CHENNAIi : The Indian Space Agency today announced that it had fully assembled its first dedicated astronomy mission and the first mission to be operated as a Space Observatory, ASTROSAT, scheduled to be launched during the second half of this year. In a statement on its website, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said ASTROSAT was the first dedicated Indian astronomy mission aimed at studying distant celestial objects. The mission is capable of performing observations in Ultraviolet (UV), optical, low and high energy X-ray wavebands at the same time. The satellite was planned to be launched during the second half of this year using PSLV-C34 to a 650 km near equatorial orbit around the Earth.
It is significant to note that ASTROSAT is the first mission to be operated as a space observatory by ISRO. ”All the payloads and sub-systems are integrated with the satellite. Mechanical fit checks of the satellite with PSLV payload adaptor were performed successfully”, the release said. Last week, the spacecraft was fully assembled and switched on. Spacecraft parameters were normal, which indicates everything was functioning well.
In the coming days, the Spacecraft would ill undergo several environmental tests like Electromagnetic Interference (EMI), Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), Thermal Vacuum, Vibration, Acoustic tests before being shipped to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota for the launch. ASTROSAT carries four X-ray payloads, one UV telescope and a charge particle monitor.
Apart from ISRO, four other Indian institutions–Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) and Raman Research Institute (RRI)–were involved in payload development.
Two of the payloads were developed in collaboration with Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and University of Leiscester, UK. (AGENCIES)
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