India’s pioneering Space Astronomy Observatory, AstroSat, has successfully completed a remarkable decade of operations. This milestone, reached on Sunday, September 28, 2025, marks a significant achievement in India’s journey of cosmic discovery.
Launched on September 28, 2015, aboard the PSLV-C30 (XL) rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, AstroSat was initially designed for a five-year mission. However, defying expectations, it has continued its stellar performance, consistently providing invaluable data to scientists worldwide.
Over the past ten years, this advanced multi-wavelength space observatory, equipped with five sophisticated payloads, has been instrumental in making numerous fascinating discoveries, expanding our understanding of the universe.
Commemorating this significant milestone, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) shared their excitement on social media. They highlighted AstroSat’s remarkable journey, noting its contributions to studying various celestial objects, from enigmatic black holes and dense neutron stars to our closest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri. ISRO particularly praised AstroSat for the unprecedented first-time detection of Far Ultraviolet (FUV) photons originating from galaxies an astonishing 9.3 billion light-years away, signifying its groundbreaking insights across the electromagnetic spectrum, from UV/Visible light to high-energy X-rays. ISRO extended congratulations for a successful decade and expressed hope for many more years of exciting results and discoveries.
A Look at AstroSat’s Five Specialized Payloads
AstroSat’s core strength lies in its ability to observe the universe across multiple wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum simultaneously. It can capture data in Visible, Ultraviolet, and various X-ray regions (low and high energy), providing a comprehensive view of cosmic phenomena.
The observatory is equipped with five highly specialized scientific instruments: the Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT), the Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC), the Cadmium–Zinc–Telluride Imager (CZTI), the Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT), and the Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM). Each payload contributes uniquely to AstroSat’s diverse observational capabilities.
The realization of AstroSat was a collaborative endeavor led by ISRO, involving significant contributions from major astronomy institutions across India. Key partners included the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai, and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIAP) and Raman Research Institute (RRI), both located in Bengaluru. The project also saw participation from several Indian universities and two international institutions from Canada and the United Kingdom, highlighting the global scientific cooperation behind this ambitious mission.