Astrosat, India's first space observatory to launch on Sept 28

[quagmire]

India will launch its first space observatory Astrosat on September 28, becoming only the fourth country to have a lookout in orbit, Isro sources said Sunday.

The 1.5 ton satellite will be zoomed into space by a PSLV C-30 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota at 10am. Six customer satellites, one(micro) each from Canada and Indonesia, and 4 nano satellites from the US will ride along.

"The mission envisages an earth orbiting scientific satellite with payloads capable of simultaneously observing the universe in the visible, ultraviolet and X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum," an Isro official said.

The multi-wavelength observatory will study distant stars, white dwarfs and pulsars. In particular, it will train its instruments at the super massive black hole believed to exist at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy.

Apart from Isro, four other Indian institutions -- Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics and Raman Research Institute -- were involved in the payload development.

Astrosat will be launched into a 650km orbit carrying four X-ray payloads, one UV telescope and a charge particle monitor.Two of the payloads are in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency and University of Leicester, UK.

Space agencies of three other countries -- the US, Russia, Japan -- and the European Space Agency have so far launched space observatories.

New frontier: India set to launch 1st space observatory Astrosat

Eleven years after the project was first okayed, the satellite is slated to be launched on board a PSLV rocket on its 30th flight from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on September 28. Four smaller American, one Indonesian and one Canadian satellites will also be launched as part of the same mission. ISRO has stated that open observing time will be available on the satellite’s instruments from September 2016, from their perch in the near-Earth orbit at an altitude of 650 km. ASTROSAT cost Rs 178 crore.

India to Put its First Dedicated Astronomical Telescope in Space | The Wire

India’s observatory will be the fourth in space, after the Hubble, Russia’s Spektr R and Suzaku of Japan.

Astrosat, initially planned for 2005, has been delayed by a decade, as the scientific community struggled to build with precision the instruments needed for such operations.

The instruments, spreading across ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths, will study black holes, neutron stars, quasars, white dwarfs and pulsars.

The diameter of Astrosat’s optical mirror is around 30 cm, compared with 2.4 m in the case of Hubble. It is expected the US space agency will launch the James Webb observatory, a successor to the Hubble, in 2018.

The Astrosat will carry instruments of various Indian research labs such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Raman Research Institute. In addition, two payloads have sensors from the Canadian Space Agency and the University of Leicester, UK.

Astrosat,Indias Hubble in space to be launched on September 28 | Business Standard News

 

[Vyom]

Quite a feat. Article says India will be fourth country to have such Telescope in Space. Wondering who the other two are besides USA.

I hope the telescope gives us glimpses better than Hubble, since technologically Astrosat should be better than Hubble which was sent 25 years ago.

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[Ricky]

Quite a feat. Article says India will be fourth country to have such Telescope in Space. Wondering who the other two are besides USA.

I hope the telescope gives us glimpses better than Hubble, since technologically Astrosat should be better than Hubble which was sent 25 years ago.

I doubt as most of the news dubbed it as mini-hubble..

 

[quagmire]

*www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/02563/PSLV_2563928g.jpg



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