India\u2019s Aditya-L1 satellite, stationed at Lagrange Point, to study sun\u2019s impact on satellites in low earth orbit
\nBENGALURU
\nThe Indian Space Research Organisation\u2019s inaugural solar mission, Aditya-L1, has reached its destination within the anticipated four-month timeframe, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday.
\nLaunched on Sept. 2, the spacecraft positioned itself at Lagrange Point 1, from where it will undertake a comprehensive study of the sun, focusing on the solar corona and its influence on space weather.
\n\u201cIndia creates yet another landmark. It is a testament to the relentless dedication of our scientists in realising among the most complex and intricate space missions,\u201d Modi said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
\nThe satellite covered approximately 1.5 million kilometres (930,000 miles) over the span of four months, just a fraction of the Earth-sun distance of 150 million kilometres.
\nThe Lagrange Point, where the satellite is stationed, benefits from gravitational forces that allow objects to remain relatively stationary, reducing fuel consumption for the spacecraft.
\nEquipped with seven payloads, Aditya-L1 is slated to conduct remote sensing of the sun and in-situ observations for an estimated five years.
\nNamed after the Hindi word for the sun, this mission follows India\u2019s recent achievement of being the first country to successfully land on the moon\u2019s south pole, surpassing Russia\u2019s failed Luna-25 with the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Chandrayaan-3 landed on the unexplored south pole of the moon in August last year.
\nScientists involved in the project aim to gain insights into the impact of solar radiation on the increasing number of satellites in orbit, with a particular focus on phenomena affecting ventures like Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink communications network.
\n\u201cWe definitely need to know more about the sun, as it controls the space weather,\u201d said Manish Purohit, a former ISRO scientist.
\nThe low earth orbit is going to get \u201csuper\u201d crowded over the coming years, said Purohit.
\n\u201cSatellites are going to become the main stay of all tech on Earth with Quantum implemented, with internet connectivity, disaster warning system, resource utilisation and many more applications,\u201d said Purohit.
\nStationing a spacecraft at L1 acts as an early warning system, with roughly one hour advantage, for an upcoming storm from the Sun, he said.
\nThe mission to study the sun is among a slate of projects ISRO has lined up through the year, key among them its first human space mission and a low-Earth orbit observatory system jointly developed by NASA and ISRO, called NISAR.
\nNISAR will map the entire planet once every 12 days, providing data for understanding changes in ecosystems, ice mass, vegetation biomass, sea level rise, ground water and natural hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
India\u2019s Aditya-L1 satellite, stationed at Lagrange Point, to study sun\u2019s impact on satellites in low earth orbit BENGALURU The Indian Space Research Organisation\u2019s inaugural solar mission, Aditya-L1, has reached its destination within the anticipated four-month timeframe, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday. Launched on Sept. 2, the spacecraft positioned itself at Lagrange Point 1, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379377,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-379354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n