India’s first mission to study the Sun is getting ready for launch: ISRO

Named Aditya-L1, it is the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun.

Amidst all the activities surrounding the Chandrayaan-3, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up for another launch — A mission to study the Sun.

Named Aditya-L1, it is the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun.

The space agency said that the spacecraft was assembled and integrated at the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) in Bengaluru. The spacecraft was delivered to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

According to ISRO, the spacecraft shall be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth. 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.

The spacecraft carries seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic, and particle and magnetic field detectors.

Using the special vantage point L1, four payloads directly view the Sun. The remaining three payloads carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange point (L1), providing important scientific information of the propagatory effect of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium.

Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide crucial information to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particles and fields.