RAS question
Which of the following is NOT a correct match of an ISRO mission and its objective?
Correct answer: (B) Aditya-L1 – Study of Jupiter's magnetosphere.
Aditya-L1 is a solar observation mission at the first Sun-Earth Lagrangian point, so matching it with the study of Jupiter's magnetosphere is not correct.
Explanation
Aditya-L1 is not a Jupiter mission. ISRO describes it as the first Indian space-based observatory to study the Sun from a halo orbit around the first Sun-Earth Lagrangian point, L1, located roughly 15 lakh km from Earth. That directly contradicts the option that links Aditya-L1 with Jupiter's magnetosphere. The other mission-objective pairs in the question are correct: Gaganyaan is India's human spaceflight programme, Mangalyaan is linked with Mars orbit insertion, and Chandrayaan-3 is linked with a lunar south pole soft landing. The tested mismatch is therefore Aditya-L1 - study of Jupiter's magnetosphere.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Gaganyaan - Human spaceflight is not the mismatch because the question itself identifies Gaganyaan as India's human spaceflight programme.
- (C) Mangalyaan - Mars orbit insertion is not the mismatch because Mangalyaan successfully entered Mars orbit in 2014.
- (D) Chandrayaan-3 - Lunar south pole soft landing is not the mismatch because Chandrayaan-3 achieved a soft landing near the lunar south pole.
Concept
This tests Science and Technology current-affairs awareness through mission-objective matching. RAS repeatedly uses such ISRO pairs because they are concise, high-yield facts where one swapped objective can change the answer.