INDIA’S MISSION TO SUN ‘ADITYA L1’

What’s Aditya L1:-

Aditya L1 is India’s first space based mission for studying the sun. The space craft will be placed in a halo orbit around the first langrage (L1) point of the sun earth system, which is about 1.5 mil km from earth.

A satellite placed in a halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the sun without any eclipses. This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time.

The scientific objectives:-

The objective of Aditya L1 mission is to study Sun’s Corona, Chromosphere and Photosphere. In addition, it will study the particle flux emanating from Sun, and the variation of magnetic field strength.

The main objective of the Aditya L1 Mission is that it will help in tracking Earth-directed storms and predict its impact through solar observations.

Why did ISRO Rename Aditya 1 Mission as Aditya L1 Mission?

Aditya-1 mission was planned for observing only the Corona of Sun. The reason behind Corona getting heated to very high temperatures is still a mystery in Solar Physics. Aditya -1 mission involved placing the satellite in 800 Km low earth orbit. Later ISRO planned to place the satellite in the halo orbit around the Lagrangian Point (L1). L1 is 1.5 Million Km from the Earth.  This point provides the advantage of observing the Sun continuously without any disturbance.  Hence the mission was renamed as Aditya L1 mission.

Some important facts about Aditya L1 mission:-

It was launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) XL

Unlike other missions lead by ISRO, Mission Aditya L1 comprises few moving components which may be a cause of collision in space

Given below is a list of payloads which have been used for the mission:

• Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC)
• Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT)
• Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX)
• Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya
• Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS)
• High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS) Magnetometer.

Other Sun & Solar Missions :-

Apart from the Aditya L1 Mission by ISRO which is a sun-specific mission, there are many other countries which have launched similar programs. Given below are the names of few such missions:

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe

NASA’s Living With a Star

NASA’s Helios 2