On 1st January 2024, ISRO announced the successful launch of XPoSat (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite), India’s first dedicated polarimetry mission to study various dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources in extreme conditions. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), in its 60th mission, lifted off at 9.10 a.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
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>The XPoSat carries two payloads, namely POLIX (Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays) and XSPECT (X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing). While POLIX has been developed by Raman Research Institute (RRI), XSPECT is a product of Space Astronomy Group of U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), both located in Bengaluru.
>India became the second nation (after the USA) to send an observatory to study celestial sources, such as black holes, neutron stars, among others. In 2021, NASA launched its Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE).