Aditya L1 solar mission explained in 10 simple points

India is aiming for the Sun today with the Aditya L1 solar mission. The Aditya L1 mission to study the Sun is slated to be launched at 11.50 am from the Sriharikota spaceport on Saturday, September 2. The launch comes just days after India tasted success with the Chandryaan-3 mission, becoming the first country to achieve a soft landing near the south pole of the moon.

Ahead of the Aditya L1 launch, here are a few quick facts about the mission, as shared by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO):

1. Aditya L1 is a satellite to study the Sun. ISRO's PSLV C57 will carry the Aditya L1 mission on a 125-day voyage to the Sun. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable launch vehicle designed and operated by ISRO.

2. The mission got its name from the Sanskrit word for the Sun, which is Aditya. L1 here refers to Lagrange Point 1 of the Sun-Earth system. Lagrange Points are positions where the gravitational forces of two celestial bodies, such as the Sun and Earth, are in equilibrium. This allows an object placed there to remain relatively stable with respect to both celestial bodies, explained ISRO.

3. There are five Lagrange Points between the Earth and the Sun. The Aditya L1 satellite will be placed around Lagrange Point 1, or L1.

4. Aditya-L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from Earth, which is about 1% of the Earth-Sun distance.

5. The satellite spends its whole mission life orbiting around L1 in an irregularly shaped orbit in a plane roughly perpendicular to the line joining the Earth and the Sun.