The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that India’s first solar mission Aditya-L1 will be launched at 11:50 a.m. (IST) on September 2, 2023 from Sriharikota spaceport. The ISRO said Aditya-L1 is the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun. Using a PSLV-C57 rocket the spacecraft will be launched.
What Is Aditya-L1 Mission?
After Chandrayaan-3, ISRO is all set to launch India’s first space-based solar mission Aditya L1 to study the Sun. ISRO Chief S Somanath on Saturday (August 26) announced that the solar mission has reached Sriharikota and is ready to be launched on September 02, 2023
As per the ISRO, The spacecraft is planned to be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange Point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is almost 1.5 million km away from the Earth. “After the launch, it will take 125 days from the Earth to reach Lagrange point 1 (L1)” Somanath said.
“A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses,” ISRO said.
What Is Lagrange Point?
The Lagrange point, also known as L1,is positioned in space where the objects sent there to stay. There are five Lagrange points where a small mass can orbit in a constant pattern with two larger masses. In between five, three are unstable and two are stable Lagrange Points. The unstable Lagrange points are labelled as L1, L2 and L3 while the stable Lagrange points are as L4 and L5.
Aim Of The Mission
The aim of the Aditya L-1 mission is to study the sun from an orbit around the L1. It will carry seven payloads to observe photosphere, chromosphere, corona the outermost layer of sun, coronal heating, solar wind acceleration, coronal magnetometry, and origin.
How To Watch Aditya-L1 Launch?
ISRO has invited citizens “to witness the launch of Aditya-L1 from the Launch View Gallery at 11:50 a.m. (IST) on September 2, 2023 of Sriharikota”. ISRO also provided a registration link, and the registration already started from August 29, 12 pm onwards.
One can also watch the launch event of Aditya-L1 in ISRO official YouTube channel. ISRO will share the link where the event will be live-streamed.
