ISRO kickstarts New Year with launch of XPoSAT

The ( ) kickstarted the 2024 with a display of space prowess as it launched the X ray Polarimeter Satellite ( ) along with 10 other payloads on Monday morning. The 25 hour countdown for the of the (PSLV DL) commenced smoothly at 8:10 a.m. on Sunday, according to officials from ISRO. The PSLV DL variant, coded as , a towering 44.4 meters in height and weighing 260 tons, is poised to take off from the first launch pad at the (SDSC) in , Andhra Pradesh.

In a precision maneuver, the rocket's fourth stage will be restarted twice to adjust the orbit, reducing it to a 350 km circular orbit. This alteration is crucial for maintaining a 3 axis stabilized mode for Orbital Platform (OP) experiments. The highlight of this mission is the execution of the Orbital Experimental Module 3 (POEM 3) experiment, aiming to fulfill the objectives of the 10 identified payloads.

These payloads have been provided by both ISRO and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN SPACe). The satellite aims to understand the sources of X rays and conduct in depth research on black holes. It marks only the world's second mission of this nature, following NASA's 2021 Imaging X ray Polarimetry Explorer mission.

The rocket was scheduled to blast off at 9:10 am, propelling XPoSat to an altitude of approximately 650 km about 21 minutes into its flight. (Catch all the , Events and Updates on .).