VidBodh AcademyThe art and science of civil services preparation

Science and Technology › Space

हिन्दी

Moon, Sun and planetary missions

Missions to the Moon, the Sun, the planets and the asteroids, India's and other countries'. Prelims has asked about Mangalyaan, the Mars Orbiter Mission.

Foundation note: India's Moon, Mars, Sun and Venus missions

Nothing here changed from 1 to 30 September 2026.Show all

permanently shadowed region: A crater floor near a lunar pole that never receives sunlight, so it stays cold enough to trap water ice for billions of years.

launch window: The span of time within which a launch must happen if the spacecraft is to reach its intended orbit or target efficiently.

Lagrange point: One of five positions where the gravity of two large bodies and the motion of a small one balance, so a spacecraft keeps station with them; L1 lies between the Earth and the Sun.

Halo orbit: A looping orbit around a Lagrange point, held there by the balanced pull of two large bodies rather than by orbiting either one.

Solar flare: A sudden, intense burst of radiation from the Sun, released when magnetic energy stored above its surface is freed all at once.

Active region: A patch of the Sun with strong, tangled magnetic fields, where sunspots and flares occur.

Regolith: The loose topmost layer of the Moon's surface.

Also filed elsewhere

The Artemis Accords · on Space policy, private sector and governance
The Artemis Accords are a set of principles, drafted by the United States in 2020, that a country signs to take part in NASA's Artemis programme to return to the Moon.