India launches satellite to study black holes

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched India's first X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite, also known as XPoSat, that would offer insights into celestial objects like black holes, onboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota yesterday. The PSLV-C58 rocket, in its 60th mission, successfully deployed payload XPoSat into Low Earth Orbit, said the ISRO. The PSLV-C58 rocket lifted off at 9:10am from the first launch pad at this spaceport, located about 135 km east of Chennai, on January 1. It is the first dedicated scientific satellite from the ISRO to carry out research in space-based polarisation measurements of X-ray emission from celestial sources. Besides the ISRO, the US-based National Aeronautics Space Agency (Nasa) conducted a similar study -- the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer mission in December 2021 on the remnants of supernova explosions, the particle streams emitted by black holes and other cosmic events. While space-based X-ray astronomy has been established in India focusing on imaging, and time domain studies, yesterday's mission marks a major value-addition to the scientific fraternity, the space agency said. The objective of the PSLV-C58 mission includes measuring polarisation of X-rays in the energy band 8-30 keV emanating from about 50 potential cosmic sources, to carry out long-term spectral and temporal studies of cosmic X-ray sources. The X-Ray polarisation serves as a crucial diagnostic tool for examining the radiation mechanism and geometry of celestial sources.