Scientists at Raman Research Institute (RRI) are building an X-ray telescope to be sent to space to explain the nature of black holes.
Scientists at Raman Research Institute (RRI) are building an X-ray telescope to be sent to space to explain the nature of black holes.
A jointly funded project of the RRI and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the X-ray polarimeter experiment for astronomical research, affectionately called Polix, will study the polarisation of X-rays from cosmic sources.
“We are building the telescope and Isro will be building the satellite that will take it to space. This would be the first X-ray polarisation mission to space. We submitted a proposal to ISRO and we received the funding. The equipment will be ready this year and it will be up to ISRO to build the satellite,” said Dr Biswajit Paul, principal investigator of Polix.
Paul said the telescope would study how a black hole influences the space around it and also the magnetic structure of neutron stars.
“There is a lot of important science that can be done around black holes. We hope to find concrete evidence of some of the predictions for the general theory of relativity,” said Paul.
The Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer (Gems) being developed by Nasa is also an X-ray telescope slated for launch in 2014. It is similar to Polix.
“We are competing strongly to launch before they do but Gems is much more sensitive and our work can be complementary to one another. But yes, our goal is to launch before they do,” he said.
Polix is more economical than the Gems project. “Our instrument has a budget of about Rs12 crore to Rs14 crore. It will cost about Rs100 crore to launch the satellite. The budget for Nasa’s mission is about $150 million.
“We are a small fraction of that and we will be able to do a significant amount of work that the NASA’s mission will accomplish,” he said.
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