ISRO has entered the New Year with a bang! All the science fandom was awed when ISRO announced the launch of its first X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite – XPoSat. It was launched on Monday, 03:40 GMT from the Sriharikota spaceport, ISRO.
XPoSat, the main payload, and ten additional satellites intended for low-Earth orbit were carried by the PSLV-C58 rocket on its 60th mission.
Only two missions of this kind have been launched globally, the first being by NASA in 2021.
An observatory on board the rocket will examine celestial objects such as black holes. According to the ISRO it will enhance the scientists’ “knowledge of black holes”.
“After the launch, we will have an exciting time ahead,” S Somanath, the chairperson of the Indian Space Research Organization, stated.
Objectives of this ISRO mission
The XPoSat satellite was launched by ISRO into a 650 km Low Earth Orbit on January 1.
XPoSat satellite will use the POLIX payload to measure the polarization of X-rays in the 8–30 keV energy range that are coming from roughly 50 possible cosmic sources.
The satellite will access the XSPECT payload to conduct long-term spectral and temporal studies of cosmic X-ray sources in the energy range of 0.8–15 keV.
The XPoSat satellite was built for about 250 million rupees ($30 million; £23.5 million) and is expected to last for five years.
In October 2023, ISRO conducted the first of several test flights for the mission, with the goal of being prepared for the manned mission by 2025.
A region of space where matter has collapsed in on itself is called a black hole. The intensity is such that nothing can escape the gravitational pull, not even light. Some massive stars explode into black holes, some of which are incredibly massive, with masses billions of times that of the Sun.
ISRO’s upcoming missions
Indian Space Agency Chairman S Somnath stated, “2024 is going to be the year for Gaganyaan readiness,” making reference to the project that intends to launch three humans into low-Earth orbit and return them three days later.
According to S Somanath, he plans to launch at least 12 missions in the upcoming year. “We only need to have a minimum of 12 missions on our goal in a year (2024). Depending on our capacity to manufacture hardware, the outcome of the tests, and other factors, it might surpass. If things are not going well, it might have an effect. If not, we are preparing for a minimum of 12 to 14 missions,” the chairman of ISRO remarked.
Some missions ISRO has in the pipeline are:
- NISAR is a joint venture between NASA and ISRO is the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR). The goal of this mission is to deploy a synthetic aperture radar satellite with dual frequencies for remote sensing applications. The launch of this mission is planned for January 2024.
- INSAT 3DS is an essential part of the Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) series developed by ISRO, the INSAT 3DS is scheduled for a potential launch in January 2024.
- Gaganyaan 1 is the first mission of Gaganyaan is an alliance between Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and ISRO. The launch is slated to occur in January or February of 2024.
- Mangalyaan -2 (MOM 2) is going to be India’s second mission to Mars. The mission aims on studying the surface, atmosphere, and climate.
- Shukrayaan-1 (Venus Orbiter Mission) is the mission to launch a spacecraft to orbit the planet Venus. Launched in December 2024 or 2025, this project will be India’s first attempt to organize a journey to Venus.
Hopefully this year will embark India in a magnificent journey to space with its successful missions.
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