Aditya-L1 solar mission: What is Lagrange point, the location from where Isro studies the Sun | India News
NEW DELHI: After successfully landing Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has is all set to launch its solar mission on Saturday.
The agency has completed the integration of the Aditya-L1 spacecraft, India’s first solar observatory mission, with launch vehicle PSLV, at Sriharikota.
Lagrange points
If all goes according to plan, Aditya-L1 will enter into a halo orbit around one of five Lagrange points, areas known as parking spots in space because probes can orbit them in a constant pattern while conserving fuel. From there, Aditya-L1 should enjoy an uninterrupted view of the Sun and study in real time its effect on environmental conditions in the vicinity of earth and other planets.
That would count India among the countries with probes studying the Sun.
China has two such spacecraft orbiting Earth, including the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory launched last year to investigate solar flares and coronal mass ejections.
Hinode, backed by space agencies from Japan, the UK, the US and Europe, is orbiting Earth and measures the magnetic fields of the Sun.
The Solar & Heliospheric Observatory mission (SOHO), a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency, is near the same Lagrange point as the one ISRO is targeting for Aditya-L1. Another joint US-European mission, Solar Orbiter, can travel as close as about 42 million km from the Sun.
The US has other solar missions, including the Parker Solar Probe, which in 2021 became the first spacecraft to pass through the Sun’s corona, or upper atmosphere.
The agency has completed the integration of the Aditya-L1 spacecraft, India’s first solar observatory mission, with launch vehicle PSLV, at Sriharikota.
Lagrange points
If all goes according to plan, Aditya-L1 will enter into a halo orbit around one of five Lagrange points, areas known as parking spots in space because probes can orbit them in a constant pattern while conserving fuel. From there, Aditya-L1 should enjoy an uninterrupted view of the Sun and study in real time its effect on environmental conditions in the vicinity of earth and other planets.
That would count India among the countries with probes studying the Sun.
China has two such spacecraft orbiting Earth, including the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory launched last year to investigate solar flares and coronal mass ejections.
Hinode, backed by space agencies from Japan, the UK, the US and Europe, is orbiting Earth and measures the magnetic fields of the Sun.
The Solar & Heliospheric Observatory mission (SOHO), a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency, is near the same Lagrange point as the one ISRO is targeting for Aditya-L1. Another joint US-European mission, Solar Orbiter, can travel as close as about 42 million km from the Sun.
The US has other solar missions, including the Parker Solar Probe, which in 2021 became the first spacecraft to pass through the Sun’s corona, or upper atmosphere.
