India’s first national Astronomy satellite — Astrosat — is to have key components assembled by the University of Leicester in the U.K.

A team of engineers from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, has arrived at the University of Leicester’s Space Research Centre to initiate work on the satellite which is due for launch in 2009. The team will work on the next phase of the mission, when hardware manufactured in India arrives in Leicester for inspection, testing, and assembly into a space qualified X-ray camera. Astrosat will carry five instruments to observe exotic objects such as black holes, neutron stars, and active galaxies at a number of different wavelengths simultaneously, from the ultraviolet band to energetic x-rays. The camera was designed by the University of Leicester and the manufacture of the hardware components, including the main telescope body and mirror, was undertaken by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. The University of Leicester is to assemble the camera, support the project through consultancy and calibrate the camera at the Space Research Centre. The University of Leicester Space Research Centre was asked to undertake the SXT camera development because of its track record in spacecraft design, in missions such as Swift and XMM-Newton and the experience gained from its CCD laboratory programs.