Aditya-L1 Mission

India’s first solar mission (the Aditya-L1 mission) is likely to be launched by June 2023, according to the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
ARIES (Aryabhata Research Institute for Observational Sciences) facility will host the support center for the Aditya-L1 mission, which is due to be launched in 2022. ARIES is an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology and is located in Nainital (Uttarakhand).

Aditya-L1 Mission

• It is India’s first scientific expedition to study the Sun. ISRO categorizes Aditya L1 as a 400 kg-class satellite that will be launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in XL configuration.
• It will be inserted in a halo orbit around the L1 ( Lagrangian point 1), which is 1.5 million km from the Earth.
• The space-based observatory will have seven payloads (instruments) on board to study the Sun’s corona, solar emissions, solar winds and flares, and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), and will carry out round-the-clock imaging of the Sun.
• Aditya L1 will be the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun.
• This will enable a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic processes of the sun and solve some of the outstanding problems in solar physics and heliophysics.
• The Aditya-L1 mission will be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is approximately 1.5 million km from Earth.
• The major advantage of a satellite placed in a coronal orbit around the L1 point is continuous viewing of the sun without any occultation or eclipse.
• This will make it possible to observe solar activity and its effect on space weather in real-time.
• The spacecraft will carry seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere, and outermost layers of the sun (the corona) using electromagnetic particle and magnetic field detectors.
• Using the L1 point, four payloads study the Sun directly and the remaining three payloads in-situ study the particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1, thus providing important scientific insights into the propagation and effects of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium. provide studies.
• The Aditya L1 payload is expected to provide the most important information to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare, and flare activities and their characteristics, space weather dynamics, diffusion of particles and regions, etc.

Main Objectives of Aditya-L1 Mission

Study of upper solar atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics.
Chromospheric and coronal heating, physics of partially ionized plasma, initiation of coronal mass ejections, and study of flares.
Observations of in situ particle and plasma environments provide data for the study of particle dynamics from the Sun.
Physics of the solar corona and its heating system.
Diagnosis of coronal and coronal loop plasma: temperature, velocity, and density.
Evolution, dynamics, and origin of coronal mass ejections.
Identification of the sequence of processes that occur in several layers (chromosphere, base, and extended corona) that ultimately lead to solar eruption events.
Magnetic field topology and magnetic field measurements in the solar corona.
Origin, composition, and dynamics of the solar wind.

Aditya-L1 Mission Support Centre (ASC)

• The main aim of this center is to let every researcher in India perform an analysis of scientific data obtained from Aditya-L1. It will expand the visibility of Aditya-L1 beyond India at the international level.
• It will host a compendium of the location and duration of different features on the solar surface such as coronal holes, prominences, flares, CMEs, and sunspots.
• Continuous monitoring of the location and duration of these features will help in monitoring the space weather.

Challenges in Launching the Mission

• The huge distance between Sun and Earth poses a scientific challenge.
• Aditya L1 will have some moving components which increase the risks of collision.
• Other issues are the super hot temperatures and radiation in the solar atmosphere.

Why is it important to study the Sun?

• Every planet, including Earth and the exoplanets beyond the Solar System, evolves and this evolution is governed by its parent star. Sun affects the weather of the entire system.
• Variations in this weather can change the orbits of satellites or shorten their lives, interfere with or damage onboard electronics, and cause power blackouts and other disturbances on Earth.
• To learn about and track Earth-directed storms, and to predict their impact, continuous solar observations are needed.

Aditya-L1 Solar Mission Payload

• The instruments on Aditya-L1 are primarily intended to observe the chromosphere and corona of the solar atmosphere.
• There are a total of seven payloads on board, of which four are for remote sensing the Sun and three for in-situ observation.
• The in-situ instruments will observe the local environment on L1.

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