India’s own satellite to the Sun: the Aditya L1 mission

Understanding the Sun’s activity and the space weather it creates as a consequence is very crucial for our lives on Earth. Solar radiation drives climate change and seasonal variations. Digital communication and the continuous use and transfer of high-speed data in real time are made possible by the functioning of a multitude of satellites around Earth’s orbit which is also directly affected by space weather. As such, continuous monitoring of the Sun’s activity is vital; India’s first satellite to explore the Sun is a much-anticipated mission that helps this cause. The Aditya-L1 mission, a highly prestigious project of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is India’s first mission to explore the Sun and is being developed by scientists in various research organizations across the country. Prof. Dibyendu Nandi, Head of the Center of Excellence in Space Sciences India (CESSI) at IISER Kolkata talks more about the scope and importance of this magnificent undertaking.

As the name suggests, the Aditya L1 spacecraft shall be orbiting the Lagrangian point 1 (L1,) which is a million and half kilometres from Earth and has an advantageous view of the Sun that is never eclipsed. There are seven individual components the satellite shall carry, four of which are remote sensing devices while three are in-situ instrumentation designed to study variations…