The heaviest payload of the project, the Large Area Xenon Proportional Counters, is generating significant data. (Express Photo) The heaviest payload of the project, the Large Area Xenon Proportional Counters, is generating significant data. (Express Photo)

INDIA’S first space observatory, Astrosat, has “beaten” NASA, said scientists from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), with the heaviest payload of the project – the Large Area Xenon Proportional Counters (LAXPC) – generating good data. With a mass of 414 kg and an area of 8,000 cm square – three units of LAXPC – was fabricated by TIFR Prof JS Yadav. No payload of this area has been flown so far and hence it was a big challenge for the country when it was first mooted, said scientists.

The LAXPC instrument is best suited to explore extreme conditions and TIFR Director SP Trivedi said on Monday that while everything is going exactly as per specifications, when compared with other instruments of its kind, for some specifications it is better than anything in the world by a factor of five. Comparing it with a similar mission of NASA, RXTE/PCA (Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer /Proportional Counter Array), Trivedi said that Astrosat has scored over it.

While the RXTE/PCA mission was launched in 1996 and stopped in 2012, TIFR said that the Astrosat will not only fill up this gap, but give advantage in terms of data. Further, for RXTE/PCA, roughly 1,100 papers were published in the first four years of the mission, with 350 in referred journals. “Our detector is working extremely well and it is better in many aspects than RXTE/PCA. That’s very good news for us. We are hoping for a corresponding scientific return. The science payback must come back now and all the indications are that it will be a very rich dividend,” said Trivedi.

He added, “Black holes are mysterious objects and are currently very poorly understood. It is, therefore, very important to observe many such events. While it is estimated that there are a million black holes in our galaxy, NASA has observed 20 confirmed sources (black hole binaries). We do have the capability to see many more now. Another unique capability we have in Astrosat is that we can combine LAXPC’s observations with those of the other instruments on board. We can then get a coverage across many different channels, and that gives you a wider window. That’s a big advantage, which did not exist in the NASA mission. The NASA mission had a much more selective range. We have beaten them in Astrosat mission.”

Yadav added, “The instrument is functioning extremely well and it has achieved all detector parameters or goals as proposed. It is giving very good results and is working better than expected. In recent past, NASA’s RXTE/PCA X-ray mission has been most successful. But the LAXPC instrument has better efficiency than that of RXTE/PCA above 20 keV, while it shows similar or better spectral and timing characteristics.” Significantly, NASA’s Swift and Newstar satellite missions have approached TIFR in October this year and expressed interest to have simultaneous observations with Astrosat. “They want cross co-relation with us. This shows the confidence that the international community has in Astrosat,” said Yadav.

The 1,650 kg satellite with a science payload of 750 kg, is carrying five astronomy payloads for simultaneous multi-band observations. Three of the major instruments have been designed and developed by TIFR. All the three instruments have been carrying out checks and calibrations and seeing if they are performing as per specifications. “If you talk of ‘make in India’ for science, the Astrosat is a great example,” said Trivedi.

The LAXPC instrument became fully operational on October 19 this year for the first time in space. According to TIFR, it has provided very high quality data and scientists have observed black hole X-ray binaries, microquasars, X-ray pulsars, active galactic nuclei and supernova remnants during first light observations. All data observed will be published in two to three months. Astrosat will be open to national and international astronomers after one year. In terms of combining capabilities, unique to India and TIFR, some of the sources can be observed using LAXPX and also India’s Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). This combination of ground and space-based capabilities, said Trivedi, is “nearly unmatched globally”.

mihika.basu@expressindia.com

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