Aditya-L1 starts collection of scientific data: ISRO

India's first-ever space expedition to study the Sun, the Aditya-L1 which took off at 11:50 am on September 2, 2023, has started the collection of scientific data, said the Indian Space Research Organisation on Monday.

"The Supra Thermal & Energetic Particle Spectrometer (STEPS) instrument which is a part of the Aditya Solar Wind Particle EXperiment (ASPEX) payload, has begun the collection of scientific data," said ISRO. It was activated on September 10, 2023, at a distance greater than 50,000 km from Earth.

The national space agency has said that STEPS is comprised of sensors, each observing in different directions and measuring supra-thermal and energetic ions ranging from 20 keV/nucleon to 5 MeV/nucleon, in addition to electrons exceeding 1 MeV.



"The sensors of the STEPS instrument have begun measuring supra-thermal and energetic ions and electrons at distances greater than 50,000 km from Earth," said ISRO. The agency added that this data helps scientists analyze the behaviour of particles surrounding Earth.

"The figure displays variations in the energetic particle environment, collected by one of the units," said the agency headquartered in Bengaluru.

The data collected during Earth’s orbits helps scientists to analyse the behaviour of particles surrounding the Earth, especially in the presence of the magnetic field of Earth. After completing the necessary instrument health checks, data collection continued until the spacecraft had moved farther than 50,000 km from Earth, said ISRO.

STEPS was developed by the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) with support from the Space Application Centre (SAC) in Ahmedabad.

Aditya L1 was launched from Sriharikota space port on September 2, on a 125 days journey to Lagrange Point 1 of the Sun-Earth system, 1.5 million km away from Earth.