ISRO Begins New Year With XPoSat Success

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Monday successfully launched the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C58 carrying X-ray Polarimeter Satellite or XPoSat and 10 other payloads in a mission that aims to study the dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources, including Black Holes, which could provide vital information on the nature and behaviour of celestial objects.

- Soumya Pillai

Isro chairman S Somanath said that XPoSat is a unique mission that will test India's capabilities of X-ray Polarimetry with locally built instruments.

"On January 1, 2024, yet another successful mission has been achieved with PSLV. PSLVC58 has placed XPoSat in the desired orbit of 650km, six-degree inclination... We are looking forward to an exciting year ahead," Somanath said after the launch.

XPoSat is India's first polarimetry mission and only the second such mission in the world. The US's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) first launched its Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission in 2021 on-board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center.

A joint effort with the Italian Space Agency, IXPE was dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from the "most extreme and mysterious objects in the universe", including supernova remnants, supermassive black holes, and dozens of other high-energy objects.

At 9.10am on Monday, Isro's trusted launch vehicle PSLVC58 lifted off from the Satish Dhwan Space Centre in Sriharikota.