Aditya-L1: When and where can you watch India’s first solar mission?

Read also: The Aditya L1 spacecraft rolled out to the second launch pad, due to launch on September 2

Aditya L1 mission launch date:

ISRO will launch its Aditya-L1 solar mission on September 2.

Read also: Following the success of Chandrayaan-3, ISRO will launch a solar mission on September 2

Aditya L1 Mission Launch Location:

The ISRO will launch Aditya-L1 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on September 2.

Read also: Aditya-L1: ‘Sun most mysterious object… mission to be turning point…’ HoD Astronomy Osmania University

About Aditya L1’s mission:

The spacecraft will carry seven payloads to observe the outer layers of the sun — known as the photosphere and chromosphere — including using electromagnetic and particle field detectors.

Read also: Isro turns its gaze to the sun: September 2, 10 minutes to noon

Among several objectives, it will study the drivers of space weather, including to better understand solar wind dynamics.

While NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have previously deployed orbiters to study the sun, this will be India’s first such mission.

Read also: ISRO announces launch details of Aditya L1, India’s mission to study the sun. Check the date and time here

The total travel time from launch to L-1 (Lagrange point) would take about four months for Aditya-L1, ISRO said.

Other solar missions:

NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe in August 2018. In December 2021, Parker flew through the sun’s upper atmosphere, the corona, and sampled particles and magnetic fields there. This was the first time a spacecraft ever hit the sun.

Read also: Aditya-L1 launch: what is the Lagrange point, the location of ISRO’s spacecraft on the sun?

NASA’s other active solar missions include Advanced Composition Explorer, launched in August 1997; Observatory for Solar Terrestrial Relations in October 2006; Solar Dynamics Observatory in February 2010; and Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph launched in June 2013.

NASA, ESA and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) also jointly launched the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) in December 1995.

China’s Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S) was successfully launched on October 8, 2022 by the National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

In October 1990, the European Space Agency launched Ulysses to study the space environment above and below the poles of the sun.

JAXA, the Japanese space agency, launched its first solar observation satellite, Hinotori (ASTRO-A), in 1981. The goal was to study solar flares using hard X-rays, according to JAXA’s official website.

JAXA’s other solar reconnaissance missions include Yohkoh (SOLAR-A), launched in 1991; SOHO (together with NASA and ESA) in 1995; and Transient Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE), together with NASA, in 1998.

In 2006, Hinode (SOLAR-B) was launched, the successor to Yohkoh (SOLAR-A), the orbiting solar observatory. Japan launched it in collaboration with the US and Great Britain.

Updated: August 30, 2023, 8:55 AM IST