Americans who had lived and ruled over the land for many millennia.
• In 1868, President Grant began Pursuing a "Peace Policy" which included the goal of relocating various tribes from their ancestral lands to missionary-run Indian reservations.
• This was, however, far from peaceful; it led to some of the bloodiest fightings between the United States and the Native Americans, including several massacres of Native Americans at the hands of the US Army.
• The setting up of Yellowstone National Park, the subsequent removal of the land's Native American population and the erasure of their history cannot be extricated from the larger story of the colonisation of the American West.
• The park displaced multiple tribes and denied them their age-old hunting grounds while at the same time erasing their very existence from public consciousness which, over time, remembered the beauty of the western wilderness rather than the blood spilt to effectively create it.
• A 2021 Study in the Science Journal found that "indigenous people in the United States have lost nearly 99 per cent of the land they historically occupied" through "forced migration".
• The Consequences of this mass dispossession can be felt in the socio-economic deprivations of Native Americans to date.
• However, this is seldom spoken out in mainstream US discourse and even when it is, its sheer scale is often underplayed.
• While the history of this dispossession neither begins nor ends with Yellowstone National Park, it no doubt played its part, both in dispossessing and then numbing the public to the brutality of this dispossession by creating and sustaining the myth around the West's "pristine wilderness".

For Prelims

CARBON SINK

1. Context

When India updated its international climate commitments first made in 2015 in the run-up to the Paris climate conference in August last year, it enhanced two of the three original targets it had promised to achieve by 2030.

2. Key Points

• It said it would reduce the emissions intensity of its economy emissions per unit of GDP by 45 per cent from the 2005 level instead of the 33 to 35 per cent promised earlier.
• And that it would ensure that renewables formed at least 50 per cent up from the original 40 per cent of its total installed electricity generation capacity.
• The third target is a commitment to increase its carbon sink by 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030 through the creation of additional Forest and tree cover left untouched.
• India's five-point "Panchamrit" action plan at the Glasgow climate meeting in 2021, there had been no mention of this third commitment.
• The seeming silence over the third commitment gave rise to speculation that India was possibly lagging on this target and that it might not be able to achieve it.

3. Carbon sink in India

• Government figures in 2022 showed that in the six years since 2015, the carbon sink in the country which is the total amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by and residing in forests and trees had increased by 703 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent or roughly 120 million tonnes every year.
• At this pace, the target of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent was unlikely to be met by 2030.
• The carbon sink target was much more ambitious and difficult than the other two which had been achieved about eight years before the deadline. But India was only hedging its bets.

4. The baseline year

• The carbon sink target had not been defined precisely in 2015. 
• India had committed to an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030 but it had made no mention of the baseline year.
• That is, it did not say which year this additional 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent of carbon sink would be measured against.
• By contrast, India's target on emissions intensity specified 2005 as the baseline year.
• And the commitment to renewable capacity did not require a baseline because it was an absolute target.
• The climate targets had been announced in a hurry ahead of the 2015 climate change conference because these were considered crucial to the finalisation of the Paris Agreement.
• India's original targets on emissions intensity and renewable capacity were quite modest and thus easy to define precisely.
• But the carbon sink target required a detailed study, which could not have happened in a short time.

Image source: The Indian Express

5. Additional carbon sink

• There was another apparent ambiguity other than the absence of the baseline year as well.
• In an analysis published in 2019, the Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India (FSI) pointed out that the word "additional" in the Indian commitment could be interpreted in different ways. So, additional carbon sink" could mean 

1. over and above the carbon sink that existed in the baseline year, or
2. over and above what it would be in the target yet as of 2030 in the business-as-usual scenario.

• India's forests and tree cover had a carbon sink of 29.38 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2015 and this was projected to increase in a business-as-usual scenario that is without the intervention of any fresh effort to 31. 87 billion tonnes in 2030 according to the FSI analysis.
• The first interpretation of "additional" (over and above the baseline year) would mean India's target would be met if the carbon sink in 2030 was in the range of 31.88 to 32. 38 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
• In the second interpretation (over and above the target year) the target would be between 34. 87 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

6. Persisting ambiguity

• Last year, the government appeared to remove the ambiguity regarding the baseline year for the carbon sink target by committing itself to the baseline of 2005.
• In a written reply to a Parliament question on July 25, 2022, Environment Minister said, "India had already achieved 1.97 billion tonnes of additional carbon sinks as compared to the base year of 2005".
• He added that "the remaining target can be achieved by increasing forest and tree cover of the country through the implementation of various central and state sponsored schemes".
• This announcement of 2005 as the baseline suddenly brought the carbon sink target within easy reach.
• Of course, India was well within its right to select 2005 as the baseline year.
• Under the Paris Agreement, countries themselves are supposed to set their climate targets and this includes the choice of baseline year.
• Additionally, as mentioned earlier, India's emissions intensity target also has 2005 as the base year.
• Several other countries including the United States, use 2005 as the baseline year for their commitments.
• The statement in Parliament also seemed to settle the question of additionality flagged by the FSI analysis.
• The promised addition to the carbon sink would have to be measured against what existed in the baseline year (2005) and not what it was projected to be in the target year (2030) in the business-as-usual scenario. This is not unusual. Additionality is measured in most cases from the baseline year.
• Curiously though just 10 days after the Parliament reply, when India formally submitted its updated international climate commitments to the UN climate body on August 4 last year, the forestry target seemingly settled was again left ambiguous.
• There was no mention of the baseline year in India's formal submission.
• While statements in Parliament are considered the official government position, internationally, India can only be held accountable for what is contained in its official submission to the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
• As of now, this seems to be a minor inconsistency and does not appear to reflect any desire to change the baseline year in future.
• The Environment Ministry has reaffirmed the 2005 baseline in written communication.
• Meanwhile, the rate of increase of carbon stock in India's forests and tree cover has been showing a rising trend, even though the total carbon stock in 2021 was slightly less than what the FSI has projected just two years ago.

For Prelims & Mains

For Prelims: Panchamrit, Paris agreement, Carbon sink, Climate change, Glasgow climate meeting, Forest Survey of India,  For Mains: 1. What is a carbon sink? Discuss India's challenges in achieving a carbon sink target by 2030. (250 Words)

 

Previous year questions

 

1. What would happen if phytoplankton of an ocean were completely destroyed for some reason? [2012] The ocean as a carbon sink would be adversely affected. The food chains in the ocean would be adversely affected. The density of ocean water would drastically decrease. Select the correct answer using the codes given below: (a) 1 and 2 only   (b) 2 only   (c) 3 only    (d) 1, 2 and 3 1. Answer: (a) 2. Consider the following: [2011] Photosynthesis Respiration Decay of organic matter Volcanic activity Which of the above adds carbon dioxide to the carbon cycle on Earth? (a) 1 and 4 only   (b) 2 and 3 only   (c) 2, 3 and 4   (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4 2. Answer: (c)

 

 

Source: The Indian Express

CANCER VACCINES

 

1. Context

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted breakthrough therapy designation to Moderna and Merck's skin cancer vaccine. This allows expedited development and review of drugs intended to treat serious conditions. A new type of cancer vaccine is being developed using technology similar to that used for Covid Vaccines. Decades before COVID vaccines, scientists had been working on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines targeting cancer.

2. How do they work?

• Traditionally, vaccines inject part or all of a weakened virus (or other pathogens) into the body to provoke an immune response.
• mRNA works by injecting only the genetic instructions and allowing the body's cells to make part of the cancer protein (Antigen) itself. This trains the immune system to develop antibodies against the protein.
• When these same proteins are present on an invading tumour cell, the immune system stimulates an immune response against it.
• While COVID mRNA vaccines respond to one antigen- the spike protein on the outside of coronavirus- cancer vaccines act on several antigens present on the tumour surface.
• The mRNA cancer vaccines train the patient's immune system to fight their cancer.
• Most trials are manufacturing vaccines for individual patients based on the specific antigens present in their tumours. It takes around two months to produce a vaccine.

3. How these vaccines are made?

• To make these vaccines, a sample of the patient's tumour and healthy tissue is taken.
• These samples are DNA-Sequenced to compare differences between the DNA in the cancerous cells and the healthy cells.
• Scientists identify problem mutations driving the disease. These can then be used as antigen targets in the mRNA vaccine.
• Bespoke approaches allow scientists to target a wider range of cancer antigens. Targeting multiple antigens decreased the odds that cancer cells will mutate and become resistant to vaccines because the immune system attacks on multiple fronts.
• Personalised medicines are extremely expensive because they are bespoke products.
• Manufacturing costs for bespoke treatments remain high.
• However, with rapidly falling costs of different aspects such as genome sequencing (Some companies are now offering genome sequencing for just US$100), sequencing the entire genome is becoming more viable.
• As large-scale manufacturing increases in future for off-the-shelf vaccines, there will be resource efficiencies that reduce cost.

Image Source: Moderna, CDC, FT

4. What are the vaccines that are in development?

• In December 2022, Moderna and Merck (known outside the United States and Canada as MSD) published the results of its early phase (2b) clinical trial.
• The trial was investigating a combination therapy of an mRNA vaccine and immunotherapy (a drug that stimulates an immune response) in advanced-stage melanoma patients.
• After one year of treatment in 157 patients, they found the combination reduced the risk of cancer recurrence or death by 44%.
• Now, Moderna and Merck plan to follow up their initial trial with a phase 3 trial for advanced melanoma in 2023. Phase 3 trials test for safety and efficacy in larger groups of patients.
• BioNTech has several mRNA cancer candidates in the works, including for advanced melanoma, ovarian cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.
• A third company called CureVac is also developing mRNA vaccines targeting a range of cancers including ovarian, colorectal, head and neck, lung and pancreatic.

5. When will they become available?

• Moderna and Merck's mRNA cancer vaccine was fast-tracked for review by the US FDA in February 2023.
• Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration has not approved the use of mRNAs for use either alone or with other cancer treatments yet.
• In January 2023, the United Kingdom's National Health Service partnered with BioNTech to fast-track the development of mRNA cancer vaccines over the next seven years. Eligible UK cancer patients will get early access to clinical trials from late 2023 onwards.
• In Australia, BioNTech is establishing its Asia-Pacific mRNA clinical research and development centre in Melbourne, in partnership with the Victorian Government. This would develop mRNA vaccines for research and clinical trials, including personalised cancer treatments.
• Moderna will develop Australia's first large-scale mRNA vaccine facility at Monash University by 2024, in partnership with the state and federal government. This will give Australians priority access to mRNA vaccines made locally.

6. What technology is used for?

• Aside from cancer, there is huge potential to use mRNA technologies across many gene therapies.
• There are studies underway testing mRNA vaccines for various diseases such as evolving COVID strains, seasonal influenza, malaria, HIV, cystic fibrosis and even allergies, giving new hope for many previously incurable diseases.

Previous Year Question

With reference to recent developments regarding ‘Recombinant Vector Vaccines’, consider the following statements: (UPSC 2010) 1. Genetic engineering is applied in the development of these vaccines. 2. Bacteria and viruses are used as vectors. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 Answer: C

For Prelims & Mains

For Prelims: Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), COVID, Pathogens, Antigens, Moderna, BioNtech, Asia-Pacific mRNA clinical research and development centre in Melbourne, malaria, HIV, and cystic fibrosis. For Mains: 1. What are mRNA Vaccines and how does it work? Discuss the significance of the mRNA Vaccine.

 

Source: Down to Earth