Aditya-L1, India’s first space observatory for studying the sun, is about to be ready for launch, ISRO said on Monday.
The Bengaluru-based national space agency said in a mission update that the satellite, realized at the Ulao Satellite Centre, has arrived at the ISRO spaceport in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
When asked about the launch date, an Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) official told the Press Trust of India (PTI): “Mainly the first week of September.”
The spacecraft is expected to be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
ISRO states that the main advantage of satellites placed in halo orbits around the L1 point is continuous observation of the Sun without any occultation/eclipse. “This will provide greater advantages in real-time observations of solar activity and its impact on space weather,” it said.
Carrying seven payloads, the spacecraft uses electromagnetic, particle and magnetic field detectors to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and outermost layer of the Sun (corona).
Taking advantage of the special vantage point of L1, four payloads will observe the Sun directly, and the remaining three payloads will conduct in situ studies of particles and fields at L1, thereby providing important scientific insights into the propagation effects of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium. Research.
“The Aditya L1 payload suite is expected to provide the most important information to understand issues such as coronal heating, coronal mass ejections, pre-flares and flare activities and their characteristics, space weather dynamics, particle and field propagation,” Indian Space Research organization said.
The main science objectives of the Aditya-L1 mission are to: study the dynamics of the Sun’s upper atmosphere (chromosphere and corona); study chromosphere and coronal heating, physics of partially ionized plasmas, initiation of coronal mass ejections and flares; observe in situ Particle and plasma environment, providing data for the study of solar particle dynamics; coronal physics and its heating mechanisms; diagnostics of coronal and coronal ring plasmas: temperature, velocity and density; development, dynamics and origin of coronal mass ejections; The sequence of processes that occur in multiple layers (chromosphere, basal, and extended corona) leading to solar eruptive events; magnetic field topology and magnetic field measurements in the corona; drivers of space weather (origin, composition, and dynamics of the solar wind).
Aditya-L1’s instruments are tuned to observe the solar atmosphere, primarily the chromosphere and corona, while the on-site instruments will observe the local environment of L1.
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