Aditya L1: India’s First Solar Mission

India’s first solar mission Aditya L1 spacecraft completed its first halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L1 point

What is Aditya L1?

• Aditya L1 is India’s first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun.
• As per the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), the spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around the first Lagrange (L1) point of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5-million-km from 
• A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses.
• This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time
• The mission, originally known as Aditya-1, was intended to be put into an 800 km low-Earth orbit (LEO) as a 400-kg class satellite but it was later decided that the satellite will be placed in a halo orbit.
• Hence, the new mission was named Aditya- L1.

Why is there a Need for Solar Mission?

• Our Sun is the nearest star, distancing about 150 million kilometres and the largest object, which is the source of energy for our solar system.
• It is a hot glowing ball of hydrogen and helium gases.
• At the central region of the sun, known as the ‘core’, the temperature can reach as high as 15 million degrees Celsius. At this temperature, a process called nuclear fusion takes place in the core, which powers the sun.
• The visible surface of the sun, known as the photosphere, is relatively cool and has a temperature of about 5,500°C.
• The Sun is the powerhouse energising Earth’s systems, but solar storms can disrupt infrastructure. Mysteries like the corona’s extreme heat, the solar cycle’s drivers, the origins of solar wind and eruptions like flares and Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) remain unresolved.
• Understanding the Sun’s complex magnetic behaviour is thus crucial to advancing space weather prediction, securing technological assets and unravelling stellar evolution. The Aditya L1 mission signifies India’s quest to shed light on these solar uncertainties.

Lagrangian Points

• Lagrange points are positions in space where the gravitational forces of two large orbiting bodies, like the Earth and Sun, produce regions of equilibrium where a smaller object can orbit while using minimal fuel.
• There are 5 Lagrange points, labelled L1 to L5. L1, L2, and L3 lie along the line connecting the two large masses.
• The L1 point of the Earth-Sun system provides an uninterrupted view of the Sun and is home to the SOHO space telescope.
• L2 is ideal for astronomy as spacecraft can communicate with Earth, harness solar power, and have a clear view of deep space
• The James Webb Space Telescope resides at the L2 point, using little fuel as the Earth and Sun’s gravity balance out.
• L1, L2 and L3 points are unstable, with L3 being less useful due to its position behind the sun.
• L4 and L5 form the corners of equilateral triangles with the large masses at the other two corners. The L4 and L5 points are stable. Objects orbiting these two points are called Trojans, named after the three large asteroids (Agamemnon, Achilles and Hector) that are found here.
• The stability and unique gravitational forces make Lagrange points valuable positions for astronomy telescopes to get a clear view of space without being blocked by large bodies.

What Are The Science Objectives Of Aditya L1 Mission?

Payloads of Aditya L1 Mission

• The Aditya L1 spacecraft will carry seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic and particle and magnetic field detectors.
• Using the special vantage point — L1 — four payloads directly view the Sun and the remaining three payloads carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at L1, thus providing important scientific studies of the propagatory effect of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium

The payloads

Other Missions to the Sun

• NASA’s Parker Solar Probe: Aims to trace how energy and heat move through the Sun’s corona and to study the source of the solar wind’s acceleration. It is part of NASA’s ‘Living With a Star’ programme that explores different aspects of the Sun-Earth system.
• Helios 2 Solar Probe: The earlier Helios 2 solar probe, a joint venture between NASA and space agency of erstwhile West Germany, went within 43 million km of the Sun’s surface in 1976.
• Solar Orbiter: A joint mission between the ESA and NASA to collect data that will help answer a central question of heliophysics like how the Sun creates and controls the constantly changing space environment throughout the solar system.
• Other Active Spacecraft Monitoring the Sun: Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), WIND, Hinode, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO).

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