Prelims Focus 31st August 2026

31/08/2026

19 3 minutes read

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

In News: NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope aims to survey the cosmos 1,000 times faster than Hubble. Operating from the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, this flagship observatory will map billions of galaxies to decode dark energy, discover thousands of hidden exoplanets, and test cosmic gravity.

Overview & Objectives

Naming: Named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, known as the “mother of Hubble”.
Location: Positioned at the second Lagrange point (L2), roughly 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
Capability: Features a field of view 100 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope.

Key Scientific Goals

Dark Energy & Dark Matter: Measures light from over a billion galaxies to understand the universe’s accelerating expansion.
Exoplanet Hunting: Utilizes a specialized coronagraph to block starlight and directly image faint planets and protoplanetary disks.
Cosmic Testing: Evaluates Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity on a massive cosmic scale.

ADxFluor

In News: Researchers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in Bengaluru developed ADxFluor, a portable, low-cost, smartphone-integrated platform for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. It uses a specialized molecular probe called TZ-48 to measure amyloid-beta biomarkers in biofluids.

Key Features of ADxFluor

TZ-48 Probe: A smart molecule that binds to misfolded amyloid-beta fibrils and creates a bright “turn-on” light signal.
Smartphone App: Captures and measures changes in light intensity to calculate biomarker levels in blood or spinal fluid.
Low Cost: Replaces expensive hospital machines like PET or MRI scans with a quick, point-of-care test.
High Access: Allows for easy screening in local clinics or remote areas before memory loss starts.

Name change of Lake Ontario to “Lake America”

In News: The U.S. President changed the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” as he got into a feud with Canada.

Lake Ontario is a component of the Great Lakes system, including Lake Huron, Michigan, Erie and Superior.
It is the smallest surface area of North America’s 5 Great Lakes.
It is part of the international boundary between the United States and Canada.
It is formed primarily by the Niagara River, and in the eastern part, Lake Ontario flows into the Saint Lawrence River.

Emergency Credit Linked Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 5.0

In News: The Emergency Credit Linked Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 5.0 will be in operation till it runs up against the limit of its guarantee cover of ₹2.5 lakh crore and the guarantees will be sanctioned on a first-come, first-served basis.

Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 5.0 was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2026.
It aims to provide risk mitigation to lending institutions to lend more to borrowers, helping them to manage cash flow shocks and continue operations.
Its goal is to offer quick and extensive liquidity support for companies impacted by the West Asia geopolitical situation.
Key aspects of the scheme:
- Eligible Borrowers: MSMEs and Non-MSMEs with working capital limitations, and also scheduled passenger airlines with outstanding credit facilities as on March 31, 2026, shall be eligible Borrowers, provided that their accounts are standard.
- Coverage guarantee: 100% for MSMEs and 90% for non-MSMEs and the airline sector.
- Guarantee Fee: None.
- Additional credit: Quantum of Support: Rs.20% of the peak working capital usage (maximum of Rs.100 crore) in Q4 FY26.
- For airlines: Up to 100% (up to a limit of Rs.1,500 crore per borrower, if meeting certain particular conditions)
- For MSMEs/Non MSMEs (excluding the airline sector): Term of Loan is 5 years from the date of first disbursement, with a moratorium of 1 year.
- For the airline industry: 7 years from the first disbursement with 2 years’ grace period.

Barrier Lake

In News: While Nepal struggles to recover from the devastating flood, it now has another threat from flooding due to the potential of a large breach of “a significant barrier lake” on the Tibetan side.

The Chinese authorities have termed this a barrier lake, but it is better known as a landslide dam or lake.
It forms in a river valley when all debris from a landslide has blocked a stream or river.
Earthquakes and heavy rainfall are the most common causes of these types of landslides.
The temporary lakes can store massive amounts of water without any discharge.
When water builds up, it may overtop or rupture the dam, creating an LLOF, or landslide lake outburst flood, that can be devastating.
This is comparable to a GLOF (glacial lake outburst flood) that happens when the dammed water from a glacier or a moraine bursts through.
The length of time for a breach may range from days to as long as decades after the dam has been built.

T.O.F. (Tank Overhaul Facility) in M.P

In News: Defence Minister laid the foundation stone of overhauling of T-Series tank project at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.

Objective: To set up facilities for overhauling T-72 and T-90 tanks at Vehicle Factory, M.P.
It seeks to augment Army’s operational readiness of the armoured fleet.
The new facility will be able to overhaul 80 tanks per year.
The Army has a requirement of 230 tanks to be overhauled annually and the factory at Chennai, Heavy Vehicles, can process 150 tanks a year.
The Jabalpur plant, therefore, will be capable of filling the current gap in capacity and would enable the Army to get refurbished tanks faster.