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"The Astrosat mission will study for the
first time the cosmic sources of the vast universe
at optical, ultraviolet and X-ray wavebands simultaneously,"
state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
scientific secretary V. Koteshwar Rao told IANS
here.
The 1.6-tonne satellite will be launched from
the Sriharikota spaceport off the Bay of Bengal
coast in Andhra Pradesh, about 90km northeast
of Chennai, onboard a 300-tonne rocket with five
scientific instruments to study at multiple wavelengths.
The instruments include a soft X-ray telescope,
an ultraviolet imaging telescope, an imager and
a sky scanning monitor.
"Unlike astronomical satellites of other
countries, Astrosat will study visible to high-energy
X-ray emissions from celestial objects on a single
platform, take the highest angular resolution
imaging in ultraviolet and measure short-term
variation of X-ray emissions," Rao said at
a space summit here, about 150 km from Karnataka
capital Bangalore.
A five-year delay has escalated the mission cost
to Rs.270 crore (nearly $50 million), including
the satellite to Rs.180 crore and the rocket Rs.90
crore.
A wavelength is a unit of measurement indicating
the distance between the peak of one wave and
the next. As forms of electromagnetic radiation,
they make unique patterns in shapes and lengths
as they travel through space.
"Most astronomical objects emit radiation
spanning the electromagnetic spectrum from long
wavelength radio waves to very short wavelength
gamma rays. Simultaneous observation of the multi-wavelengths
will enable us to understand the physical processes
behind the phenomenon," Rao pointed out.
Orbiting at 650 km from the earth with a five-year
lifespan, the satellite will conduct major investigations
across visible, UV, soft and hard X-ray bands
to find out the source of radiation, study magnetic
fields on neutron stars, search for sources of
black holes and scan the farthest regions of the
universe.
The spacecraft has already been designed and
built to integrate the instruments (payload) at
ISRO's satellite centre in Bangalore.
The space agency has roped in other state-run
and private organisations such as the Indian Institute
of Astrophysics, Raman Research Institute, Tata
Institute of Fundamental Research and its Physical
Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad.
The Canadian Space Agency and Britain's University
of Leicester are also collaborating with the astro
project.
The space agency's telemetry tracking and command
network in Bangalore will provide the ground support
for all the phases of the astro mission, while
its deep space network at Byalalu, about 40 km
from Bangalore, will collect the voluminous data
from the instruments.
(IANS)
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