All eyes on the Sun: Aditya-L1 set to enter final orbit on Saturday

Come Saturday 4 pm, India will witness one of the most important celestial adventures, as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to inject Aditya-L1, the country’s maiden solar mission, into its final orbit, around 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth. Here is a look at the details of the project and its importance.

SUN MISSION TIMELINE

September 2, 2023: Aditya-L1 was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota

September 3-15: Four Earth-bound maneuvers conducted

September 18: Aditya-L1 commences the collection of scientific data

September 19: Starts travel to the Sun-Earth L1 point

September 30:  The spacecraft escapes the sphere of Earth's influence

December 1: Solar wind Ion Spectrometer (SWIS) in the Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX) payload is made operational

December 8: The SUIT payload captures full-disk images of the Sun in near ultraviolet wavelengths

January 6: Aditya-L1 to enter into the final orbit

 

What is L1 point?

Aditya-L1 is set to be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system. This is around 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth or around 1 per cent of the total distance between the Earth and the Sun

The Lagrange points are named after French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange, who first studied them in the 18th century.  At these points, the gravitational forces of two large bodies balance out, creating a region of equilibrium. Owing to this, fuel consumption for spacecraft can be much less

India will be the second country after the USA to send a spacecraft to this point. The only joint probe was between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) through the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) mission

Science Objectives
 

a) To study Solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics

b) To study chromospheric and coronal heating, physics of the partially ionized plasma, initiation of the coronal mass ejections, and flares

c) Observe the in-situ particle and plasma environment providing data for the study of particle dynamics from the Sun

d) Physics of the solar corona and its heating mechanism

e) Diagnostics of the coronal and coronal loops plasma: Temperature, velocity and density.

f) Identify the sequence of processes that occur at multiple layers (chromosphere, base and extended corona) which eventually leads to solar eruptive events.

g) Magnetic field topology and magnetic field measurements in the solar corona.

h) Drivers for space weather (origin, composition and dynamics of solar wind.

Cost of the project - Rs 300 crore