🚀 END OF AN ERA – ISS TO BE RETIRED BY 2030

📅 Background

• Launched: 1998 (Operational since 2000)
• Partners: 🇺🇸 NASA, 🇷🇺 Roscosmos, 🇪🇺 ESA, 🇯🇵 JAXA, 🇨🇦 CSA
• Purpose: Microgravity research, international cooperation, and long-term human presence in space.
• Orbit: ~400 km above Earth in Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
• Continuous human presence: Over 25 years, with >250 astronauts from 20+ nations.

⚠️ Why ISS is Being Retired

• Ageing infrastructure: Structural fatigue, pressure leaks, power & cooling issues.
• High maintenance costs: ~$3–4 billion/year (mainly borne by NASA).
• Safety & sustainability: Rising risk of failure or debris creation.
• Strategic shift: NASA and partners want to focus on deep-space missions (e.g., Artemis, Lunar Gateway).

🚀 The Retirement Plan

• Timeline: Gradual phase-out → complete decommissioning by 2030.
• Controlled deorbit: ISS will be guided to a remote Pacific Ocean zone (“Point Nemo”) – most debris will burn up in the atmosphere; the remainder will sink into the ocean.
• After 2030: Transition to commercial space stations operated by private players under NASA’s Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) program.

🧭 What Comes Next

🌐 NASA’s New Strategy:
• No new government-owned ISS replacement.
• Shift to Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) — NASA as a customer, not owner.
• Companies involved:
Axiom Space → Building modules that will detach into a private station.
Blue Origin (“Orbital Reef”), Voyager Space (“Starlab”), and Sierra Space → developing commercial stations.
• Goal: Maintain U.S. presence in LEO while freeing funds for Moon & Mars exploration.

🌍 Global Implications

• End of a symbol of post–Cold War cooperation between the USA & Russia.
• Opens opportunities for emerging space nations (like India) to collaborate on new orbital labs.

🧠 Key Takeaways for UPSC Aspirants

📚 GS Paper-3 (Science & Technology): Human spaceflight infrastructure, research in microgravity, orbital platforms.
📚 GS Paper-2 (International Relations): Global cooperation in ISS (USA, Russia, Europe, Japan, Canada); transition to commercial models signals shift in space policy.
📚 GS Paper-4 (Ethics & Governance): Use of public-private partnerships in space, inter-generational responsibility for orbital assets, managing space-heritage.
📚 Essay Angle: “From public space outpost to commercial low-earth platforms: the evolution of human presence in orbit.”

🛰️⚠️ GPS Spoofing: Cyber Threat to Aviation & National Security

📍 What is GPS Spoofing?

• GPS spoofing is a cyber-attack technique where false GPS signals are transmitted to mislead receivers (like aircraft, ships, or phones) about their actual location, speed, or time.
• Unlike GPS jamming (which blocks signals), spoofing feeds fake but realistic navigation data — tricking systems into following incorrect coordinates.
🧠 Think of it as a “deepfake for navigation data.”

✈️ Recent Case: Delhi Airport Disruption (Nov 2025)

• Over 800 flights delayed/diverted at Delhi’s IGI Airport due to GPS spoofing incidents.
• Aircraft receiving fake position signals faced difficulty using GPS-based landing systems (Required Navigation Performance).
• Detected up to 60 nautical miles from IGIA – 🚨 First Large-Scale Aviation Spoofing Event in India 🚨
• Coincided with easterly wind operations (reverse runway use), adding to congestion.

⚙️ Impact of GPS Spoofing

🚨 Aviation Safety Risk: Aircraft may stray off path → risk of runway deviation or near-miss.
🛰️ Navigation Disruption: Misleads ATC and pilots relying on satellite navigation.
🧱 Infrastructure Vulnerability: Airports, ports, and drones using GNSS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, NavIC) become potential targets.
🛡️ National Security Angle: Can be exploited for espionage, sabotage, or warfare.

🛠️ Countermeasures & Policy Response

📍DGCA Action: Ordered immediate review and upgrade of Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) at IGIA.
📍Airlines Advisory: Pilots to cross-verify GPS with alternative navigation aids (VOR/DME/ILS) and report anomalies.
📍Long-term Needs:
1. Cyber-hardening of Air Traffic Control (ATC) networks.
2. Integration of NavIC (India’s own satellite navigation) for redundancy.
3. AI-based spoofing detection & signal authentication.
4. International cooperation under the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for anti-spoofing protocols.

🌍 Key Takeaways for UPSC Aspirants

📚 GS Paper-3: Cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, aviation technology
📚 GS Paper-2: Emphasises the interplay between civil aviation safety (DGCA), international aviation norms (ICAO) and national security
📚 GS Paper-4: Raises ethical governance questions – preparedness, resilience, risk mitigation in critical infrastructure
📚 Essay: “Invisible threats in a connected world: Cyber risks in air and space”
“When GPS signals become weapons – safeguarding civil aviation in the digital age”

💣 AMMONIUM NITRATE – The Fertiliser That Can Turn into a Bomb

🏙️ In News: Red Fort Blast (Nov 2025)

• Investigators found traces of ammonium nitrate–based explosives in the Delhi Red Fort car blast.
• Linked to a 350 kg ammonium nitrate haul seized in Faridabad.
• Shows how easily a fertiliser supply chain can be misused for terror manufacturing.

⚗️ What It Is

• Ammonium Nitrate (NH₄NO₃) – a common fertiliser providing nitrogen to crops 🌾
• White crystalline solid — stable alone, but when mixed with fuel, it becomes explosively unstable.
🧪 Mix it with fuel oil (diesel, kerosene) → you get ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil) — a cheap, powerful explosive used in mining… and sadly, in terror attacks too.
🔹 Remember: Stable Alone, Deadly Together →Ammonium Nitrate + Fuel Oil + Detonator = ANFO Explosion 💥

💥 Why It’s Dangerous

• Acts as an oxidiser — supplies oxygen for rapid combustion.
• When contaminated or confined → violent detonation with temperatures >2,500 °C.
• Shock-waves + gas expansion → massive blast radius (e.g., Beirut 2020 explosion 🔥).
⚠️ 1 tonne of ANFO = equivalent to hundreds of kilograms of TNT!

🏛️ Regulation in India

• Governed by Ammonium Nitrate Rules, 2012 under the Explosives Act, 1884.
• Supervised by PESO (Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation).
• Storage, sale, and transport require strict licensing.
• Still, illegal diversion & smuggling remain challenges.

🌍 Key Takeaways for UPSC Aspirants

• GS Paper-3 (Internal Security/Science & Tech): Recognise how chemical substances (fertiliser-chemicals) become dual-use threats.
• GS Paper-2 (Governance & Policy): Importance of regulatory regimes (PESO/DM/NIA), forensic linkage, intelligence and supply-chain control.
• GS Paper-4 (Ethics & Public Safety): Responsibility of states in ensuring that common chemicals do not become weapons, balancing agricultural needs & security.
• Essay: “When science meant for life becomes a tool of destruction”.

🍼☢️ URANIUM FOUND IN BREAST MILK?

A recent scientific study has triggered national debate after detecting traces of Uranium (U-238) in breast-milk samples from districts in Bihar. But what does this really mean?

🔎 What the Study Found
• Uranium detected in all samples tested (across 6 districts).
• Levels ranged up to ~5 µg/L — NOT immediately toxic, but worth investigating.
• ~70% infants had a “Hazard Quotient” > 1 → possible long-term risk if exposure continues.

💡 Should Mothers Stop Breastfeeding?

❌ NO.
Experts clarify:
• Uranium in these amounts is below many international water safety thresholds.
• Uranium does NOT accumulate significantly in breast milk.
• Breastfeeding remains far safer and healthier than alternatives.
✔️ Issue to fix = environmental contamination, NOT breastfeeding.

🧬 Why Uranium is a Concern

• Uranium = heavy metal, not just radioactive material.
• Chronic exposure may affect:
o ⚠️ Kidney function
o ⚠️ Bone & neurological development (infants are more vulnerable)
• Source suspicion: groundwater contamination from natural geology or human activities.

🌍 Why This Matters for India

This case highlights the Environment → Water → Human Health chain:
• Contaminated groundwater → enters household water → enters mother’s body → appears in breast milk.
• Echoes past issues with arsenic & fluoride in Indian groundwater.

🏛️ UPSC Takeaways

GS-3 (Environment & Health): Heavy-metal contamination, Public health surveillance, and Drinking water safety under Jal Jeevan Mission
GS-2 (Governance): Need for stronger water-quality monitoring
Ethics / Essay: “Environmental neglect burdens the most vulnerable – even infants.”

The exact schedule of Science and Technology will be this:

1) Hardcopy by the 25th of March
2) Chapter-wise PDFs starting from March 1st on live.pmfias.com (1 Chapter every day; total 32 chapters)
2) Full PDF by the 31st of March (live.pmfias.com)

The delay in Science and Technology is mostly due to quality enhancement. It's a tough dynamic subject with unending syllabus.

PMF IAS Science and Technology 1st Edition Full PDF is now available for Purchase/Download.

Purchase/Download link: https://live.pmfias.com/new-courses/65

Contents and Sample: https://drive.google.com/sample

🚀 S&T REVISION SERIES FOR PRELIMS 2026 BEGINS TODAY

From today onwards, we begin a structured revision of Science & Technology for UPSC CSE Prelims 2026.

🎯 This series will help you:
✔ Revise important current affairs-linked topics
✔ Identify which sections of the PMF IAS S&T book to focus on more
✔ Avoid reading the book randomly and instead cover it strategically

📘 How to use this series:
👉 Follow daily posts
👉 Revise the mentioned sections from the book
👉 Solve MCQs and track your understanding

⚠️ Remember:
This is NOT about reading everything.
This is about smart revision + right focus areas.

Let’s begin. Stay consistent. 💪

Attempt the above MCQs to assess your level of conceptual clarity regarding CRISPR-Cas9 technology.