India on Monday has joined the elite group of countries with their own space observatory with the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) successful launch of ASTROSAT into orbit.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-30, which carried ASTROSAT and six other satellites, four of which were from the U.S., and one each from Canada and Indonesia, blasted off from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at 10 am.
The satellites were successfully placed into near-equatorial orbit 25 minutes later. ASTROSAT, India's first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory, was placed 650 kilometers (around 404 miles) above the Earth's surface and is anticipated to be operational for five years.
With ASTROSAT's successful placement in orbit, India joins the ranks of the U.S., Russia, Japan and Europe, which have their own space observatory. The launch also comes less than a week after the country celebrated the first anniversary of its historic Mars mission last year.
"ASTROSAT will be brought to the final operational configuration and all its five scientific payloads will be thoroughly tested before the commencement of regular operations." ISRO said in a statement. "Today's successful flight of PSLV further underscores the reliability and versatility of PSLV as well as the robustness of its design."
ASTROSAT, which carries with it five astronomy payloads, is being lauded as India's equivalent of the Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1990 but the two have differences.
While the ASTROSAT is capable of detecting celestial objects in multiple wavelengths, scientists say that it has far lower precision compared with the Hubble.
Hubble is also ten times heavier than ASTROSAT. While Hubble weighs over 24,000 pounds, ASTROSAT only weighs about 3,306 pounds. Hubble remains to date the heaviest scientific satellite launched into space.
As for life span, the Hubble was launched in 1990 and remains operational until now. India's ASTROSAT is expected to have a life span of only half a decade.
Hubble also has a 2.4-m (about 94 in) wide hyperbolic mirror, which collect light particles. ASTROSAT's primary collecting mirror, on the other hand, measures 30 cm (around 11 in).
ASTROSAT is designed to observe a wider variety of wavelengths compared with other satellites ranging from visible light to the X-ray bands, which according to Mylswamy Annadurai, the director of ISRO's satellite center in Bangalore is the strength and uniqueness of the satellite.
"When all payloads are combined, ASTROSAT gives a coverage which no other observatory has achieved till now," Annadurai said.
