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After the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched its first solar mission ‘Aditya-L1’ to study the Sun. Aditya L1 was successfully launched on September 2, 2023 at 11.50 am (IST) from Sriharikota.
#WATCH | Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launches India's first solar mission, #AdityaL1 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
— ANI (@ANI) September 2, 2023
Aditya L1 is carrying seven different payloads to have a detailed study of the Sun. pic.twitter.com/Eo5bzQi5SO
As per ISRO, the Aditya-L1 will be launched ISRO PSLV rocket from Sathish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota. Initially, the spacecraft will be placed in a low Earth orbit (LEO). From there, the orbit of the spacecraft will be made more elliptical to place it in the Lagrange point L1 of the Earth-Sun system. The total travel time from its launch to placement in L1 is expected to be about four months.
Before we learn about the Aditya-L1 mission in detail, let us understand the crucial quest of the mission:
Why Study The Sun From Space?
About 4.5 billion years old hot ball of hydrogen and helium gases, the Sun is the nearest star to Earth and the largest object in our solar system. Being the nearest star, studying the Sun in detail can shed light on the eruptive thermal and magnetic phenomena which if directed towards the Earth could cause severe disturbances in the near-Earth space environment. The Sun's core is the hottest part, with temperatures reaching up to 15 million degrees Celsius. This is where nuclear fusion reactions take place, which is the process that powers the giant star. The Sun's visible surface, called the photosphere, is much cooler, with a temperature of about 5,500 degrees Celsius. The Sun releases an immense amount of energy in the solar system in the form of several harmful radiation and light in different wavelengths which however do not reach the surface of the Earth due to the planet’s atmosphere and magnetic field as a protective shield. That is why various instruments from the Earth are unable to detect such solar activities. Therefore, the Aditya L1 mission will carry out such studies from space away from the influence of the Earth’s magnetic field. |
Q: What is Aditya L1?
Aditya L1 is a solar mission by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). It is the first Indian mission dedicated to studying the Sun. The mission, expected to operate for at least five years, will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system (approximately 1.5 million km from the Earth).
As per the ISRO, "The suits of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide most crucial information to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particle and fields etc."
Image: ISRO
Aditya L1 mission will observe the solar activities continuously. The spacecraft payloads (instruments) will study the photosphere, chromosphere, and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona).
Which layer of the Sun will Aditya L1 study?
Q: What are the objectives of Aditya L1?
The main objectives of Aditya L1 are to:
- Understand the coupling and dynamics of the solar atmosphere.
- Study the photosphere, chromosphere, and corona layers of the Sun. This will help to understand coronal heating.
- Study the solar wind, the stream of charged particles that flows from the Sun. This will help to understand solar wind distribution and temperature anisotropy.
- Study coronal mass ejections (CMEs), solar flares, and the physics of the solar atmosphere.
Also Read: Explained: What Is A Solar Flare?
Q: What is unique about Aditya L1?
As per ISRO, the mission consists:
- Onboard intelligence to detect CMEs and solar flares for optimized observations and data volume.
- First time spatially resolved solar disk in the near UV band.
- CME dynamics close to the solar disk (~from 1.05 solar radius) and thereby providing information on the acceleration regime of CME which is not observed consistently.
- Directional and energy anisotropy of solar wind using multi-direction observations.
Q: Where will Aditya L1 be placed?
At the beginning of this article, we mentioned that initially the Aditya L1 spacecraft shall be launched in LEO. Subsequently, the orbit of the spacecraft will be made more elliptical and will be launched towards the Lagrange Point L1 between the Sun-Earth system with the help of onboard propulsion.
When travelling towards the L1, the spacecraft will exit the earth’s gravitational Sphere of Influence (SOI). Finally, Aditya L1 will be placed in a large halo orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point L1. This is a point in space that is located about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. The L1 point is a stable location where the gravitational forces of the Sun and Earth balance each other out.
Image: ISRO
Q: Why will Aditya L1 be placed into the L1 point between Sun and Earth?
In simple terms, the Aditya L1 spacecraft will be placed in the large halo orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point L1 as it will aid in having a continuous view of the Sun without any occultation or eclipses. To explain scientifically, let us understand the Lagrange Points.
As per ISRO, at the Lagrange point, the gravitational pull of the two large bodies equals the necessary centripetal force required for a small object to move with them.
For two-body gravitational systems, there are a total of five Lagrange points denoted as L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5. The Lagrange points for the Sun-Earth system are shown in the figure.
Image: ISRO
Q: What kind of instruments will Aditya L1 carry?
Due to the limited mass, power, and volume of the spacecraft, Aditya L1 will carry a limited set of scientific instruments initially. All the payloads of Aditya-L1 have been indigenously developed at different laboratories in India in close collaboration with ISRO.
The Aditya L1 mission will carry seven scientific payloads (instruments) to conduct a systematic study of the Sun. Four of the spacecraft’s payloads will directly view the Sun while three payloads will carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange Point L1.
Image: ISRO
Look at the table below for the details of the payloads (instruments):
| Type | Payload | Capability/Function |
| Remote Sensing Payloads | Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) | Study the solar corona and dynamics of Coronal Mass Ejections.
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| Solar Ultra-violet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) | Imaging the Solar Photosphere and Chromosphere in near Ultra-violet (UV). It also measures the solar irradiance variations in near UV. | |
| Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS) | Soft X-ray spectrometer; studies the X-ray flares from the Sun over a wide X-ray energy range. | |
| High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS) | Hard X-ray spectrometer; studies the X-ray flares from the Sun over a wide X-ray energy range. | |
| In-situ Payloads | Aditya Solar wind Particle EXperiment (ASPEX) | Study the solar wind and energetic ions, as well as their energy distribution. |
| Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA) | ||
| Advanced Tri-axial High-Resolution Digital Magnetometers | Measuring interplanetary magnetic fields at the L1 point. |
Q: What are the benefits of Aditya L1?
With its placement in the special vantage point of L1, the spacecraft will have the advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipse. This will help us to better understand the Sun and its impact on Earth.
The data gathered from the mission will be used to improve our ability to study or predict space weather events, such as solar flares, CMEs, solar wind, etc that affect the functioning of space technology near or on the Earth as well as other planets.
In the case of the Earth, the interaction of the Earth's magnetic field with the field carried by CME can trigger a magnetic disturbance near the Earth. Space weather events can have a significant impact on our power grids, communication systems, and satellites. By understanding the Sun, we can better protect ourselves from these events.
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