India Launches ASTROSAT Observatory with Canadian Contribution and exactEarth Satellite

India’s space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), today launched India’s first dedicated astronomy observatory, ASTROSAT. Canada contributed to one of the science payloads, the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT). Also launched on India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C30) was exactEarth’s exactView-9 (EV9) Automatic Identification System (AIS) satellite.

The PSLV-C30 rocket carried a total of seven satellites to orbit. The primary payload was India’s ASTROSAT satellite. Also on the flight was the exactEarth EV9 AIS satellite, the

Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space’s LAPAN-A2 microsatellite and four LEMUR nano-satellites from Spire Global.

According to the Canadian Space Agency, astronomer Dr. John Hutchings of the National Research Council Canada, is the principal investigator for Canada’s contribution to ASTROSAT.

Dr. Hutchings co-led the development of the three Canadian detectors for UVIT in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency. Canada’s participation entitles Canadian scientists observation time with ASTROSAT.

The exactEarth EV9 AIS nanosatellite which weighs in at a very lightweight 5.5 kg was built by the Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) in Toronto. It’s dimensions are 20x20x20cm and the nanosatellite uses deployable antennas and is based on SFL’s Generic Nanosatellite Bus.