India's first mission to explore black holes:
India's space agency ISRO started the New Year with a successful launch of a spectacular mission.
Launch of mission :
On the first day of the year 2024, India launched a unique mission for the study of black holes, It was launched from Sriharikota spaceport at 09:10 local time (03:40GMT) on Monday. India's first and the world's second, from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on a PSLV C58 rocket.
Instrument used in this mission :
XPoSat
Well, there are many instruments in this mission but the most important one is the satellite called XPoSat.
What's the role of XPoSat?
Its job is to study the X-ray energy, which has determined around 50 sources which are mostly black holes.
XPoSat: X-ray Polarimetry Satellite
The satellite carries the POLIX instrument to study the X-ray energy band (5 to 30 KeV).
POLIX: Polarimeter Instrument for X-ray
This instrument is made by the Roman Research Institute. Black holes and neutron stars are sources of X-ray energy, and in the case of a black hole, it is important to study these X-rays to determine the composition of the material surrounding it and how it changes over time.
Function of POLIX Instrument
Polarization of energy is the function of this POLIX instrument.
Why is Indian this mission Unique?
X-ray telescopes exist in space, but they do not undergo polarization, that's why this Indian mission is unique.
NASA:
NASA launched a mission called IXPE in 2021 for the same purpose.
Investment and lifetime of this mission:
25 crore Indian rupees have been spent on this mission of India and the life of this mission has been kept for 5 years.