Important Facts For Prelims (25th May 2019) | 25 May 2019

DRDO Test Fired the Guided Bomb

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test fired an indigenously developed 500Kg class Inertial Guided Bomb from a Su-30 MKI Aircraft at Pokhran test range in Rajasthan.
• The weapon system is capable of carrying different warheads.
• The guided bomb achieved the desired range and hit the target with high precision.
• This test firing of the guided bomb came two days after the Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully test fired the aerial version of the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile from a Sukhoi jet at the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Deathly Traffic at Mt Everest

• Recently, three more Indian climbers have died on Mount Everest, taking the toll of Indian mountaineers who have perished while hiking the world’s highest mountain to eight this season.
  
  • Mount Everest lies on the border between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Reaching an elevation of 8,850 metres, it is the highest mountain in the world.
  • More than 200 mountaineers have died on the peak since 1922, when the first climbers' deaths on Everest were recorded.
  • At the last ridge from the southern Nepali side, there is only one fixed rope, everyone hangs onto this one rope. When it is crowded, there are two lines of people - one going up, and one going down the summit.
  • At present, one of the reasons cited for deaths is heavy traffic - massive long lines due to a few days of good weather - on the mountain.
• ‘Traffic jam’ occurs when many climbers vie for the summit at the same time, and can be especially dangerous above 8,000 metres, known as the 'death zone'.
• In a traffic jam, exhausted climbers are often forced to wait for several hours for their turn to ascend or descend on a single rope, increasing chances of exhaustion, frostbite or altitude sickness. The climbers could also run out of oxygen during the final phase of the ascent.