September 5th 2023.
On Saturday, September 5th, India launched their first solar mission, Aditya-L1, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The mission was a success, and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) declared that the second Earth-bound manoeuvre was also successful. ISRO's ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru and Port Blair tracked the satellite during the operation, and the new orbit attained was 282 km x 40225 km. The next manoeuvre is scheduled for September 10, around 02:30 Hrs. IST.
The mission of Aditya-L1 is to have a detailed study of the sun, with four payloads that will observe the light from the sun, and three to measure in-situ parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields. The satellite will not land on the sun, nor approach it any closer, but it will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from Earth, directed towards the Sun which is about 1 percent of the Earth-Sun distance. This strategic location will enable Aditya-L1 to continuously observe the sun without being hindered by eclipses or occultation.
Adiya-L1 will travel on Earth-bound orbits for 16 days, during which it will undergo five manoeuvres to gain the required speed to reach its destination. Subsequently, it will undergo a trans-Lagrangian1 insertion manoeuvre that will take 110 days, and travel 15 million kilometres to reach the L1 point. Once it arrives, Aditya-L1 will be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrangian Point 1, a balanced gravitational location between the Earth and the Sun.
The major objectives of this mission are to study the physics of the solar corona and its heating mechanism, the solar wind acceleration, coupling and dynamics of the solar atmosphere, solar wind distribution and temperature anisotropy, and origin of Coronal Mass Ejections and flares and near-earth space weather. With Aditya-L1, scientists will be able to identify the sequence of processes that lead to solar eruptive events and contribute to a deeper understanding of space weather drivers.
The launch of Aditya-L1 marks a great milestone for India and ISRO. After the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 near the South pole of the moon, ISRO has achieved another feat with the first successful launch of the Aditya-L1 mission. Its study of the sun is sure to bring about new discoveries and further our knowledge of space weather.
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