Tirupati: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) welcomed 2024 with a successful satellite launch, of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-mounted C58 X-ray polarimeter satellite (XPoSat), making India only the second country, after the US, to launch a dedicated satellite to study X-ray polarisation in celestial bodies.
The rocket was launched at 9.10 am from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota of Tirupati district. In Isro’s 60th mission, the PSLV, within 22 minutes, placed the XPoSat into an eastward low inclination orbit.
Isro chairman S. Somnath declared the mission a success, stating, “On January 1, 2024, yet another successful mission of the PSLV has been accomplished. The PSLV-C58 has placed the primary satellite XPoSat in the desired orbit of 650 km with a six-degree inclination.”
The XPoSat is designed for space-based polarisation measurements of X-ray emissions from celestial sources. It is equipped with two payloads, Polix (Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays) developed by Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru, and Xspect (X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing) by the Space Astronomy Group of URSC, Bengaluru.
In addition to the primary mission, the PSLV carried out the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module-3 (Poem-3) experiment, executing the objective of 10 other payloads. These included projects by start-ups, educational institutions and other Isro centres.
V. Narayanan, the director of Isro’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, highlighting the significance of the mission, said, “XPoSat is the second satellite in the world launched to study X-ray polarisation. Nasa’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is the first such satellite. It was launched on December 9, 2021.”
Outlining Isro’s plans for 2024, Somnath said the organisation has scheduled a series of tests for its ambitious manned mission, Gaganyaan, with the goal of “achieving Gaganyaan readiness in 2024”, although the mission is scheduled for 2025 as per the earliest estimates.
The Gaganyaan involves a series of missions to test various hardware, including parachute systems, and environmental control support system tests.
Somnath said that in 2024, they expect to launch the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for the Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (Nisar) satellite, the first flight of GSLV with INSAT-3DS, and the second flight of GSLV carrying the Nasa-Isro synthetic aperture radar satellite. The agenda also includes additional launches, such as the Navic series.
