ISRO’s solar mission Aditya-L1 set for launch on September 2

According to ISRO, the spacecraft will carry seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun using electromagnetic particle and magnetic field detectors

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to roll out its solar mission, Aditya L-1, on September 2. The spacecraft will lift off at 11:50 am from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

Aditya L-1 will be the country's first space-based mission to study the Sun and the spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 of the Sun-Earth system. This strategic positioning will allow it to continuously observe the star without any eclipses or occultation.

According to ISRO, the spacecraft will carry seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun using electromagnetic particle and magnetic field detectors.

The suits of Aditya L-1 payloads are expected to provide the most crucial information on coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particles and fields etc. The total travel time from launch to Sun would be about four months for Aditya-L1.

The spacecraft will hitch a ride on ISRO's workhorse the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL) for its journey. The spacecraft has already arrived at Sriharikota. Aditya-L1 is a fully indigenous effort with the participation of national institutions, an ISRO official said.

Major objectives

• Observe the in-situ particle and plasma environment providing data for the study of particle dynamics from the Sun
• Physics of solar corona and its heating mechanism
• Diagnostics of the coronal and coronal loops plasma: Temperature, velocity and density
• Development, dynamics and origin of CMEs
• Identify the sequence of processes that occur at multiple layers (chromosphere, base and extended corona) which eventually leads to solar eruptive events
• Magnetic field topology and magnetic field measurements in the solar corona
• Drivers for space weather (origin, composition and dynamics of solar wind