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PremiumAditya L1 Mission highlights: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced the launch of its next big project, the Aditya-L1 Mission, India's first solar mission that could revolutionise the understanding of the Sun's dynamics and space weather. ISRO has set the date for the launch of its first-ever solar mission on 2 September, Saturday. According to ISRO, the Aditya-L1 mission is the first space-based observatory-class Indian solar mission to study the Sun. It will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrangian point (L1) of the Sun-Earth system.
Check all the latest updates on Aditya-L1 Mission by ISRO at Mint's LIVE blog:
For further live updates, launch live streaming, follow this link
ISRO's countdown for launch of historic Solar mission has begun
ISRO scientists have used 'XL', the more powerful variant of the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) that would carry the spacecraft on Saturday along with the seven payloads. Similar PSLV-XL variants were used in the Chandrayaan-1 mission in 2008 and the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) in 2013.
ISRO chief S Somanath offered prayers at Chengalamma Parameshwari Temple in Tirupati district, Andhra Pradesh ahead of the launch of #AdityaL1Mission.
The satellite is expected to be put into orbit in the middle of January and then we will do the test if all the systems are working properly and by the end of February we expect to get the regular data
Aditya-L1 will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrangian Point 1 (L1), which is 1.5 million km from the Earth in the direction of the Sun. It will revolve around the Sun with the same relative position and hence can see the Sun continuously.
Aditya-L1 will be launched by PSLV-C57 rocket on September 2 at 11:50 AM. It carries seven payloads to study the Sun, four of which will observe the light from the Sun and the remaining three will measure insitu parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields. Aditya-L1 will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrangian Point 1 (L1), which is 1.5 million km from the Earth in the direction of the Sun.
The Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), the primary payload of Aditya L1 -- the first space based Indian mission to study the Sun, set for launch on Saturday -- will be sending 1,440 images per day to the ground station for analysis on reaching the intended orbit. VELC, "the largest and technically most challenging" payload on Aditya-L1, was integrated, tested, and calibrated at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics's (IIA) CREST (Centre for Research and Education in Science Technology) campus in Hoskote
Explaining the need to study the Sun, Professor and In-Charge Scientist at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Dr R Ramesh told PTI that just as there are earthquakes on Earth, there are something called solar quakes - called as Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) - on the surface of the Sun.
When the country's maiden solar mission, Aditya L1 onboard the reliable PSLV lifts off from Sriharikota on Saturday for its 125-day voyage towards the Sun, the liquid propulsion systems developed by a key ISRO arm here will play a crucial role in propelling it.
Aditya L1 Mission LIVE: After the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3, ISRO is now set to launch country's maiden solar mission Aditya-L1. Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed for providing remote observations of the solar corona and in situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (Sun-Earth Lagrangian point), which is about 1.5 million kilometres from the earth. Read more here
It is a soft X-ray spectrometer onboard Aditya-L1. The payload is designed to measure the solar soft X-ray flux to study solar fares.
The Solar Ultra-violet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) payload images the Solar Photosphere and Chromosphere in near Ultra-violet (UV) and also measures the solar irradiance variations in near UV.
The Sun emits radiation/light in nearly all wavelengths along with various energetic particles and magnetic field. The atmosphere of the Earth as well as its magnetic field acts as a protective shield and blocks a number of harmful wavelength radiations including particles and fields. As various radiations don’t reach the surface of the Earth, the instruments from the Earth will not be able to detect such radiation and solar studies based on these radiations could not be carried out. However, such studies can be carried out by making observations from outside the Earth atmosphere i.e., from space. Similarly, to understand how the solar wind particles and magnetic field from the Sun travel through the interplanetary space, measurements are to be performed from a point which is far away from the influence of the Earth’s magnetic field.
Sun is the nearest star and the largest object in the solar system. It is a hot glowing ball of hydrogen and helium gases.
Age of Sun: The estimated age of sun is about 4.5 billion years.
Distance between Earth and Sun: The distance to the Sun from the earth is about 150 million kilometres, and is the source of energy for the solar system. Without the solar energy the life on earth, cannot exist. The gravity of the sun holds all the objects of the solar system together.
Sun's parts: At the central region of the sun, known as ‘core’, the temperature can reach as high as 15 million degree Celsius. At this temperature, a process called nuclear fusion takes place in the core which powers the sun. The visible surface of the sun known as photosphere is relatively cool and has temperature of about 5,500 degrees Celsius
Aditya-L1 Mission LIVE: ISRO will be launching its solar mission Aditya-L1 tomorrow i.e. on 2 September. The live telecast can be watched on the Doordarshan channel or ISRO's YouTube channel. ISRO on 1 Spetember has also shared the link of the live telecast of the Aditya-L1 Mission. The launch of Aditya L1 is timed at 11:50 am (IST) tomorrow.
Aditya L1 mission LIVE: According to the ISRO's website, the spacecraft will be placed in a Low Earth Orbit. Subsequently, the orbit will be made more elliptical and later the spacecraft will be launched towards the Lagrange point (L1) by using onboard propulsion.
As the spacecraft travels towards L1, it will exit the Earths’ gravitational
Sphere of Influence (SOI). After exit from SOI, the cruise phase will
start and subsequently the spacecraft will be injected into a large halo
orbit around L1. The total travel time from launch to L1 would take about
four months for Aditya-L1
Aditya-L1 mission LIVE updates: ISRO will position the spacecraft within a "halo orbit" around Lagrange point 1 (L1) in the Sun-Earth system, located approximately 1.5 million km away from Earth.
The journey to the designated mission site is a staggering 1.5 million km from the Earth and will take about four months to cover
Aditya- L1 mission: Slated for the launch of 2 September, the Aditya L1 (Aditya is a name for the sun in the Hindi language) is the first Indian space mission to study the sun.
Gaganyaan: India's first crewed space mission ("Gagan" means sky in Hindi, "yaan" is craft) plans to launch a crew of three to an orbit of 400 km (250 miles) for a three-day mission before landing in Indian waters.
NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) is a low-Earth orbit observatory system jointly developed by NASA and ISRO. NISAR will map the entire planet once every 12 days, providing data for understanding changes in ecosystems, ice mass, vegetation biomass, sea level rise, ground water and natural hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides
- It is the first space-based observatory-class solar mission to unlock the mysteries of the Sun
-The Aditya L1 mission will cover a distance of 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth, about four times farther than the Moon.
-The TheAditya L1 mission aims to understand the Sun's coronal heating and solar wind acceleration, coupling the dynamics of the solar atmosphere, solar wind distribution and temperature anisotropy and initiation of coronal mass ejection (CME), flares and near-earth space weather.
Aditya L1 Mission LIVE: The roles of seven payloads of Aditya L1 Mission are:
Corona/Imaging & Spectroscopy
Photosphere and Chromosphere Imaging- Narrow & Broadband
Soft X-ray spectrometer: Sun-as-a-star observation
Hard X-ray spectrometer: Sun-as-a-star observation
Solar wind/Particle Analyzer Protons & Heavier Ions with directions
Solar wind/Particle Analyzer Electrons & Heavier Ions with directions
Aditya L1 Mission LIVE: The spacecraft is equipped with seven advanced payloads designed to scrutinize various layers of the Sun (photosphere, chromosphere and corona). The seven payloads are-
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)
Advanced Tri-axial High Resolution Digital Magnetometers
Aditya L1 Mission LIVE: Aditya-L1, named after the Sun's core, aims to study Sun's behaviour by placing itself in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, approximately 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.
Aditya L1 Mission LIVE: ISRO has announced the launch of the PSLV-C57/Aditya-L1 Mission on Saturday at 11:50 am (IST) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
Aditya L1 Mission LIVE: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has set up the date- 2nd September (Saturday) for the launch of the Aditya-L1 mission. The first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun will be launched from Sriharokota on Saturday.
Aditya L1 Mission LIVE:
-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; and
-Physics of solar corona and its heating mechanism.
-Moreover, the mission also aims to study 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; and drivers for space weather (origin, composition and dynamics of solar wind).
Aditya L1 Mission LIVE: Aditya-L1 spacecraft will provide remote observations of the solar corona and in situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (Sun-Eart Lagrangian point). The L1 point is located around 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth.
Aditya L1 Mission LIVE: Aditya-L1, named after the Sun's core, aims to provide unprecedented insights into the Sun's behavior by placing itself in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, approximately 1.5 million kilometers from Earth
Aditya L1 Mission LIVE: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced the launch date of its next Aditya-L1 solar mission following the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon. India is gearing up for its Sun mission ‘Aditya-L1’. ISRO chief S Somnath has said that the ISRO team has completed rehearsal for the launch. Read more here
Aditya L1 Mission LIVE: The Lagrange point L1 is located around 1.5 million km from the Earth. Movement in the halo orbit around L1 point will let the satellite to continuously observe the Sun without any occulation/eclipses. Because of this, the scientists would be able to observe the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time.
L1 is among the five Lagrange points in the Earth-Sun system. At this point, the gravitational forces of the two bodies balance the centrifugal force felt by a smaller object. Due to the balance of force, the object is not attracted by the Sun, hence would be able to effectively “hover" in a stable position relative to the two larger bodies.
Keeping in mind the gravitational forces of Earth and Sun, Lagrange Point 1 (L1) is located between the Earth and the Sun about 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth, in the direction of the Sun. This point is located on the line connecting the two bodies. It is situated in the Earth's orbital path around the Sun. Read more here
Aditya L1 Mission LIVE: Here are five things you need to know about the Sun mission
1. It will be the first space-based Indian mission to study the sun.
2. The spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 of the Sun-Earth system.
3. Aditya L1 will carry 7 payloads to observe the photoshere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun.
4. The payloads are expected to provide crucial information for to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection etc
5. The mission will provide important scientific studies on the propagatory effect of the solar dynamics
Aditya L1 launch: After the boisterous success of Chandrayaan-3, Indian Space Research Organisation, is all set to launch its mission to the sun. The launch is scheduled to to take place at 11:50 am on on September 2. Read more here
ISRO's inaugural solar mission, Aditya L1, is scheduled for launch from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on Friday. The spacecraft is set to be launched at 11.50 am, following the notable achievement of Chandrayaan-3's recent landing on the Moon's southern pole last week. Read more here
Aditya L1 Mission LIVE: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced the launch date of its next Aditya-L1 solar mission following the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon. Aditya L1 mission, India's first solar endeavour, will study the Sun and is scheduled for lift-off on September 2 at 11:50 am from the Sriharikota spaceport. On August 30, ISRO said that its Aditya-L1 mission, designed to study the Sun, has completed launch rehearsals and internal checks.
Aditya L1 Mission LIVE: India is gearing up for its Sun mission ‘Aditya-L1’. Indian Space Research Organisation chief S Somnath has said that the ISRO team has completed rehearsal for the launch.
Speaking to the media, ISRO Chief said, “We are just getting ready for the launch. The rocket and satellite are ready, we have completed the rehearsal for the launch. Tomorrow we have to start the countdown for the launch, the day after tomorrow."
ISRO Chairman S Somanath on Thursday said the space agency was getting ready for the September 2 launch of the country's ambitious solar mission, Aditya-L1 and that the countdown for its launch will start tomorrow. The mission is scheduled to be launched on September 2 at 11.50 am from the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh.
Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed for providing remote observations of the solar corona and in situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (Sun-Earth Lagrangian point), which is about 1.5 million kilometres from the earth.
It will be the first dedicated Indian space mission for observations of the Sun to be launched by the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency.
"We are just getting ready for the launch. The rocket and satellite are ready. We completed the rehearsal for the launch. So tomorrow we have to start the countdown for the day after tomorrow launch," Somanath told reporters.
"After launch we will see further," he added.
Aditya was planned for 2008 itself for going into Near-Earth orbit...to go around the Earth and then keep looking at the Sun and give data... ISRO has had a plan for space exploration for quite some time and more than 15 years. ISRO also has to take up further challenges of interplanetary missions: Former ISRO scientist Dr YS Rajan
As India launches its first solar mission Aditya-L1, scheduled to be launched by September 2, scientists expect to get new information about the past, present and future of the Sun after analysing the data.
This data is believed to be important to understand possible climatic changes on Earth in the decades and centuries ahead.
NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe in August 2018. In December 2021, Parker flew through the Sun's upper atmosphere, the corona, and sampled particles and magnetic fields there. This was the first time ever that a spacecraft touched the Sun.
In February 2020, NASA joined hands with the European Space Agency (ESA) and launched The Solar Orbiter to collect data to find out how the Sun created and controlled the constantly changing space environment throughout the solar system.
Japan's JAXA space agency launched its first solar observation satellite, Hinotori (ASTRO-A), in 1981. The objective was to study solar flares using hard X-rays. JAXA's other solar exploratory missions are Yohkoh (SOLAR-A) launched in 1991; SOHO (along with NASA and ESA) in 1995; and Transient Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE), along with NASA, in 1998.
In 2006, Hinode (SOLAR-B) was launched, which was the successor to Yohkoh (SOLAR-A), the orbiting solar observatory. Japan launched it in collaboration with the US and the UK. The objective of Hinode, an observatory satellite, is to study the impact of the Sun on the Earth.
In October 1990, the ESA launched Ulysses to study the environment of space above and below the poles of the Sun. Other than solar missions launched in collaboration with NASA and the JAXA, the ESA launched Proba-2 in October 2001.
Proba-2 is the second of the Proba series, building on nearly eight years of successful Proba-1 experience, even as Proba-1 was not a solar exploratory mission.
On-Board Proba-2 were four experiments, two of which were solar observation experiments.
Proba stands for Project for On-Board Autonomy. Upcoming solar missions of the ESA include Proba-3, scheduled for 2024, and Smile, scheduled for 2025.
The Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S) was successfully launched by the National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), on October 8, 2022.
The solar system is affected by solar weather and changes in weather can change the orbits of satellites or shorten their lives. It may also cause power blackouts and other disturbances on Earth. Knowledge of solar events is key to understanding space weather. Hence, to learn about and track Earth-directed storms, and to predict their impact, continuous solar observations are needed. Aditya-L1 spacecraft will be put in orbit around the L1 point to study the storm that emerges from the Sun towards Earth.
The Aditya L1 Mission will study-
Of the seven payloads, four will directly study the Sun, and the remaining three will in situ study particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1.
According to the ISRO, the Aditya-L1 spacecraft will be put in orbit around the L1 point, from where it will be able to observe the Sun without obstructions.
HEL1OS is a hard X-ray spectrometer designed to study solar flares in the high energy X-rays.
It is a soft X-ray spectrometer onboard Aditya-L1. The payload is designed to measure the solar soft X-ray flux to study solar fares.
The Solar Ultra-violet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) payload images the Solar Photosphere and Chromosphere in near Ultra-violet (UV) and also measures the solar irradiance variations in near UV.
The obvious answer is a ‘NO’ which is not only true for Aditya-L1 but in general for any space mission. The reason is that due to the limited mass, power, and volume of the spacecraft that carries the scientific payloads in space, only a limited set of instruments with limited capacity can be sent onboard the spacecraft. In the case of Aditya-L1, all the measurements will be made from the Lagrange point L1. As an example, the various phenomena of the sun are multi-directional and therefore the directional distribution of energy of explosive/eruptive phenomena will not be possible to study with Aditya-L1 alone.
The Sun emits radiation/light in nearly all wavelengths along with various energetic particles and magnetic field. The atmosphere of the Earth as well as its magnetic field acts as a protective shield and blocks a number of harmful wavelength radiations including particles and fields. As various radiations don’t reach the surface of the Earth, the instruments from the Earth will not be able to detect such radiation and solar studies based on these radiations could not be carried out. However, such studies can be carried out by making observations from outside the Earth atmosphere i.e., from space. Similarly, to understand how the solar wind particles and magnetic field from the Sun travel through the interplanetary space, measurements are to be performed from a point which is far away from the influence of the Earth’s magnetic field.
The spacecraft carries seven scientific payloads for systematic study of the Sun. All payloads are indigenously developed in collaboration with various ISRO Centres.
- VELC (Visible Emission Line Coronagraph) is designed to study solar corona and the dynamics of coronal mass ejections. The payload is developed by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru in close collaboration with ISRO.
-SUIT (Solar Ultra-violet Imaging Telescope) to image the Solar Photosphere and Chromosphere in near Ultra-violet (UV) and, to measure the solar irradiance variations in near UV. The payload is developed by Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune in close collaboration with ISRO.
-SoLEXS and HEL10S: Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer and High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer are designed to study the X-ray flares from the Sun over a wide X-ray energy range. Both these payloads are developed at U R Rao Satellite Centre, Bengaluru.
-ASPEX and PAPA: Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment and Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya payloads are designed to study the solar wind and energetic ions, as well as their energy distribution. ASPEX PAPA ASPEX was developed at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad. PAPA was developed at Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
-MAG: Magnetometer payload is capable of measuring interplanetary magnetic fields at the L1 point. The payload is developed at Laboratory for Electro Optics Systems, Bengaluru.
Space weather refers to changing environmental conditions in space in the vicinity of Earth and other planets.
The Sun constantly influences the Earth with radiation, heat and constant flow of particles and magnetic fields. The constant flow of particles from the sun is known as solar wind and are mostly composed of high energy protons. The solar wind fills nearly all the space of the known solar system. Along with the solar wind, the solar magnetic field also fill the solar system. The solar wind along with other explosive/ eruptive solar events like Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) affects the nature of space. During such events, the nature of magnetic field and charge particle environment near to the planet change. In case of the Earth, the interaction of Earth magnetic field with the field carried by CME can trigger a magnetic disturbance near the Earth. Such events can affect the functioning of space assets.
Close Proximity from Earth: The sun is the nearest star and therefore can be studied in much more detail as compared to other stars.
Sun-- a mysterious star: By studying the Sun, scientists learn much more about stars in our Milky Way as well as about stars in various other galaxies.
The sun shows several eruptive phenomena and releases immense amount of energy in the solar system. If such explosive solar phenomena is directed towards the earth, it could cause various types of disturbances in the near earth space environment.
Various spacecraft and communication systems are prone to such disturbances and therefore an early warning of such events is important for taking corrective measures beforehand. In addition to these, if an astronaut is directly exposed to such explosive phenomena, he/she would be in danger.
The various thermal and magnetic phenomena on the Sun are of extreme nature. Thus, the sun also provides a good natural laboratory to understand those phenomena which cannot be directly studied in the lab.
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