All You Need to Know About Aditya-L1 Mission

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is gearing up for Aditya-L1, its first scientific journey to study the Sun. It would be put in space at a location designated as the L1 Lagrange position. 

Aditya L1 will be the second space-based project of India’s space organisation following the launch of AstroSat in 2015. Aditya 1, which was later renamed Aditya-L1. The Aditya 1 was designed to solely observe the solar corona and associated processes.

Let us briefly discuss AstroSat

  • AstroSat was deployed in September 2015 by PSLV-C30 from Sriharikota Station in Andhra Pradesh.
  • It is the first specialised Indian mission based on astronomy aiming to explore celestial bodies and their sources in the X-ray, UV, and Optical spectral bands simultaneously.

Key facts about the Aditya-L1 Mission

  • Aditya L1 will be propelled by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) XL, which will also deploy seven other payloads into Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
  • It will continuously monitor the Sun and investigate its corona, photosphere (X-rays), chromosphere (Ultra Violet), solar storms and fluxes, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

Challenges

  • The Sun’s distance from Earth is roughly around 15 crore Kilometers. This enormous distance presents a scientific problem.
  • Due to the hazards involved, payloads in previous ISRO missions were mostly immobile in orbit. However, Aditya L1 will include some moving components, increasing the possibility of collision.
  • Other concerns include extremely high temperatures and radiation in the solar environment. Aditya L1 will, however, stay considerably further away, and the heat will not likely be a serious issue for the equipment on board.

The significance of the mission

  • Every celestial body, including Earth and the exoplanets outside the Solar System, is regulated by its parent star, which in our case is the Sun. 
  • The Sun’s weather and atmosphere influence the whole system’s condition. As a result, it is critical to understand the Sun.
  • Variation in the Solar Weather System: Variations in this weather can cause satellites’ orbits to shift or their lifetimes to be cut short, tamper with or impair onboard equipment, and cause power outages and other disruptions on Earth.
  • Understanding space weather requires knowledge of solar occurrences.
  • Continuous solar observations are required to learn about, track, and anticipate the impact of Earth-directed storms.
  • Many of the project’s equipment and parts are being built in the country for the first time.

Let us now discuss Lagrange Point 1:

Lagrange Points are locations in space where the gravitational forces of a two-body system (such as the Sun and the Earth) generate heightened zones of attraction and repulsion. They are named after the Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange.

The L1 point is approximately 1.5 million kilometres from Earth or one-hundredth of the route to the Sun. L1 denotes Lagrange Point 1, one of five places in the Earth-Sun system’s orbital plane. These can be employed by spacecraft to minimise the amount of fuel required to stay in orbit. A satellite in a halo orbit at the Lagrange point 1 (L1) has the significant benefit of continually observing the Sun with no occultation or eclipses.

Interestingly, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite (SOHO) is housed at the L1 point, which is part of an international partnership effort between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)