What is ‘Greased Lightning–10 (GL–10)’, recently in the news?
- (a) Electric plane tested by NASA ✓ UPSC's answer
- (b) Solar-powered two-seater aircraft designed by Japan
- (c) Space observatory launched by China
- (d) Reusable rocket designed by ISRO
Why the answer is (a)
• Greased Lightning GL-10 was a battery-powered, ten-engine, tilt-wing prototype drone built and flight-tested by NASA's Langley Research Center in 2014–15; it takes off vertically like a helicopter and flies like a plane — option (a).
• Solar Impulse (b) was a Swiss solar aircraft; China's space observatories and ISRO's RLV-TD (d) are unrelated.
• Hence option (a).
Why the other options are wrong
- (b) Solar-powered two-seater aircraft designed by Japan
- GL-10 is American and electric, not Japanese solar.
- (c) Space observatory launched by China
- It is an aircraft, not a space observatory.
- (d) Reusable rocket designed by ISRO
- It is not an ISRO rocket.
Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2016, held on 7 August 2016. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.