ISRO sets Sept 2 as tentative date for launch of Aditya-L1 solar mission

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has set September 2 as the tentative date for the launch of its new ambitious solar mission, Aditya-L1 which will help in studying the sun and is planned to be placed in a halo orbit around the L1 of the Sun-Earth system, said an ISRO official.

"Most likely the launch will take place on September 2," an ISRO official said.

The major science objectives of the Aditya-L1 mission are:

• Study of Solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics
• Study of chromospheric and coronal heating, physics of the partially ionised plasma, initiation of the coronal mass ejections, and flares
• Observe the in-situ particle and plasma environment providing data for the study of particle dynamics from the Sun

The spacecraft that will be designed for the solar mission will help to receive remote observations of the solar corona and in situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (Sun-Earth Lagrangian point), which is about 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth.

India's national space agency's solar mission will be a fully indigenous effort with the participation of national institutions, an ISRO official said.

Institutes that are a part of the mission are the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune.

IIA will help in the development of the 'Visible Emission Line Coronagraph payload' while the Pune-based institution will develop the Solar Ultraviolet Imager payload for the mission.

"The suits of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide 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," ISRO said.

Aditya-L1 can provide observations on the corona, and on the solar Chromosphere using the UV payload and on the flares using the X-ray payloads. The particle detectors and the magnetometer payload can provide information on charged particles and the magnetic field reaching the halo orbit around L1.

"This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time," it said.

Earlier, India created history on the evening of August 23 when Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the south pole of the moon. With this landing, India joined the elite club and became only the fourth nation to touch the lunar surface - after the USA, Russia, and China.

ISRO chief S Somanath congratulated the people of the country on the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission and said, "India is on the moon.'

(with agency inputs)