XPoSat

The Indian Space Research Organisation is collaborating with the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru, an autonomous research institute, to build the X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat).

27 May 2023

Context:

The Indian Space Research Organisation is collaborating with the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru, an autonomous research institute, to build the X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat).

About X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat):

Objective: XPoSat will study various dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources in extreme conditions.
It has been billed as India’s first, and only the world’s second polarimetry mission that is meant to study various dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources in extreme conditions.
- The other such major mission is NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) that was launched in 2021.

XPoSat’s payloads:

The spacecraft will carry two scientific payloads in a low earth orbit.
The primary payload POLIX (Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays) will measure the polarimetry parameters (degree and angle of polarization).
The XSPECT (X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing) payload will give spectroscopic information (on how light is absorbed and emitted by objects).
- It would observe several types of sources, such as X-ray pulsars, blackhole binaries, low-magnetic field neutron stars, etc.

News Source: The Indian Express