Watch: Aditya-L1, India’s first space-based solar observatory to study Sun launched

In yet another historic achievement in the pursuit of scientific knowledge, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday launched Aditya-L1 – the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun.

Watched by thousands of people gathered in and around the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota and millions all over the world via live launch coverage, ISRO’s PSLV rocket carrying Aditya L-1 lifted off successfully carrying seven different payloads to have a detailed study of the Sun.

The spacecraft shall be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth. A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses.

This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time. The spacecraft carries seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic and particle and magnetic field detectors.

Using the special vantage point L1, four payloads directly view the Sun and the remaining three payloads carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1, thus providing important scientific studies of the propagatory effect of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium.

The suits of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide most crucial informations to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particle and fields, etc.

Also Read: Aditya-L1, India’s first solar observatory, all set for launch at 11:50 am today