India is gearing up to launch its inaugural space-based solar observatory mission, Aditya-L1, aimed at studying the sun’s behavior. This mission comes closely after the triumphant landing of the country’s moon rover, Chandrayaan-3.
Scheduled for launch at 11:20 pm PT on September 1 (11:50 am IST on September 2), Aditya-L1 will be propelled into space from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota using the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-XL), as stated by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Following its launch, the spacecraft will need approximately 109 days to establish a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1), positioned between the sun and Earth, around 933,000 miles away.
The Aditya-L1 mission, weighing 3,300 pounds and designated PSLV-C57, aims to gain insights into various aspects of the sun, such as coronal heating, coronal mass ejections, and space weather dynamics. The satellite features a range of payloads for scientific observation and experimentation, including four remote-sensing payloads.
Initially conceived in 2008 as “Aditya” (meaning “sun” in Hindi) to examine the solar corona, the mission’s scope was later expanded and renamed Aditya-L1. Its objectives encompass studying solar and space environments, scrutinizing the solar corona and its heating mechanism, and identifying factors influencing space weather.
While the Indian government allocated around $46 million for the Aditya-L1 mission in 2019, precise updates on mission expenses remain undisclosed.
Notably, ISRO garnered global attention with its Chandrayaan-3 mission, successfully landing on the moon’s south pole. This achievement marked India as the fourth country, following the former Soviet Union, the U.S., and China, to accomplish a soft landing on the moon.
