Aditya L1 Solar Mission: The countdown to the launch of Aditya L1 has begun
India’s first solar mission ‘Aditya L1’ (Aditya L1) The countdown to the launch has begun. According to ISRO- India’s first solar mission to study the Sun ‘Aditya-L1’ will be launched on September 2 at 11.50 am from Sriharikota Spaceport. The Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed for remote observations of the solar corona (the outermost layer of the Sun) and in situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (the Sun-Earth Lagrange point). L1 is located at a distance of about 15 lakh kilometers from Earth.
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‘Lagrange points’ are locations in space where the gravitational forces of the Sun and Earth produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion. According to NASA, this can be used to reduce the fuel consumption required by spacecraft to stay in position. The Lagrange point is named after the Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange.
The first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun will be launched by the PSLV-C57 rocket, the space agency said in a post on social media. The purpose of the Aditya-L1 mission is to study the Sun from a near-L1 orbit. The spacecraft will carry seven payloads, which will help observe the photosphere, chromosphere (just above the visible surface of the Sun) and the Sun’s outermost layer (corona) in different wavebands. An ISRO official said that Aditya-L1 is a completely indigenous effort, with participation from national organizations.
The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, is the lead institute for the development of the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) payload, while the Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, has developed the Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT). Payload for this mission. have done
According to ISRO, VELC is to collect data to find out how the temperature of the corona can reach nearly a million degrees, while the surface temperature of the Sun remains a little over 6000 degrees Celsius.
Aditya-L1 can observe the corona and solar chromosphere using a UV payload and flares using an X-ray payload. Particle detectors and magnetometers can provide information about the payload charged particles and the magnetic field reaching the halo orbit around L1. The satellite, developed by the UR Rao Satellite Center located here, arrived at ISRO’s spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh earlier this month. It is planned to place it in a coronal orbit around the L1 point of the Sun-Earth system.
ISRO said that a satellite placed in a halo orbit around the L1 point would be of great benefit in keeping a constant eye on the Sun unobstructed by any planet. “This will provide further benefits of observing solar activity and its impact on space weather in real time,” it said. Using a special vantage point L1, four payloads will observe the Sun directly and the remaining three payloads will observe the Sun at L1. the point Particles and fields are expected to be studied in situ.
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