Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 2: After the successful lunar mission, India has now got into solar mission. Days after scripting history by becoming the only nation in the world to achieve a successful soft landing near the south pole of the moon, India added another feather to its space exploration cap on Saturday with the successful launch of the Aditya-L1 mission.
India’s first solar space observatory mission was launched on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) XL from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 11.50 am. The separation of Aditya-L1 and its injection into an elliptical orbit around the Earth was successful after 63 minutes of the launch.
As the 23:40-hour countdown concluded, the 44.4m tall Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) soared majestically at the prefixed time of 11:50 a.m. from spaceport located on the Eastern coast about 135 k.m. from Chennai.
“The launch of Aditya-L1 by PSLV-C57 is accomplished successfully. The vehicle has placed the satellite precisely into its intended orbit. India’s first solar observatory has begun its journey to the destination of Sun-Earth L1 point,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said after the launch.
According to ISRO, Aditya-L1 is the first space-based observatory to study the Sun. The spacecraft, after travelling about 1.5 million k.m. from the Earth over 125 days, is expected to be placed in a Halo orbit around the Lagrangian point L1 which is considered closest to the Sun.
Among others, it will send pictures of the sun for scientific experiments. According to scientists, there are five Lagrangian points (or parking areas) between the Earth and the Sun where a small object tends to stay if put there. These points in space can be used by spacecraft to remain there with reduced fuel consumption.
This PSLV-C57/Aditya-L1 mission can be counted as one of the longest missions involving ISRO’s workhorse launch vehicle. Aditya-L1 will stay in earth-bound orbits for 16 days, during which it will undergo five manoeuvres to gain the necessary velocity for its journey.
The ISRO said the first earth-bound firing to raise the Aditya-L1 orbit is scheduled for September 3 around 11:45 a.m. “Aditya-L1 started generating the power. The solar panels are deployed. The first EarthBound firing to raise the orbit is scheduled for September 3 around 11:45 hours,” said ISRO.
Discovered by mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Lagrangian points are places in space where gravitational forces, acting between two objects, balance each other in such a way that spacecraft can remain in a fixed position with minimal fuel consumption. The L1 point is considered the most significant of the Lagrangian points for solar observations.
According to ISRO, the key objectives of the mission are understanding the coronal heating and solar wind acceleration; understanding initiation of Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), flares and near-Earth space weather; gaining knowledge of coupling and dynamics of the solar atmosphere; and getting a deeper understanding of solar wind distribution and temperature anisotropy (non-uniformity in different directions).
Solar wind refers to a continual stream of protons and electrons from the sun’s corona, or outermost atmosphere, while coronal mass ejections are huge expulsions of coronal plasma and magnetic field lines ejected from the sun.
Aditya-L1 is carrying seven different payloads to conduct a detailed study of the sun, four of which will observe the light from the sun and the other three will measure in-situ parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields. The primary payload, Visible Emission Line Coronagraph, will be sending 1,440 images per day to the ground station for analysis after it reaches the orbit around L1.
Expressing delight over the successful launch of Aditya-L1, India’s first solar mission, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said ISRO achieved another big milestone in the field of space research.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on the successful launch of India’s first solar mission, Aditya L1. “I congratulate all the scientists for the successful launch of Aditya-L1. Today I congratulate all the scientists and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” said Amit Shah at an event in Saraipali.
The former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and the Leader of Opposition, Jai Ram Thakur said the successful lift-off was another achievement of India in space research. Thakur said that after the success of Chandrayaan-3 mission, India became the first country to reach the South Pole of lunar surface and now we have passed another milestone in space after successful launching of the Aditya L-1.
With the successful launch of India’s first solar mission Aditya-L1, the country could develop some prediction models and prepare a resilience plan to combat climate change, former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair said here on Saturday. Sharing his excitement shortly after the successful takeoff of PSLV-C57, carrying the Aditya satellite from Sriharikota, Nair said it is very important to study the solar surface to understand various phenomena that instantaneously affect our local weather conditions. “Long-term variability of solar radiation also is a very important factor in the study of climate change. So, in all these areas, fundamental knowledge will be acquired through this unique mission,” Nair said.
The Congress hailed the launch of Aditya-L1 as a “stupendous achievement” for India, as it shared a timeline of the mission from its conceptualisation and asserted that nations build capacity of science, technology and research not in a few years but decades. The party said the ISRO has given many opportunities to the country to be proud.
“After Chandrayaan-3, ISRO has again raised the nation’s prestige by successfully launching Aditya L-1,” the party said in a post in Hindi on X. The entire Congress family is proud of this unprecedented achievement of the country’s scientists, it said. Best wishes to the entire ISRO team, the party added.
The Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “We are indebted and grateful to our scientists, space engineers, researchers and our hard-working personnel at @ISRO for the successful launch of AdityaL1 – Solar Observation Mission.” “Together, we celebrate their success and honour them with our gratitude,” he said and shared a timeline of the mission.
India started the journey to the sun in 2006 when our scientists proposed a solar observatory with a single instrument for the Sun, he said in a post on X.
In July 2013, ISRO selected the seven payloads for the Aditya-1 mission, by now renamed the Aditya-L1 mission. In November 2015, ISRO formally approved Aditya-L1, the Congress president said. “After the glorious successes of Chandrayaan Missions (First- 2008, Second -2019 and Third – 2023) and the Mangalyaan Mission (2013), our path towards placing a satellite to study the sun became a bit more secure,” Kharge said.
Nations build capacity of science, technology and research not in just a few years, but decades altogether, and India’s success in space research and exploration is a shining example of that unflinching courage and commitment, he asserted. “Despite all obstacles, we have prevailed,” he added.
“Our tribute to the vision, ingenuity and the vigorous dedication of our legendary scientists and countless researchers for this historic accomplishment,” Kharge said.
Science, as an instrument of development, welfare and positive change, remains our magna carta, the Congress president said. “We hope these triumphs would keep inspiring our younger generation and instil a deeper scientific temper in our people,” he said.