Indian space agency ISRO starts 2024 with successful launch of PSLV C58/XPoSat

ISRO's 44-meter tall Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lifted off majestically at 9:10am IST, on the first day of the New Year 2024. As the world welcomed the New Year, the Indian space agency set out to explore the mysteries of the universe and its phenomena, using an X-ray polarimetry Satellite (XPoSat). This is the 60th flight of ISRO's PSLV rocket, which has thus far placed more than 300 Indian and foreign satellites in their respective orbits. By operating its sensors to study X-rays that originate from space, the XPoSat satellite would offer a wealth of information for academicsand astronomers. As expected, the XPoSat satellite was placed into its designated orbit (650 kms above the earth's surface) at 9:32am IST.

X-rays are a form of high-energy light. In space, X-rays originate from places where matter is under extreme conditions - violent collisions, enormous explosions, 10-million-degree temperatures, strong magnetic fields etc. These X-rays that travel far and wide in space, carry detailed information about the powerful phenomena that produce them. However, the Earth's atmosphere blocks out these X-rays arriving from space. So, one of the best options to study these X-rays is by placing a satellite in space, where X-rays travel unhindered.

In the post-launch address, ISRO Chairman, Dr S Somanath congratulated the team for the successful mission and said that exciting times lay ahead in the New Year.

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"There are a host of new technologies being tested in this mission - fuel cell, silicon-based high-energy battery, a payload designed and developed exclusively by women" said the PSLV-C58/XPoSat Mission Director, Dr M Jayakumar.

He added that the multiple experimental payloads being carried on the PSLV's 4th stage platform (PSLV Orbital Experimental Module) are a testimony to India's space sector reforms that have boosted participation of startups and industries in space-faring activities.

"Since last evening (New Year's Eve), people around the world have been celebrating New Year and fired rockets (fireworks) in celebration. We have launched a big (44-m) tall 'rocket firework' and except India it is not possible to work like this on New Year's Day and execute a mission like this" said M. Sankaran, the Director of ISRO's UR Rao Satellite Centre.

The XPoSat spacecraft comprises two scientific payloads- the primary payload POLIX (Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays) will measure the polarimetry parameters (degree and angle of polarization) in medium X-ray energy range of 8-30 keV photons of astronomical origin. The XSPECT (X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing) payload will give spectroscopic information in the energy range of 0.8-15 keV.

"XPoSat is the first dedicated satellite for polarization measurements in the medium X-Ray range and this is going to find something very interesting about blackholes and their ability to eat into other stars. Once black holes take raw material from adjacent stars, there will be X-Ray radiation. If you are able to measure the polarization nature of the X-ray emission, you can quantify the material ejection, such is the theory" explained Dr S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO.

"The emissions from celestial objects such as black holes, neutron stars and other energetic events arise from intricate events and provide a formidable challenge to understand. To surmount this challenge, ISRO is gearing up to launch India's first polarimetry and spectroscopy satellite. The life of the mission is expected to be five years" ISRO said before the launch

After placing the satellite in the intended orbit of 650 kms, the final stage of the PSLV rocket (PS4) would be brought down to a lower orbit of 350 kms, by re-starting the engines on two instances. Once in the 350 kmorbit, the fuels and hazardous chemicals stored within the upper stage tanks would be passivised. Passivisation is a step that prevents any possible explosions or break-up of the stored chemicals. It is a step aimed at ensuring sustainable use of space.

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Post passivisation, the PS4 stage of the PSLV rocket would be used as a stabilised orbiting platform, that would carry a handful of experiments and technology demonstrators from ISRO Centres, academia and startups. In contrast, launching a dedicated satellite for testing each of these experiments would be very expensive. Simply put, ISRO is re-purposing a spent rocket stage as an orbiting platform.

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This launch is the 60th flight of India's workhorse rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).The vehicle is the most-flown rocket in the Indianfleet. Flying since 1993, the rocket has an enviable success rate of more than 98 per cent. PSLV has been usedto put into orbitmost of India's own satellites. It has also been used to launch customer satellites. It has the reputation of having completedhigh-profile missions including Chandrayaan-1, the Mars Orbiter Mission andAditya-L1.

Notably, XPoSat mission marked the third scientific missionlaunched by ISRO, in six months. On July 14,2023, ISRO successfully launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission which achievedmuch more than what was initially expected and planned. On September 2, 2023, ISRO successfully launched the Aditya-L1 spacecraft, the country's first solar observatory. The Aditya craft is expected to reach its destination in the first week of January 2024. In the first quarter of this year, India's GSLV (formerly GSLV Mark 2) rocket willl launchthe NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) Earth observation satellite. The satelliteis meant to help study Earth's natural phenomena, climate change, landmass, icecaps, forest cover, oceans etc.