The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) just launched the X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) on Monday, January 1, 2024, at 9:10 AM IST. This marked a successful start to their mission to study astronomical X-ray sources and, subsequently, understand black holes better.
XPoSat
XPoSat (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite) is the first dedicated scientific satellite from ISRO to carry out research in space-based polarisation measurements of X-ray emission from celestial sources. The Satellite configuration is modified from the IMS-2 bus platform. The Configuration of the mainframe systems is derived based on the heritage of IRS satellites.
The objectives of the mission are to measure the polarization of X-rays in the energy band 8-30keV emanating from about 50 potential cosmic sources through Thomson Scattering by POLIX payload and to carry out long-term spectral and temporal studies of cosmic X-ray sources in the energy band 0.8-15keV by XSPECT payload.
