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- December 2018
Index
Toppers Talk
Governance & Social Justice
- Generic Only Model : Concepts and Concerns
- Consumer Protection Bill 2018 Passed By Lok Sabha
- Global Burden of Disease Report by Lancet
- Adivasis in Chhattisgarh & M.P.
- Menstrual Hygiene for Rural Women
- Global Nutrition Report 2018
- What Is Sextortion Law J&k
- Human Microbiome
- Tele-Robotic Surgery
- Prevention of Malaria’s Side Effects
- Opioid Overdose Crisis
International Relations
- India To Give Bhutan Rs. 4500 Crore
- IMO’s New Rule for Oil
- G20 Summit 2018
- Geopolitical Importance of Island States
- Strengthening Of Boko Haram
- US China Trade War
- Why India Paying Iran with Rupees?
- Trans Regional Maritime Pact
- Trump’s Syria Withdrawal
- India will Give Maldives $1.4 Billion
- Australia Recognized West Jerusalem As Israeli Capital
- China Taiwan Relations Indepth analysis
- Shahpur Kandi Dam Project Get Approval
- Qatar Exit To OPEC
Economy
- Farm Loan Waivers Good or Bad?
- Issues with ultra mega power projects
- Importance of Soybean for Malwa Region
- What is Public Credit Registry ?
- Financial Literacy for Financial Inclusion, Jan Dhan Yojna
- Dharavi Redevelopment Project 2018
- Bogibeel Bridge
- Global Wage Report 2018
- RBI 5th Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy
- Direct Benefit Transfer for Electricity
- Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
- National Pension System
- Troubling Power Sector
- Train 18: Fastest Train in Nation
- Oxytocin Ban Removed
Defence & Security
Disaster Management
Science & Technology
- Mission Gaganyaan Approved
- Ethanol Blending
- Project Dragon Fly
- Swaminathan Calls GM Crops A Failure
- China’s Change E-4 Mission
- 3D printing in Pharma sector
- Womb Transplant
- Supreme Court On Rafale Deal
- GSAT-7A Launched
- Saturn to Lose Its Rings
- ISRO’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle
- Bharat Net Project
- Indian Navy gets Submarine Rescue System
- Transgenic Rise with Reduced Arsenic
- Global Hackathon on Artificial Intelligence
- Cheap Hydrogen Production
- NASA’s Insight Spacecraft
- Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti
- Life on Titan (Saturn’s Moon)
Environment
- What is COP 24 ?
- What is rat-hole mining
- Structural Reform for Decarbonising India
- Marine Vegetation To Mitigate Ocean Acidification
- Impact of Ocean Warming On Great Southern Reef
- What is Bio-Diversity Offsetting
- Atmospheric Iodine Will Destroy bad Ozone
- UN’S WMO : 2018 4th Hottest Year On Record
- Effects of Drugs Discharge into Yamuna river
Spice of the Month
Prelims Capsule

Relevance
GS 3 || Science & Technology ||Space ||Space Missions
Why in news ? :
- Chinese probe, the Chang’e-4, has entered a planned orbit “to prepare for the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon”. China launched the Chang’e-4 probe earlier this month, carried by a Long March-3B rocket.
Background:
- The Moon is tidally locked to Earth, rotating at the same rate that it orbits our planet, so the far side is never visible from Earth. The probe, the Chang’e-4, is expected to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the Moon. Previous spacecraft have seen the far side of the Moon, but none has landed on it.
- The far side of the moon known as ‘South Pole-Aitken Basin’ still remains a mystery among space scientists and by sending a probe there, China will outdo the historical achievements of the US and USSR.
About the mission
- 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 includes 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.
Objectives of the mission
- To measure lunar surface temperature over the duration of the mission.
- Measure the chemical compositions of lunar rocks and soils.
- Carry out low-frequency radio astronomical observation and research.
- Study of cosmic rays.
- Observe the solar corona, investigate its radiation characteristics and mechanism, and to explore the evolution and transport of coronal mass ejections (CME) between the Sun and Earth.
Significance of the mission
- According to experts, landing on the far side of the moon is undoubtedly one of the most challenging missions ever launched by any of the world’s superpowers.
History of China’s lunar exploration programmes:
- China began their lunar exploration program in 2007 by launching a simple lunar orbiter named ‘Chang’e 1’. The second mission in the program named ‘Chang’e 2’ was launched in 2010, and it was later followed by the third mission ‘Chang’e 3’. ‘Chang’e 3’ made headlines all around the world as it marked the first soft moon landing since 1976.