  AstroSat is India's first Ultra-violet (UV) and X-ray astronomy observatory
in space. The satellite was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation
on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on 28 September 2015 from Sriharikota Range
north of Chennai on the eastern coast of India. AstroSat carries five
scientific instruments and one auxiliary instrument. Four of these consist of
co-aligned telescopes and detectors mounted on a common deck of the satellite
to observe stars and galaxies simultaneously in the near- and far-UV
wavelengths and a broad range of X-ray energies (0.3 to 80 keV). The fifth
instrument consists of three X-ray detectors and is mounted on a rotating
platform on a side that is oriented 90 degrees with respect to the other
instruments to scan the sky for X-ray transients. An auxiliary instrument
monitors the charged particle environment in the path of the satellite.
