✅ ESCAPADE = Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers
✅ NASA’s first multi-spacecraft coordinated orbital mission to study Mars
✅ Consists of twin orbiters — Blue & Gold
✅ Part of NASA’s SIMPLEx (Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration)

📍 Launch & Trajectory
✅ Launched by Blue Origin
✅ Uses “launch-and-loiter” strategy
✅ Spacecraft travel first to Earth–Sun Lagrange Point-2 (L2)
✅ They will wait at L2, then depart for Mars in late 2026

📍 Mission Objectives
✅ Study Mars’ magnetosphere and its long-term evolution
✅ Track real-time effects of solar wind on Mars
✅ Examine atmospheric loss — how solar wind strips Mars’ atmosphere
✅ Generate space-weather & plasma data important for future human exploration

📍 Scientific Significance
✅ First-ever simultaneous multi-point plasma measurements around Mars
✅ Crucial for understanding Mars’ evolution, habitability & atmospheric escape
✅ Supports planning for crewed Mars missions

🔆 UPSC Mains Question
Q. How do small multi-spacecraft missions like ESCAPADE strengthen our understanding of planetary evolution? Discuss their relevance for future human missions to Mars

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🔆 CURRENT AFFAIRS – 16 NOVEMBER 2025

📍 DEFENCE / SECURITY
✅ France released first-ever images of its ASMPA-R nuclear-capable supersonic cruise missile.
• Range: 600 km | Speed: Mach 3 | Engine: Ramjet (dual air intakes)
• Warhead: TNA “dial-a-yield” (100–300 kt)
• Part of France’s air-based nuclear triad.

📍 MILITARY EXERCISES
✅ Exercise Garuda 2025 (India–France) begins at Mont-de-Marsan Air Base, France.
• IAF aircraft: Su-30MKI, C-17 Globemaster, IL-78 tanker
• Focus: Air-to-air combat, BVR tactics, air-defence, joint strike ops
• Builds interoperability with French Air & Space Force.

📍 MINERALS / ECONOMY
✅ Hindustan Zinc Ltd gets licence to mine Tungsten in Andhra Pradesh.
• Tungsten: Critical Mineral, sources — wolframite, scheelite
• Highest melting point: 3410°C
• Uses: Hard alloys, drilling tools, aerospace parts, catalysts

📍 INTERNATIONAL
✅ Greenland passed law restricting foreigners’ property ownership.
• Largest non-continent island | Autonomous territory of Denmark
• Capital: Nuuk | Climate: Polar
• Resources: Coal, REEs, diamonds, iron ore, molybdenum

📍 INDIAN ARMY / REFORMS
✅ Indian Army to induct women soldiers into the Territorial Army.
• TA = part-time volunteer force, 2nd line of defence
• Eligibility: 18–42 yrs, Graduate, must be gainfully employed
• Formally inaugurated: 9 Oct 1949 | Motto: Savdhani Va Shoorta

📍 ENVIRONMENT / ECOLOGY
✅ Research underway on wild dolphin–fisher cooperation in Ashtamudi Lake, Kerala.
• Kerala’s 2nd largest lake | Ramsar Site (2002)
• Fed by Kallada River → drains into Arabian Sea
• Rich biodiversity: 57 bird species, 97 fish species
• Mentioned by Ibn Battuta in 14th century.

📍 CULTURE / HERITAGE
✅ Assam begins process to repatriate 400-year-old Vrindavani Vastra from British Museum.
• Theme: Krishna’s exploits | Technique: Lampas (2 weavers required)
• Created under Srimanta Sankardeva, for Koch King Nara Narayan
• Length: 9.5 metres, originally 15 panels
• Considered the crown jewel of Assamese Vaishnavism.

📍 HEALTH / DISEASE OUTBREAK
✅ Ethiopia reports first outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (WHO).
• Viral hemorrhagic fever like Ebola
• Natural host: Rousettus aegyptiacus (fruit bat)
• Spread: Bodily fluids, contaminated surfaces
• Fatality: Very high | No specific cure; supportive care only.

📍 BIODIVERSITY (ASSAM)
✅ First-ever albinism case recorded in Checkered Keelback (Fowlea piscator).
• Non-venomous freshwater snake
• Habitat: Ponds, marshes, rice fields
• IUCN: Least Concern

📍 TRIBES / SOCIAL JUSTICE
✅ Centre sanctions ₹9 crore under Jan Man Scheme for Maram Naga Tribe (Manipur).
• Group: Tibeto-Burman (Mongoloid)
• Language: Maram, Sino-Tibetan family
• Occupation: Shifting cultivation, wet rice farming
• Festivals: Punghi (July), Kanghi (Dec), Mangkang (April – women’s festival)

#CurrentAffairs

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