Astrosat, Indias Hubble, to be launched on September 28

RAGHU KRISHNAN
Bengaluru, 19 September

Astrosat, Indias first space observatory, is set to be launched on

September 28. Dedicated to
astronomy, the satellite is a miniature version of the Hubble, the USEuropean joint space observatory
that has discovered new galaxies
and improved understanding of
the universe.
Indias observatory will be the
fourth in space, after the Hubble,
Russias 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.
Astrosat is special due to the
choice of instruments to study in
multi-wave lengths UV rays, visible and X-rays which even the
Hubble doesnt have, A S Kiran
Kumar, chairman of the Indian
Space Research Organisation
(Isro), had said in a recent interview. The instruments allow

Country

NEW
HORIZONS

Observatory

Year

US/Europe Hubble

1990

Russia

Spektr R

2011

Japan

Suzaku

2013

India

Astrosat

2015

US

James Webb

2018*

*planned as a successor to Hubble

simultaneous observation of cosmic sources, an area in which other observatories currently have
limitations.
The diameter of Astrosats optical mirror is around 30 cm, com-

pared 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 instru-

The Astrostat satellite is to be

launched from Sriharikota

ments 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.
Isros planetary exploratory
group and the Indian Institute of
Science have also contributed to
the spacecraft, which carries four
X-ray payloads, a UV telescope
and a charge particle monitor.
One of the reasons why we
work with universities and tie up
with institutions for these instruments is to increase the scientific
base in the country, said Kumar.
They can do research and put out
papers from the scientific data we

produce from our satellites.

The ~178-crore Astrosat will be
hurled into space by Isros workhorse rocket, the Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle, from the Satish
Dhawan
Space
Centre
in
Sriharikota, off the eastern coast.
Six small satellites four from
the US and one each from
Indonesia and Canada will ride
on the rocket, which will place
these satellites in the Earths lower orbit.
The US satellites are the first
from that country to be launched
from India since the two countries
signed a technology safeguards
agreement in 2009.