The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced that it will start its next big project, the Aditya-L1 Mission. This is India’s first solar mission, and it could change the way we think about how the sun works and how space weather works. ISRO has set Saturday, September 2, as the date for the launch of its first solar mission. This mission is estimated to cost Rs 400 crore all together. The spaceship will be 1.5 million kilometres from Earth and will carry seven payloads. ISRO says that the Aditya-L1 project is the first Indian mission to study the sun from space, which is like an observatory. It will be put in a ring orbit around the Sun-Earth system’s Lagrangian point (L1).
Why does ISRO want to learn about the sun?
Close to Earth: The sun is the closest star to Earth, so it can be studied in more detail than other stars.
The sun is a fascinating star. When scientists study the sun, they learn a lot about stars in the Milky Way and in other galaxies as well.
The sun has many kinds of eruptions and gives off a huge amount of energy into the solar system. If this kind of explosive solar event happens near the earth, it could cause all kinds of problems in the area around the earth.
Different aircraft and communication systems are prone to these kinds of problems, so it’s important to know about them early so that you can fix them before they happen. On top of that, an astronaut would be in danger if he or she were to be directly exposed to such powerful events.
Extreme things happen on the sun when it comes to heat and magnetism. So, the sun is also a good natural classroom for studying things that can’t be studied directly in a lab.
Mission of Aditya-L1: Key facts about the Sun
Sun is the closest and largest star in the solar system. It is a ball of hydrogen and helium gas that is hot and bright.
Sun’s Age: The sun is thought to be about 4.5 billion years old.
Distance between Earth and Sun: The Sun is about 150 million miles away from Earth. It gives the solar system its energy. Life on Earth would not exist without solar energy. The gravity of the sun is what holds everything in the solar system together.
Parts of the Sun: At the ‘heart’ of the sun, where the temperature can get as high as 15 million degrees Celsius, there is a place called the chromosphere. At this temperature, the sun’s core is hot enough for a process called nuclear fusion to take place. The sun’s surface that we can see, called the photosphere, is not too hot. It is about 5,500 degrees Celsius.
India’s first sun mission: when and where to see it
ISRO will send off its Aditya-L1 journey to the sun on Saturday, September 2. You can watch the live broadcast on Doordarshan or on the ISRO YouTube page. The live broadcast of the Aditya-L1 Mission will also be shown on other news stations. ISRO will send the mission into space on September 2 at 11:50 IST.
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