A few hours ago, the Indian space probe Aditya-L1 blasted off from the Satish Dhawan space center atop a PSLV-XL rocket. After about ten minutes, it regularly separated from the rocket’s last stage. In about 109 days, Aditya-L1 will reach the Lagrange point called L1, about 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth, where it will begin its mission of observing the solar atmosphere and various processes taking place on the Sun’s surface. It will join other space probes and solar observatories helping to unlock the last secrets of the Sun.
The Sun still holds some mysteries such as that of the solar corona, much hotter than other areas of its atmosphere. Observing other processes such as those that lead to flares, which in extreme cases can cause damage to orbiting satellites and even electronic equipment on the Earth’s surface, is important to prevent that damage. For this reason, several missions begun in recent years to study and monitor the Sun as never before. The Indian space agency ISRO joined NASA and ESA in these efforts with the Aditya-L1 mission.
It will be necessary to carry out a series of maneuvers for the Aditya-L1 space probe to leave the Earth’s orbit because the push given by the rocket alone is not sufficient. Only then will it enter the course towards the Lagrange point L1, which will be reached approximately 109 days after launch.
The Lagrange point known as L1 between the Earth and the Sun is optimal for observations to be conducted by the Aditya-L1 space probe with a range of instruments. Observations of the solar surface and detections of plasma emitted by solar wind and coronal mass ejections will offer new information regarding the solar corona and solar weather. The goal is to gather new information on the processes taking place on the Sun’s surface and on the different types of influence of the Sun on the Earth, from climate to auroras.
During its journey, the Aditya-L1 space probe will also be followed by ESA’s Estrack network of ground stations in an international collaboration. Hopefully, in a few months, the data collected by this new solar observatory will begin to be shared and added to that of other spacecraft and observatories on Earth that are monitoring the Sun.
