Tag: isro

ISRO’s Aditya-L1 Solar Mission Reaches Destination Within Four-Month Timeframe

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s inaugural solar mission, Aditya-L1, has reached its destination within the anticipated four-month timeframe, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday.

Launched on September 2 last year, 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.

“India 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,” Modi said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

The satellite covered approximately 1.5 million km (930,000mi) over the span of four months, just a fraction of the Earth-Sun distance of 150 million km.

The Lagrange Point, where the satellite is stationed, benefits from gravitational forces that allow objects to remain relatively stationary, reducing fuel consumption for the spacecraft.

Equipped with seven payloads, Aditya-L1 is slated to conduct remote sensing of the Sun and in-situ observations for an estimated five years.

Named after the Hindi word for the Sun, this mission follows ISRO’s recent achievement of being the first country to successfully land on the Moon’s south pole, surpassing Russia’s failed Luna-25 with the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Chandrayaan-3 landed on the unexplored south pole of the Moon in August last year.

Scientists 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’s Starlink communications network.

“We definitely need to know more about the Sun, as it controls the space weather,” said Manish Purohit, a former ISRO scientist.

The low earth orbit is going to get “super” crowded over the coming years, said Purohit.

“Satellites 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,” said Purohit.

Stationing a spacecraft at L1 acts as an early warning system, with roughly one hour advantage, for an upcoming storm from the Sun, he said.

The 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.

NISAR 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.

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ISRO Set to Place Aditya-L1 Spacecraft in Final Destination Orbit: All You Need to Know

ISRO will perform the final manoeuvre on Saturday to inject Aditya-L1 spacecraft — the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun — into its final destination orbit, some 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth. According to ISRO officials, the spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, about 1.5 million km from the Earth. The L1 point is about one per cent of the total distance between the Earth and the Sun.

A satellite in a halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultations/eclipses, they said, adding, this will provide a greater advantage in observing solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time.

“This manoeuvre (at around 4pm on Saturday) will bind the Aditya-L1 to a halo orbit around L1. If we don’t do this, there is a possibility that it will continue its journey, maybe towards the Sun,” an ISRO official told PTI on Friday.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C57) launched the Aditya-L1 spacecraft from the second launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, on September 2 last year.

After a flight duration of 63 minutes and 20 seconds, it was successfully injected into an elliptical orbit of 235×19500 km around the Earth.

The spacecraft underwent a series of manoeuvres thereafter and headed Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1(L1), having escaped the Earth’s sphere of influence.

The spacecraft carries 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 the Lagrange point L1, thus providing important scientific studies of the propagatory effect of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium,” according to the space agency.

The suits of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide the “most crucial information” to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, and propagation of particles and fields, officials said.

The major science objectives of the Aditya-L1 mission are:

  • Study of the Solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics.
  • Study of chromosphere and coronal heating, physics of the partially ionized plasma, initiation of the coronal mass ejections, and flares.
  • Observe the in-situ particle and plasma environment, providing data for the study of particle dynamics from the Sun.
  • Physics of the solar corona and its heating mechanism.
  • Diagnostics of the coronal and coronal loops plasma: Temperature, velocity and density.
  • Development, dynamics and origin of coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
  • Identify the sequence of processes that occur at multiple layers (chromosphere, base and extended corona) which eventually leads to solar eruptive events.
  • Magnetic field topology and magnetic field measurements in the solar corona.
  • Drivers for space weather (origin, composition and dynamics of solar wind).

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NASA-ISRO Working Together to Make India’s Space Station, Launch NISAR in 2024

Stepping up collaboration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Administrator Bill Nelson on Tuesday said the US was open to helping India build its own space station. 

On a visit to India, Nelson said the US and India were working on plans to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station by the end of next year, while the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch the state-of-the-art joint venture satellite with NASA — NISAR — in the first quarter of 2024.

Nelson met Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh here and discussed strengthening cooperation between the two countries in the space sector.

“ISRO is also exploring the feasibility of utilising NASA’s Hypervelocity Impact Test (HVIT) facility for testing Gaganyaan module Micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) protection shields,” an official statement from the science and technology ministry said.

During the meeting, the two leaders also discussed US President Joe Biden’s offer to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station in 2024.

“The selection of astronaut is determined by ISRO. NASA will not make the selection,” Nelson said in an interaction with reporters here.

Nelson urged Singh to expedite the programme related to India’s first astronaut aboard a NASA rocket to the International Space Station.

NASA is identifying an opportunity in the private astronaut mission for Indian astronauts in 2024.

In response to a question, he said the US would be ready to collaborate with India in building the space station if it so desires.

“We expect by that time to have a commercial space station. I think India wants to have a commercial space station by 2040. If India wants us to collaborate with them, of course, we will be available. But that’s up to India,” Nelson said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked ISRO to aim to build an Indian space station by 2035 and land astronauts on the moon by 2040.

Built at a cost of $1.5 billion (nearly Rs. 12,500 crore), NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) is targeted for launch onboard India’s GSLV rocket.

Data from NISAR will be highly suitable for studying the land ecosystems, deformation of solid earth, mountain and polar cryosphere, sea ice, and coastal oceans on a regional to global scale.

ISRO has developed the S-band SAR which was integrated with NASA’s L-band SAR at JPL/NASA. The integrated L & S band SAR is currently undergoing testing with the satellite at the U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru with the participation of NASA/JPL officials.

An official statement said ISRO and NASA have formed a Joint Working Group (JWG) on Human spaceflight cooperation and are exploring cooperation in radiation impact studies, micrometeorite and orbital debris shield studies; space health, and medicine aspects.

ISRO is also in discussion with prominent US industries (like Boeing, Blue Origin, and Voyager) on specific items of cooperation and also to explore joint collaborations with Indian commercial entities.

A concept paper on the Implementing Arrangement is under consideration between ISRO and NASA. After a few iterations, both sides arrived at a mutually agreed draft and the same is processed for intra-governmental approvals, the official statement said. 

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ISRO’s Aditya L1 Solar Mission Begins Studying Solar Wind, Collects Data on Energetic Particles

After India’s solar mission, Aditya L1 began its journey towards Lagrange point 1 following a key manoeuvre, it has started studying energetic particles in the solar wind from space and will continue to do so for the rest of its life, a senior astrophysicist said. The study of the solar wind, the continuous flow of charged particles from the sun which permeates the solar system, will be carried out with the help of a device named Supra Thermal & Energetic Particle Spectrometer (STEPS), a part of the Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX) payload.

“STEPS is now working from space. However, it was not sitting idle earlier. It has started functioning from within the magnetic field of the Earth since September 10 when Aditya was 52,000 kilometres above our planet,” Dr Dibyendu Chakrabarty, professor of Space and Atmospheric Sciences at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) said.
STEPS was developed by the PRL with support from the Space Application Centre (SAC) in Ahmedabad.

“During the travel time of four months (till Aditya L1 reaches its destination), it will study energetic particles in the solar wind. The data will help maintain the health and performance of our space assets in a better way,” Dr Chakrabarty told PTI.

The key aim of STEPS is to study the environment of energetic particles from the spacecraft’s position on the L1 point till it will function, he said. “The data from STEPS in the long term will also help us understand how space weather changes,” the space scientist said.

STEPS comprises six sensors, each observing in different directions and measuring supra-thermal and energetic ions. The data collected during the Earth’s orbits helps scientists to analyse the behaviour of particles surrounding the planet, especially in the presence of its magnetic field.

Aditya-L1, launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on September 2, will go up to the First Lagrangian point, about 1.5 million km from the Earth ISRO on September 18 said on X: “Off to Sun-Earth L1 point! The Trans-Lagrangean Point 1 Insertion (TL1I) manoeuvre is performed successfully. The spacecraft is now on a trajectory that will take it to the Sun-Earth L1 point.” Lagrangian points are where gravitational forces, acting between two objects, balance each other in such a way that the spacecraft can ‘hover’ for a longer period of time.

The L1 point is considered the most significant of the Lagrangian points, for solar observations, which were discovered by mathematician Joseph Louis Lagrange. 

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Amazon Web Services Signs MOU With ISRO, IN-SPACe to Support Space Tech With Cloud Services

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has signed a memorandum of understanding with ISRO and IN-SPACe to support space-tech innovations through cloud computing.

The collaboration with ISRO and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) is aimed at giving space startups, research institutes and students access to cloud technologies through AWS Activate for new solutions in the space sector, AWS said in a statement on Wednesday.

The collaboration follows the approval of the Indian Space Policy, 2023 in April by the government which provides a strategic roadmap for the growth and development of India’s space programme using cloud computing, data, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

AWS India and South Asia Director and Chief Technologist, Public Sector, Shalini Kapoor said the company is committed to helping startups identify use cases accelerate solution development, and build a strong talent pool in India with expertise in cloud and space.

“Cloud computing-led innovations enable the space industry to make better decisions, faster – pushing the boundaries of possibilities. We look forward to helping customers in India build space-tech solutions to make life on Earth better,” Kapoor added.

ISRO Director for Capacity Building and Public Outreach Sudheer Kumar N said cloud computing enables the speedy management of large volumes of raw space data, besides running AI, ML and analytics workloads to achieve meaningful outcomes in a highly cost-effective manner.

Startups will also benefit from access to AWS and its global experience of building aerospace and satellite solutions through the AWS Space Accelerator programme.

“After Chandrayaan-3 moon landing and Aditya L-1 mission, it is time we leverage the limitless potential of space technology and cloud computing to propel India’s space sector to new heights. This partnership with AWS is a testament to that and through this, we aim to empower startups, students, and researchers to dream beyond the skies, drive innovation, and contribute to the global space industry,” said IN-SPACe Director, Promotion Directorate, Vinod Kumar.

The three organisations will also collaborate on a new initiative to train students and educators in cloud computing, AI, ML, analytics, and security, by leveraging AWS education programmes. 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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ISRO Puts Chandrayaan-3 Rover Into ‘Sleep Mode’ After Successful Experiments on Lunar Surface

India switched off its moon rover, the first craft to reach the lunar south pole, after it completed its two-week assignment conducting experiments, the country’s space agency said.

The Pragyan rover from the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was “set into Sleep mode” but with batteries charged and receiver on, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, late on Saturday.

“Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments!” ISRO said. “Else, it will forever stay there as India’s lunar ambassador.”

By landing on the moon, India joined the United States, China and the former Soviet Union. It went beyond them in reaching the rugged south pole, shortly after Russia’s Luna-25 crashed on a similar attempt.

Chandrayaan-3’s soft, textbook touchdown after a failed attempt in 2019 sparked widespread jubilation in the world’s most populous country. The media hailed the landing as India’s greatest scientific feat.

Pragyan travelled over 100 m (330 feet), confirming the presence of sulphur, iron, oxygen and other elements on the moon, ISRO said.

Now India is hoping for the success of a probe launched on Saturday to study the sun, observing solar winds that can cause disturbance on earth commonly seen as auroras.

“The satellite is healthy” and in earth orbit, ISRO said on Sunday, as it prepares for its 1.5 million-km (930,000-mile) journey.

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Aditya-L1 Launch Countdown Begins: When and Where to Watch the Live Streaming of ISRO’s Maiden Solar Mission

Aditya-L1, India’s first solar mission, is all set to be launched today (September 2) at 11.50am IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota. The launch for the solar mission has been announced days after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) achieved success in safe landing on the moon surface with its Chandrayaan-3 mission. Aditya-L1 will be carried aboard ISRO’s PSLV rocket, which will undergo a space journey of 125 days. The name Aditya in the mission name stands for Sun.

Aditya-L1 Solar mission launch: When and where to watch online

The Indian Space Research Organisation will launch its maiden solar mission at 11.50am IST. According to the space agency, the Aditya-L1 launch live streaming will be made available on various social media platforms, starting at 11.20am IST. One can watch the live event  of Aditya-L1 launch on ISRO’s Facebook page, and ISRO’s Youtube channel. The live streaming of the launch event will also be available on ISRO Website. Users can also click on the embedded video here to watch the launch of the Aditya-L1 mission.

Aditya-L1 is being launched to study the Sun. It will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system. This point is located around 1.5 million km from the Earth. L1 point gives the advantage to the satellite by enabling it to view sun without any eclipses. According to ISRO, there are total five Lagrange points denoted as L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5.

The spacecraft will be carrying seven payloads. It will take a journey of 125 days, while the satellite is expected to be put into orbit in mid-January. 

IRSO plans on studying the sun as it the nearest star to our Earth. A comprehensive of the sun can help scientists understand about others stars in our Milky Way as well as in various other galaxies.

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ISRO’s Aditya-L1 Solar Mission to Launch From Sriharikota Port on September 2

After the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon, ISRO on Monday announced that India’s first solar mission Aditya-L1 to study the Sun will be launched on September 2 at 11.50 am from Sriharikota spaceport. 

Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed to provide remote observations of the solar corona and in-situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (Sun-Earth Lagrange point), which is about 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth.

Lagrange Points are positions in space where the gravitational forces of the Sun and the Earth produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion. These can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position, according to NASA. Lagrange points are named in honor of Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange.

The Bengaluru-headquartered space agency said in a social media post that the spacecraft — the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun — would be launched using a PSLV-C57 rocket.

The Aditya-L1 mission, aimed at studying the Sun from an orbit around the L1, would carry seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the corona — the outermost layers of the Sun — in different wavebands.

Aditya-L1 is a fully indigenous effort with the participation of national institutions, an ISRO official said.

The Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) is the lead institute for the development of Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) payload while Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, has developed the Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) payload for the mission.

According to ISRO, VELC aims to collect the data for solving how the temperature of the corona can reach about a million degrees while the Sun’s surface itself stays just over 6000 degrees Centigrade.

Aditya-L1 can provide observations on the corona, and on the solar chromosphere using the UV payload and on the flares using the X-ray payloads. The particle detectors and the magnetometer payload can provide information on charged particles and the magnetic field reaching the halo orbit around L1.

The satellite, developed by U R Rao Satellite Centre here, arrived at ISRO’s spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, earlier this month.

It is planned to be placed in a halo orbit around the L1 point of the Sun-Earth system.

A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any planets obstructing the view or causing eclipses, ISRO noted. “This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time,” it said.

Using the special vantage point L1, four payloads would directly view the Sun and the remaining three payloads are expected to carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the L1 point, thus providing important scientific studies of the propagatory effect of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium.

“The SUITs of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide the most crucial information to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection (CME), pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particle and fields etc,” ISRO said.

The major science objectives of the Aditya-L1 mission are: study of solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics; study of chromospheric and coronal heating, physics of the partially ionised plasma, initiation of the coronal mass ejections, and flares; observe the in-situ particle and plasma environment providing data for the study of particle dynamics from the Sun; and physics of solar corona and its heating mechanism.

Besides, the mission aims to study diagnostics of the coronal and coronal loops plasma: temperature, velocity and density; development, dynamics and origin of CMEs; identify the sequence of processes that occur at multiple layers (chromosphere, base and extended corona) which eventually leads to solar eruptive events; magnetic field topology and magnetic field measurements in the solar corona; and drivers for space weather (origin, composition and dynamics of solar wind).

The instruments of Aditya-L1 are tuned to observe the solar atmosphere, mainly the chromosphere and corona. In-situ instruments will observe the local environment at the L1 point. 

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After Chandrayaan-3 Success, ISRO Next Plans to Launch Aditya-L1 to Study Sun

On the heels of the success of the Chandrayaan-3 moon landing, India’s space agency has set a date for its next mission — this time to study the sun. 

The Aditya-L1, India’s first space observatory for solar research, is getting ready for launch at the country’s main spaceport in Sriharikota, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told reporters at its satellite command centre this week, as scientists and crew celebrated the moon mission’s success.

“We are planning to launch in the first week of September,” said ISRO chairman S Somanath.

What will Aditya-L1 do?

Named after the Hindi word for the sun, the spacecraft is India’s first space-based solar probe. It aims to study solar winds, which can cause disturbance on earth and are commonly seen as “auroras”.

Longer term, data from the mission could help better understand the sun’s impact on earth’s climate patterns.

Recently, researchers said the European Space Agency/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft had detected numerous relatively small jets of charged particles expelled intermittently from the corona — the sun’s outer atmosphere — which could help shed light on the origins of solar wind. 

How far will it travel?

Hitching a ride on India’s heavy-duty launch vehicle, the PSLV, the Aditya-L1 spacecraft will travel 1.5 million km in about four months to study the sun’s atmosphere.

It will head to a kind of parking lot in space where objects tend to stay put because of balancing gravitational forces, reducing fuel consumption for the spacecraft.

Those positions are called Lagrange Points, named after Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange. 

How much does the mission cost?

In 2019, the government sanctioned the equivalent of about $46 million (nearly Rs. 380 crore) for the Aditya-L1 mission. ISRO has not given an official update on costs.

The Indian space agency has earned a reputation for world-beating cost competitiveness in space engineering that executives and planners expect will boost its now-privatised space industry.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission, which landed a spacecraft on the lunar south pole, had a budget of about $75 million (nearly Rs. 620 crore).

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Solar Mission ‘Aditya’ Will Be Ready for Launch in September, Says ISRO Chief After Chandrayaan-3’s Success

As the country rejoiced the successful placement of the ISRO lander — Vikram — on the moon’s uncharted South Pole, the agency’s chairman S Somanath on Thursday confirmed that its maiden solar mission ‘Aditya’ is in the works and will be ready for launch in September.

In a brief address to the nation after the lander touched down on the moon’s dark side on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi alluded to future missions to the Sun and Venus.

Speaking to ANI a day after the ISRO put India in an elite club of nations with the successful conduct of its maiden lunar landing mission, the ISRO chief said, “Mission ‘Aditya’ is in the works and will be ready for launch in the first week of September. We are also planning a mission by the end of September or October to demonstrate our crew module and crew escape capability, which will be followed by many test missions until we launch our first manned mission to space (Gaganyaan), possibly by 2025.”

On the flawless touchdown of the ‘Vikram’ lander on the moon’s south face, Somanath said the gamut of emotions he ran as the lander closed in on the lunar surface was hard to put in words.

“It was a mix of joy, a feeling of accomplishment and gratefulness for all fellow scientists, who contributed to the success of this mission,” Somanath told ANI.

He added that the moon’s South Pole has the potential for human settlement, which is why the agency made it the preferred landing site for the lander.

“We have gone closer to the (lunar) South Pole, which lies almost 70 degrees from where the lander has been placed. The South Pole has a specific advantage with respect to being less illuminated by the Sun. There is potential (for human settlement) because of more scientific content (on the south side of the moon). The scientists, who were working on this project, showed a lot of interest in the South Pole as the larger objective is for human beings to set up colonies on the moon and travel beyond. We were looking for the best landing spot, where we could set up colonies in the distant future, and the lunar South Pole fitted the bill,” the ISRO chief said.

Speaking on the ‘Pragyan’ rover, which rolled out of the lander after the successful touchdown on the lunar southside, Somanath said a team will soon start work on a robotic path planning exercise, which will be the key to future explorations into deep space.

“Pragyan Rover has two instruments, both of which are related to the elemental composition findings on the moon as well as its chemical compositions. It will also rove the lunar surface. We will also do a robotic path planning exercise, which is important for future explorations into deep space,” the ISRO chief said.

The ‘Pragyaan’ rover, on Thursday morning, rolled out of the landing module to begin its exploration of the uncharted lunar south face, ISRO informed on its official handle on X, formerly Twitter.

The agency, earlier on Thursday, said the lander made a historic touchdown on the lunar south pole, taking India where no other country has gone before.

“The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon. More updates soon,” the ISRO posted on X.

The first picture of the six-wheeled robotic vehicle Pragyan rolling out of Vikram was shared by Pawan K Goenka, the chairman of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, a single-window, independent, nodal agency that functions as an autonomous agency in the Department of Space (DOS).

After a 40-day journey into space, the ‘Vikram’ lander touched down on the lunar South Pole on Wednesday evening.

India also became only the fourth nation after the US, Russia and China to successfully conduct a lunar landing mission.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft put down the Vikram lander on the lunar surface, tilting to a horizontal position ahead of landing.

The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota on July 14.

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