XPoSat, India's First Polarimetry Mission

29.05.2023

XPoSat, India's First Polarimetry Mission  ,  RACE IAS : Best IAS Coaching in Lucknow ,  Daily Current Affairs 

Mains Examination: General Studies Paper 3

(Science & Technology)

In News:

  • XPoSat is India's first polarimetry mission, developed in collaboration between Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Raman Research Institute (RRI) (an autonomous research institute), to be launched later this year.

Key Points:

  • Recently, ISRO Chairman S Somnath urged Indian scientific institutions to take steps to identify bright students and motivate them to effectively use the data obtained from science-based space missions. He mentioned XPoSat in this regard.
  • According to ISRO, "XPoSat will study the various dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources under extreme conditions" and will carry two payloads.
  • The Indian Space Research Organization is collaborating with the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru, an autonomous research institute, to build the X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat), which is to be launched later this year.

What is XPoSat mission?

  • According to ISRO, "XPoSat will study the various dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources under extreme conditions."
  • Touted to be India's first and world's second polarimetry mission, it aims to study the different dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources under extreme conditions.
  • Another such major mission is NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), scheduled for launch in 2021.
  • "IXPE consists of three state-of-the-art space telescopes. Each of the three identical telescopes consists of a lightweight X-ray mirror and a detector unit.
  • These will help in observing polarized X-rays from neutron stars and supermassive black holes. By measuring the polarization of these X-rays, we can study where the light came from and understand the geometry and inner workings of the light source.

How are X-rays seen in space?

  • According to NASA, X-rays have very high energies and very short wavelengths between 0.03 and 3 nanometers, so short that some X-rays are no larger than a single atom of many elements. The physical temperature of an object determines the wavelength of the radiation it emits. The hotter the object, the shorter the wavelength of the peak emission.
  • X-rays are a type of electromagnetic radiation that have higher energies and shorter wavelengths than visible light. The X-rays come from objects millions of degrees Celsius – such as pulsars, galactic supernova remnants and black holes.
  • Like all forms of light, X-rays consist of moving electric and magnetic waves. Typically, the peaks and valleys of these waves move in random directions. Polarized light is more organized with the two types of waves vibrating in the same direction," says a NASA video on IXPE. It states that fishermen use polarized lenses to reduce glare from sunlight when near the water.
  • According to Britannica, the field of polarimetry is the study of the measurement of the angle of rotation of the plane of polarized light (that is, a beam of light in which the oscillations of electromagnetic waves are confined to a plane) which results in its passage through some transparent material.
  • According to information from the ISRO website, the emission mechanism from various astrophysical sources such as black holes, neutron stars, active galactic nuclei, pulsar wind nebulae etc. results from complex physical processes and is challenging to understand.
  • Space based observatories are also unable to provide information about the exact nature of emissions from such sources. Therefore, new instruments can measure specific properties.

What are the payloads of XPoSat?

  • The spacecraft will carry two scientific payloads in low earth orbit. The primary payload POLIX (Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays) will measure polarimetry parameters (degree and angle of polarization).
  • The payload is being developed by RRI in collaboration with ISRO's UR Rao Satellite Center (URSC) in Bengaluru. POLIX is expected to observe approximately 40 bright celestial sources of various categories during the XPoSat mission's planned lifetime of approximately 5 years. It is the first payload in the medium X-ray energy band dedicated to polarimetry measurements.
  • The XSPECT (X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing) payload will give spectroscopic information (how light is absorbed and emitted by objects). It will observe a wide variety of sources, such as X-ray pulsars, blackhole binaries, low magnetic field neutron stars, etc.

Other Upcoming Missions of ISRO:

Aditya-L1:

  • It is India's first dedicated solar observatory mission which will start functioning in June-July 2023

Chandrayaan-3:

  • It is a follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-2, which will launch in June 2023.

Shukrayan-1:

  • This is India's first orbiter mission to Venus.

Gaganyaan Mission:

  • It is a manned space mission, which will place astronauts in a 400 km orbit.

Nisar:

  • It is a joint Earth-observation mission between ISRO and NASA, which will provide information related to global environmental change.

Source-Indian Express

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Mains Exam Question

What is India's XPoSat mission? Write in brief about the major space missions to be launched by India in the year 2023.