Nilanjan
After the success of Chandrayaan 3, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to launch its next satellite to the Sun this month. It is the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun.
On August 10, ISRO released the images of Aditya L1 on Twitter. The satellite had reached Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota after being assembled at U.R. Rao Satellite Centre (URSC).
What is the Aditya-L1 mission?
Aditya L1 will be launched into space with the help of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). This PSLV has 7 payloads on board. The seven payloads are VELC, Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT), Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS), Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX), High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS), Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA) and Advanced Tri-axial High Resolution Digital Magnetometers.
The satellite will study the Sun’s corona, photosphere, chromosphere, solar emissions, solar winds and flares, and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). It will carry out round-the-clock imaging of the Sun. The mission will be launched by ISRO to the L1 orbit which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth. This orbit allows Aditya-L1 to look at the Sun continuously.
Aditya L1 Mission Significance
Every planet, including Earth and the exoplanets beyond the Solar System, evolve and this evolution is governed by its parent star. Thus, understanding our parent star, that is , the sun will help us in the following ways:
- To understand space weather
Continuous solar observations are required to understand, monitor, and anticipate the impact of Earth-directed storms. The fundamental advantage of having a satellite in the Sun-Earth system’s halo orbit around L1 is that it can see the Sun continuously, free from cloud cover or eclipses. This is because every storm that arises from the Sun and moves towards Earth passes via L1.
- Observing Sun’s Corona
Numerous open questions in the field of solar astronomy are anticipated to be resolved by the data collected by the VELC payload, which will be able to continually observe the corona.
VELC is the only solar coronagraph in orbit that can image the solar corona so closely to the solar disk. It can capture images of objects up to 1.05 solar radii away. It is also capable of doing imaging, spectroscopy, and polarimetry simultaneously, as well as taking observations at a high resolution (level of detail) and again per second.
The Aditya L1 mission is going to be historic. However, there are a number of challenges the mission might face. The first of it being the distance. The distance between the Sun and earth is 149 million km which can be a possible hindrance. Another problem can be the heat as well as other solar radiations.
