A top astrophysicist, spearheading an Indo-Israeli venture to launch a set of three telescopes aboard an indigenous satellite, has accused the Indian Space Research Organisation of delay in undertaking the mission, and expressed fears that relevance of data might be in jeopardy.
Tauvex is an Indo-Israeli ultraviolet imaging experiment that will image large parts of the sky in a particular wavelength region. The instrument consists of three equivalent 20-cm UV imaging telescopes with a choice of filters for each telescope.
It is a collaborative effort of the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics (Principal investigators: Jayant Murthy and Kameswar Rao) and Tel Aviv University (Principal investigators: Noah Brosch and Hagai Netzer) with the scientific data open to all Indian and Israeli scientists.
Speaking to PTI, Jayant Murthy said, "We have always had a very difficult time understanding ISRO schedules and have not been kept in the loop regarding when the launch will be. The flight date was first supposed to be late 2005 and has continually slipped."
However, an Isro spokesman, when contacted, declined to comment on the issue.
"The official date which was conveyed to us (now) was early June (this year). Further slippages are of great concern to us because the Tauvex payload is sitting in the Isro clean room where we have no control over its environment. UV payloads are very sensitive to contamination," Murthy said.
He said both IIA and Tel Aviv University are very pleased with the support given to them by the GSAT-4 project team. These international collaborations are critical for science which should truly transcend borders.
"Through this project, and others, we have an exposure to the latest scientific results and data. However, we are concerned that, at the same time, there is not a sufficient appreciation for the timeliness of scientific data. Science advances throughout the world and our delays do have serious consequences to the further relevance of our data", Murthy said.
According to him, Tauvex has been in the clean room of Isro since early December.
Asked specifically, if he was referring to delay by Isro in launching the payload, he said: "Yes, we have been delayed by ISRO's inability to launch on time."
Tauvex, which comprises three UV band telescopes developed by Tel Aviv University and Israel space agency (ELOP), is slated to be launched into a geostationary orbit as part of ISRO's GSAT-4 mission later this year.
