Astrosat

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Most astronomical objects in the known Universe emit radiation spanning the complete electromagnetic spectrum stretching from long wavelength radio emission to extremely short wavelength gamma rays. Hence for a detailed understanding of the physical processes that give rise to frequency-dependent, time - variable phenomena it is essential to carry out nearly simultaneous multi - frequency observations.

Important areas requiring broad band coverage include studies of astrophysical objects ranging from the nearby solar system objects to distant stars, to objects at cosmological distances; timing studies of variables ranging from pulsations of the hot white dwarfs to active galactic nuclei(AGN)with time scales ranging from milliseconds to few hours to days.

ASTROSAT is currently proposed as a multi-wavelength astronomy mission on an IRS-class satellite into a near-Earth, equatorial orbit by the PSLV. The 5 instruments on board cover the UV(1000-3000 A), soft and hard x-ray regimes (0.3 - 8 keV; 2 - 100 keV). This will be the first dedicated Indian astronomy satellite and is currently scheduled for launch in mid 2008.

Science Objectives of ASTROSAT

  • Multi-wavelength studies of cosmic sources
  • Monitoring the X-ray sky for new transients
  • All sky survey in the hard X-ray and UV bands
  • Broadband spectroscopic studies of X-ray binaries, AGN, SNRs, clusters of galaxies and stellar coronae
  • Studies of periodic and non-periodic variability of X-ray sources
  • Monitoring intensity of known sources and detecting outbursts and luminosity variations

[edit] Participants

ASTROSAT project is a collaborative effort of a growing list of research institutions. The current participants are:

  • Indian Space Research Organization
  • Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
  • Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore
  • Raman Research Institute, Bangalore
  • Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune
  • Nuclear Research Laboratory, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai
  • S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata

Astrosat is an X-ray/UV astronomy observatory planned for launch in mid of the year 2007. The main mission objectives are:

  • X-ray timing, with response up to hard X-rays(~100 keV)
  • Broadband X-ray spectroscopy
  • Ultraviolet Sky Survey
  • Simultaneous Multi-wavelength Monitoring of time-variable sources

To achieve these objectives,the satellite will carry the following payloads:

  1. Large-Area Xenon-filled Proportional Counters (LAXPC)
  2. A Coded-mask Camera with Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride detector array (CZT)
  3. A Soft-Xray imaging telescope with multi-foil Wolter optics and CCD detector (SXT)
  4. A deployable boom-mounted Scanning X-ray Sky Monitor consisting of three one-dimensional coded mask cameras (SSM)
  5. Two 40-cm dia Ultraviolet Telescopes for NUV and FUV coverage (UVIT)
  6. An optical monitor, which will be an attachment to the NUV telescope
  7. Charged particle monitor (CPM)

The total weight of all the instruments will be about 750 kg, and the weight of the entire spacecraft will be about 1650 kg. It will be launched by ISRO's PSLV launcher into a Low-Earth Orbiting(altitude = 600 km) circular low-inclination (near-equatorial) orbit.

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