ScienceIndia plans on launching its space telescope ASTROSAT this October

India plans on launching its space telescope ASTROSAT this October

India is prepping to launch its first ever dedicated astronomy mission called ASTROSAT meant for studying distant celestial objects. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) plans to launch the satellite in October 2015. It will be released into space by PSLV C-34 once it reaches a height of roughly 650km from the equatorial orbit around the Earth.

Similar to NASA’s Hubble telescope, ASTROSAT will be the first observatory set up in space by the ISRO. The Indian space agency will be sending its astronomy mission into orbit to record observations in Ultraviolet (UV), optical, low and high energy X-ray wavebands. It has been fitted with all its payloads and sub-systems already.

ISRO ASTROSAT

A team of scientists at the ISRO have also conducted all the necessary mechanical fit checks of ASTROSAT with the PSLV payload adapter. After the results turned out to be promising, the spacecraft was assembled as a whole and then switched on. The parameters appear to be normal; so there shouldn’t be any problems with regards to functioning.

In spite of this, the ISRO will still be putting ASTROSAT through a battery of additional tests before transporting it to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The satellite will be facing a bunch of environmental tests such as like Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) – Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), Vibration,Thermal Vacuum and Acoustic tests.

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When ASTROSAT is sent into orbit later this year, it will have onboard one UV telescope, four X-ray payloads and a charge particle monitor. Two of its payloads are supported by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and University of Leiscester (UoL) in the UK. Besides the ISRO, four other Indian institutions are also engaged in developing payloads.

The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and Raman Research Institute (RRI) are involved in the payload operations too.

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