Sriharikota: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Monday that Aditya L-1, India’s first solar research space observatory, is scheduled for launch on September 2 at 11:50 a.m. The spacecraft, which will be launched from Sriharikota, is set to embark on a significant mission aimed at enhancing our understanding of the Sun and solar activities.
The spacecraft has been designed with the purpose of conducting remote observations of the solar corona and studying the solar atmosphere. Additionally, it will delve into the study of solar winds, which can lead to disturbances on Earth and are commonly witnessed as mesmerizing “auroras”.
The space agency ISRO wrote on X/twitter, ‘The launch of Aditya-L1, the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun, is scheduled for September 2, 2023, at 11:50 Hrs. IST from Sriharikota.’
The Aditya-L1 mission is designed to observe the Sun from an orbit around the L1 point. It will carry seven payloads that will allow scientists to study the photosphere, chromosphere, and corona of the Sun using different wavebands.
Aditya-L1 is a fully indigenous effort with the participation of national institutions, an ISRO official said. The major science objectives of the Aditya-L1 mission are: Study of Solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics; Study of chromospheric and coronal heating, physics of the partially ionised plasma, initiation of the coronal mass ejections, and flares; Observe the in-situ particle and plasma environment providing data for the study of particle dynamics from the Sun.
They also include Physics of 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.
The instruments of Aditya-L1 are tuned to observe the solar atmosphere, mainly the chromosphere and corona. In-situ instruments will observe the local environment at L1.
