Which one of the following is a spacecraft?
Reviewed by Dalvoy
UPSC Civil Services preparation
- AApophis
- BCassiniCorrect
- CSpitzer
- DTechSar
Explanation
The correct answer is B because Cassini was a flagship class robotic spacecraft sent by NASA in collaboration with the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency to study the planet Saturn and its complex system of rings and moons.
The other options are incorrect for the following reasons. Apophis is a near Earth asteroid. Spitzer is a space telescope used for infrared astronomy. TechSar is a reconnaissance satellite equipped with synthetic aperture radar. While satellites and telescopes are technically in space, the term spacecraft in the context of this specific UPSC question traditionally refers to a probe designed for deep space exploration of other planets.
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