ISRO invites scientific research proposals on AstroSat data

Chennai: Indian space agency has invited proposals from the nation's astronomy community for utilising AstroSat archival data and to carry out scientific research.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday said the announcement of opportunity (AO) is open to Indian scientific community for submitting research proposals towards utilisation of data from any and/or all the experiments for limited financial assistance.

Launched on September 28, 2015, AstroSat is India's first satellite dedicated for Astronomy.

AstroSat is a multiwavelength satellite capable of observing simultaneously from Optical/UV to hard X-rays though soft X-rays.

Five Scientific payloads were flown onboard AstroSat. The multi-wavelength observations started six months after the launch and provides world-class data from Ultraviolet to High Energy X-rays.

AstroSat data was opened to the public September 26, 2018.

Data from all the payloads, Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT), Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT), Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC), Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) and Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) are made open for users around the world.

Proposals could be submitted by scientists from universities and educational/research institutions in India. Only those having a minimum remaining service of four years before superannuation are eligible to lead the project as Principal Investigator (PI).