Select Your Preferred Language

Please choose your language to continue.

ISRO inaugurates HOPE Analog Mission in Tso Kar Valley, Ladakh | Current Affairs | Vision IAS
Monthly Magazine Logo

Table of Content

News In Shorts

Posted 04 Sep 2025

Updated 06 Sep 2025

8 min read

ISRO inaugurates HOPE Analog Mission in Tso Kar Valley, Ladakh

Himalayan Outpost for Planetary Exploration (HOPE) is a specially designed Habitat Module for crew living and a Utility Module for operations and support systems which are interconnected for seamless workflow.

The HOPE station set up by ISRO aims to simulate space-like conditions on Earth to aid research for future interplanetary missions.

About HOPE Mission

  • Led by: ISRO’s Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC), with industry partners and top Indian institutions.
  • Objectives
    • Simulates extraterrestrial environments like the Moon and Mars.
    • Enables testing of human survival, health protocols, and equipment in space-like environments.
  • Studies to be conducted: 
    • Epigenetics, genomics, physiology, psychology.
    • Sample collection and microbial analysis techniques.
    • Validation of health monitoring and planetary surface operation protocols.
  • Why Tso Kar Valley was chosen?
    • For Mars-like conditions: High UV radiation, Low atmospheric pressure, Extreme cold and Saline permafrost
    • Supports both technological tests and astrobiology research.
  • Part of broader analog missions trend globally, aimed at preparing for long-term extra-terrestrial human missions.
    • Other similar research stations across the World: Mars Desert Research Station of the US, Flashline Mars Arctic Station of Canada, and BIOS-3 of Russia.
Key information of Gaganyaan like its objective, launch vehicle etc.
  • Tags :
  • Gaganyaan
  • HOPE Analog Mission
  • Tso Kar Valley

ISRO’s heaviest rocket Lunar Module Launch Vehicle (LMLV) to be ready by 2035

Key Features of LMLV

  • Design: Improved version of the NGLV (Next Generation Launch Vehicle).
    • As tall as a 40-storey building.
  • Purpose: Lunar missions, including India's first human mission to the Moon planned by 2040.
  • Payload: It can carry 80 tonnes to low Earth orbit (LEO) or approximately 27 tonnes to the Moon.
  • 3 Stages: Liquid propellent for its first two stages and a cryogenic propellant for its third stage.

ISRO's Key Launch Vehicles and Capabilities

  • PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle): ISRO's workhorse, a third-generation vehicle with liquid stages, capable of launching satellites into Sun-synchronous Polar Orbit, LEO, Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) (e.g., Chandrayaan-1, Mars Orbiter Mission).
  • GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle): A fourth-generation, three-stage vehicle designed to launch 2.0-ton class satellites into GTO for communication satellites.
  • LVM 3: A heavy-lift, three-stage vehicle capable of carrying 4-ton class satellites to GTO or about 10 tons to LEO (Chandrayaan-2 and 3).
    • It is proposed to be used for Bharatiya Antariksh Station.
  • SSLV (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle): Three-stage, all-solid propulsion vehicle designed for launching Mini, Micro, or Nano satellites (10 to 500 kg mass).
  • Tags :
  • Lunar Module Launch Vehicle

EU AI Code of Practice on General-Purpose (GPAI)

26 major tech companies, including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and IBM, have voluntarily signed the EU Commission’s AI Code of Practice on GPAI.

  • Code is voluntary, signatories may benefit from enhanced legal certainty and a smoother transition into the binding requirements of the EU AI Act slated to take effect within the next two years.
  • The code has three chapters i.e. transparency, copyright and Safety & Security
  • About EU AI Act
    • EU AI Act is the world’s first comprehensive AI law.
    • The act takes a risk-based approach to regulation, applying different rules to AI according to the risk they pose.
    • It ensures clearer accountability for AI providers, with a direct impact on businesses using generative AI through their value chains and third-party risk management.
    • Much like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the EU AI Act is anticipated to become a global standard, aiming to ensure AI's positive rather than negative effects on lives worldwide.
    • Compliance: Penalties for non-compliance are significant—up to 7% of global turnover.
  • Key concerns raised by companies
    • Code introduces legal uncertainties for model developers and extends beyond the scope of the forthcoming AI Act.
    • Regulatory complexity and administrative burdens may impact Europe’s AI competitiveness
  • Tags :
  • GPAI
  • EU AI Act
  • EU Commission’s AI Code of Practice

Brain-Computer Interface (BCI)

Stanford scientists have created password-protected mind reading Brain-Computer Interface (BCI).

The innovation ensures brain-computer interfaces respect user privacy by requiring mental passwords before decoding thoughts into text or audio.

What is a Brain-Computer Interface?

  • A BCI enables direct brain-to-device communication, translating neural signals into commands. 
    • This bypasses muscular control, allowing users to operate applications with thought alone.
  • BCIs acquire brain activity (via invasive implants or non-invasive wearables), process signals, and send commands, with feedback crucial for user adaptation.
Diagram explaining Brain Computer Interface

Key Applications of BCIs:

  • Medical: Restoring mobility and speech for patients with paralysis, ALS, or stroke.
  • Mental Wellness: Providing feedback for mental health management.
  • Gaming/Industry: Enabling immersive gaming and decision support systems.
  • Cognitive Enhancement: Potential for enhancing memory, attention, and decision making.

Key Concerns Related to BCIs:

  • Cybersecurity: Risks like brain tapping (intercepting private thoughts/beliefs), misleading stimuli attacks (mind control), and adversarial attacks on AI components.
  • Privacy: Protecting sensitive neural data from unauthorized access.
  • Cognitive Liberty: Threat to an individual's mental self-determination.
  • Health Impacts: Unclear long-term consequences of BCI use.
  • Regulatory & Cost: Lack of standardized regulations and high costs limit accessibility.

Way Forward

  • Robust Regulations: Implementing tailored data privacy laws, ensuring transparency and informed consent.
  • Enhanced Security: Developing BCI-specific access controls and defense strategies.
  • Establishing neurorights: To safeguard mental privacy, cognitive autonomy, and freedom of thought of individuals from exploitation and unauthorized interference.
  • Tags :
  • Brain-Computer Interface (BCI)

Annual Fastag Passes

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways launched FASTag Annual Pass facility.

  • Annual Pass eliminates the need to frequently recharge FASTag through one-time fee of Rs. 3,000 for one year or 200 toll plaza crossings. 

About FASTAG

  • It is a device that employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments directly from account while the vehicle is in motion.
    • RFID consists of tags and readers and employs radio waves to communicate information of objects or people to nearby readers.
    • It is a short-range technology.
  • It is managed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
  • Tags :
  • RFID
  • FASTAG
  • FASTag Annual Pass

Maharashtra inks deal with IIT Madras startup(TuTr Hyperloop Pvt Ltd) to build hyperloop

Proposed Linear Induction Motor (LIM)-based hyperloop mobility system will connect Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Navi Mumbai to the upcoming Vadhavan Port in Palghar district.

About Hyperloop Mobility System

  • In 2013, the CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, proposed a concept of ultra-high-speed rail (UHSR) called hyperloop and open-sourced it.
  • It is basically a magnetic levitation (maglev) system where pods travel at ultra-high speeds through low-pressure tubes.
  • Its Functioning and Key Components
    • Hyperloop functions in a sealed tube with minimal air resistance, utilizing vacuums and magnetic levitation for hovering. 
    • Linear Induction Motors (LIM) propels pods silently enabling the theoretical speed of 1,200 km/h.
    • Key components include steel tubes (100Pa pressure), pressurized capsules, a compressor for airflow, and air bearing suspension.
  • Advantages: Ultra-high speeds (e.g., Mumbai-Pune in 25 mins), energy efficiency (potentially carbon-free), noise reduction, and logistics redefinition (moving cargo quickly and efficiently).
  • Issues with technology: Conceptual status, high costs ($25-$27 million/mile for technology), safety concerns (fire in pods, difficult evacuation), vacuum maintenance challenges, demanding straight-line infrastructure requiring new regulations etc.

Substantial financial backing, continuous research and development complemented by new regulatory frameworks are crucial for overcoming technical and safety challenges of hyperloop technology.

  • Tags :
  • Hyperloop

SHRESTH Initiative

Union Health Ministry launched State Health Regulatory Excellence Index (SHRESTH), a national initiative to benchmark and strengthens state drug regulatory systems.

About SHRESTH

  • Proposed by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).
  • Aim: To drive improvements in the performance of state drug regulatory authorities across India, ensuring drug safety and quality standards are consistently met.
  • It will have Indices based on five key themes: Human Resources, Infrastructure, Licensing Activities, Surveillance Activities and Responsiveness.
  • Tags :
  • SHRESTH Initiative
Download Current Article
Subscribe for Premium Features