Aditya-L1: Special puja and prayers at 'Sun temple' for India's maiden sun mission

In India, Gods and beliefs are aplenty. As India's Aditya-L1 mission heads on its 1.5 million kilometre voyage to the L1 vantage point in interplanetary space, special prayers and pujas were held at the 'Suryanar'Sun temple in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. Though there are detractors questioning the intermingling of faith and space science, devotees believe that divine intervention can also help.

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According to a devotee, D. Govindaraju, there is a separate sanctum sanctorum for the Sun God at the Suryanar temple and special pujas have been carried out for the success of Aditya-L1, which is on a 125-day voyage to its destination, close to the sun. The L1 point or Lagrange point 1 is situated at 1 per cent of the distance between the Earth and the Sun. The Indian craft launched at Saturday noon (Sept 2) will reach there only by January 2024 and begin conducting its experiments, as it will have an unobstructed view of the Sun.

Notably, this mission launch which has been executed flawlessly is the 59th lift-off of the PSLV rocket, and also marks the PSLV entering its 30th year of service for India.

Earlier too, temples in Tamil Nadu had performed pujas at the 'Chandranaar' moon temple as India's uncrewed moon landing mission Chandrayaan-3 lifted off, and attempted a lunar landing and did so successfully.

About Aditya L1

The Aditya L1 mission will carry out seven science experiments and will collect data for the next five years.

Watch:Aditya L1: First Indian space mission to study sun

The mission has been designed to provide remote observations of the solar corona and record solar winds. The Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), the primary payload of Aditya L1 will send 1,440 images every day to the ground station for analysis after reaching the intended orbit.

The satellite and its payloads will revolve around the Sun and will observe the Sun continuously without any eclipses. This will help observe solar activities and their effect on space weather in real time.

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