What to Read in Indian Express Editorial( Topic and Syllabus wise)

Editorial1: How Shubhanshu Shukhla’s Dragon spacecraft docked with ISS

Context

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukhla and three others docked with the International Space Station (ISS) recently.

Docking and the challenge

• Docking is a process by which two spacecraft are joined in space.
• The capability to bring together two spacecraft is necessary for missions involving heavy spacecraft that cannot be launched by a single vehicle.
• The ISS, for instance, comprises 43 different modules and elementsthat were assembled to form an integrated whole in space over the course of years, beginning in 1998.
• The central challenge of space docking is that it requires two spacecraft travelling at speeds of thousands of kilometres per hour to align their orbits,come close to one another, before making contact and joining.
• This requires sophisticated algorithms and sensors that accurately calculate the position of the two spacecraft and determine the path to be taken, as well as the capability to precisely manifest these calculations into the actual manoeuvringof the spacecraft using thrusters.
• In the case of the ISS, which orbits Earth at an altitude of more than 400 km, the procedure takes place while both the space station and the approaching vehicle are travelling at speeds of around 27,000 km/h.
• Till date, only four countries — the US, Russia (and the erstwhile Soviet Union), China, and most recently, India— have demonstrated the capability to carry out space docking.

The process

• Docking is not a single manoeuvre — it comprises tens of minute but essential manvouvres which eventually result in two spacecraft coming together.
• While specifics may differ depending on the spacecraft involved, here’s a broad overview. Note that nowadays, the docking process is completely autonomous.
• The first stage of the process is aligning the orbits of the spacecraft and the ISS. This is done over the course of many hours, through a number of thruster burns that slowly align the approaching vehicle’s orbit to the ISS.
• The SpaceX Dragon is equipped with 16 Draco thrusters placed across the spacecraft, each capable of producing 90 pounds of force in the vacuum of space which helps propel it to the desired trajectory and adjust its orientation.
• This puts the Dragon on a rough trajectory towards the docking port of the spacecraft— only very precise, minor adjustments need to be made here on.
• After getting in a range of a few hundred metres to the ISS, the approaching vehicle enters what is known as the “final approach corridor”.
• Here, laser ranging and thermal imagers provide precise measurements of distance and alignment to the docking port, which is then processed by a suite of onboard computers to make minor adjustments to the spacecraft’s trajectory, if needed.
• Dragon’s final checkpoint, Waypoint 2 (WP-2), is 20 meters from the ISS, where it can hold position if needed.
• Once it reaches within 5 meters—about 25 seconds from docking—it hits the CHOP (Crew Hands Off Point), beyond which no manual intervention is allowed, and any abort sequence is automatically triggered by the capsule.
• The Dragon’s soft capture ring makes initial “soft contact” with the International Docking Adapter (IDA) used by all American vehicles to the ISS.
• Soft contact coarsely aligns the two spacecraft for the “hard capture”which sees the Dragon’s 12 hooks extend and lock in with the IDA.

Conclusion

• The whole process, from soft contact to hard capture, takes around ten minutes to take place, after which docking is said to be completed.
• Pressure between the spacecraft and the ISS is equalised, a number of checks are carried out, and only then are the hatches opened, allowing the crew to enter the ISS.

 

Editorial2: Filling in details

Context

Government’s decision to conduct a household income survey is welcome. It should learn from past exercises and experiences of other countries.

Steps to plug gaps

• In the past few years, the government has taken several steps to plug gaps in data availability.
• Recently, it announced the dates for carrying out the Census. This week, it took another step towards making information robust — a household income survey has been tentatively scheduled for 2026.
• An expert committee has been formed to guide the statistics office in this endeavour.

A household income survey

• The government has attempted to collect household income data in the past as well. But these exercises have not yielded the desired results.
• For instance, data on household receipts and disbursements was collected as part of the Integrated Household Surveys during July 1964-June 1965 and July 1969-June 1970.
• But the estimates of income were lower than the estimates of consumption and savingsput together.
• Such underestimation is not confined to survey estimatesof household income. The household consumption expenditure surveys have also been criticised for underestimating consumption when compared to the expenditure estimates in the National Accounts.
• Some other surveys do collect information on income, but their scope is limited. For instance, the periodic labour force surveyscollect data on wages and salaries of casual labour and regular wage/salaried employment.
• The Situation Assessment of Agricultural Householdsalso provides estimates of income, though only for a segment of the population.
• The 2019 survey collected information on income from wages, from leasing out land, from crop production (net), farming of animals, and from non-farm business.
• In the absence of an official all-India survey of household incomes, expenditure data from the consumption surveys tends to be used as a proxy.
• This data is used to estimate both poverty and inequality. However, independent surveys such as the India Human Development Surveyshow that inequality based on household income is higher than that based on consumption.

The issues

• There will be several issues to contend with. Households may not accurately report their incomes, with some preferring not to disclose all their avenues of income.
• Some jobs — and thus the incomes that accrue — are seasonal in nature. Respondent recall may not be accurate.
• The extent of underestimation could be greater among households at the higher end of the distribution.
• However, granular data on incomes in society, collected regularly over a period of time, will not only provide a wealth of information about households, but also greatly assist in understanding changes in the economy and society.

Way forward

• Long-running surveys like the University of Michigan’s Panel Study of Income Dynamics, which track individuals and their descendants across multiple parameters, offer valuable insights into the evolving dynamics of the economy and society, making them powerful tools for informed policymaking across generations.