FREE LEARNING SERIES
Research: signals, systems and materials
Follow lunar spectra, processor design, microplastic capture and carbon-storing materials from mechanism to measurement.
4 lessons · Learn at your own pace
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Learn, practise, explain
Try the exercise before reading its explanation. Answer the self-check questions in your own words, then compare your reasoning with the answers. Revisit any difficult section before moving on. No account or payment is needed.
- 01
Chandrayaan-3: reading lunar soil as evidence
A rover cannot bring every laboratory to the Moon. It must turn a small, carefully measured signal into evidence about a large geological history. This lesson follows Chandrayaan-3 measurements from August 2023 through peer-reviewed analyses published in August 2024 and June 2026.
Learning outcome: Explain how a spectrum becomes a composition estimate, calculate a simple calibration and mixture, and distinguish local measurements from claims about the whole Moon.
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SHAKTI MOUSHIK: how a processor becomes a working system
A chip announcement becomes more meaningful when we understand the chain behind it: instructions, logic, fabrication, a circuit board and a successful start. IIT Madras's 24 September 2020 MOUSHIK announcement provides a dated Indian engineering case for learning that chain.
Learning outcome: Distinguish an instruction set from a chip, trace a simple control program, calculate execution time and energy, and propose tests beyond a successful boot.
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Microplastic hydrogels: capture, degradation and evidence
A material that removes particles from a test beaker raises several questions: where did they go, what changed chemically, and would the same result hold in river water? An IISc study published in 2024 provides a concrete way to investigate those questions.
Learning outcome: Calculate removal percentage and apparent removal per gram, design meaningful controls, and explain why a promising material still needs further testing before practical deployment.
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Storing carbon in construction materials: chemistry and accounting
Can excavated soil become part of a useful building material while carbon dioxide becomes a solid mineral? IISc research published in 2024 lets us study this question through three linked tests: chemical change, engineering performance and environmental accounting.
Learning outcome: Explain a carbonation reaction, calculate compressive strength and a simplified carbon balance, and distinguish early strength gains from long-term or whole-life claims.
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