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India Launches ASTROSAT, Its First Space Observatory

The multi-wavelength observatory is set to give India a new view of the stars.
The rocket carrying ASTROSAT launches. Image: ISRO

It's a big day for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO); it's just launched its first mini space observatory skywards to observe the stars on a five-year mission.

The 150-tonne 1513kg mini space observatory dubbed ASTROSAT was launched on Monday, along with six other satellites, on a rocket from India's main southern spaceport at Sriharikota—a barrier island off the Bay of Bengal.

PSLV Successfully Launches India's Multi Wavelength Space Observatory ASTROSAT - See more at: http://t.co/E9RxDxVrc2 pic.twitter.com/kyMLIVHiAd
— ISRO (@isro) September 28, 2015

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ASTROSAT is India's first multi-wavelength space observatory. In other words, it's designed to observe the universe in the visible, ultraviolet, low and high energy X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum—all at the same time, according to ISRO's website. The high-tech telescope will orbit 650 kilometres above the Earth, sending back data on everything from black holes to stars' magnetic fields. The idea for the space cruiser was born 20 years ago, and it took ten years to make.

ASTROSAT is fueled at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR. Image: ISRO

Today's launch marks another victory for New Delhi as it takes steps to up its seriously ambitious yet low-cost space programme. While many might think of the space race as dominated by established space giants in the US and the USSR, over the last decades China, India, and Japan have been upping their game too.

Back in September 2014, India became the first Asian nation to nail a mission to Mars on its first attempt. The Mangalyaan spacecraft, or Mission Orbiter Mars (MOM)—which incidentally only cost 72 million dollars—cruised through the atmosphere into space. Currently, only the US, Russia, and the European Space Agency can boast successful missions to Mars.

According to Indian newspaper the New Indian Express, the new satellite is much like "the mythical 'third eye of Lord Shiva' as it can view the Cosmos in ways the human eye is not capable of observing."