Another Feather In ISRO's Cap: Launches India's First-ever Solar Space Observatory Called Aditya-L1, it was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota
By S Shanthi
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Days after the celebrated landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon's South Pole, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched Aditya L1, its first-ever space-based observatory to study the Sun. Aditya L1 was launched today from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
The 1,480 kg spacecraft is carried by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on a 125-day voyage. The spacecraft will be put in a highly elliptical orbit of 235 km x 19,500 km around the Earth. It carries seven different payloads to have a detailed study of the sun. Four of these will observe the light from the sun and the other three will measure in-situ parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields.
The mission aims to study the Sun from a vantage point at the Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L1). A satellite placed in the halo orbit around L1 has a massive advantage as it can view the Sun without any occultation/eclipses. The Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed to travel about 1.5 million km over four months to an area where objects tend to stay put because of balancing gravitational forces, reducing fuel consumption for the spacecraft.
According to ISRO, there are 5 Lagrangian points between the Sun and the Earth. The L1 point in the Halo orbit offers an edge of continuously viewing the Sun without any occurrence of an eclipse. L1 is a location in space where the gravitational forces of two celestial bodies, such as the Sun and Earth, are in equilibrium, which allows an object placed there to remain relatively stable.
Here is a sum-up:
- Aditya L1 is India's first solar mission
- ISRO started preparing for Aditya L1 during the Chandrayaan-1 mission in 2008.
- Through this mission, ISRO aims to study solar activity and its effect on Earth, other planets and space weather.
- The L1 point offers an unobstructed view of the Sun
- It will observe the photosphere, chromosphere and outermost layers of the Sun's atmosphere
- The spacecraft will carry seven payloads to orbit to observe the light from the sun and measure in-situ parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields.
