BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has called for proposals from Indian and foreign researchers to access scientific data using observatory time of AstroSat satellite. The observations will be carried out between April and September 2020.
In a statement put out on its website, this announcement is for the ninth cycle of observations, for which the approved Indian principal investigators who are scientists or researchers residing and working at Indian institutes, universities and colleges will be granted 55 per cent of the time, while non-resident Indians and foreign researchers working with space agencies, institutes, universities and colleges will be granted 20 per cent of the time.
The AstroSat satellite is the first dedicated Indian astronomy mission aimed at studying celestial sources in X-ray and ultraviolet (UV) spectral bands simultaneously, thus providing a space astronomy observatory operated by ISRO. The satellite is at 650 km near-equatorial orbit with 6-degree orbital inclination, and will be completing four years at the end of September 2019 in orbit.
All announcements regarding the exact dates and proposal submission will be available at the Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC) website (http://www.issdc.gov.in) and AstroSat science Support Cell (ASC) website (http://astrosat-ssc.iucaa.in/).
ISRO has said that for all matters related to a proposal, the principal investigator of the proposal would be the single point of contact for ISRO, who will be informed through e-mail about the status of the submitted proposals. It is expected that the necessary facilities for carrying out the AO project will be provided by respective host institutions. The deadline for submission of proposals will be announced in ISSDC and ASC websites. Currently, the fifth and sixth observation cycle proposals are being executed.