ISRO Chairman S Somanath offers prayers for Aditya L1 Mission success

Tirupati: In anticipation of India’s rocket mission to study the Sun, Aditya L1, scheduled for launch on Saturday, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), S. Somanath, sought divine blessings at the Chengalamma Parameshwari temple near the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

Mr. Somanath expressed his gratitude and hope for a successful launch, saying, “I came here to pray to Chengalamma Parameshwari for giving us strength to make this launch successful.”

Earlier in the day, a group of ISRO scientists had also offered prayers at the Tirumala temple.

The countdown has already commenced for the PSLV-C57 Aditya-L1 mission, set to launch at 11:50 a.m. on Saturday. The satellite will take nearly an hour to reach its intended location and inject. The primary objective of the Aditya L1 mission is to study the Sun. After departing Earth, it will take approximately 125 days for the satellite to reach the L1 point, from where it will observe the Sun.

Regarding the Chandrayaan-4 mission, Mr. Somanath stated that the launch date has not been finalized yet, but an announcement will be made soon.

He also provided an update on the Chandrayaan-3 mission, indicating that the lunar rover Pragyan is functioning well, conducting rotations on the Moon’s surface, which will continue until September 3.

The Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed to provide remote observations of the solar corona and in situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (Sun-Earth Lagrangian point), located approximately 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. This mission will be launched by a PSLV-C57 rocket.

Offering prayers at prominent temples before major missions is a customary practice for ISRO scientists. In July, they performed ‘puja’ at the temple with a miniature model of Chandrayaan-3, marking a significant achievement in India’s space exploration endeavors.

India recently made history by successfully achieving a soft landing on the Moon’s South Pole with the Chandrayaan-3 mission on August 23, becoming the only country to accomplish this feat.