29th Annual Report (2016-17)

Workshops andMeetingsArranged byASSC Kiran Kumar, Chairman, ISRO; Tapan Mishra, Director, PRL; and IUCAA members celebrating one year of AstroSat in a meeting held at IUCAA to commemorate the event OneYear ofAstroSat:AScienceMeet toCommemorateOneYear ofAstroSat inOrbit On September 28, 2016, AstroSat completed its first year of successful operation. To celebrate the occasion, an one day meeting was organised at IUCAA, on Thursday, September 29, 2016, to highlight the technical and scientific achievements of theAstroSat. In the morning, Kiran Kumar (Chairman, ISRO), Tapan Mishra (Director, PRL), and S. Seetha (AstoSat PI) visited the AstroSat Science Support Cell, where they were shown how the cell has been equipped to analyze the data from different AstroSat payloads, and the working of the AstroSat Proposal Processing System (APPS). They also visited the IUCAA laboratory and were shown the model for the Solar Ultraviolet ImagingTelescope (SUIT) instrument, which is scheduled to fly on onboard theAditya - L1mission. The meeting started with a welcome by the IUCAA Director and an introduction by P.C. Agrawal. The Chairman, ISRO delivered the keynote address, and dedicated the Astrosat Science Support Cell (http://astrosat-ssc.iucaa.in/ ) hosted at IUCAA. This was followed by an official release of AstroSat outreach posters. The first scientific results and the future scope of the satellite was presented by the payload managers of the different instruments and in the afternoon, there was a panel discussion on the future of Indian Space Astronomy. The meeting was attended by several dignitaries from ISRO and other institutes from all over the country, who have been involvedwithAstroSat. Meeting onAstroSatAOProposal Submission: Guidelines andTechnical Issues The first Announcement of Opportunity (AO - 1) for Indian Scientists to propose for AstroSat observations was announced by ISRO with a deadline for submission on July 29, 2016. In this context, the ASSC held its inaugural meeting on AstroSat AO Proposal Submission: Guidelines and Technical Issues, during July 13 - 14, 2016 at IUCAA. The meeting had overview talks onAstroSat, and its payloads, with emphasis on the results obtained during the performance verification phase. 126