India aims for the Sun with launch of Aditya L1 after historic Moon landing

Pallavi Jain

1 year ago

India’s space agency ISRO has successfully launched Aditya L1 which is the country’s first space based mission to study the Sun.

According to ISRO “the spacecraft shall be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth. A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses.”

Aditya L1 before launch (ISRO YouTube Screenshots)

“This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time.”

PSLV-C57/Aditya-L1 Mission:
The preparations for the launch are progressing.

The Launch Rehearsal – Vehicle Internal Checks are completed.

Images and Media Registration Link https://t.co/V44U6X2L76 #AdityaL1 pic.twitter.com/jRqdo9E6oM
— ISRO (@isro) August 30, 2023

India recently became the first country to achieve a soft landing on Moon’s South Pole with its Chandryaan 3 mission. Its ‘Vikram’ lander touched down on the lunar surface on 23rd August and the images being sent back by its ‘Pragyan’ rover are a sight to behold.

Pragyan Rover clicked an image of Vikram Lander. The ‘image of the mission’ was taken by the Navigation Camera onboard the Rover (NavCam). NavCams for the Chandrayaan-3 Mission are developed by the Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS) (Image: @ISRO / X)

_{On August 27, 2023, the Rover came across a 4-meter diameter crater positioned 3 meters ahead of its location. The Rover was commanded to retrace the path. It’s now safely heading on a new path (Image: @ISRO / X)}

India is also only the fourth country after Russia (former USSR), America and China to successfully land anywhere on the moon.

… … and here is how the Chandrayaan-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander to the Lunar surface. pic.twitter.com/nEU8s1At0W
— ISRO (@isro) August 25, 2023