Published by: Vivek Dubey
ISRO launched the ambitious Aditya L1 Solar mission after its successful lunar expedition, Chandrayan 3.
The 44.4m tall PSLV soared at 11.50 am from the spaceport on the Eastern coast about 135 km from Chennai.
It will be PSLV’s longest flight for about 63 minutes.
Aditya-L1 is the country's first space-based observatory to study the Sun.
The spacecraft will be placed in a Halo orbit around the Lagrangian point L1, closest to the Sun.
There are five Lagrangian points between the Earth and the Sun where a small object tends to stay if put there.
These points can be used by spacecraft to remain there with reduced fuel consumption.
At a Lagrange point, the gravitational pull of the Sun and Earth equals the necessary centripetal force for a small object to move with them.
After lift-off, scientists would place the spacecraft at Low Earth Orbit initially, and later it will be more elliptical.
The spacecraft would be launched towards the Lagrange L1 point using on-board propulsion so that it exits the earth’s gravitational Sphere of Influence and cruises towards L1.
The total time from launch to reaching L1 point would be about four months for Aditya-L1 Mission.
The Sun emits radiation in nearly all wavelengths along with various energetic particles and magnetic fields.
The atmosphere of Earth and its magnetic field acts as a protective shield and blocks harmful wavelength radiations.
The major objectives include understanding Coronal Heating, Solar Wind Acceleration, initiation of CME, near-earth space weather and solar wind distribution.
Aditya-L1 carries seven scientific payloads to carry out the study including VELC, Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope, ASPEX, PAPA, Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer, HEL1OS and Magnetometer payload.