Isro's PSLV carrying Astrosat launched successfully

Isro's PSLV carrying Astrosat launched successfully
Launch puts India in a select group of countries that have their own space observatory satellite

5 things to know about space observatory satellite Astrosat

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) today successfully launched the Astrosat satellite. Through this launch, India has joined select group of countries that have their own space observatory satellite. Here are five things you need to know about Astrosat:

* This is India’s first attempt at setting up an observatory in space, a place from where it can study cosmological phenomena.

* Mission is aimed at obtaining data that will help in a better understanding of the universe. Mission is to study astronomical phenomena. Astrosat is carrying five payloads, including an ultraviolet imaging telescope (UVIT).

* Astrosat is generally described as India’s version of the Hubble telescope that NASA had put in space in 1990. But experts say it is not right to call Astrosat India's Hubble as the NASA version is 10 times heavier than Astrosat and is said to cost $2.5 billion, while India's satellite costs around Rs 180 crore.

* Astrosat will put Isro in a very exclusive club of nations that have space-based observatories. Only the United States, European Space Agency, Japan and Russia have such observatories in space. 

* For the third time an Indian rocket will be launching seven satellites in a single mission. In 2008, Isro had launched 10 satellites in one go, including India's Cartosate-2A satellite. 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) today successfully launched the Astrosat satellite, marking India's entry into a select group of countries that have their own space observatory satellite. 

Astrostat will help India study distant celestial objects and enhance our knowledge about the universe, said Isroofficials.

At 10 am, Isro's workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle’s XL variant (PSLV-XL) took off from the first launch pad at Sriharikotta Space Station, around 90 km from Chennai, with seven satellites having a cumulative weigh of 1,631 kg.
 

Just over 22 minutes into the flight, the rocket launched Astrosat into orbit at an altitude of 650 km above the earth. Soon after, six other satellites were put into orbit. The entire mission was over in just over 25 minutes.

The unique feature of Astrostat is that it will provide simultaneous multi-wavelength observation of various astronomical objects from a single satellite. 

The Rs 180-crore Astrosat will observe the universe through optical, ultraviolet, low and high energy X-ray components of the electromagnetic spectrum, whereas most other scientific satellites are capable of observing them through a narrow wavelength band. 

"What happened so far is, our scientific community needed to get data from satellites launched by others, now they can get it from Astrostat, which is our indigenous satellite," said A S Kiran Kumar, chairman, Isro.

S Unnikrishnan Nair, project director, Isro said that Astrostat is a gift to the world in the area of astronomy.

The life span of Astrosat is estimated to be around five years. 

"The satellite is doing fine after separation and the satellite centre has confirmed that intended auto operation that has to happen after separation like solar panel deployment and others went well. In coming days payloads will start commissioning one by one, starting from the eight day," said K Suryanarayana Sharma, project director, Astrosat.

With the successful launch of Astrosat, India has joined US, Japan, Russia and Europe, which have their own space observatory satellites.

Other satellites

The rocket also carried six other foreign satellites - four from the US and one each from Indonesia and Canada. This is the first time an Indian rocket is carrying US satellites. 

Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Isro, signed a deal to put into orbit nine American nano/micro satellites by the end of 2016. While four US satellites have been put into orbit on Monday, the remaining five would be launcged on a bigger satellite later.

The Indonesian 76 kg LAPAN-A2 is a micro-satellite from the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space, meant for providing maritime surveillance using automatic identification system (AIS), supporting Indonesian radio amateur communities for disaster mitigation and carrying out earth surveillance using video and digital camera. 

The 14 kg NLS-14 (Ev9) of Space Flight Laboratory, University of Toronto Institute for Advanced Studies, is also a maritime monitoring Canadian nano satellite using the next generation AIS.

The remaining four LEMUR nano satellites from Spire Global Inc, San Francisco, US, are non-visual remote sensing satellites, focusing primarily on global maritime intelligence through vessel tracking via AIS and high-fidelity weather forecasting using GPS radio occultation technology, Isro said.

Isro officials said the next commercial launch would be for Singapore.