The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched the satellite from Sriharikota, a barrier island off the Bay of Bengal coast, on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket.
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A part of the new Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s drive, India has finally launched its first space research observatory named ASTROSAT that will enable the country explore space with a new perspective.
Within a few minutes, Canada’s NLS-14 nanosatellite, Indonesia’s LAPAN-A2 microsatellite and four identical LEMUR nano satellites for the United States were also placed in orbit.
Astrosat, which is equipped to observe the universe in the optical, ultraviolet and X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, is 10 times smaller than the Hubble Space Telescope and has a limited lifespan of five years.
According to ISRO, after injection into Orbit, the two solar panels of Astrostat will be automatically deployed in quick succession.
The satellite during its mission life will be managed by the spacecraft control centre at Mission Operations Complex (MOX) of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore. This launch also marked the first ever commercial flight of US Satellites from India, four of which share the boardroom of the PSLV-C30.
The turbo-charged “mini Hubble telescope” will be used to study black holes and analyse how stars and galaxies are actually born and how they ultimately die.
“The global astronomy community is looking forward to this launch as no other global space-based telescope has comparable capabilities”, Dr Kiran Kumar, ISRO Chairman, had said on Sunday. “We can write our research proposals for UV and X-ray astronomy directly to ASTROSAT” without having to depend on observatories overseas, he says.
“This satellite is very unique as we have sophisticated and sensitive astronomical equipment”, he added.
India’s successful and frugal Mars mission dominated newspaper front pages at the time and sparked huge pride in its home-grown space programme, while Modi hailed it as a sign of the country’s technological potential.
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The maiden dedicated space observatory is aimed at undertaking a detailed understanding of the universe, and six other customer satellites of other countries in their respective orbits, including four from the US. India’s observatory will be the fourth in space, after the Hubble, Russia’s Spektr R and Suzaku of Japan.
