Science & Technology MCQs for UPSC Prelims — September 2026
Q1. With reference to the institutional architecture of the 'One Nation, One Time' initiative, consider the following statements:
1. Indian Standard Time is realized and maintained by CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, which is the National Metrology Institute of India.
2. The time dissemination project is being implemented by the Department of Consumer Affairs in collaboration with CSIR-NPL and ISRO.
3. Regional Reference Standard Laboratories at Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Faridabad and Guwahati are being equipped with atomic clocks and secure synchronisation systems for this purpose.
4. Under the project ISRO replaces CSIR-NPL entirely, becoming the sole custodian of India's national time standard.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- Indian Standard Time is realized and maintained by CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, which is the National Metrology Institute of India.
- The time dissemination project is being implemented by the Department of Consumer Affairs in collaboration with CSIR-NPL and ISRO.
- Regional Reference Standard Laboratories at Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Faridabad and Guwahati are being equipped with atomic clocks and secure synchronisation systems for this purpose.
- Under the project ISRO replaces CSIR-NPL entirely, becoming the sole custodian of India's national time standard.
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 2, 3 and 4
- C. 1, 2 and 3
- D. 3 and 4 only
Q2. The National Primary Timescale maintained at CSIR-NPL, from which Indian Standard Time is realized, is generated from an ensemble of how many atomic clocks?
- A. Four — three caesium clocks and one active hydrogen maser
- B. Five — caesium clocks alone, without any hydrogen maser
- C. Seven — five caesium clocks and two active hydrogen masers
- D. Nine — six caesium clocks and three active hydrogen masers
Q3. Under the 'One Nation, One Time' project that underpins the Legal Metrology (Indian Standard Time) Rules, Indian Standard Time is to be disseminated to users from how many Legal Metrology laboratories across the country?
- A. Three
- B. Five
- C. Eight
- D. Twelve
Q4. Under the Union Government's common compute capacity framework, GPUs housed in empanelled commercial data centres are made available to startups, researchers and academia at a subsidised hourly rate. The empanelment of these service providers and data centres is operationalised by which one of the following?
- A. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, an autonomous scientific society under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
- B. The Software Technology Parks of India, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
- C. The National Informatics Centre, the attached office of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
- D. The IndiaAI Mission, an Independent Business Division under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
Q5. Which one of the following was the first indigenously developed third-generation anti-tank guided missile to be ordered by the Indian Army, in 2025, following field evaluation trials conducted at the Pokhran range?
- A. Nag Mk 2, a fire-and-forget missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation
- B. MPATGM, the man-portable missile developed by DRDO's Defence Research and Development Laboratory
- C. Javelin All Up Round, the shoulder-launched round produced by the Javelin Joint Venture
- D. Amogha-III, the fire-and-forget missile developed in-house by Bharat Dynamics Limited
Q6. In the context of the agreement to manufacture the Javelin 'All Up Round (AUR)' in India, the expression 'All Up Round' denotes which one of the following?
- A. The reusable sighting and fire-control unit together with all of its batteries, coolant and thermal optics
- B. The entire complement of missiles authorised to an infantry battalion, held permanently at its unit magazine
- C. The complete missile, integrated with its disposable launch tube, in the sealed condition in which it is issued to troops
- D. An entire production batch of missiles released for despatch only after every round in it clears acceptance trials
Q7. As reported at the time of the 2026 India co-production announcement, approximately how many reusable Command Launch Units had the Javelin Joint Venture produced worldwide up to that point?
- A. More than 5,000 units
- B. More than 12,000 units
- C. More than 25,000 units
- D. More than 55,000 units
Q8. Consider the following statements about the Artemis programme:
1. Artemis I was an uncrewed mission launched in November 2022 that tested Orion's performance in deep space on a flight of about 25 days.
2. The Orion spacecraft comprises a crew module and a service module, the latter built by the European Space Agency.
3. Artemis II, flown in April 2026, carried a crew of four around the far side of the Moon and returned them to Earth.
4. Under NASA's 2026 decision, Artemis III is to place astronauts on the Moon's south polar region in 2027 for a stay of almost a week.
Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?
- Artemis I was an uncrewed mission launched in November 2022 that tested Orion's performance in deep space on a flight of about 25 days.
- The Orion spacecraft comprises a crew module and a service module, the latter built by the European Space Agency.
- Artemis II, flown in April 2026, carried a crew of four around the far side of the Moon and returned them to Earth.
- Under NASA's 2026 decision, Artemis III is to place astronauts on the Moon's south polar region in 2027 for a stay of almost a week.
- A. 1 and 3 only
- B. 2 and 4 only
- C. 3 only
- D. 4 only
Q9. Consider the following pairings of a space-radiation hazard with its stated characteristic:
1. Galactic cosmic rays - protons, helium ions and rarer heavy nuclei reaching and exceeding 100 GeV per nucleon
2. Solar particle events - sporadic emissions from solar eruptions with particle energies generally below about 1 GeV per nucleon
3. Solar particle events - amenable to material shielding, which can avert acute radiation syndromes from large dose accumulation
4. Galactic cosmic rays - fully neutralised by hydrogen-rich polymer shielding of the kind used in wearable garments
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?
- Galactic cosmic rays - protons, helium ions and rarer heavy nuclei reaching and exceeding 100 GeV per nucleon
- Solar particle events - sporadic emissions from solar eruptions with particle energies generally below about 1 GeV per nucleon
- Solar particle events - amenable to material shielding, which can avert acute radiation syndromes from large dose accumulation
- Galactic cosmic rays - fully neutralised by hydrogen-rich polymer shielding of the kind used in wearable garments
- A. 1 and 4 only
- B. 2 and 3 only
- C. 1, 2 and 3
- D. 1, 3 and 4
Q10. The radiation characterisation effort for the Artemis I mission, whose shielding results were published in 2026, was coordinated by which one of the following?
- A. The Israel Space Agency, which directed the entire dosimetry programme of the mission
- B. NASA's Johnson Space Center, working with the mission's international partner agencies
- C. The German Aerospace Center, the sole authority certifying all deep-space dose measurements
- D. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which exclusively handles every NASA radiation dosimetry task
Q11. In the 2026 findings from the AstroRad flight test, the reported result that the vest 'cuts radiation exposure in half' precisely denotes which one of the following?
- A. The mass of shielding needed to protect a crew was reduced to half that of conventional spacecraft shielding
- B. The dose rate recorded during passage through the Van Allen belts fell by half when the spacecraft was reoriented
- C. The dose registered at the covered sites of the vest-wearing phantom was about half that at the same sites unshielded
- D. The mission-total dose from galactic cosmic rays received by the vest-wearing phantom fell to half the unshielded value
Q12. Consider the following statements comparing the ISS-based evaluation of the AstroRad vest with its Artemis I flight test:
1. The ISS evaluation involved human crew members wearing the vest, whereas the Artemis I test used instrumented phantoms with no crew aboard.
2. The ISS evaluation was conducted in a regime at least partly shielded by Earth's magnetosphere, whereas the Artemis I test carried the vest beyond that protection.
3. Both evaluations flew the vest aboard the Orion spacecraft, differing only in mission duration.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The ISS evaluation involved human crew members wearing the vest, whereas the Artemis I test used instrumented phantoms with no crew aboard.
- The ISS evaluation was conducted in a regime at least partly shielded by Earth's magnetosphere, whereas the Artemis I test carried the vest beyond that protection.
- Both evaluations flew the vest aboard the Orion spacecraft, differing only in mission duration.
- A. 1 only
- B. 1 and 2 only
- C. 2 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q13. Evaluation of the AstroRad vest for crew comfort, fit and range of motion was carried out under which one of the following study-and-platform combinations?
- A. The MARE payload, aboard the International Space Station
- B. The CHARGE study, aboard the International Space Station
- C. The MARE payload, aboard the Orion spacecraft
- D. The CHARGE study, aboard the Orion spacecraft
Q14. NASA signed the agreement with the Israel Space Agency and the German Aerospace Center that manifested the AstroRad vest for flight testing on Artemis I in which year?
- A. 2014
- B. 2016
- C. 2018
- D. 2020
Q15. The M-42 active radiation detectors deployed inside the two phantoms on Artemis I were supplied by which one of the following partner agencies?
- A. The European Space Agency (ESA)
- B. The German Aerospace Center (DLR)
- C. The Israel Space Agency (ISA)
- D. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Q16. With reference to the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment flown aboard Orion, consider the following body sites:
1. Both lungs
2. Stomach
3. Thyroid gland
4. Spine
Which of the above is/are correctly identified as sites within the phantoms at which M-42 radiation detectors were placed?
- Both lungs
- Stomach
- Thyroid gland
- Spine
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 1, 2 and 4
- C. 2, 3 and 4
- D. 3 and 4 only
Q17. In the context of the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment, the term 'phantom' denotes which one of the following?
- A. A remotely operated humanoid robot carried to rehearse crew tasks under deep-space radiation conditions
- B. A pressurised dummy spacesuit filled with tissue-equivalent gel to measure suit leakage during the flight
- C. A life-size anthropomorphic torso built of materials replicating the radiation-transport properties of human tissue
- D. A sealed reference canister of dosimeters carried as an unexposed control for post-flight instrument calibration
Q18. The AstroRad vest, in the configuration described for astronaut use, weighs approximately how many kilograms?
- A. About 8 kg
- B. About 22 kg
- C. About 45 kg
- D. About 60 kg
Q19. The radiation-protective vests flown in the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment aboard Artemis I were manufactured under the responsibility of which one of the following entities?
- A. Lockheed Martin Space, United States
- B. The German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany
- C. StemRad, Israel
- D. The Israel Space Agency, Israel
Q20. Under the talent-development thrust of India's semiconductor programme, approximately how many students have been trained on complex chip design using the latest EDA tools?
- A. 18,000
- B. 38,000
- C. 68,000
- D. 1,08,000
Q21. The first set of Made-in-India chips presented to the Prime Minister was rolled out from a pilot line at a facility located at which one of the following places?
- A. Dholera, Gujarat
- B. Sanand, Gujarat
- C. Jagiroad, Assam
- D. Mohali, Punjab
Q22. Under the Product Design Linked Incentive component of the Design Linked Incentive Scheme, reimbursement of up to 50 per cent of eligible expenditure is subject to a ceiling of how much per application?
- A. ₹10 crore
- B. ₹15 crore
- C. ₹30 crore
- D. ₹50 crore
Q23. Which of the following facilities are covered by the Modified Scheme for setting up of Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics / Sensors Fabs and Semiconductor ATMP/OSAT facilities in India?
1. Silicon photonics fabs
2. Sensor fabs, including those making Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)
3. Display fabrication units producing AMOLED panels
4. Discrete semiconductor fabs
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?
- Silicon photonics fabs
- Sensor fabs, including those making Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)
- Display fabrication units producing AMOLED panels
- Discrete semiconductor fabs
- A. 1 and 3
- B. 2 and 4
- C. 1, 2 and 4
- D. 3 only
Q24. Consider the following statements regarding projects approved under the India Semiconductor Mission:
1. Among the projects approved as of June 2026, packaging units outnumber fabrication units.
2. Every project approved so far is a silicon-based fabrication plant; no compound semiconductor fabrication project has been approved.
3. The Modified Scheme covering compound semiconductors, silicon photonics, sensors and discrete fabs as well as ATMP/OSAT facilities extends fiscal support of 50 per cent of capital expenditure on a pari-passu basis.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- Among the projects approved as of June 2026, packaging units outnumber fabrication units.
- Every project approved so far is a silicon-based fabrication plant; no compound semiconductor fabrication project has been approved.
- The Modified Scheme covering compound semiconductors, silicon photonics, sensors and discrete fabs as well as ATMP/OSAT facilities extends fiscal support of 50 per cent of capital expenditure on a pari-passu basis.
- A. 1 only
- B. 1 and 2 only
- C. 1 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q25. With reference to the units approved under the India Semiconductor Mission, which one of the following statements about an ATMP/OSAT unit is correct?
- A. It performs the entire chip-making process from wafer growth to final electrical test, and therefore never depends on any external supplier of wafers
- B. It carries out back-end operations on wafers or dies — die attach, wire bonding, encapsulation and final electrical test — which may be sourced from fabrication plants elsewhere
- C. It is devoted exclusively to the design and verification of integrated circuits, and undertakes no physical processing of silicon whatsoever
- D. It fabricates only compound semiconductor wafers, and all such units in India are permanently barred from handling silicon-based devices
Q26. The India Semiconductor Mission, which administers the Semicon India programme, has been constituted as which one of the following?
- A. An attached office of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology headed by an Additional Secretary to the Government of India
- B. A statutory body constituted under the Information Technology Act, 2000, laying its annual report before Parliament
- C. A Section 8 company jointly promoted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Science and Technology
- D. An independent business division within the Digital India Corporation, having administrative and financial autonomy
Q27. As of June 2026, projects cumulatively worth about ₹1.64 lakh crore had been approved under the India Semiconductor Mission. How many projects did this comprise?
Q28. Consider the following statements comparing Semicon 2.0 with the semiconductor programme it succeeds:
1. Semicon 2.0 has been approved with a total budget outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore, which exceeds the ₹76,000 crore outlay of the programme approved by the Union Cabinet in December 2021.
2. Unlike the earlier programme, Semicon 2.0 is organised around six pillars, one of which is devoted specifically to the machines, materials, chemicals and gases required for semiconductor manufacturing.
3. Semicon 2.0 raises the fiscal support available for setting up silicon semiconductor fabs from 50 per cent to 75 per cent of project cost.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- Semicon 2.0 has been approved with a total budget outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore, which exceeds the ₹76,000 crore outlay of the programme approved by the Union Cabinet in December 2021.
- Unlike the earlier programme, Semicon 2.0 is organised around six pillars, one of which is devoted specifically to the machines, materials, chemicals and gases required for semiconductor manufacturing.
- Semicon 2.0 raises the fiscal support available for setting up silicon semiconductor fabs from 50 per cent to 75 per cent of project cost.
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 1 and 3 only
- C. 2 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q29. Under Semicon 2.0, the pillar titled 'Machines and Materials' is meant to incentivise which one of the following categories of firms?
- A. Firms importing capital equipment and specialty chemicals for fabs and re-exporting finished wafers under a duty-drawback arrangement
- B. Firms supplying construction machinery, cranes and industrial gases for building fab campuses and their utility infrastructure
- C. Firms engaged in the manufacture and R&D of semiconductor equipment and in producing the materials, chemicals and gases essential to chip manufacturing
- D. Firms manufacturing electronic components and printed circuit boards that use domestically fabricated chips as inputs