Science
ISRO Prepares For Launch Of Aditya-L1, India's First Space-Based Sun Observatory
Aditya-L1 spacecraft at Sriharikota (Photo: ISRO/X)
India's first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun is nearing lift-off.
In an X post (formerly a 'tweet'), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said Monday (14 August) that the Aditya-L1 satellite has arrived at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre-Sriharikota Range (SDSC-SHAR), Sriharikota.
The Aditya-L1 mission is getting ready for the launch, ISRO said. The spacecraft will be launched using a polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) on the workhorse rocket's next mission, PSLV-C57.
The launch is expected to take place either at the end of August or in early September, as teased by ISRO Chairman S Somanath soon after the successful launch of the PSLV-C56 mission, which deployed seven Singapore satellites in intended orbit on Sunday (30 July).
India's solar spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system. This point is located approximately 1.5 million km from Earth.
By positioning the satellite in this orbit, Aditya-L1 will have the significant advantage of continuously observing the Sun without any occultation or eclipses. This will enable real-time monitoring of solar activities and their impact on space weather.
Four of the payloads on the spacecraft will have a direct view of the Sun from the special vantage point L1. The other three payloads will conduct in-situ studies of particles and fields at L1, providing valuable scientific data on the propagation of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium.
The scientific instruments on Aditya-L1 are expected to provide crucial information for understanding various phenomena related to the Sun, such as coronal heating, coronal mass ejections, pre-flare and flare activities, dynamics of space weather, and the propagation of particles and fields.
The Aditya-L1 satellite was assembled and integrated at the U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru.
(Pictures of Aditya-L1 at Sriharikota here.)
