What Aditya-L1 will see in the sun and why it matters
- BR Guruprasad
- Updated: Aug 30, 2023, 22:43 IST IST
Isro’s Aditya-L1 mission is readying for launch. Its solar surveillance payloads can help protect Earth-orbiting satellites that form the backbone of global economic infrastructure
Having triumphed in its endeavour to successfully soft land a spacecraft on the difficult south polar region of the Moon, India has now set its sight on the Sun. The Isro-built Aditya-L1 spacecraft is getting ready for its launch on September 2 on board India’s trusted, versatile workhorse PSLV. But unlike Chandrayaan-3, which has been a lunar landing, roving and in situ exploration mission, Aditya-L1 is a spacecraft mission to study the Sun from a vantage point about 1.5mn km from Earth towards the Sun.
Known as the L1 Legrangian point, this location in deep space facilitates the uninterrupted 24x7 observation of the Sun. Though Aditya’s location from Earth will be four times the distance between Earth and the Moon, the Sun will be very far from Aditya. So our parent star does not pose the danger it would have if Aditya ventured too close to it.
Known as the L1 Legrangian point, this location in deep space facilitates the uninterrupted 24x7 observation of the Sun. Though Aditya’s location from Earth will be four times the distance between Earth and the Moon, the Sun will be very far from Aditya. So our parent star does not pose the danger it would have if Aditya ventured too close to it.
