{"id":38867,"date":"2024-01-02T05:23:45","date_gmt":"2024-01-01T23:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=38867"},"modified":"2025-04-23T21:46:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T16:16:59","slug":"xposat-mission-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/xposat-mission-2\/","title":{"rendered":"XPoSat Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0Why in news?<\/li>\n<li>What is polarisation of X-rays?<\/li>\n<li>What is X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat)?<\/li>\n<li>Significance of XPoSat Mission<\/li>\n<li>How does XPoSat compare with X-ray experiments or missions globally?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in news?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) put its first polarimetry mission X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) on January 1.\n<ul>\n<li>ISRO&#8217;s PSLV-C58 has launched XPOSAT Satellite.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>XPoSat is the world\u2019s second satellite-based mission dedicated to making X-ray polarimetry measurements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Polarisation of X-rays<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>About\n<ul>\n<li>X-rays comprise electric and magnetic waves that are constantly in motion. Being sinusoidal waves, they do not follow a patterned direction of motion.<\/li>\n<li>Whereas, a polarised X-ray is both organised and has two waves vibrating in the same direction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Sources that emit polarised X-rays\n<ul>\n<li>When magnetars or black holes emit X-rays, they encounter a wide variety of materials in the Universe.<\/li>\n<li>As X-rays pass through the thick cloud of materials, the electric component of the X-ray emits a photon in a changed direction, as it has now undergone scattering.<\/li>\n<li>In the process, the new photon has got polarised in a direction perpendicular to the plane formed between the original and scattered photon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Polarisation measurements\n<ul>\n<li>The polarisation measurements \u2013 angular and degree of polarisation \u2013 are believed to provide clues about:\n<ul>\n<li>the bright X-ray emitting sources the nature of these radiations and<\/li>\n<li>the complex process they undergo.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>About\n<ul>\n<li>It is the first dedicated satellite from ISRO to carry out research in space-based polarisation measurements of X-ray emission from celestial sources.<\/li>\n<li>It is designated for observation from low earth orbit (~ 650 km, low inclination of ~ 6 degree).<\/li>\n<li>It has an estimated mission life of about five years during which XPoSat will observe sources that emit polarised X-rays.<\/li>\n<li>The observations will be done when the magnetars or neutron stars (they are highly magnetic and display a wide array of X-ray activity) are in transit through the Earth\u2019s shadow, for instance, during the eclipse period.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Scientific payloads onboard XPoSat\n<ul>\n<li>XPoSat comprises two payloads, including Indian X-ray Polarimeter (POLIX) and X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing (XSPECT).<\/li>\n<li>They have been built by Raman Research Institute and UR Rao Satellite Centre, both located in Bengaluru.<\/li>\n<li>POLIX:\n<ul>\n<li>It is the world\u2019s first instrument designed to operate in the medium X-ray of 8 to 30 kilo electron Volt (keV) energy band.<\/li>\n<li>It comprises a collimator, which is the key component to filter light originating from bright sources in the field of view.<\/li>\n<li>Moreover, there is a scatterer consisting of four X-ray proportional counter detectors (that prevent the trapped light from escaping).<\/li>\n<li>It will observe a few tens of astronomical sources. It was conceived, designed, and built at RRI.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>XSPECT:\n<ul>\n<li>It is designed to conduct fast timing and high spectroscopic resolution in a soft X-ray energy band (0.8-15 keV).<\/li>\n<li>It will observe a variety of sources like X-ray pulsars, black hole binaries, low-magnetic field neutron stars, active galactic nuclei or AGNs and magnetars.\n<ul>\n<li>AGNs are a compact region at the centre of a galaxy that emits a significant amount of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Significance of XPoSat Mission<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>X-ray polarisation measurements in medium energy bands for the first time\n<ul>\n<li>So far, polarisation of celestial sources was done either in the optical or radio bands.<\/li>\n<li>XPoSat, however, will facilitate X-ray polarisation measurements possible from bright sources, that too, in the <u>medium energy band (8-30 keV) energy range<\/u>.\n<ul>\n<li>This has never been attempted ever before.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Analyse two kinds of sources\n<ul>\n<li>XPoSat will observe two kinds of sources \u2014 persistent sources (targeted and known sources) and transient sources (pulsars, active galactic nuclei, magnetars).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Nature of the radiations and the multitudes of processes involved can be analysed\n<ul>\n<li>Out in space, X-rays get polarised due to multiple causes.\n<ul>\n<li>For example, X-rays when subject to strong magnetic fields or due to the interactions with material present around black holes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>With the help of XPoSat, scientists can now probe the nature of the radiations and the multitudes of processes involved in the generation of these radiations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Will aid the researchers by analysing the additional parameters\n<ul>\n<li>POLIX will undertake important measurements like the degree and angle of polarisation of X-ray photons from various potential sources.<\/li>\n<li>These <u>two additional parameters, along with the spectrographic, timing and imaging data, will aid researchers<\/u> to overall improve the present understanding of the celestial bodies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How does XPoSat compare with X-ray experiments or missions globally?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Indian astronomers, using AstroSat performed timing and broadband spectroscopy of X-ray sources but no polarisation studies were performed.\n<ul>\n<li>AstroSat is India\u2019s first astronomy-based space missions that was launched in September 2015.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The <u>lack of development of highly sensitive and precise instruments<\/u> makes missions for polarisation measurements of X-rays extremely challenging.<\/li>\n<li>In 2021, NASA launched Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE).\n<ul>\n<li>It has been designed to operate and perform X-ray polarisation measurements within the soft X-ray band (2 to 8 keV energy band).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Besides complementing IXPE, XPoSat\u2019s payload POLIX will offer an expanded observational energy band, as <u>it is designated to perform X-ray polarisation in the medium X-ray band (8 to 30keV)<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1)\u00a0What is magnetars?<\/h3>\n<p>Magnetars are a type of neutron star with extremely strong magnetic fields. The magnetic field decay of magnetars powers the emission of high-energy electromagnetic radiation, particularly X-rays and gamma rays.<\/p>\n<h3>Q2)\u00a0What are X-rays?\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p>X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation, similar to visible light. Unlike light, however, x-rays have higher energy and can pass through most objects, including the body. Medical x-rays are used to generate images of tissues and structures inside the body.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-sci-tech\/isro-launches-xposat-9090416\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>ISRO launches XPoSat: What is the mission and its significance?<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isro.gov.in\/PSLV_C58_XPoSat_Mission.html#:~:text=PSLV%2DC58%20%2F%20XPoSat%20Mission%20Home,%2F%20PSLV%2DC58%20%2F%20XPoSat%20Mission&amp;text=XPoSat%20(X%2Dray%20Polarimeter%20Satellite,ray%20emission%20from%20celestial%20sources.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>ISRO<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>XPoSat is the world\u2019s 2nd satellite-based mission dedicated to making X-ray polarimetry measurements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":38868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-38867","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}