Aditya – L1 Mission
India’s first solar mission, Aditya-L1, will be launched in late August or early September, according to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
Sun probe has reached Sriharikota space port for the launch of “Aditya – L1 mission”.
Key Points:
- It will be launched from Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-XL.
- Its main objectives are to study the solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics and to understand the physics of the solar corona and its thermal mechanism.
- The Aditya-L1 mission will be launched into the L1 orbit (which is the first Lagrangian point of the Sun-Earth system) approximately 1.5 million km from Earth.
- Aditya-L1 in L1 orbit will be able to see the Sun continuously. Aditya-L1 is the first Indian space mission to observe the Sun and the Solar Corona.
Payload:
- Aditya-L1 carries a total of seven payloads, of which the primary payload is the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC).
- VELC is a solar coronagraph capable of simultaneous imaging, spectroscopy and spectro-polarimetry.
Significance: No other solar coronagraph in space has the ability to image the solar corona as close to the solar disk as VELC can. This may depict it as close as 1.05 times the solar radius.
Objectives of Aditya L1 Mission:
- It will study the Sun’s corona, solar emissions, solar winds, solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and
- It will take pictures of the Sun round the clock.
Other Solar Missions:
- NASA’s Parker Solar Probe
- European Space Agency’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory,
- China’s Kuafu – 1 Solar Probe etc.
Source – Times of India
