CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches with the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft onboard, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022, from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Detailed explanation-2: -NOAA added two new Earth-observing satellites to its fleet in 2022. On March 1, 2022, the latest GOES satellite-GOES-T-launched from Kennedy Space Force Base. Once in orbit, it was renamed GOES-18 and provided a stunning first-light image of our hemisphere.

Detailed explanation-3: -The ionosphere is home to many low-Earth orbiting satellites, including the International Space Station. It also acts as a conduit for many of our communications signals, such as radio waves and the signals that make GPS systems work.

Detailed explanation-4: -NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales launched a satellite into space this month as part of a $1.2 billion mission that will measure the height of water in oceans, lakes and rivers across more than 90 percent of the globe’s surface.