NEW DELHI: India’s first solar mission, Aditya-L1 was successfully launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, on Saturday.
The Sun observatory was fired from the second launch pad at this spaceport at 11.50 am today. ISRO Chairman S Somanath said the Sun mission will take 125 days to reach the exact radius.
After the successful launch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Isro scientists and engineers for their tireless effort.
“After the success of Chandrayaan-3, India continues its space journey. Congratulations to our scientists and engineers at @isro for the successful launch of India’s first Solar Mission, Aditya -L1. Our tireless scientific efforts will continue in order to develop better understanding of the Universe for the welfare of entire humanity,” PM Modi said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
In an address after the launch, Isro chairman Dr. S Somanath said that the vehicle has placed the satellite precisely into its intended orbit.
Meanwhile, Isro in a tweet said added that India’s first solar observatory has begun its journey to the destination of Sun-Earth L1 point.
Aditya-L1 is a satellite dedicated to the comprehensive study of the Sun. It has seven distinct payloads — five by Isro and two by academic institutions in collaboration with Isro — developed indigenously.
Following its scheduled launch, Aditya-L1 will stay in Earth-bound orbits for 16 days, during which it will undergo five manoeuvres to gain the necessary velocity for its journey.
According to ISRO, there are five Lagrangian points between the Sun and the Earth, and the L1 point in the Halo orbit would provide a greater advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occurrence of eclipse.
On embarking on such a complex mission, ISRO said the Sun is the nearest star and therefore can be studied in much more detail as compared to the others.
By studying the Sun much more about could be learnt about stars in the Milky Way as well as in various other galaxies, ISRO said.
“The satellite is expected to be put into orbit in the middle of January and then we will do the test if all the systems are working properly and by the end of February we expect to get the regular data. It will take time and we have to test instrument by instrument. First we will test the smaller instruments, and the VELC’s shutter will be opened last, by mid of February,” Prof Jagdev Singh said.