Aditya-L1 Launch highlights: India's sunshine moment as mission now in space

Former Indian Space Research Organisation chairman G Madhavan Nair said data from Aditya-L1 will help explain various celestial phenomena taking place in the atmosphere and aid climate change studies.

“This mission is very important. Aditya L-1 will be placed around Lagrangian Point 1, where the gravitational force of Earth and the Sun is virtually nullified, and with minimum fuel, we can park the spacecraft there. It will also enable 24/7 observation of the Sun. Seven payloads or instruments have been included on board the spacecraft,” he said. 

"The data from this mission will help explain various phenomena taking place in the atmosphere and aid climate change studies," he added.

The Aditya L1 mission will be the 59th mission for PSLV and the 25th that uses the PSLV-XL configuration. The launch vehicle has been used for most of the space agency’s missions. The XL configuration was first used for Chandrayaan-1 and has been used for missions like Mangalyaan. 

Longer term, data from the mission will help better us understand the sun's impact on earth's climate patterns, the origins of solar wind, the stream of particles that flow from the sun through the solar system, scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

1. Aditya L1 mission is set to be launched today. 
2. No, the mission will not “land” on the Sun. 
3. It will be placed in the orbit of the Sun-Earth system.
4. The halo orbit around Lagrangian Point 1 (L1) will be the parking spot for India's mission. 
5. It is 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth in the direction of the Sun. 
6. The mission will revolve around the Sun and observe solar activities and their effect on space weather.

NASA's Parker Probe touched the Sun for the first time in history in 2021 as it navigated Sun's upper atmosphere- Corona.

India's sun mission has the capacity to make a "big bang in terms of science," Somak Raychaudhury, who was involved in the development of some components of the observatory said. Energy particles emitted by the sun can hit satellites that control communications on earth, Somak Raychaudhury added. 

Profesor RC Kapoor said that the most important instrument on the Aditya-L1 mission launch will study the corona of the Sun. "This is a very important day. The most important instrument on Aditya L1 will study the Corona of the Sun. Normally, which can only be studied during full solar eclipse," RC Kapoor said. 

Former ISRO scientist Mylswamy Annadurai said, "It is technically very challenging to acquire the L1 point and have an orbit around that and to survive for the five years with very accurate finding requirements. This is scientifically going to be rewarding because seven instruments will try to understand the dynamics and phenomena of what's happening there."

Ahead of the launch of Aditya-L1, a Surya Namaskar was performed at the Doon Yoga Peeth for its success. The Surya Namaskar was performed in the presence of spiritual guru Acharya Bipin Joshi.

Get, set, go. ISRO's next destination is the Sun as it prepares for the launch of Aditya L-1 mission today. 

When to watch Aditya L1 launch?

The launch of Aditya L1 will take place at 11:50 am on September 2. 

Where will Aditya L1 take off from?

It will take off from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

Where to watch Aditya-L1 launch?

You can watch the launch event on YouTube. ISRO has shared of the live-stream.

And…

We are here for all the LIVE updates. Keep reading!

Dr Sankarasubramanian K has been appointed by ISRO as the principal scientist for the Aditya-L1 mission. He was also a part of AstroSat, Chandrayaan-1, and Chandrayaan-2, taking on various roles. Currently, he leads the Space Astronomy Group (SAG) at URSC which is dedicated to creating scientific tools for upcoming missions such as Aditya-L1, XPoSat and the science payload for Chandrayaan-3's propulsion module.

Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) has a very crucial role to play in the Aditya L1 mission as its' successful operation will result in placing the craft in a halo orbit at L1.

Weather in Sriharikota is expected to be sunny and a bit breezy in the afternoon, as per accuweather.com. 

The air is filled with excitement too, we bet! 

Once, the mission docks at parking spot L1- four of the seven payloads on board Aditya will view the Sun while the remaining three instruments will carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at L1. 

Next stop L1, here's hoping!

European Space Agency’s (ESA) Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft is stationed at a halo orbit around the L1 point. It has been operational since 1996. If Aditya L1 mission  is successful, we have neighbours at L1. 

The neighbours await India's mission! 

L1 provides an unhindered view of the Sun while L2 is located behind the Earth and L3 is behind the Sun. L4 and L5 are stable locations but are much farther from Earth compared to L1. 

Therefore, ISRO chose L1 as the ideal position for the Sun mission. 

Aditya L1 mission was earlier an experiment to study a layer of the Sun’s atmosphere called Corona. It was later switched to more complex instruments that could study the Sun from the L1 point.

Aditya L1 mission will be studying geomagnetic stories from coronal mass ejections from the Sun. In 2022, a geomagnetic storm from the Sun knocked out 40 of the 49 SpaceX Starlink satellites belonging to Elon Musk. 

So yes, SpaceX is watching with bated breath as India eyes the Sun. 

The 1,480 kg spacecraft will be put in a highly elliptical orbit of 235 km x 19,500 km around the Earth. The PSLV has six solid fuel-based boosters and will take over an hour to place the satellite in orbit.

Three cheers for PSLV! 

Aditya L1 mission will reach the L1 point which is named after 18th century Italian-born astronomer Joseph-Louis Lagrange. At this point, gravity from the Sun and Earth balance the motion of a satellite. 

If Aditya L1 is successful, India will join a select group of countries that are already studying the Sun. These include Japan and the US. Japan was the first to launch a mission to Sun in 1981. NASA and ESA have been observing Sun since the 1990s.

The distance that Aditya L1 is expected to cover is 1.5 million kilometres. This is more than Chandrayaan-3's destination of about 4 lakh kilometres from the Earth. Only Mangalyaan has gone further- about 200 million kilometres.

Indian poet-diplomat Abhay K penned a Sun Anthem to immortalise the moment as ISRO prepares to launch the Aditya L1 mission. The anthem goes as follows: "Home star, you're never too far. Lighting up our lives wherever we are. On Moon or Mars, near or far, home star, you're never too far. Keeping us all from drifting apart in the deep dark galactic bar. Igniting the skies each day in the Orion spur of the Milky Way."

Programming manager of Chandrayaan-3 Prerna Chandra on Aditya L1 mission said, "Space agencies of other countries have already done observations on the Sun. India does not have a Sun observatory. With Aditya L1 India will also have observations on Sun which will help us understand space weather and upcoming space missions."

Former ISRO scientist Manish Purohit said, This is a big step forward for ISRO and India.With the new space policy, it has been clearly mandated that ISRO will be playing a big role in the space economy. So, ISRO has clearly taken a big step forward."