The Indian's first Astronomy Satellite (Astrosat) will be carried by PSLV-30 along with other six foreign co-satellites---one from Indonesia, one from Canada, and four nano satellites from the United States---and will be launched at 10 A.M. on Sep. 28, Monday, from Sriharikota.

With Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) buoyed its success of Mars orbit mission, it is ready to launch its "indigenous astronomy satellite," according to Tehelka. It weighs 1.5 tons and will be placed in the orbit at 650 kilometers or 404 miles away from the Earth.

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In addition, as stated by Tech Times, it will blast off from Satish Dhawan Space Center. ISRO's Public Relations director, Deviprasad Karnik, said that all necessary preparations for the historic launch is in progress with the Mission Readiness Review Committee scheduled to meet up on Sep. 24, Thursday, to decide for the countdown process of the vehicle.

The vehicle has been completely assembled and the satellites have already arrived Sriharikota. As can be recalled on the success of satellite-borne Indian X-ray Astronomy Experiment was launched in 1996, ISRO had approved the development of Astrosat in 2004, taking about 11 years or less to give the final shape to satellite.

Astrosat has been dubbed as India's Hubble as it is the country's first dedicated multiwavelength space observation satellite. It is also one of the first scientific missions that will be available to the Indian researcher community as its observation opportunity in later time, i.e., conducting some sky surveys in hard X-ray and UV bands.

It will also study distant stars, white dwarfs, and pulsars as well as measure the magnetic fields of neuron stars and understand high-energy processes that occur in extragalactic and binary systems. Moreover, it will train its instruments at the active galactic nuclei at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy wherein a super massive black hole is believed to exist.

The collaboration between the U.S. National Space Agency and the European Space Agency has proved that the Hubble Space telescope made crucial contributions in the astronomy field as it discovers new galaxies. In comparison to Hubble's optimal mirror that measures 2.4 meters in diameter, Astrosat's is about 11.8 inches or 30 centimeters.

With this launching soon of Astrosat will include India among the ranks of countries with such a satellite in space like Japan with its Suzaku and Russia with its Spektr R, and its operating lifetime in space is expected to be five years.

TagsSatish Dhawan Space center, ISRO, Indian X-ray Astronomy Experiment, Astrosat, PSLV-30