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Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the solar system, is located on which planet?
- Earth
- Venus
- Mars
- Io
Answer: Mars
Olympus Mons on Mars stands about 22 km high, nearly three times the height of Mount Everest, making it the largest known volcano in the solar system.
Which U.S. President announced the goal of landing a man on the Moon before the decade was out?
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- John F. Kennedy
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Richard Nixon
Answer: John F. Kennedy
President John F. Kennedy declared this goal in a speech to Congress on May 25, 1961, initiating the Apollo program that culminated in the 1969 Moon landing.
The EOS series of ISRO satellites replaced the earlier _______ designation for earth observation missions.
- INSAT
- IRS
- GSAT
- Cartosat
Answer: IRS
ISRO renamed its earth observation satellites from IRS (Indian Remote Sensing) to EOS (Earth Observation Satellite) starting with EOS-01 in 2020 to better reflect mission purpose.
White dwarfs are the remnants of low-to-medium mass stars like our Sun.
- True
- False
Answer: True
After exhausting nuclear fuel, stars like the Sun shed their outer layers as planetary nebulae, leaving behind a dense core called a white dwarf.
The crew escape system tested for Gaganyaan is designed to pull the crew module away safely during which phase?
- Re-entry only
- Launch abort scenarios
- Orbital operations
- Landing
Answer: Launch abort scenarios
The Crew Escape System (CES) is designed to rapidly separate the crew module from the launch vehicle in case of emergencies during ascent, ensuring astronaut safety.
Trojan asteroids share their orbit with which planet?
- Mars
- Jupiter
- Saturn
- Earth
Answer: Jupiter
Jupiter trojans are asteroids that share Jupiter's orbit around the Sun, clustered near the stable Lagrange points L4 and L5, 60° ahead and behind the planet.
ISRO's Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) completed its first autonomous landing test in _______.
- 2016
- 2019
- 2023
- 2025
Answer: 2023
The RLV-TD LEX (Landing Experiment) successfully demonstrated autonomous landing on a runway at Aeronautical Test Range, Chitradurga, in April 2023.
Reusable launch vehicles aim to reduce the cost of access to space.
- True
- False
Answer: True
By recovering and reusing major components (like boosters), launch costs can be significantly reduced compared to expendable rockets. SpaceX's Falcon 9 is a prominent example.
Dark matter constitutes approximately what percentage of the total mass-energy content of the universe?
- 5%
- 27%
- 68%
- 95%
Answer: 27%
Current cosmological models estimate dark matter makes up ~27% of the universe, dark energy ~68%, and ordinary (baryonic) matter ~5%.
The Artemis program, aiming to return humans to the Moon, is led by _______.
- ESA
- NASA
- Roscosmos
- CNSA
Answer: NASA
Artemis is NASA's lunar exploration program, with international partners, aiming to land the first woman and next man on the Moon's south pole region.
NavIC signals are compatible with which frequency bands?
- L1 only
- L5 and S-band
- L2 and L5
- S-band only
Answer: L5 and S-band
NavIC transmits navigation signals in the L5 band (1176.45 MHz) and S-band (2492.028 MHz). Future satellites may include L1 band compatibility for wider civilian use.
What type of galaxy is the Milky Way classified as?
- Elliptical
- Irregular
- Barred Spiral
- Lenticular
Answer: Barred Spiral
The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, characterized by a central bar-shaped structure composed of stars, from which spiral arms extend.
Aditya-L1 carries _______ scientific payloads to study the Sun.
- Three
- Five
- Seven
- Nine
Answer: Seven
Aditya-L1 carries seven payloads: four for remote sensing (e.g., VELC, SUIT) and three for in-situ measurements (e.g., ASPEX, PAPA), studying the photosphere, chromosphere, corona, and solar wind.
Laika, the dog sent into space by the Soviet Union in 1957, survived the mission and returned to Earth.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Laika died during the flight aboard Sputnik 2 due to overheating and stress. There was no technology at the time to return the spacecraft safely to Earth.
Which stage of PSLV uses solid propellant?
- Only first stage
- First and third stages
- Second and fourth stages
- All stages
Answer: First and third stages
PSLV is a four-stage vehicle alternating between solid and liquid propulsion. The first (PS1) and third (PS3) stages use solid propellants, while the second (PS2) and fourth (PS4) use liquid propellants.
The Oort Cloud is theorized to be the source of which type of comets?
- Short-period comets
- Long-period comets
- Asteroids
- Meteoroids
Answer: Long-period comets
The Oort Cloud is a hypothetical spherical shell of icy objects surrounding the solar system at distances up to 100,000 AU. It is believed to be the reservoir of long-period comets.
The Space Applications Centre (SAC) of ISRO, focusing on satellite payload development, is located in _______.
- Bengaluru
- Ahmedabad
- Thiruvananthapuram
- Sriharikota
Answer: Ahmedabad
SAC is located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It designs and develops payloads for communication, navigation, and remote sensing satellites.
India became which numbered country/agency to successfully reach Mars orbit on its first attempt?
- First
- Second
- Third
- Fourth
Answer: First
With Mangalyaan's success in 2014, ISRO became the first space agency in the world to reach Mars orbit on its maiden attempt. Previous attempts by USA, USSR, and others had failures before success.
Europa, a moon of Jupiter, is believed to have a subsurface ocean beneath its icy crust.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Scientific evidence strongly suggests Europa harbors a global saltwater ocean beneath its ice shell, making it a prime target in the search for extraterrestrial life.
Which space agency operates the Gaia mission to map over a billion stars in the Milky Way?
- NASA
- ESA
- JAXA
- Roscosmos
Answer: ESA
Gaia is a space observatory of the European Space Agency (ESA), launched in 2013. Its goal is to create the most precise three-dimensional map of our galaxy.