India’s solar mission Aditya-L1 set to launch at 11:50 am today

Chennai: In another remarkable feat of space exploration, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to launch its Aditya-L1 mission to study the Sun at 11.50 am from the second launch pad at Sriharikota today.

After the successful landing on the Moon during the Chandrayaan-3 mission, India is now venturing into the realm of our solar system’s star.

The Aditya-L1 mission will employ the reliable Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) to carry a 1,480 kg spacecraft. This spacecraft will be placed in a highly elliptical orbit around Earth, with dimensions of 235 km x 19,500 km.

The PSLV, configured with six solid fuel-based boosters, will take just over an hour to accomplish this critical task.

Following this initial orbit, the spacecraft’s velocity and trajectory will be adjusted to set it on a course toward the Sun. Covering a distance of approximately 1.5 million km to reach the L1 point will take nearly four months, spanning 125 days.

Once at this destination, Aditya-L1 will be inserted into a halo orbit around the L1 point, a position that offers a unique vantage point for solar observation.

Aditya-L1 is equipped with seven scientific experiments, which will operate for the next five years, continuously collecting valuable data about the Sun’s outer atmosphere.

This mission aims to deepen our understanding of the Sun, a colossal sphere of gas, without any plans to land on or approach it any closer.

ISRO initiated the 23-hour and 40-minute countdown just after noon on Friday, marking the beginning of the final preparations for this ambitious venture. It’s important to note that the total distance the spacecraft will travel is merely 1% of the enormous 150 million km distance that separates the Earth from the Sun.

“The Sun is a giant sphere of gas, and Aditya-L1 would study the outer atmosphere of the Sun. Aditya-L1 will neither land on the Sun nor approach the Sun any closer,” clarified ISRO in a statement released on Friday.

This mission comes on the heels of the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission, which solidified India’s position among the elite group of four countries that have successfully executed soft landings on the Moon.