India’s first solar observatory mission — Aditya-L1 — was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on September 2.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), in its 59th flight with the Aditya-L1 onboard, took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 11.50 a.m.
About 63 minutes after take-off, the separation from the satellite took place with the PSLV launching the Aditya-L1 spacecraft in a highly eccentric orbit around Earth at 12.53 p.m. This was among the longest flights of ISRO’s workhorse launch vehicle in recent times.
Following the launch, Aditya-L1 will stay in orbit around Earth for 16 days, during which it will undergo five manoeuvres to gain the necessary velocity for its long journey towards the sun.
Subsequently, Aditya-L1 will undergo a Trans-Lagrangian1 insertion manoeuvre, marking the beginning of its 110-day trajectory to the destination around the L1 Lagrange point. Upon arrival at the L1 point, another manoeuvre binds Aditya-L1 to an orbit around L1, a balanced gravitational location between the earth and the sun.
The spacecraft will perform orbital manoeuvres by using its Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) engine to reach L1.
Aditya-L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from earth, directed towards the sun, which is about 1% of the earth-sun distance.
Aditya-L1 has a mission life of five years during which its payloads are expected to provide the most crucial information to understand the problem of coronal heating; coronal mass ejection; pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics; dynamics of space weather; and propagation of particles and fields.
Seven payloads
The seven payloads onboard Aditya-L1 are: Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC); Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT); Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS); High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS); Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX); Plasma Analyser Package For Aditya (PAPA); and Advanced Tri-axial High Resolution Digital Magnetometers.
The solar panels on Aditya-L1 have been deployed and the spacecraft has started generating power.
After the launch, ISRO Chairperson S. Somanath said, “The Aditya-L1 spacecraft has been injected in an elliptical orbit of 235 km by 19,500 km, which is as intended, very precisely by the PSLV. This is a very unique mission mode here with the upper stage of the PSLV taking two burn sequences for injecting the primary satellite for the first time. From now, the Aditya-L1 will make its journey. After some manoeuvres, it will start its journey towards the L-1 point. It is a very long journey of almost 125 days.”
The first manoeuvre to raise its orbit is scheduled on September 3, around 11.45 a.m.
“After the success of Chandrayaan-3, India continues its space journey. Congratulations to our scientists and engineers at @isro for the successful launch of India’s first Solar Mission, Aditya -L1. Our tireless scientific efforts will continue in order to develop better understanding of the Universe for the welfare of entire humanity,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X (formerly Twitter) after the successful launch.
Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Science & Technology Jitendra Singh said, “Congratulations India, congratulations ISRO... and like the whole world watched this with bated breath, it is indeed a sun shine moment for India.”
The seven payloads onboard Aditya-L1 satellite
- Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC)
- Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT)
- Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS)
- High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer(HEL1OS)
- Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment(ASPEX)
- Plasma Analyser Package For Aditya (PAPA)
- Advanced Tri-axial High Resolution Digital Magnetometers
