Current Affairs 16th December 2018

Current Affairs 16th December 2018 - Important Points

• Communication satellite GSAT-7A to be launched by - ISRO
• Name of writer who has been honoured with Jnanpith Award 2018 - Amitav Ghosh

Current Affairs 16th December 2018 - Details

Communication satellite GSAT-7A to be launched by - ISRO

ISRO will be launching its latest communication satellite GSAT-7A on 19th December 2018. It will be launched by using Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F11) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. GSLV-F11 will inject GSAT-7A into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).

Highlights

• Weight of GSAT-7A is approx 2250 kg. This is 35th communication satellite of ISRO.
• This satellite will be giving services for eight years with capability to provide communication to the users of Ku-band in Indian region.
• As per ISRO, GSAT-7A will take few days to reach its orbital slot after separation.

Background :

On 5th December, 2018, India's next generation high throughput communication satellite, GSAT-11 was successfully launched from the Kourou launch base in French Guiana by Ariane-5 VA-246. This was heaviest satellite built by ISRO whose weight was approx 5854 kg. This mission will play a vital role in providing broadband services across the country and will help demonstrating new generation applications.

Name of writer who has been honoured with Jnanpith Award 2018 - Amitav Ghosh

On 14th December 2018, Noted writer Amitav Ghosh was honoured with Jnanpith Award. This award honours to author for outstanding contribution towards literature.

Ghosh has inked many popular novels like Shadow Lines, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide, and the Ibis Trilogy -- Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke and Flood of Fire that chronicle the trade between India and China run by the then East India Company.

About Amitav Ghosh

Indian-American author Amitav Ghosh is an best known for his work in English fiction.

In 1986, he wrote his debut novel titled The Circle of Reason, his other famous works in fiction are The Shadow Lines, The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide, Sea of Poppies, among others.

He was also honoured by Government of India with Padma Shri in 2007.

About Jnanpith Award

Jnanpith Award was established in 1961. Its highest literary award of India. Its bestowed only on Indian writers. Bharatiya Jnanpith Trust present it annually. Important to mention here that it is not conferred posthumously.