Aditya L1: ISRO chief Somanath visits Tirupati temple ahead of Sun mission launch
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief S Somanath on Friday offered prayers at Chengalamma Parameshwari Temple in Tirupati district, Andhra Pradesh a day before the launch of the Aditya L1 Mission – India's maiden solar expedition-- and prayed for its success. Somanath visited the temple at 7.30 am and offered prayers to the deity, a temple official was quoted as saying. He later spoke with the reporters and said the Aditya L1 Mission will be launched at 11.50 am on Saturday.
ISRO's trusted PSLV will carry the Aditya L1 mission on a 125-day voyage to the Sun. The 23.10-hour countdown for the launch of Aditya L1 onboard PSLV C57 commenced here on Friday, ISRO said. The Sun observatory mission will be fired from the second launch pad at this spaceport at 11.50 am on Saturday, September 2, and comes close on the heels of India's successful moon expedition last month, Chandrayaan-3.
The Aditya L1 Mission will provide remote observations of the solar corona and in situ observations of the solar wind. India on August 23 successfully landed Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the South Pole of the Moon, making it the first country to claim a touchdown on the uncharted territory of the lunar surface and the fourth to land on the heavenly body. SRO Chairman S Somanath said the Sun mission will take 125 days to reach the exact radius.
The solar mission is being launched to study the Sun. S Somanath also said that after the Sun observatory mission, the space agency would launch various others including SSLV - D3 and PSLV in the coming days. Srinivas Reddy, executive officer of Chengalamma Parameshwari temple, told PTI that ISRO officials visiting this temple before rocket launches had become a tradition, which goes back 15
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