After the Chandrayaan 3 mission's success, the Indian Space Research Organisation is preparing for the launch of the country's first Sun mission Aditya L1 within the next 14 days. On its possible launch date, Nilesh M Desai, director of Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, said on Saturday it could be done on September 2.
The satellite released at the UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru, has arrived at SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and is positioned on the launch pad.
“To study the Sun, we have planned an Aditya-L1 mission. It is ready and positioned on the launch pad...there is a possibility that it will be launched on September 2,” Desai told news agency ANI.
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What is Aditya L1 mission?
The ISRO said upon its launch, the spacecraft shall be placed in a “halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth.” The chosen site is important for giving an advantage to continuously view the star without any occultation/eclipses, the ISRO explained.
One of the mission's key objectives is to monitor the impact of solar activities on space weather in real-time. Through the mission, ISRO hopes to understand the problems of “coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particles and fields, etc,” it said.
{{/usCountry}}One of the mission's key objectives is to monitor the impact of solar activities on space weather in real-time. Through the mission, ISRO hopes to understand the problems of “coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particles and fields, etc,” it said.
{{/usCountry}}Aditya L1 will contain seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun, the ISRO said. The module will have electromagnetic particle and magnetic field detectors to carry out the studies.
Among the seven payloads, four will be engaged in directly viewing the Sun from the special vantage point L1; while the other three will carry out studies of particles and fields at that point to deduce the effects of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium.