Isro turns its gaze to the sun: 2 Sept, 10 mins to noon
NEW DELHI : After making a successful moon landing last week, the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) on Monday said the launch of its mission to study the sun, called Aditya-L1, is set for 2 September. The launch will take place at Isro’s Sriharikota launch base at 11:50 a.m., aboard Isro’s workhorse rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)’s C57 mission. Aditya-L1, India’s first solar mission, will seek to study solar characteristics, their impact on the earth and the overall space weather from a vantage point.
An observatory carrying seven payloads will be deployed at Lagrange Point-1 (L1)—one of three strategic points in space between the earth and the sun. While Isro has not disclosed an official figure, various reports claim the budget of the mission is under ₹400 crore ($45 million). The primary objectives of the Aditya-L1 mission is to study the upper atmospheric conditions of the sun, including observing heating in the sun’s corona—the outermost layer of the solar atmosphere.
Studies will also seek to observe solar flares, as well as get a deeper understanding of the physics behind partially ionized plasma—also known as the fourth state of matter. Aditya-L1 will also seek to understand the sequence of solar conditions that cause solar flares, which in turn could help countries predict strong flares. While this is Isro’s first space observatory directed at the sun, it isn’t India’s first space observatory.
In September 2015, Isro’s AstroSat became India’s first space observatory, and was scheduled to serve as a space telescope for five years. The space telescope remains active to date. The study of solar flares is regarded as crucial to understanding how changes in conditions on the sun may affect life
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