Indian Space Research Organisation’s inaugural solar mission, Aditya-L1, has reach its destination within the anticipate 4-month timeframe, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
Aditya-L1 launch on 2nd September 2023, the spacecraft position itself at Lagrange Point 1, from where it will undertake a comprehensive study of the Sun, focusing on the solar corona and its influence on space weather.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter :
"India creates yet another landmark. It is a testament to the relentless dedication of our scientists in realising among the most complex and intricate space missions,".
The satellite cover approx. 1.5 million km (930,000mi) over the span of four months, just a fraction of the Earth-Sun distance of 150 million km.
The Lagrange Point, where the satellite is station, benefits from gravitational forces that allow objects to remain relatively stationary, reducing fuel consumption for the spacecraft.
Aditya-L1 equip with seven payloads, is said to conduct remote sensing of the Sun and in-situ observations for an estimated 5 years.
Aditya-L1 name after the Hindi word for the Sun, this mission follows ISRO’s recent achievement of being the first country to successfully land on the Moon’s south pole, surpassing Russia’s failed Luna-25 with the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
Chandrayaan-3 land on the unexplore south pole of the Moon in August 2023.
Scientists involve in the project aim to gain insights into the impact of solar radiation on the increasing number of satellites in orbit, with a particular focus on phenomena affecting ventures like Elon Musk’s Starlink communications network.
The low earth orbit is going to get “super” crowd over the coming years.
Stationing a spacecraft at L1 acts as an early warning system, with roughly one hour advantage, for an upcoming storm from the Sun.
The mission to study the Sun is among a slate of projects ISRO has line up through the year, key among them its first human space mission and a low-Earth orbit observatory system jointly develop by NASA and ISRO, call as NISAR.
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.
