ISRO to launch Aditya L1 mission to study Sun on September 2; when and where to watch

Days after successfully landing its Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon, the Indian space agency is set to launch another spacecraft to study the Sun. "The launch of Aditya-L1, the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun, is scheduled for September 2," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Monday. The mission is scheduled to be launched at 11:50 am from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

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Aditya L1 shall be the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun. The spacecraft shall be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange Point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth. A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses, the space agency said, adding that this will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real-time.

The spacecraft carries seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere, and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic particle and magnetic field detectors. Using the special vantage point L1, four payloads directly view the Sun and the remaining three payloads carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1, thus providing important scientific studies of the propagatory effect of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium.

"The suits of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide the most crucial information to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare, and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particle and fields etc," the space agency said.

The ISRO has invited citizens to witness the launch from the Launch View Gallery at Sriharikota. Registration for viewing the launch is expected to begin from Tuesday, August 29. The launch is likely to be telecast live by ISRO.  

Last Wednesday, the ISRO successfully landed its third lunar mission - Chandrayaan-3 - on the southern polar region of the Moon. With this, India became the only country to achieve this rare feat and the fourth country to land on the Moon, after the US, Russia, and China.