ISRO Chief Says PSLV XPoSat Doing Well

HYDERABAD: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief, Dr Sreedhara Panicker Somanath, announced on Friday that the PSLV XPoSat — the agency’s mission to study X-rays in space, launched on January 1 —is performing exceptionally well.

Speaking at the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) convocation, where he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree, Dr Somanath shared insights into upcoming missions.

Highlighting the success of the XPoSat, he mentioned that all its instruments were operational, with results expected soon. Anticipating an eventful 2024, Dr. Somanath revealed plans for numerous launches, including the GSLV launch of INSAT-3DS, a climate and weather satellite to monitor cyclones, weather patterns, rainfall, and droughts.

Emphasising that 2024 was the 'Gaganyaan year,' dedicated to the human spaceflight programme, he outlined the schedule for launches.

Addressing the convocation, Dr Somanath congratulated graduating students and commended their qualities such as passion, commitment, excellence, determination, focus, and learnability. He also spoke about the Aditya-L1 mission, ISRO's maiden solar mission, highlighting a crucial manoeuvre scheduled for January 6 to position the spacecraft in its final orbit around Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, approximately 1.5 million km from Earth.

The convocation ceremony acknowledged Dr Somanath's contributions to science and technology, culminating in the award of an honorary doctorate. 88,226 degrees were conferred during the ceremony, including undergraduate, postgraduate, doctor of pharmacy, and doctor of philosophy degrees, along with 36 gold medals for academic excellence.