Aditya L-1 is India’s first solar mission. It will study the Sun’s corona, chromosphere, and photosphere. Here are all the details.
ISRO’s New Solar Mission
After the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3, India is visioning to launch the first solar mission known as Aditya L-1.
Aditya L-1 is a spacecraft that will be placed in a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L1, which is located about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. The mission is scheduled to launch in August 2023.
The ISRO mentions: “Aditya L1 shall be the first space based Indian mission to study 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,” it adds.
The Aditya L-1 mission will study the Sun’s corona, chromosphere, and photosphere. It will also study the solar wind, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The objectives of this mission according to ISRO are:
- “Study of Solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics.
- Study of chromospheric and coronal heating, physics of the partially ionized plasma, initiation of the coronal mass ejections, and flares
- Observe the in-situ particle and plasma environment providing data for the study of particle dynamics from the Sun.
- Physics of solar corona and its heating mechanism.
- Diagnostics of the coronal and coronal loops plasma: Temperature, velocity and density.
- Development, dynamics and origin of CMEs.
- Identify the sequence of processes that occur at multiple layers (chromosphere, base and extended corona) which eventually leads to solar eruptive events.
- Magnetic field topology and magnetic field measurements in the solar corona.
- Drivers for space weather (origin, composition and dynamics of solar wind.”
The Aditya L-1 mission is a major undertaking for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
It is a complex mission that will require a high degree of precision and accuracy. The success of the Aditya L-1 mission will be a major achievement for India and will help us to better understand the Sun and its impact on Earth.
The mission will carry seven payloads as follows:
Source: ISRO
- Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT): This payload will image the Sun’s corona in the ultraviolet (UV) band.
- Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX): This payload will measure solar wind particles and their properties.
- Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA): This payload will measure the plasma environment around the spacecraft.
- Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS): This payload will measure the X-ray emission from the Sun’s corona.
- High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS): This payload will measure the high-energy X-ray emission from the Sun.
- Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC): VELC is the largest payload on the Aditya L1 mission. It is a coronagraph that uses a combination of filters and an occulting disk to block out the light from the Sun’s disk, allowing it to image the Sun’s corona.
- Advanced Tri-axial High Resolution Digital Magnetometers: These magnetometers are used to measure the magnetic field around the Aditya L1 spacecraft. The magnetometers are tri-axial, meaning that they can measure the magnetic field in three dimensions.
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Source: vcmp.edu.vn