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As it happened: India’s Aditya-L1 blasts off to the Sun in historic expedition

The epic expedition comes just days after the nation became the first to land on the Moon’s south pole

Published: Sat 2 Sep 2023, 9:15 AM

Updated: Sat 2 Sep 2023, 2:36 PM

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India's space agency has taken aim at another milestone today with the launch of a probe to study the Sun.

If successful, the latest mission from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be the first by any Asian nation to be placed in solar orbit.

Aditya-L1 will carry scientific instruments to observe the Sun's outermost layers, blasting off at 10.20am UAE time for its four-month journey.

Watch the liftoff live below:

Take a look at the epic journey of Aditya-L1, as it happened:

11.24am: Mission accomplished!

Aditya L1 satellite has been injected into orbit. Its will continue its journey towards the L1 vantage point.

11.20am: Thrust cutoff achieved

The thrust cutoff for the fourth stage of PSLV has been achieved, the range operations director has informed.

The separation event of Aditya-L1 spacecraft is highly anticipated next.

11.15am: No-visibility zone entered

Aditya-L1 enters another no-visibility zone. The Aditya-L1 will perform manoeuvers in the Earth's orbit first, before it heads towards the vantage point.

11.09am: Tracking resumed

Tracking has now resumed as the Aditya-L1 comes back into visible range. Data has been updated to reflect real-time information.

The fourth stage is normal.

For approximately 26 minutes that the spacecraft was not visible by ground stations, data has been updated by extrapolation.

10.55am: Here's why ISRO is studying the Sun

Explaining the reasons to study the Sun, ISRO said it emits radiation in nearly all wavelengths along with various energetic particles and magnetic fields.

The atmosphere of the Earth as well as its magnetic field acts as a protective shield and blocks harmful wavelength radiations. In order to detect such radiation, solar studies are carried out from space.

The major objectives of the mission include understanding the Coronal Heating and Solar Wind Acceleration, the initiation of Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), near-earth space weather and the solar wind distribution.

10.47am: No visibility zone

An expert panel is now discussing the launch and mission as Aditya L1 enters a no-visibility zone. It will not be visible for 27 minutes.

According to experts, the payloads will provide new information that was previously unavailable. The Aditya L1 will also understand the impact of solar flares on Earth.

10.37am: Take a look at what the payloads are meant to do

The performance of the Aditya-L1 vehicle is normal so far.

Until later updates, take a look at what the payloads are supposed to study.

  • Visible Emission Line Coronagraph: VELC is the prime payload designed as a reflective coronagraph with a multi-slit spectrograph.
  • Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer: SoLEXS is a soft X-ray spectrometer designed to measure the solar soft X-ray flux to study solar flares.
  • Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya: PAPA is designed to understand solar winds and its composition and, do mass analysis of solar wind ions.
  • High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer: HEL1OS is a hard X-ray spectrometer designed to study solar flares in the high energy X-rays.
  • Solar Ultra-violet Imaging Telescope: SUIT is a UV telescope to image the solar disk in the near ultra-violet wavelength range.
  • Aditya Solar wind Particle EXperiment: ASPEX payload comprises 2 Subsystems: SWIS and STEPS. The Solar Wind Ion Spectrometer is a low-energy spectrometer designed to measure the proton and alpha particles of the solar wind. The Suprathermal and Energetic Particle Spectrometer is a high-energy spectrometer designed to measure high-energy ions of the solar wind.
  • Magnetometer: MAG will measure the low intensity interplanetary magnetic field in space.It has two sets of Magnetic Sensors: one at the tip of a 6 meter deployable boom, and the other in the middle of the boom, 3 meters away from the spacecraft.

10.25am: Third stage ignited

The third stage of PSLV is operational developing nominal thrust, five minutes into the launch. The performance of the third stage is also normal.

10.23am: First stage separated

After the successful launch of the Aditya-L1, the first stage has been separated and the second stage's performance is also normal.

A payload fairing covering the spacecraft has also separated successfully. It is heading on it's predicted path.

10.20am: Lift off!

The PSLV-C57/ Aditya L1 space craft lifts off Earth, beginning its four-month long journey to Langrage point. It will be placed in a halo orbit there.

10.05am: 15 minutes to go!

Mission director has authorised the launch of the PSLV-C57/ Aditya L1 mission. The automatic launch sequence has been set in motion.

10.02am: Aditya L1 to have clear view of sun

The Aditya L1 will be able to see the sun clearly without any eclipses or interruptions, the narrator informs viewers that are watching the livestream.

The spacecraft will perform orbital maneuvers by using its LAM to reach Sun-Earth Lagrange point L1 which is 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, in a halo orbit.

9.55am: ISRO shows building of PSLV C57

A video of the vehicle assembly building is being broadcast over the live broadcast by ISRO. The seven payloads were shown being stacked and secured.

Photos: ISRO

Photos: ISRO

9.35am: What the payloads will carry

The spacecraft carries seven scientific payloads for the systematic study of the Sun.

All payloads are indigenously developed in collaboration with various ISRO Centres and Scientific Institutes.

Each payload performs a different function, here's what they do:

9.21am: Interesting facts on the mission

Here are some fun facts on the iconic mission set to take place in an hour!

  • Aditya-L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from Earth, directed towards the Sun, which is about 1 per cent of the Earth-Sun distance.
  • The Sun is a giant sphere of gas and Aditya-L1 would study the outer atmosphere of the Sun.
  • Aditya-L1 will neither land on the Sun nor approach the Sun any closer.

9.15am: India all set to launch first mission to Sun

Ahead of the launch of ISRO's first space venture to study the sun astronomer and Professor RC Kapoor said that the most important instrument on the Aditya-L1 mission launch will study the corona of the Sun.

Aditya L1 will carry seven different payloads, which will conduct a detailed study of the Sun. Four of these payloads will observe the light from the Sun while the other three will measure in-situ parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields.

It will be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrangian Point 1 (or L1), which is 1.5 million km away from the Earth in the direction of the sun. It is expected to cover the distance in four months' time.

The largest and technically most challenging payload on Aditya-L1 is the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph or VELC.

Major objectives of India’s solar mission include the study of the physics of solar corona and its heating mechanism, the solar wind acceleration, coupling and dynamics of the solar atmosphere, solar wind distribution and temperature anisotropy, and origin of Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) and flares and near-earth space weather.

(With inputs from agencies)

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