Important Military Exercises for UPSC 2018-19 (Updated)

1. Cope India 2019:  Joint exercise of Air forces of the US and India 
2. KONKAN-18: India-UK Naval exercise
3. IND-INDO CORPAT: India–Indonesia Coordinated Patrol 
4. Samudra Shakti: Inaugural India-Indonesia Bilateral Naval Exercise held at the port of Surabaya, Indonesia
5. Surya Kiran-XIII: India-Nepal joint military
6. Indra 2018: Tri-service joint India-Russia military (proposed to be conducted in India)
7. Maitree 2018: India-Thailand joint military exercise
8. Vostok-2018: Russia's largest military exercise in Siberia (China and Mongolia participated)
9. Rapid Trident: Ukraine's military exercise with NATO members
10. Nomadic Elephant 2018: India-Mongolia joint exercise in Ulaanbaatar
11. MILEX-18: 1st military exercise of BIMSTEC countries held in Pune (Nepal and Thailand did not participate)
12. Aviaindra 18: India-Russia Air Force exercise in Russia
13. Sahyog HOP TAC-2018: 1st India-Vietnam Coast Guards exercise in Bay of Bengal
14. Dharma Guardian - 2018: The first ever joint military exercise between India and Japan to be conducted in Vairengte (Mizoram)
15. Japan-India Maritime Exercise (JIMEX) : Conducted at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh
16. IBSAMAR-VI: A joint Multi – National Maritime Exercise between the Indian, Brazilian and South African Navies, is being held at Simons Town, South Africa
17. Gagan Shakti 2018: To show air dominance over the entire extended region of Indian Ocean Region (IOR). IAF mobilied almost all of its assets to show the strength. It was conducted on western border, eastern border and, in south (maritime time targets in conjunction with Indian Navy).
18. Vajra Prahar: India and USA
19. Shakti IV: India and French
20. KAKADU 2018: Multilateral regional maritime exercise conducted by Australia, Indian Naval Ship Sahyadri participated in the exercise
21. Varun 2018: Bilateral Naval exercise between India and France
22. Khanjar V: India and Kyrgyzstan 
23. EKUVERIN 2017: India-Maldives bilateral military exercise
24. Harimau Shakti: India and Malaysia
25. KAZIND 2018 and PRABAL DOSTYK: India and Kazakhstan
26. Lamitye 2018: India and Seychelles
27. Sagarmatha Friendship-2018/Mt Everest Friendship Exercise-2018: Joint military exercise between Nepal and China (Sagarmatha is the Nepali name for Mt Everest)
28. Pitch Black 2018: A biennial multi-national large force employment warfare exercise was hosted by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Indian Air Force had earlier participated in the exercise as observers and this was for the first time that IAF participated with air assets in the Exercise Pitch Black (PB-18). 
29. Hand-in-Hand 2018: Annual bilateral exercise between India and China
30. SLINEX 2018: Bilateral Naval exercise between India and Sri Lanka

What are Hypergolic fuels or propellants ? [Explainer]

A hypergolic propellant combination used in a rocket engine is one whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other.

The two propellant components usually consist of a fuel and an oxidizer. The main advantages of hypergolic propellants are that they can be stored as liquids at room temperature and that engines which are powered by them are easy to ignite reliably and repeatedly. Although commonly used, hypergolic propellants are difficult to handle due to their extreme toxicity and/or corrosiveness.

In contemporary usage, the terms "hypergol" or "hypergolic propellant" usually mean the most common such propellant combination, dinitrogen tetroxide plus hydrazine and/or its relatives monomethylhydrazine and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine. 

Source: Wikipedia

What is NASA's New Frontiers program ? [Explainer]

Image Source: The Planetary Society

The New Frontiers program is a series of space exploration missions being conducted by NASA with the purpose of researching several of the Solar System bodies, including the dwarf planet Pluto.

NASA is encouraging both domestic and international scientists to submit mission proposals for the program.New Frontiers was built on the innovative approach used by the Discovery and Explorer Programs of principal investigator-led missions. It is designed for medium-class missions that cannot be accomplished within the cost and time constraints of Discovery, but are not as large as Large Strategic Science Missions (Flagship misions). There are currently three New Frontiers missions in progress: New Horizons, which was launched in 2006 and reached Pluto in 2015, Juno, which was launched in 2011 and entered Jupiter orbit in 2016, and OSIRIS-REx, launched in September 2016 towards asteroid Bennu for detailed studies from 2018 to 2021 and a sample return to Earth in 2023.  

Source: Wikipedia  

What is NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission ? [Explainer Videos]

The OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) is a NASA asteroid study and sample-return mission. Launched on 8 September 2016, its mission is to study asteroid 101955 Bennu, a carbonaceous asteroid, and return a sample to Earth on 24 September 2023 for detailed analysis. The material returned is expected to enable scientists to learn more about the formation and evolution of the Solar System, its initial stages of planet formation, and the source of organic compounds that led to the formation of life on Earth. If successful, OSIRIS-REx will be the first U.S. spacecraft to return samples from an asteroid. 

 

Source: Wikipedia

 

What is Chang'e 4 ? [Explainer]

Chang'e 4 (Chinese: 嫦娥四号; pinyin: Cháng'é sìhào) is a planned Chinese lunar exploration mission, to be launched in December 2018, that will incorporate an orbiter, a robotic lander and rover. Chang'e 4 will be China's second lunar lander and rover. It was built as a backup to Chang'e 3, as Chang'e 2 was to Chang'e 1. Following the successful landing of the Chang'e 3 mission, the configuration of Chang'e 4 will be adjusted to meet new scientific objectives. Like its predecessors, the spacecraft is named after Chang'e, the Chinese Moon goddess. 

Source: Wikipedia

What is NASA's Mars InSight Mission ? [Explainer Video]

 

InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport)

Source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory