ISRO to launch XPoSat, India's 1st polarimetry mission on Jan 1

The XPoSat is scheduled to be launched at 9.15 am on PSLV-C58 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota on January 1 2024. The spacecraft will carry two scientific payloads - POLIX and XSPECT - in a low earth orbit.

Hyderabad:The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to roll out its first mission of 2024 by launching the XPoSat (X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite) on January 1. The mission life is of five years and aimed at exploring the polarisation of X-Ray sources.

According to ISRO, the XPoSat mission would be launched at 9.15 am on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C58, whose final stage will host 10 other payloads after injecting the main satellite. The XPoSat project will be India's first and the world's second mission, following NASA's Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) launch in 2021.

The XPoSat, which is India's first dedicated polarimetry mission has the goal of studying the emission mechanism from diverse astronomical phenomena such as black holes, neutron stars, active galactic nuclei, pulsars, and nebulae, among others. XPoSat aims to explore the polarisation of intense X-Ray sources, introducing a novel dimension to X-Ray astronomy, ISRO said.

The XPoSat mission will be launched into the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude of approximately 650 km and a low inclination of around 6 degree. XPoSat carries two scientific payloads namely POLIX (Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays) and XSPECT ( X-ray SPECtroscopy and Timing).

"The primary payload POLIX, developed by the Raman Research Institute (RRI), focuses on measuring polarimetry parameters in the medium X-Ray energy range and XSPECT is designed to provide rapid timing and excellent spectroscopic resolution in soft X-Rays," ISRO said.

Apart from XPoSat, the main satellite, the PSLV will carry 10 more instruments to Space on its last stage - the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module or POEM.

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