• Primary objective: Carry out unattended observations for studying the forcing from the sun like variation in solar flare, solar flux and magnetic storm on the ionospheric irregularities.
• Study unattended observations from the underneath atmosphere on the ionospheric irregularities (for e.g. waves generated by weather phenomena).
• Provide important information about the angular location of plasma irregularities during the onset phase. Also establish its relationship to background ionospheric state parameters and sunset terminator.
• Applications: Investigations made using this system are expected to improve the Equatorial Plasma Bubble (EPB) forecasting. It will further be detrimental for satellite based navigation/communication applications.
• Components: The GIRI has a 30 MHz radar system that will be engaged in meteor and space weather research.
• It consists of a rectangular antenna array of 160 two-element Yagi Uda-antenna. It will be arranged in a 20×8 matrix with 20 transmitter units. It also has 6 digital receivers including data processing systems, a host computer and a radar controller.

• IRNSS-1C was launched on October 16, 2014 and IRNSS-1D on March 28, last year.
• The four satellites that were already launched include IRNSS-1A on July 1, 2013, while IRNSS-1B on April 4, 2014.
• IRNSS-1E has a lift off mass of 1,425 kg and carries Corner Cube Retro Reflectors for laser ranging and a highly accurate rubidium atomic clock (also part of the navigation payload of the satellite).
• RNSS-1E is the fifth navigation satellite in the IRNSS space system, comprising seven satellites, which would be on par with US-based GPS once the full complement of spacecraft is launched.
• The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite system, IRNSS, consists of seven satellites to provide real-time data on the position of objects to aid road, air and maritime traffic apart from providing mapping and tracking services.

A Japanese rocket lifted off and successfully put the national space programme’s first commercial satellite into orbit on 24 November 2015

• The first commercial satellite launch was overseen by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
• Japan is aiming to become a major player in the commercial satellite launching business which is worth 2.5 billion dollars a year.
• In this regard, it has tried to improve its H-IIA rocket in order to cut the cost of each launch to make its programme competitive.

•  Japan consists of over 6,800 islands.
• There are three writing systems in the Japanese language – hiragana, katakana, and kanji
• Japanese Trains are among the world’s most punctual: their average delay is just 18 seconds.
• Japan’s birth rate is so low that adult diapers are sold more than baby diapers.
• Sleeping on the job is acceptable in Japan, as it’s viewed as exhaustion from working hard.
• The Kuril Islands dispute is a dispute between Japan and Russia.
• The islands are disputed between China and Japan are Senkaku islands.

Russia’s newest defence satellite EKS Kosmos-2510 was successfully launched into space.

• EKS Kosmos-2510 is early warning satellite and has been deployed as the first satellite in a new fleet of 10 EKS military satellites to be launched by 2018 to form new defence system to detect enemy missile heading towards Russian territory.
• It should be noted that EKS is a Russian acronym that translates to integrated space system. The EKS satellites fleet will replace Russia’s previous Oko early warning system which had its last satellite launch in 2012.

China’s first lunar rover, Yutu, has set the new record for the longest stay by a rover on the lunar surface.

• In 1970, China by successfully launching its first satellite Dongfanghong-1 became the 5th country after USSR, US, France and Japan to launch a domestic satellite using a domestic rocket.
• In the 1990s, China launched its manned space programme and in 2003 successfully sent country’s first astronaut Yang Liwei into orbit on the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft.
• Presently, China is also planning to land a lunar probe on the dark side of the moon which is never visible to Earth to become the first country. The mission will be carried out by Chang’e-4 lunar probe, a backup probe for Chang’e-3.

About Astrosat

• Astrosat is India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory and one of the major scientific mission after the highly acclaimed Chandrayaan-I and Mangalyaan.
• Functions: As a space observatory it has ability to observe celestial bodies like cosmic X-Ray sources and distant stars in different wavelengths simultaneously.
• It will observe the universe through ultraviolet, optical, low and high energy X-ray components of the electromagnetic spectrum.