QUESTION 1

With reference to the stages of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, consider the following pairs:

1. First stage – This stage in the PSLV involves the famous, indigenously developed Vikas engine and a liquid fuel.

2. Second stage – This stage uses a solid propellant as fuel.

3. Third stage – This stage is related to rapid acceleration.

How many of the pairs given above are correctly marked?

(a) Only one pair

(b) Only two pairs

(c) All three pairs

(d) None of the above pairs

Relevance: The question on PSLV is important for USPC prelims, as it is frequently in news. The question tests understanding of basic space technology and stage-wise functioning of rockets. Aspirants should also read about GSLV and SSLV.

Explanation:

— The PSLV, or Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, is what is known as a four-stage rocket. The stages refer to different parts of the rocket, each of which have their own engines and fuel. Each of these stages sequentially take charge of propelling the mission. They get detached and discarded after doing their job. The stages are sometimes also used to refer to the different phases of the mission flight.

— The first stage involves the lift-off. This is a near vertical journey till an altitude of about 50-60 km. This is the stage that requires the most work because the rocket has to fight gravity as well as atmospheric drag. For this reason, this stage needs a very heavy engine and lots of fuel.

— In the case of the PSLV, the first stage uses a solid propellant as fuel. The first stage forms a large part of the rocket, and constitutes the bulk of its weight. This stage lasts barely two minutes, during which a huge amount of fuel is consumed. After the fuel is spent, this part of the rocket becomes deadweight. So, it is jettisoned. It detaches from the main body of the rocket, and falls off, passing the baton to the second stage. Hence, pair 1 is not correct.

— During the second stage, the rocket continues to move vertically — and horizontally at the same time as it prepares to get into orbit. The second stage in the PSLV involves the famous, indigenously developed Vikas engine and a liquid fuel. This stage takes the vehicle to about 220-250 km from Earth’s surface before burning out. Hence, pair 2 is not correct.

— In the third stage, the vehicle is moving almost entirely horizontally, going around the Earth in an orbit, or rather a sub-orbital trajectory. To maintain this trajectory, and avoid falling towards the Earth, it needs to travel at very high velocities, usually 26,000 to 28,000 km per hour. The third stage is, therefore, about rapid acceleration. The PSLV rocket burns solid fuel to achieve this. Hence, pair 3 is correct.

— The vehicle begins to go around the Earth at very high speeds, but does not yet reach its designated orbit. That happens in the fourth stage, which involves precisely placing the satellite in the intended orbit.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

QUESTION 2

With reference to the cosmic rays, consider the following statements:

1. These are particles of which mostly are protons.

2. Cosmic rays travel in straight lines.

3. Cosmic rays originate only from the Sun.

How many of the statements given above are correct?

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(c) All three

(d) None

Relevance: Topics like Cosmic rays are important due to their link with space research. Aspirants must learn about basic physics concepts and sources of radiation. UPSC can frame conceptual traps to check scientific reasoning and elimination skills.

Explanation:

— The cosmic rays aren’t rays at all. They’re particles: mostly protons, but also helium nuclei, electrons, and occasionally heavier atomic nuclei stripped bare of their electrons. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

— They travel through interstellar space carrying enormous amounts of energy packed into something far smaller than an atom.

— The highest-energy cosmic rays, however, remain a genuine mystery. These particles arrive carrying energies so extreme that they shouldn’t even exist – at those energies, particles should interact with the cosmic microwave background radiation permeating all of space and lose energy over long distances.

— Because cosmic rays are charged particles, they don’t travel in straight lines. Magnetic fields – both inside our galaxy and beyond – bend their paths, scrambling their directions over the vast distances they travel. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

— Cosmic rays come from sources like supernova explosions, pulsars, and active galactic nuclei. Smaller fractions are emitted during solar flares. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

QUESTION 3

With reference to the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, consider the following statements:

1. It has completed the first powered and controlled flight on the Red Planet.

2. It has been developed by Nasa.

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

Relevance: The question on Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is important for current affairs-based prelims questions. UPSC can ask factual questions on milestones in space exploration and innovations.

Explanation:

— On April 19, 2021, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter made history when it completed the first powered, controlled flight on the Red Planet. It flew for the last time on Jan. 18, 2024.

— The helicopter completed 72 flights across nearly three years.

— Nasa’s Skyfall mission, expected to launch in December 2028, will include three small helicopters, inspired by Ingenuity, which made history as the first aircraft to fly on another planet.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

(Source: science.nasa.gov)

QUESTION 4

The term ‘Petaflop’ refers to a:

(a) unit of computing speed equal to one quadrillion floating-point operations per second

(b) unit of data storage used in supercomputers

(c) type of processor architecture designed for parallel computing

(d) measure of energy efficiency in high-performance computing systems

Relevance: The terms like Petaflop are in news due to advancements in supercomputing. The question tests basic awareness of units related to computing. Aspirants must know about these terms and should be able to distinguish between such terms.

Explanation:

— The National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) is executed and managed jointly by DST and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). NSM aims to empower our national academic and R&D institutions across the country by enabling High-Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructures of varied sizes.

— As of now, 39 Petaflops of supercomputers have been built in 37 sites. The most recent infrastructure generation is based on indigenous advancements such as the Rudra server and software stacks. Through NSM, the GoI seeks to reach out to the country’s broad scientific and technological community and provide the country with HPC capacity to solve multidisciplinary grand challenge problems.

— A petaflop (PFLOPS) is a unit of computing speed equal to one quadrillion floating-point operations per second.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

(Source: pib.gov.in)

QUESTION 5

Which of the planets among the solar system have only one moon?

1. Uranus

2. Earth

3. Mars

4. Jupiter

5. Neptune

Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 1, 2 and 5 only

(c) 2 only

(d) 2, 3 and 4 only

Relevance: These types of questions seem easy, but test fundamental astronomy concepts. It will also help in getting clarity on static GK linked with current space missions and discoveries.

Explanation:

— A new set of moons has been discovered orbiting Jupiter and Saturn, raising the number of these celestial bodies to 101 and 285, respectively. The discovery is part of the growing list of natural satellites in the solar system, which now has a total of 442 moons.

— The additions include four new moons of Jupiter and 11 of Saturn, formally reported by the Minor Planet Centre, which tracks and verifies small celestial objects.

— Across the solar system, the numbers continue to rise. Earth has one moon, Mars two, Uranus 28, and Neptune 16, while Venus and Mercury have none.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

Don’t miss | UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week (23–29 March 2026) | UPSC Lifebloods | Hunk of Knowledge

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“Thanks to our new virtual try-on tool on Search, you can see whether a piece is right for you before you buy it,” the tech giant said in a blog post on Wednesday.

“Our new generative AI model can take just one clothing image and accurately reflect how it would drape, fold, cling, stretch, and form wrinkles and shadows on a diverse set of real models in various poses.”

Users can select people ranging in sizes XXS-4XL representing different skin tones, body shapes, ethnicities, and hair types. The US shoppers can now virtually try on women’s tops from brands across Google, including Anthropologie, Everlane, H&M, and LOFT.

To access the feature, users can tap products with the “Try On” badge on Search and select the model that resonates most with them.

The tech giant also announced that US shoppers can now refine products using inputs like colour, style, and pattern, thanks to machine learning and new visual matching algorithms.

“And unlike shopping in a store, you’re not limited to one retailer: You’ll see options from stores across the web. You can find this feature, available for tops to start, right within product listings,” it added.

Source: IANS

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Looking for new ways to make money in a saturating market and a tough economy, Netflix moved to regulate the sharing of account passwords with friends and family – a drastic turnaround for a company that had once tweeted “Love is sharing a password”.

Netflix had estimated that more than 100 million households had supplied their log-in credentials to people outside their homes. Under the new rules, U.S. users can add a member outside of their homes for an additional fee of $8 per month.

Its calculations seem to have paid off as the company recorded nearly 100,000 daily sign-ups on both May 26 and May 27, according to Antenna.

Netflix, which has expanded its crackdown to more than 100 other countries, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The streaming video pioneer saw its four largest days of U.S. user acquisition after the change came into effect in the 4-1/2 years that Antenna has been covering the company.

The recent spike also exceeded levels seen during the initial U.S. COVID-19 lockdowns in March and April 2020, according to Antenna, which sources data from third-party data collectors that track online purchase receipts, credit, debit, and banking data details with permissions.

Source: Reuters

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“This funding will help local publishers overcome tech challenges, and create strategies and tactics for driving audience growth, individual giving, and sponsorship revenue,” Google said in a blog post on Thursday.

Later this summer, the tech giant will launch ‘News Showcase’ in the US, in partnership with over 150 news publications, 90 percent of them local or regional.

The company first launched the News Showcase licensing programme and product experience for news organisations in 2020 and has since expanded to 22 countries globally with more than 2,300 participating publications.

With News Showcase, journalists get to select important stories to include in their curated News Showcase panels and add useful context to help readers understand key issues.

The panels then appear in Google News and Discover, sending readers directly to full articles on a publisher’s website. This helps publishers deepen relationships with their audiences and gives them more direct control of presentation and branding, according to the company.

Moreover, the company is updating the Following tab on Google News to help local publications surface more frequently on Google News and give readers an easier way to find the news that matters to them.

This tab will bring readers the latest updates from the topics, sources and locations they select to follow, like their favourite hobby, publication or their hometown.

The updated Follow feature will be available globally on Android soon and then expand to iOS later this year.

In the coming weeks, Google said it will launch a new survey feature, which will help publishers ask their readers questions to better understand their audience and interests, so they can serve more relevant content and advertisements.

Source: IANS

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Since Tesla CEO Musk acquired Twitter, the platform has struggled to retain advertisers, who have been wary about the placement of their ads after the company laid off thousands of employees.

The move comes as Twitter’s newly named CEO, Linda Yaccarino, an advertising veteran from NBCUniversal, is about to take the helm at the social media platform.

In March, Musk said that the messaging service makes about 5 or 6 cents per hour of attention from users and could raise that to 15 cents or more with advertisements that are more relevant and timely.

Source: Reuters

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“You can transfer your watch to a new phone without resetting it,” reads a section of the screenshot shared by the Reddit user. The report also said that the Google Account on the new phone and watch must match.

Meanwhile, in February this year, it was reported that the company was working on a Galaxy Watch, which will be equipped with a built-in projector.

The company had filed a smartwatch-related patent that mentioned “a projection display on a side portion of the housing and configured to display information on a display area adjacent to the housing.”

The filing further said that “projection display may display information that is different from the information displayed on the display module.”

Source: Bureau

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According to the corporation, this choice intends to democratise cricket and make it available to the greatest number of mobile users in India. 

Sajith Sivanandan, the head of Disney+ Hotstar, made the following official statement: “Disney+ Hotstar has continued to lead the rapidly evolving OTT industry in India, and the various innovations we have introduced to further enhance the viewer experience have allowed us to delight our audiences across the region. We think that making the Asia Cup and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup accessible to a larger audience will aid in the expansion of the ecosystem as a whole.

The business has seen a drop in subscribers as a result of JioCinema streaming IPL 2023 without charge. In an earlier interview with Business Today, Karan Taurani, Senior Vice President – Research Analyst (Media, Consumer Discretionary & Internet) at Elara Capital, said, “We expect a potential negative impact of 50 percent on Disney+ Hotstar’s overall revenue in CY23 as it loses JioCinema.”

Users started moving back to the latter as soon as the WTC Final started on Disney+ Hotstar and the IPL 2023 concluded on JioCinema.

JioCinema provided free cricket viewing during the IPL 2023 (Indian Premier League) for the uninitiated. More than 3.2 crore people watched the IPL championship game between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans on the OTT platform, shattering the previous record of most concurrent views to a live broadcast event.

Soon after JioCinema secured the streaming rights, free broadcasting of IPL cricket matches began. This was a first.

Source: Bureau

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According to The Wall Street Journal, the layoffs will impact 5 per cent of the company’s 2,000-strong workforce.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said in an internal email to employees Tuesday that they had a solid first half of the year, and “this restructuring will position us to carry that momentum into the second half and beyond”.

Reddit is also reducing its hiring plans for the rest of the year to about 100 additional employees (it was expected to hire 300 people).

“Reddit is laying off roughly 90 employees and slowing hiring as it restructures key parts of its business,” the report said.

The move aims to help the social media company break even next year.

According to the company more than 57 million daily active unique visitors engage with more than 100,000 active communities on the platform.

Users have so far contributed more than 13 billion posts and comments globally.

In May, Reddit rolled out new features to make it easier for Redditors and publishers to share content on and off the platform for both iOS and Android users.

Earlier, when a user came across a post, conversation, or meme on Reddit, the company did not make it easy to send it to others.

In addition, Reddit introduced a new toolbox that makes it easier to display Reddit content on their own platforms to make sharing easier for publishers.

Source: IANS

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Samsung could unveil its newest tablet and smartwatch at the next Galaxy Unpacked event next month. According to the corporation, this would be Seoul, the South Korean capital,’s first Unpacked.

A millennial Buddhist temple called Bongeunsa and Teheran-ro will meet at COEX in Samseong-dong, Gangnam, where the Unpacked event will be held. The organisation claims that this special location gives people all around the world the chance to experience Seoul’s compelling fusion of the past, present, and future.

The president and head of Samsung Electronics’ mobile experience (MX) division, TM Roh, stated in a release that “hosting Unpacked in Seoul holds great significance both as it is a city that has become an emerging epicenter of innovation and culture as well as the foldable category.”

Although the company claims the following generation of its foldable series would offer an “enhanced” experience based on years of research, development, and investment, Samsung has not revealed any specifics about the forthcoming products.

As more companies enter the market for folding smartphones, it was speculated last month that Samsung may introduce the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the next-generation Z Fold 5 early this year.

Google only recently introduced the Pixel Fold in a few areas. With the most affordable foldable smartphone, Tecno joined the segment earlier this year. For Rs 88,888, its Phantom V Fold made its debut in India.

However, OnePlus is also anticipated to introduce its first folding phone in India and across the globe the following month. The Motorola Razr 40 and Razr 40 Ultra have been made available worldwide.

The business plans to introduce the Razr 40 and Razr 40 Ultra in India. Since the business released its Edge 40 in the nation a few weeks ago, it might debut next.

Source: Bureau

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