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XpoSat

Santhosh Kumar 20/11/2023

XpoSat mind map
Context
Planned launch
December 2023 or later
Mission life
At least five years
Overview
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) project
Mission type
Space observatory
Purpose
Study polarization of cosmic X-rays
Understand source nature
Including magnetic fields
Other radiation properties
Target
50 brightest known sources
Including pulsars, black hole X-ray binaries
Active galactic nuclei, supernova remnants
Orbit
Low Earth orbit
500–700 km altitude
History
Project commencement
September 2017
Design and development stages
Preliminary Design Review (PDR) completed September 2018
POLIX Qualification Model preparation
Payloads
Hosted on modified IMS-2 satellite bus
Primary scientific payload
Indian X-ray Polarimeter (POLIX)
Thomson X-ray polarimeter
Measures degree and angle of polarization
Focus on medium X-ray range (8-30 keV)
Secondary payload
X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing (XSPECT)
Measures spectroscopic information and timing
Focus on soft X-rays (0.8-15 keV)
Complementary to AstroSat LAXPC
Objectives
Understanding long-term behavior of X-ray sources
Correlation of timing characteristics with spectral changes
Experiment configuration
Collimator, central low Z scatterer
Xenon filled X-ray proportional counters
Rotating along viewing axis for azimuthal distribution measurement
Glossary
Polarimeter
Instrument measuring polarization
Low Earth orbit
Orbit close to Earth’s surface
AstroSat
India's first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory

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Categories: Space

Tags: 20.11.2023, Newsbits

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