ISRO to usher in New Year with XPoSat launch | India News

It will become the country’s third space-based observatory after the recently launched solar mission Aditya-L1 and AstroSat launched in 2015.

The mission is meant to study the “polarisation” of astronomical X-rays, which can provide insights into the processes that resulted in its emissions.

It is a method of studying astronomical phenomenon, in addition to imaging them, studying the fluctuations in light from a source, and the energy radiated by the celestial bodies. The observatory can help in understanding the emission mechanism from sources such as black holes and neutron stars (collapsed core of a massive star).

The planned life of the mission is five years.

It will carry two playloads – POLIX (Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays) and XSPECT (X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing) – in a low earth orbit.

POLIX is designed to make observations in 8-30 keV. It is expected to observe about 40 bright astronomical sources of different categories during the planned lifetime, according to the ISRO.

XSPECT uses a method of observation called spectroscopy that studies the electromagnetic spectrum generated by different matter.

US space agency NASA had launched its polarimetry satellite Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) in 2021. It takes measurements in the energy range of 2-8 keV. What this essentially means is that IXPE and XPoSat will be complementary and can provide coordinated observations of phenomena across a wide energy spectrum of 2-30KeV, the ISRO said.

After the opening of the Indian space sector to private players, there has been an increase in the number of scientific missions launched by ISRO. In 2023, Chandrayaan-3 landed on the South Pole of the Moon and ISRO sent a satellite hurtling towards the L1 point between the Earth and the Sun to allow uninterrupted observations.

In addition to the two missions, ISRO also undertook five other missions, including the first completely successful flight of SSLV, a navigational satellite for the Indian GPS-like service, and a commercial mission on board its heaviest LVM3 vehicle.

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Anonna Dutt is a Principal Correspondent who writes primarily on health at the Indian Express. She reports on myriad topics ranging from the growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension to the problems with pervasive infectious conditions. She reported on the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic and closely followed the vaccination programme.

Her stories have resulted in the city government investing in high-end tests for the poor and acknowledging errors in their official reports.

Dutt also takes a keen interest in the country’s space programme and has written on key missions like Chandrayaan 2 and 3, Aditya L1, and Gaganyaan.

She was among the first batch of eleven media fellows with RBM Partnership to End Malaria. She was also selected to participate in the short-term programme on early childhood reporting at Columbia University’s Dart Centre. Dutt has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune and a PG Diploma from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. She started her reporting career with the Hindustan Times.

When not at work, she tries to appease the Duolingo owl with her French skills and sometimes takes to the dance floor. … Read More