ISRO shares first images of Aditya-L1 satellite ahead of India's first-ever mission to study the Sun
Aditya-L1
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has shared an update on its next ambitious mission, Aditya-L1. It is India’s first space-based observatory to study the Sun. The mission is scheduled to launch on August 26 aboard a PSLV-XL launch vehicle.
ISRO has shared the first images of the Aditya-L1 satellite. The satellite was developed at the UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru which has now arrived at SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota.
Aditya-L1: India’s first-ever mission to study the Sun
Aditya L1 is a planned coronagraph spacecraft to study the solar atmosphere, currently being designed and developed by the ISRO and various other Indian research institutes.
It will be inserted in a halo orbit around the L1 point between the Earth and the Sun where it will study the solar atmosphere, solar magnetic storms and their impact on the environment around Earth.
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It will be a historic mission for the Indian space agency as it will be the first-ever dedicated mission to observe the Sun.
Why the mission is named Aditya-L1?
The name of the mission is taken from the Sanskrit word ‘Aditya’ which means related to the Sun or God of the Sun. The L1 stands for Lagrange point 1 of the Sun-Earth system. The Aditya-L1’s spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around this Lagrange point 1 which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth.
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As per ISRO, “A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses. This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real-time.”
History of Aditya-L1
Aditya-L1 as a mission was conceptualised in January 2008 by the Advisory Committee for Space Research. It was initially envisaged as a small 400 kg, Low Earth Observation (LEO) satellite with a coronagraph to study the solar corona. An experimental budget of Rs 3 crore was allocated for the financial year 2016–2017.
The scope of the mission has since been expanded and it is now planned to be a comprehensive solar and space environment observatory to be placed at the Lagrange point 1. As of July 2019, the mission has an allocated cost of ₹378.53 crore, excluding launch costs.
Chandrayaan-3, the third lunar mission which was launched on July 14, is also scheduled to land on the lunar surface on August 23-24. Within a few days, the ISRO will also launch its maiden Sun mission Aditya-L1.
(With inputs from agencies)
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