Announcement Of Opportunity : ISRO
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has recently made an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) to allow scientists and researchers to analyze data from the first dedicated Indian astronomy mission, AstroSat.
- The space agency has made the AO soliciting proposals for 13th AO cycle observations from AstroSat.
- This AO soliciting proposal for the Thirteenth AO cycle is for Indian as well as international proposers as Principal Investigators (PIs) to utilise AstroSat observatory time.
- The observations will be carried out between October 2023 to September 2024.
- This announcement is open to Indian scientists, researchers residing and working at institutes, universities and colleges in India for 55% of observing time and to non-Indian scientists, researchers, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), working at space agencies, institutes, universities and colleges around the globe for 20% of observing time.
AstroSat:
- It is India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory.
- It is the first dedicated Indian astronomy mission aimed at studying celestial sources in X-ray, optical, and UV spectral bands simultaneously.
- AstroSat, with a lift-off mass of 1515 kg, was launched by the Indian launch vehicle PSLV from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, on September 28, 2015, into a 650 km orbit inclined at an angle of 6 degrees to the equator.
- The spacecraft control center at Mission Operations Complex (MOX) of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru, manages the satellite during its entire mission life.
