The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to make another significant step forward on September 28, 2015 when it will launch ASTROSAT, the country’s first dedicated astronomy satellite for studying celestial objects. ISRO has announced that the ASTROSAT it has been building and assembling for a while now is ready for launch.
On September 28 at 10 AM IST, along with the Astrosat, ISRO will launch six other international satellites (4 from the US, 1 from Indonesia and 1 from Canada) as well. ISRO’s most trusted rocket and workhorse launch vehicle PSLV-C30 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) will carry the satellite to place it into a 650-km near-equatorial orbit following its takeoff from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, at 10 am.
ASTROSAT is the India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength space observation satellite aimed at studying the celestial sources and is capable of making an observation in the Ultra Violet, optical, Soft X-ray and Hard X-ray wavebands at the same time. For this ASTROSAT will be carrying four X-ray payloads, one UV telescope, and a charge particle monitor. ASTROSAT will make it possible to measure magnetic fields of neuron stars, understand high-energy processes in binary & extragalactic systems and even search for black hole sources in the galaxy.
The Astrosat will carry instruments of various Indian research labs such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Raman Research Institute (RRI). In addition, two payloads have sensors from the Canadian Space Agency and the University of Leicester, UK.
The five payloads are:
- Twin 40-cm Ultraviolet Imaging Telescopes (UVIT)
- Three units of Large Area Xenon Proportional Counters (LAXPC)
- A Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT)
- A Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride coded-mask imager (CZTI)
- A Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM)
“All preparations for the launch are in progress. The vehicle assembly is almost complete. The PSLVC-30 will carry the ASTROSAT along with six other foreign co-satellites. The Mission Readiness Review Committee meeting will be held on September 24 and would decide the countdown process of the vehicle,” Deviprasad Karnik, Director, Public Relations, ISRO said.
“The launch vehicle assembly has been completed and the satellites have arrived in Sriharikota. Satellite integration will begin after initial checks are completed,” said the ISRO spokesperson.
ASTROSAT will become the first mission to be operated as a space observatory by ISRO. After a mission to Mars, a mission to the moon, ISRO is planning for big things and is now having its dedicated satellite for Astronomical observation. ISRO is also planning to send a Rover to Moon in the coming years. ISRO is going full throttle these days.