India’s First Mission to the Sun: Aditya-L1 Successfully Launches

Shortly after reaching a milestone in being the first to land on the lunar south pole, India launched its first mission to the Sun.

(Photo: Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images)
SRIHARIKOTA, INDIA - SEPTEMBER 02: People watch the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) PSLV-C57 rocket carrying the Aditya-L1 solar mission lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR) on September 02, 2023 in Sriharikota, India. Aditya-L1 is the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun.

Aditya-L1: A Mission to the Sun

At 11:50 India time, the craft was deployed over a launch pad in Sriharikota last Saturday. It is set to travel 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth, equivalent to 1% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun. According to India's space agency, it will take four months for the craft to traverse such a distance.

The mission has been declared successful by the ISRO after a flight time of one hour and four minutes. Sreedhara Panicker Somanath, the chief of the ISRO, explains that it will now be continuing its long journey, spanning 135 days.

The Aditya-L1 mission is the first one based in space that aims to study the biggest object in the Solar System. The mission got its name from Surya, who is considered the Hindu deity for the Sun and who is also referred to as Aditya.

The "L1," on the other hand, means Lagrange point 1, which is the exact location between Earth and the Sun where the craft is moving towards. A Lagrange point generally refers to the spot where the gravitational power of two huge objects ends up canceling each other. This, in turn, allows crafts to hover around.

After reaching this specific spot, the craft will rotate the Sun at a rate the same as the Earth's. As such, minimal fuel will be necessary for the satellite to operate successfully.

While the ISRO remains uncertain regarding the exact mission costs, reports indicate that it could be equivalent to 3.78bn rupees or $46 million.

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A Global Milestone

Nigar Shaji, who serves as the project director, explains that when the craft reaches its target location, India will not be the only one to benefit from it. The global scientific community will reap some benefits from this milestone.

The craft can constantly observe the Sun, even when the huge star gets hidden during a solar eclipse. It will also enable scientific studies focusing on the Sun to be carried out.

Sankar Subramanian, the Adtiya-L1 mission's principal scientist, explains that they ensured that they would obtain a data set that no other mission has offered so far. Subramanian adds that this novel venture would enable them to know more about the Sun's dynamics and inner heliosphere, vital for present-day technology and space-weather concerns.

The studies will also aid the scientific community in knowing more about solar activity, including solar flares and solar wind, and how they affect the weather on Earth and near space.