Objective of the workshop: The primary objective of this workshop is to introduce, prepare, and strengthen the Indian astronomy and astrophysics community’s engagement in radio astronomy from space. Unlike ground-based radio astronomy, space-based radio observations can offer access to unexplored frequency ranges (100 kHz ~ 15 MHz), without ionospheric limitations, and the ability to conduct long-baseline interferometry from orbit, deep space, and/or lunar platforms. Radio astronomy from space, including observations from the Moon, is a research area poised for significant scientific expansion with upcoming national and international missions. The lunar surface and environment offer unique advantages for radio astronomical observations, which could potentially result in transformative science and unlock a yet uncharted discovery space of ultra-low frequency radio sky. This workshop aims to bring together researchers working on instrumentation, space mission concepts, heliophysics, planetary sciences, space weather, low-frequency radio astronomy, and data science to build a cohesive national ecosystem in space-based radio astronomy. A key goal is to encourage early-career researchers to participate in this emerging field and develop the human resources needed for future Indian and international missions.
Rationale: Radio astronomy from space is entering a transformative phase globally, with several ongoing and upcoming missions, such as SunRISE (NASA), LuSEE-Night (NASA/DOE), DAPPER, FARSIDE, and CubeSat/SmallSat interferometers, which are opening new observational windows below the ionospheric cutoff (<15 MHz) and enabling multi-spacecraft interferometry. India is well-positioned to make substantial contributions in this domain due to its strong legacy in ground-based radio astronomy and instrument development. Indian space-based radio proposed missions, such as PRATUSH and SEAMS, are already being actively developed towards their eventual operation in space. The Indian community is already engaged in conceptual and developmental efforts, such as low-frequency heliospheric and planetary radio science, CubeSat-based radio payloads, antenna and receiver technologies for space platforms, as well as radar and passive radio remote sensing from lunar or Lagrange point missions. However, the national community working specifically on space-based radio astronomy remains small and scattered. There is a pressing need to consolidate expertise across institutes and encourage young researchers to share knowledge of mission design, flight hardware constraints, calibration, and operations, and build common tools and approaches to prepare for India’s participation in future global missions and initiate indigenous mission concepts. In addition, there is a need to involve rapidly growing private space enterprises in India, along with active coordination with ISRO, to leverage their expertise towards astronomy missions.
This workshop will address these gaps and cultivate a collaborative national community focused on radio astronomy in space.
Program: The workshop will comprise four sessions. The first session will focus on the different currently operating and upcoming space-based radio instruments. The second session will feature talks covering a wide range of science cases that plan to utilize space-based radio astronomical datasets. The third session will discuss the technical challenges of space-based radio instrumentation and present hardware of the space missions already in motion, e.g., PRATUSH, SEAMS, SWARA-P and other ongoing projects. The fourth session is planned to be a hands-on session on data analysis and software training.
Expected number of participants: Approximately 50.
Workshop Organizing Institutes: IIT Indore, PRL, RRI, URSC-ISRO
Speakers: The speakers will be drawn from among the proposers of this workshop, as well as others who have invested efforts in enabling various ground and space-based radio instrumentation. Presentations from early-career researchers/system engineers actively involved in developing and maintaining radio observatories will be encouraged.
Organizers: Abhirup Datta (IIT Indore), Anshu Kumari (PRL), Narendra Nath Patra (IIT Indore), Saurabh Singh (RRI), Mayuri S Rao (RRI), Anuj Nandi (URSC-ISRO)