ISRO to launch India’s First Space Solar Mission

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched Aditya-L1, India’s first Sun mission, on Saturday at 11:50 a.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).          

“Aditya L1 will be India’s first space-based mission to study the Sun.” The spacecraft will be positioned in a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth system’s Lagrange point 1 (L1), which is approximately 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth. A satellite in halo orbit around the L1 point has the significant benefit of continually observing the Sun with no occultation/eclipses. This will give us a better chance of studying solar activity and its impact on space weather in real time,” Isro said on Facebook.

Aditya-L1, the country’s first solar mission, is carrying seven distinct payloads for a comprehensive study of the sun, three of which will measure in-situ plasma and magnetic field properties, while the other four will examine the sun’s light.

According to NASA, the Aditya-L1 mission will arrive at the observation site in around 126 days, or four months.