India’s first science satellite Astrosat is all set to be launched next year, the former chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation, Madhavan Nair, said on Saturday.
One more satellite, ‘Aditya,’ to study Sun’s coronal mass ejection (CME) will be launched in two years and the science mission to planet Mars by 2013, Mr. Nair said, addressing a galaxy of scientists from India and abroad and the student community at the grand finale of the Bhabha centenary celebrations, which concluded on Saturday.
The multi-wavelength astronomy mission ASTROSAT on an Indian remote sensing satellite-class satellite in a 650-km, near-equatorial orbit will be launched next year, he said. It will be launched by the Indian launch vehicle PSLV from the Sriharikota launch pad. The expected operating life time of the satellite will be of five years.
‘Adiyta’ will be launched in next two years to study the properties of CMEs that are gigantic bubbles of electrified gas that billow away from the Sun.
