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SROSS

India's launch of SROSS-C (Stretche Rohini Satellite Series) on 20 May 1992 provided the nation with its first astrophysics observatory, albeit temporarily. The primary purpose of the flight was to test the ASLV launch vehicle which had failed on the two previous attempts. The SROSS-C was a payload of opportunity which carried a geophysics package and a gamma ray burst detector. The latter was tuned to the energy range of 20 keV-3 MeV and consisted of high voltage scintillation detectors. The observational program was concentrated on the southern celestial sky. Unfortunately, the 106-kg spacecraft decayed after only 55 days instead of an anticipated one year due to the less-than-nominal performance of the launch vehicle: an orbit of only 256 km by 435 km was achieved (References 255-257).

A replacement for SROSS-C, SROSS-C2, was successfully launched on 4 May 1994 and inserted into an orbit of 434 km by 921 km at an inclination of 46.0 degrees. The slightly heavier SROSS-C2 (113 kg total mass) was also equipped with a gamma ray burst detector. The new spacecraft also has a modest orbital maneuver capability which was used to lower apogee 300 km in July, 1994 (References 258-260).

The ASTROSAT project is aimed at design, development, fabrication and launch of an astronomical observatory for studies of cosmic sources. ASTROSAT is envisaged to be a National Observatory which will be available for astronomical observations to any researcher in India. Although most of the observation time will be for the use of Indian researchers, a part of the ASTROSAT observation time will also be made available to International astronomical community on a competitive basis.

ASTROSAT is planned to be launched by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The life of the satellite has been configured for a minimum period of 5 years. ASTROSAT is a national multiwavelength space borne astronomy observatory, which would enable simultaneous observations of the celestial bodies, cosmic sources in X-ray and UV spectral bands. The uniqueness of ASTROSAT lies in its wide spectral coverage extending over visible (3500-6000 Å), UV (1300-3000 Å), soft X and hard X ray regions (0.5-8 keV; 3-80 keV). The satellite would be launched by PSLV to an altitude of 650 km with 8^o orbital inclination from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.