Science Reporter’s May 2026 issue (CSIR-NIScPR, Vol 63), a National Technology Day special, leads with “Artemis II: A Mission that Rewired Human Aspiration for Extraplanetary Conquest” by Biju Dharmapalan, and carries the issue’s highest-yield UPSC material: India’s fast breeder reactor milestone and two features on the green hydrogen economy.
Articles in This Issue
- Artemis II (cover story) - NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission and the new lunar race
- Stage 2 Success: Inside the Nuclear Milestone that Changes India’s Future - the PFBR’s first criticality at Kalpakkam
- India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission: Powering the Sustainable Future - SIGHT, targets and electrolyser economics
- The Hydrogen Journey Transforming India’s Energy Landscape - the production-to-use chain
- The Self-Learning Revolution in India: From MOOCs to Smart MOOCs - AI-era online learning
- Anyons: New quasiparticles with ‘memory’ - the building blocks of topological quantum computing
- Plasma: Not just a Fourth State of Matter - plasma science applications
- Plus: CSIR-NIScPR as India’s ISSN custodian, creative thinking in children, lakes of India and biodiversity-day quizzes
Key Concepts
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| PFBR | Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, 500 MWe, Kalpakkam; operated by BHAVINI |
| Three-stage programme | Bhabha’s plan: PHWRs, fast breeders, then thorium reactors |
| MOX fuel | Mixed oxide of uranium and plutonium, the PFBR’s fuel |
| Green hydrogen | Hydrogen from renewables-powered electrolysis (vs grey from gas, blue with CCS) |
| SIGHT | Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition; the mission’s incentive arm |
| Anyon | 2D quasiparticle whose “memory” underpins topological quantum computing |
| Artemis II | NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission, a lunar flyby |
Prelims Pointers
- PFBR first criticality: April 6, 2026, Kalpakkam; sodium-cooled, 500 MWe, BHAVINI-operated
- India holds about 25 percent of global thorium reserves but only 1-2 percent of uranium
- National Green Hydrogen Mission: January 2023; Rs 19,744 crore; 5 MMT/year by 2030
- National Technology Day: May 11 (Pokhran-II, 1998)
- International Day for Biological Diversity: May 22
- CSIR-NIScPR is India’s national ISSN centre
UPSC GS Relevance
- GS3 (dominant): nuclear energy, green hydrogen, space, quantum frontier
