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Aditya L1 launch: ‘Havans’, prayers performed ahead of India's first Sun mission
In Varanasi, people performed “havans” holding pictures of the Aditya-L1 launch vehicle for the successful launch of the country's maiden solar mission.
Prayers and havans were performed across the country on Saturday morning, hours before India's first Sun mission – Aditya L1 – launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled for 11.50am. The lift-off of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C57 rocket will take place from the launchpad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre. (Follow LIVE updates on Aditya-L1 launch here)
In Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi, people performed “havans” holding pictures of the Aditya-L1 launch vehicle and offering prayers for the successful launch of the country's maiden solar mission.
In a video shared by news agency PTI, a group of residents are seen with placards that read “new sun mission by ISRO” and Indian flags. Earlier on Friday, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief S Somnath offered prayers at Chengalamma Parameshwari Temple in Tirupati district.
A team of ISRO scientists also visited Tirumala Sri Venkateswara Temple with a miniature model of the Aditya-L1 Mission to offer prayers.
Aditya-L1's objectives
Aditya-L1 has been designed to explore the characteristics of the Sun, marking India's first-ever expedition for this purpose. After the launch, the satellite will take a total of 125 days to reach the special point called L1 (Lagrangian Point). This point will enable the satellite to constantly observe the Sun without any occultation or eclipses. L1 is particularly interesting because any object placed there will remain relatively stable with respect to the Earth-Sun system.
The major objectives of India’s solar mission include the study of the physics of the solar corona and its heating mechanism, solar wind acceleration, the coupling and dynamics of the solar atmosphere, solar wind distribution, temperature anisotropy, and the origin of Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) and flares, as well as near-Earth space weather.
Aditya-L1 can also provide advance warnings about solar winds, which travel at speeds of up to 600 km per second. The satellite can measure these winds and issue warnings before they reach Earth.
The satellite is equipped with seven different payloads to study the Sun. Four of these tools will observe the light from the Sun, while the other three will measure characteristics such as plasma and magnetic fields up close.
The primary payload, the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), is set to send 1,440 images per day to the ground station for analysis once it reaches its intended orbit. VELC can block out the bright light from the Sun's surface, allowing us to observe the much fainter corona continuously. The corona is what we see during a total solar eclipse.
