Embedded Files
Artist’s impression of a Daksha satellite in orbit. Credit: Daksha team.
Two satellites, watching the whole sky for cosmic explosions
Two satellites, watching the whole sky for cosmic explosions
Every day, somewhere in the Universe, a massive star collapses or two dead stars collide, releasing a brief, blinding flash of X-rays and gamma rays. Daksha is a proposed pair of space telescopes that will watch over almost the entire sky, catch these flashes as they happen, and alert telescopes around the world within a minute.
For astronomers: technical details
For astronomers: technical details
Two satellites in a ~650 km, 6° orbit, on opposite sides of the Earth. Each carries 13 Low Energy Packages (silicon drift detectors, 1–30 keV), 17 Medium Energy Packages (CZT, 20–200 keV) and 4 High Energy Packages (NaI(Tl) with SiPM readout, 0.1 to >1 MeV). Median MEP effective area ~1300 cm² over the visible sky; 5σ sensitivity 4×10⁻⁸ erg cm⁻² s⁻¹ for a 1 s burst; ~86% time-averaged sky coverage for the pair. Full description: Bhalerao et al. 2024, Daksha: On Alert for High Energy Transients (Experimental Astronomy 57, 24; arXiv). All Daksha papers are listed on our Publications page.
What is Daksha?
What is Daksha?
Daksha (दक्ष) means “alert” in Marathi and Sanskrit — a fitting name for a mission that never stops watching. It will consist of two identical satellites orbiting on opposite sides of the Earth, so that between them very little of the sky is ever hidden. Each satellite carries three types of detectors that together cover a wide range of X-ray and gamma-ray energies: from about 1 keV (soft X-rays) to more than 1 MeV — several hundred thousand times the energy of visible light.
What will it discover?
What will it discover?
Flashes from colliding neutron stars — the same collisions that send out gravitational waves. Only one such flash has ever been confirmed; Daksha is expected to catch a few to a dozen every year.
About 500 gamma-ray bursts every year — more than any mission flying today.
How these explosions work, by measuring their light from soft X-rays to gamma rays, and whether that light is polarised.
Much more besides: flaring magnetars, solar flares, pulsars, and even gamma-ray flashes from thunderstorms on Earth.
Where does Daksha stand?
Where does Daksha stand?
Daksha is a proposed mission. The team has designed the satellites in detail, and laboratory models of the key detector hardware have been built and successfully demonstrated. The mission is led by IIT Bombay together with partner institutes across India, and its science team includes researchers from around the world.
Support Daksha
Support Daksha
If you would like to see Daksha fly, please take a minute to fill in our short support form. Every response helps show the scientific community’s interest in the mission.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse