ADITYA L-1 MISSION - SCI & TECH

ADITYA L-1 MISSION - SCI & TECH

News: Aditya-L1: its functioning and purpose

What's in the news?

●       Aditya L1 will function as a space weather station. Understanding space weather is an international issue, and the data from the spacecraft will aid in making models and predicting storms in advance.

Aditya L-1 Mission:

●       Aditya L1 is the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun.

●       It will be launched by the PSLV-XL launch vehicle.

●       The spacecraft shall be placed in a halo orbit around the science.

●       There are five primary Lagrangian points, labelled L1 through L5, in a Sun-Earth system.

Payloads:

The Aditya-L1 mission carries a suit of seven scientific payloads to carry out a systematic study of the Sun.

1. The Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) studies the solar corona and dynamics of Coronal Mass Ejections.
2. The Solar Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) payload images the Solar Photosphere and Chromosphere in near Ultra-violet (UV) and also measures the solar irradiance variations in near UV.
3. The Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS) and The High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS).

Go back to basics:

L1 (Lagrange Point 1):

●       It was found by mathematician Joseph Louis Lagrange.

●       It is located about 1.5 million kilometers inside Earth's orbit, between the Sun and the Earth.

●       The L1 point of the Earth-Sun system gives a clear view of the sun all the time, without any occultation/ eclipses.

●       Once the Aditya L1 mission reaches the L1 Lagrange point, it will be injected to a halo orbit. 

○       A halo orbit is a type of orbit that allows the satellite to remain in a stable position between the Earth and the Sun.