What ISRO Plans To Launch Next, Following Moon and Sun Missions

What ISRO Plans To Launch Next, Following Moon And Sun Missions

→ India's first specialized polarimetry mission, XPoSat (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite), aims to investigate the behavior of intense astronomical X-ray sources under harsh conditions.

→ Following the launches of the Aditya-L1 and Chandrayaan-3 moon landers, ISRO has prepared a mission to further the state-of-the-art scientific understanding of astronomy.

→ India's first specialized polarimetry mission, XPoSat (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite), aims to investigate the behavior of intense astronomical X-ray sources under harsh circumstances Spacecraft will carry two research payloads in a low earth orbit.

→ In space, there are special machines that look at X-rays coming from space.

→ They can see X-rays with energies between 8 and 30 thousand electronvolts (keV).

→ These machines have tools on them.

→ One tool called POLIX measures how the X-rays are vibrating, like when you put on sunglasses to see sunlight better.

→ Another tool called XSPECT checks the X-rays between 0.8 and 15 keV to find out what they're made of and when they arrive.

→ This helps us learn more about space.

→ An employee of the national space agency with its headquarters in this city declared on Saturday that "XPoSat is ready for launch."

→ ISRO asserts that the emission mechanisms from numerous astronomical phenomena, including black holes, neutron stars, active galactic nuclei, and pulsar wind nebulae, are the result of difficult-to-understand physical processes.

→ While the spectroscopic and temporal data from multiple space-based observatories offer a plethora of information, ISRO officials claim that the precise nature of the emission from such objects still presents scientists with more difficulties.

→ ISRO says that using polarimetry helps us understand space better.

→ It adds two things to what we know: how much light waves are polarized and the direction they're polarized.

→ This is like a unique tool for figuring out how things in space give off light.

→ ISRO also says that by looking at polarized light and using unique measurements, we can clear up confusion about how stuff in space works.

→ Many theories about space are similar, and this tool can help tell them apart.

→ Indian scientists are primarily interested in using XPoSat to do this.

→ They use a tool called POLIX X-ray Polarimeter to do this.

→ It looks at X-rays coming from space with energy between 8 and 30 keV.

→ The tool has some parts like a collimator, a scatterer, and four X-ray counters.

→ These parts help measure the polarized X-rays.

→ The scatterer is constructed of a low atomic mass material that anisotropically scatters incoming polarised X-rays by Thomson scattering.

→ In order to have just one light source in the field of vision for the majority of observations, the collimator limits the field of view to 3 degrees by 3 degrees.

→ During the anticipated lifespan of the XPoSat mission, which is estimated to be roughly five years, POLIX is projected to survey about 40 brilliant astronomical objects of various kinds.

→ The medium X-ray energy band's first payload designed explicitly for polarimetry experiments is this one.

→ The X-ray SPECtroscopy and Timing payload, or XSPECT, is mounted on the XPoSat and is capable of quick timing and superior spectroscopic resolution in soft X-rays.

→ XSPECT can provide long-term monitoring of spectral state changes in continuum emission, changes in their line flux and profile, and simultaneous long-term temporal monitoring of soft X-ray emission in the X-ray energy range 0.8-15 keV by taking advantage of the long-duration observations needed by POLIX to measure X-ray polarisation.

→ AGNs, Magnetars, low-magnetic field neutron stars (NS) in LMXBs, X-ray pulsars, blackhole binaries, and other objects would all be seen by XSPECT.