UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully conducted a flight trial of an indigenously developed High-Altitude Platform (HAPS). During the trial, the experimental platform reached an altitude of 21 km above mean sea level and remained at around 20 km for more than 30 minutes.

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded jointly to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai for the “discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.” 

The 10th India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026 begins on 7 October 2026 in New Delhi and will continue until 10 October 2026. The event is being jointly organised by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) at Yashobhoomi, India International Convention & Expo Centre, Dwarka.

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been jointly awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.

Scientists at CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB) have developed an India-specific tool to predict the severity of Sickle Cell Anaemia (SCA).

Japan has urged India to fast-track its internal official processing of the agreement concerning the UNICORN (Unified Complex Radio Antenna) naval radar/antenna system.

Scientists at the Institute of Advanced Virology (IAV), Keralam have developed a Dengue Early Warning System (DEWS) that uses machine learning, epidemiological data and weather information to forecast dengue trends in advance.

Indian space startup TakeMe2Space is set to launch its MOI-1A orbital computing satellite on October 1, 2026, aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare mission.

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah flagged off India’s first LNG-powered train from Sabarmati Railway Station in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on September 27, 2026.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has signed its first high-value deep-tech project agreement with a start-up, partnering with Zero mK India Private Limited to develop an indigenous dilution refrigerator for quantum applications.