Onward, sunward – Aditya-L1 gives India’s space programme one more boundary to push

Source: The post is based on the article “Onward, sunward – Aditya-L1 gives India’s space programme one more boundary to push” published in The Hindu on 4^th September 2023.

Syllabus: GS 3 – Science & Technology – Space Missions

Relevance: About Aditya L1 Mission

News: Recently, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched the Aditya-L1 Mission. It is India’s first space mission dedicated to studying the sun.

About Aditya L-1 Mission

Aditya-L1 will study the sun from the L1 Lagrange point, which is 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.

It aims to study the sun using seven instruments, which include both remote-sensing and in situ tools.

It will study the nature of the solar wind, which affects space weather and spacecraft components and the coronal heating problem, which involves explaining why the sun’s upper atmosphere is much hotter than its surface.

Its findings could have a major impact on the understanding of space weather and the evolution of stars.

Read More: Not Just Moon: Isro’s Aditya-L1, India’s first Solar mission, reaches spaceport

What is the way ahead?

Aditya-L1 may seem simple mission, but it presents significant challenges that will test both the Indian space program and the national solar physics community.

Moreover, after Chandrayaan-3’s successful landing, this mission is important for evaluating ISRO’s ability to study the Sun.