Significance of ISRO's Solar Mission

After successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on lunar surface, ISRO created history by becoming first country to land successfully on south pole of the moon. Proudly forging ahead on the path of success, ISRO launched ‘Aditya L1’ mission days after to study sun’s outer layer. But question may rise

What are the benefits of studying in the Sun?

We all know that Sun is the nearest star to Earth. Thus, we can study Sun in much more details as compared to other stars. By studying the sun, we can learn much more about stars in our milky way.

Sun continuously ejects energy in the form of radiation, heat and constant flow of high energy particles as well as magnetic fields. These energy eruptions constantly affect Earth. Constant flow of high energy protons is called solar wind which fills nearly all the space in solar system. The solar wind along with other explosive/eruptive solar events like Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) affects the nature of space. This can trigger magnetic disturbance near the earth. If those radiations hit surface of the Earth massive havoc will begin on the earth. Transformers will break because they won’t be able to handle this much electricity. Whole world will be blacked out. Navigation will fail. Communication system will collapse. No one will be able to connect with the world. Also, if an astronaut gets directly exposed to such explosive phenomena it can have lethal effects on him/her.

Third reason to study Sun is that it is a good natural laboratory to study thermal and magnetic phenomena. Magnetic phenomena like solar flares and Thermal phenomena like nuclear fission occurs on the Sun. Studying these extreme phenomena will also help scientists to explore energy sector on the earth.

About mission

Aditya L1 mission will study Coronal heating and solar wind acceleration, coupling and dynamics of the solar atmosphere, Solar wind distribution and temperature anisotropy and get deep understanding of initiation of Coronal Mass Ejection, flares and well as near-earth space weather.

But what makes Aditya L1 unique? Aditya L1 will observe offer insights into CME dynamics in close proximity to the solar disk, approximately 1.05 solar radii, thus providing information about the acceleration regime of CMEs, which has not been consistently observed. Using On-board intelligence Aditya L1 can detect CMEs as well as solar flares. It can also detect directional and energy anisotropy of solar wind using multi-direction observations.

The Aditya-L1 mission is equipped with scientific payloads which are as follows

• · Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC): To study Solar Corona and dynamics of Coronal Mass Ejection

• · Solar Ultra-violet Imaging Telescope (SUIT): Takes images of Solar Photosphere and Chromosphere in near Ultra-violet (UV) and measure Solar irradiance in near Ultra-Violet (UV).

• ·Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX) and Plasma Analyzer Package for Aditya (PAPA): To study the solar wind and energetic ions.

• Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS) and High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS): To study the X-ray flares from the Sun

• Magnetometer: To measure interplanetary magnetic fields.

Spacecraft will be initially placed in low earth Orbit and later will be launched towards the Lagrange point L1 by using on-board propulsion. Technically at Lagrange point, gravitation pull of two large bodies equals the necessary centripetal force required for a small object to move with them. Lagrange point L1 lies between Sun-Earth line which is approximately at 1% of the Earth-Sun Distance.

Significance of the Mission

From the foundation of the ISRO, India has been observing Sun from ground using ground-based telescopes. However if we look at the recent years development, ground-based telescopes couldn’t provide advanced data. So, India has been relying on other sources to acquire solar data for many years. Aditya-L1 presents the opportunity to address the existing gaps as well as to get newer solar data that can be used to solve existing problems in solar physics.

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. ISRO can gather combined data and use it to conduct research on the causes of solar events with the help of the various payloads located on the spacecraft. The four remote sensing instruments will probe the solar sources and try to understand the origins of solar eruptions or flares.

This mission is expected to generate user-friendly information that can help satellites by providing Space weather alerts. This step is necessary to secure our satellites from solar eruptions. ISRO will use Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) which will gather information about the environment around the L1 point.

ISRO’s solar mission is a mark of India’s growing capabilities in space exploration. This mission shows world that India is capable to design, develop and execute complex space missions. Aditya L1 opened the door to cooperation with international space agencies and scientific community. Successful execution of solar missions will strengthen India's position in the international space community

Author: Aishwary Dixit, Niranjan Thite