Aditya L1: ISRO successfully launches India’s maiden solar mission

ISRO’s Aditya L1 was successfully launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre today i.e. on 2 September, 2023. Aditya-L1 is the first space-based observatory class to study the Sun and is fired using ISRO’s reliable Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

The country’s maiden solar mission Aditya-L1 is carrying seven different payloads to have a detailed study of the sun, four of which will observe the light from the sun and the other three will measure in-situ parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields.

L1 is 1.5 million km away from the Earth in the direction of the sun. It is expected to cover the distance in four months’ time.

Major objectives of India’s solar mission include the study of the physics of solar corona and its heating mechanism, the solar wind acceleration, coupling and dynamics of the solar atmosphere, solar wind distribution and temperature anisotropy, and origin of Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) and flares and near-earth space weather.