What Happened
India successfully launched its first solar-powered space mission, just days after becoming the first nation to ever make a soft landing of a spacecraft on the unexplored south pole of the Moon. The name of India’s first space-based project to examine the largest object in the solar system comes from Surya, the Hindu sun god also known as Aditya. And L1 denotes the precise location the Indian spacecraft is traveling to between the Sun and Earth.
When Aditya-L1 reaches this “parking spot,” it will be in the Sun’s orbit and require very little fuel to operate. It will also be able to continuously observe the Sun and conduct research.
Purpose of Mission
On Saturday, September 2, the India Aditya-L1 rocket began its observational mission by launching from the Sriharikota launch site. The distance it will go from Earth is 1.5 million kilometers (932,000 miles), however it is only 1% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun. According to India’s space agency, it will take four months to go there. The mission’s objectives include researching issues with human electronics as well as solar winds and storms that might disrupt Earth and result in auroras, which are frequently visible.
It will eventually arrive to a place called a Lagrange Point (in this case, L1), where it can keep its position in relation to the Sun and Earth because it is balanced between the gravitational fields of the two celestial bodies. This will save fuel while still providing the Aditya craft with an uninterrupted view of the Sun.
Live Broadcast
India Space Research Organisation conducted a live stream that peaked at more than 800,000 viewers on YouTube immediately after it started. Thousands of people gathered to see the historic launch from a viewing platform at the center, screaming slogans and cheering as the rocket left Earth with a jet of smoke and fire, embarking on one of India’s space agency Isro’s most ambitious missions yet.
India’s progress to Space
India has accomplished something noteworthy in space. To monitor the Sun, they launched a brand-new mission dubbed Aditya-L1. From a unique location in orbit halfway between the Earth and the Sun, the mission was launched. This location enables the satellite to observe the Sun from a fixed location without burning a lot of fuel. Sankar Subramanian, the Aditya-L1 mission’s principal scientist, said, “We have ensured we will have a unique data set that is not currently available from any other mission.”
This would enable us to comprehend the dynamics of the sun, the inner heliosphere, which is crucial for modern technology, as well as features of space weather, he continued. According to Somak Raychaudhury, who worked on some of the observatory craft’s development, the mission has the potential to make a “big bang in terms of science,” adding that energetic particles emitted by the Sun can strike satellites that regulate communications on Earth.