ISRO creates new history! Aditya L1 starts its journey towards Sun

Aditya-L1 will first be placed in a low earth orbit by ISRO"s PSLV-C57 rocket. After that, the spacecraft"s orbit will be made more elliptical. On-board propulsion will be used to launch the spacecraft towards L1 point

Science    02-Sep-2023
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India has launched its first observation mission to the Sun, Aditya L1, just days after the country made history by becoming the first to land near the Moon's south pole. Aditya-L1 lifted off from the launch pad at Sriharikota on Saturday at 11:50 India time (06:20 GMT). 

Aditya-L1 Solar Mission 
 
The spacecraft, weighing over 3,264 pounds, blasted off from the spaceport Satish Dhawan Space Centre in South India’s Sriharikota using the 44.4-meter tall polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-XL).The vehicle has placed the satellite precisely into its intended orbit.
 
Named after the Hindi word for the Sun, the Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed to travel about 1.5 million km over four months to a kind of parking lot in space where objects tend to stay put because of balancing gravitational forces, reducing fuel consumption for the spacecraft.
 
 
 
It will cover a distance of 932,000 miles and spend 125 days (or over four months) to reach its destination: a halo orbit around one of five Lagrangian points, which lie between the sun and Earth. The spacecraft would be launched towards the Lagrange L1 point using on-board propulsion so that it exits the earth's gravitational Sphere of Influence and cruises towards the L1. Later, it would be injected into a large Halo Orbit around L1 point near the Sun. Those positions are called Lagrange Points, named after Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange.
 
 

Why will the probe go around L1?

It’s because L1 gets a continuous and unhindered view of the Sun. L2 is located behind the Earth, and thus obstructs the view of the Sun, while L3 is behind the Sun which is not a great position to communicate with Earth. L4 and L5 are good and stable locations but are much farther from Earth compared to L1, which is directly between the Sun and the Earth. There is major advantage in placing the observation spacecraft at the L1 point. The spacecraft, at this point, will be able to view the Sun without any occultation or eclipse. This will Aditya-L1 to observe solar activities and its effect on space weather in real-time.
 
What are the objectives of the Aditya L-1?
 
  • The mission’s main objective is to expand our knowledge of the Sun, and how its radiation, heat, flow of particles, and magnetic fields affect us. Below is the list of other objectives that the mission will embark upon:

  • - To study the upper atmospheric layers of the Sun called chromosphere and corona. While the corona is the outermost layer, the chromosphere is just below it.

  • - To examine coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun’s corona.

  • - To analyse the corona’s magnetic field and the driver of the space weather.

  • - To understand why the Sun’s not-so-bright corona is a million degree Celsius hot when the temperature on the surface of the Sun is just about 5,500 degree Celsius.

  • - To help scientists know the reasons behind the acceleration of particles on the Sun, which leads to the solar wind  the constant flow of particles from the Sun
In the past, the U.S., Europe and China conducted solar observatory missions in space to study the sun. However, it is the first time India is venturing into this domain, as it has hitherto focused on sun observation using ground-based telescopes.


Challenges
 

The distance of the Sun from Earth ( approximately 15 crore kms on average, compared to the only 3.84 lakh kms to the Moon).This huge distance poses a scientific challenge. Due to the risks involved, payloads in earlier ISRO missions have largely remained stationary in space; however, Aditya L1 will have some moving components which increases the risks of collision. Other issues are the super hot temperatures and radiation in the solar atmosphere. However, Aditya L1 will stay much farther away, and the heat is not expected to be a major concern for the instruments on board
Aditya L1 Sun Aditya-L1 spacecraft