Just a few days ago, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) made history by successfully landing on the moon’s south pole with its Chandrayaan-3 Mission. While the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover continue to conduct scientific research on the moon and are expected to make significant discoveries in the coming days, ISRO has set a date for the launch of its solar mission. Aditya L1, India’s first solar mission, is set to launch from Sriharikota on September 2, 2023, at 11:50 a.m. (IST). The entire journey will take about four months and will assist ISRO in studying the Sun’s outermost layer (the Corona) as well as conducting in-situ particle and field studies to understand the effects of solar activity on space weather in real time. Scroll down to learn more about ISRO’s solar mission “Aditya L1”.
Aditya L1 Launch date & time
A week after Chandrayaan-3’s successful lunar landing, ISRO announced a date for its solar mission: the Aditya-L1 solar mission will launch on September 2 at 11:50 am from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. ISRO also shared the registration link for viewers in a post on X.
ISRO announced on Monday, “The launch of Aditya-L1, the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun, is scheduled for September 2, 2023, at 11:50 Hrs IST from Sriharikota. Citizens are invited to witness the launch from the Launch View Gallery at Sriharikota by registering here: https://lvg.shar.gov.in/VSCREGISTRATION/index.jsp. Commencement of registration will be announced there.”
About Aditya L1 solar mission
Aditya L1 will be India’s fifth largest mission after the Mangalyaan program and three lunar missions. It will, however, be India’s first space-based solar mission to study the Sun. The spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth system’s Lagrange point 1 (L1), which is approximately 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth. A satellite in halo orbit around the L1 point, one of three strategic points in space between the Earth and the Sun, has the major advantage of constantly viewing the Sun with no occultation/eclipses. This will give us a significant advantage in observing solar activity and its impact on space weather in real-time.
The Aditya-L1 mission, designed for comprehensive Sun study from the L1 orbit, includes seven payloads that will observe the photosphere, chromosphere, and the outermost solar layers known as the corona across multiple wavebands. It will provide information on the corona, solar chromosphere, and solar flares via UV and X-ray payloads. The particle detectors and magnetometer payload will provide data on charged particles and magnetic fields associated with the halo orbit around L1.
Solar flare research is widely regarded as critical to understanding how changes in solar conditions affect life on Earth. While solar flares do not directly cause death, they can cause a blackout of satellite and radio communications on Earth, potentially causing significant disruption to global communications infrastructure. The most recent such incident occurred on August 7, disrupting radio and navigation signals across the North American continent. Scientists believe that studying solar conditions will be critical to predicting the cycle, causing factors, and magnitude of these storms, thereby protecting networks and infrastructure on Earth from outages and downtimes.
Aditya L1 Mission Objectives
Aditya L1, India’s first solar mission, will be launched on September 2 (Saturday) by ISRO’s PSLV XL rocket from Sriharikota’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC-SHAR). Aditya-L1 will help in solar research and will be placed in a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth system’s L1.
The spacecraft is specifically designed to remotely examine the solar corona and collect in situ data on the solar wind at L1, the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point, which is approximately 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will oversee this mission, which will be India’s first dedicated space voyage to study sun activity.
The spacecraft will be transporting seven payloads that will use electromagnetic, particle, and magnetic field detectors to study the photosphere, chromosphere, and the Sun’s outermost layers (the corona). According to ISRO, the Aditya-L1 solar mission will accomplish the following scientific goals:
- Investigate the upper atmospheric layers, the chromosphere, and the Sun’s Corona.
- The investigation of chromospheric and coronal heating, the physics of partially ionised plasma, the initiation of coronal mass ejections, and flares.
- The physics of the solar corona’s heating mechanism.
- Observe the particle and plasma environments in situ to collect data that will aid in the study of particle dynamics from the Sun.
- To collect coronal and coronal loop plasma diagnostics (temperature, velocity, and density), among other things.
Also, ISRO underlined, “The Aditya-L1 payloads are expected to provide crucial information regarding coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities, and their attributes, dynamics of space weather, and propagation of particles and fields.”
How it works?
The PSLV XL rocket of ISRO will launch the Aditya-L1 mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The spacecraft will first be placed in a Low Earth Orbit. Following that, the orbit will be made more elliptical, and the spacecraft will be launched using onboard propulsion towards the Lagrange point (L1).
As it approaches L1, the spacecraft will leave the Earth’s gravitational Sphere of Influence (SOI). The cruise phase will begin after the spacecraft exits SOI, and the spacecraft will then be injected into a large halo orbit around L1. Aditya-L1’s total travel time from launch to L1 would be approximately four months.
Aditya-L1 Mission’s Uniqueness
The Aditya-L1 is unique in several ways because it is India’s first solar mission. According to ISRO, the Aditya-L1 will be one of a kind because of the following features:
- Solar disc spatially resolved for the first time in the near UV band.
- Investigate the CME dynamics close to the solar disc (from 1.05 solar radius) to provide information on the CME acceleration regime, which is not consistently observed.
- For optimised observation and data volume, onboard intelligence detects CMEs and solar flares.
- Understanding the anisotropy of solar wind through multi-directional observation.
How to watch Aditya-L1 launch?
ISRO announced the launch date and time and invited citizens to witness the historic event live from the space center in Sriharikota. The space agency shared a registration link for viewing the program from the Launch View Gallery. Moreover, you can watch the event on ISRO’s official website, YouTube Channel, and on DD Network. Registration will be open tentatively beginning on Tuesday, August 29 at noon. You can register by visiting the link given below:
Bottom Line
That being said, if you want to discover more about the Aditya-L1 solar mission, you can simply go to the ISRO official website. You may witness the launch from the Launch View Gallery in Sriharikota if you register on the Space Theme Park registration page. Our excitement level is at an all-time high as India prepares for another one-of-a-kind mission. Are you looking forward to the Aditya-L1 solar mission? Please leave your comments in the section below. Thank you for reading!
FAQ’s
The first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun, the Aditya-L1 Solar Mission, will launch on September 2, 2023, from Sriharikota at 11:50 a.m.
Aditya L1 will be launched by ISRO’s PSLV XL rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
ISRO announced the launch date and time and invited citizens to watch the historic event live from the space center in Sriharikota. You can register by visiting the link provided in the article.
The total travel time Aditya L1 takes from launch to Lagrange point L1 would take about four months.