(Current Affairs For SSC Exams) Sci & Tech,Dec. 2012 - Prithvi II Missile

Science & Technology

December 2012

Topic : Prithvi II Missile Sucessfully Test Fired

India on 4 October 2012 successfully test fired its indigenously developed, nuclear-capable ballistic missile Prithvi-II from a test range in Odisha. The missile was test fired by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha.

All the radars and electro-optical systems along the coast have monitored the missile throughout its flight path. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have developed Prithvi-II for the Indian Air Force for deep interdiction and the missile can be armed with a nuclear warhead weighing 500 kg. In this flight, it carried conventional explosives.

Prithvi-II is a user-friendly missile which has a completely guided trajectory.

The SFC had earlier launched it on August 25, 2012 and the flight was successful. The Indian Army is already armed with the single-stage Prithvi-II, which uses liquid propellants.
From July 2012 onwards the Strategic Forces Command had launched a series of strategic missiles including Agni-I, Agni-II and Agni-III. It is one of the five missiles that were developed under the country’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.

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  • A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences involving the use of camera traps indicates that tigers in Chitwan National Park, Nepal are walking the same paths as people, albeit at different times

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  • Small fragments of keratin protein in the eye can help keep pathogens at bay, finds a University of California, Berkeley study. The finding could lead to new, inexpensive antimicrobial drugs

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  • A new study, by scientists from the Universities of York, Glasgow and Leeds, of fossil and geological records going back 540 million years, suggests that biodiversity increases as the planet warms.

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