After Chandrayaan-3 success, ISRO aims for ‘turning point’ in study of Sun

After Chandrayaan-3 success, Indian space agency ISRO is now aiming to launch India's first space-based observatory for the Sun on Sunday. The Indian Space Research Organisation confirmed on Monday that the Aditya-L1 Solar Mission will be launched on September 2, 2023 at 11:50 am from Sriharikota.  

ISRO’s Aditya-L1 mission will deliver a space-based Sun observatory at the Lagrange Point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system. This point, which is at a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, is a strategic location that enables human spacecrafts to continuously make observations without hindrances from eclipses or occultation. This helps scientists study space weather and activity on the Sun in real time. After launch, the Aditya-L1 mission will take 120 days to reach Lagrange point 1.

Astronomer Shanti Priya, who is the Head of Department of Astronomy at Hyderabad's Osmania University, has said that the mission will be a turning point in the study of the Sun, one of the most mysterious objects known to humans.

"Sun is the most mysterious object we know. We are all dependent directly or indirectly on the Sun. Mission to the Sun is the most challenging thing. India is now in the race of space missions, and this mission will be a turning point in the study of the Sun," She told ANI. 

The mission will help ISRO study the upper atmosphere of the Sun, its surface and outermost layer. The study will shed more knowledge on solar phenomena like coronal mass ejections and solar flares.