New Delhi: Following the triumph of Chandrayaan-3, the PSLV-C57.1 rocket carrying the Aditya-L1 orbiter, lifted off successfully from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, at 11.50 am on Saturday.
The successful launch of the maiden solar mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) came on the heels of the historic lunar landing mission — Chandrayaan-3.
About Aditya L1:
Aditya L1 will be the first space-based Indian mission to study the sun. The spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth.
The Aditya L1 satellite will provide a greater advantage by observing solar activity and its effect on space weather in real time.
Mission Payloads:
The spacecraft holds seven payloads for studying the sun’s photosphere, chromosphere, and the outermost layers of the sun (the corona). These tools include detectors for electromagnetic and particle observation, as well as magnetic field measurements.
The payloads include, Visible Emission Line Coronagraph(VELC), Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT), Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS), High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer(HEL1OS), Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment(ASPEX), Plasma Analyser Package For Aditya (PAPA), and Advanced Tri-axial High Resolution Digital Magnetometers.
Positioned at the unique vantage point L1, the spacecraft employs four payloads to directly observe the sun, while the other three payloads conduct on-site research of particles and fields at Lagrange Point L1. This approach offers valuable insights into how solar dynamics propagate through the interplanetary medium.
The mission also focuses on studying space weather dynamics as well as the behaviour of particles and fields during their propagation.
Science Objectives:
The major science objectives of the Aditya-L1 mission, as per ISRO, are:
- Study of solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics
- Study of chromospheric and coronal heating, the physics of the partially ionised plasma, the initiation of coronal mass ejections, and flares.
- Observe the in-situ particle and plasma environment, providing data for the study of particle dynamics from the sun.
- Physics of the solar corona and its heating mechanism.
- Diagnostics of the coronal and coronal loops plasma: Temperature, velocity, and density.
- Development, dynamics, and origin of CMEs.
- Identify the sequence of processes that occur at multiple layers (chromosphere, base, and extended corona) which eventually leads to solar eruptive events.
- Magnetic field topology and magnetic field measurements in the solar corona.
- Drivers for space weather (origin, composition, and dynamics of solar wind).