ISRO is set to Launch Aditya L1

Aditya L1 shall be the first space based Indian mission to study the Sun. The spacecraft shall be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth. 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.

What is Halo Orbit ?

A halo orbit is a type of orbit around an L1, L2, or L3 Lagrangian point. It is periodic, in that it follows same path each cycle other than the slow degradation due to the point's instability.

       Such an orbit can allow a line of sight to the further body; For example, an object can be in a halo orbit around the Earth-Moon L2 point (on the far side of the Moon) such that it has a line of sight to Earth.

What is Lagrange Point ?

The Lagrange point, also known as L1, is positioned in space where the objects sent there are to stay. It was named in honour of Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Loius Lagrange. There are five special points where a small mass can orbit in a constant pattern with two larger masses.

What is Payload ?

The scientific or technological instrument carried on board a satellite for the specific purpose is termed as a payload. Payloads vary in their purpose, size, composition, capabilities, etc..

Like --

Communication payloads,

Earth Observation payloads,

Navigation payloads..

The Major Objectives of Aditya-L1 Mission are:

• Study of Solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics.
• Study of chromospheric 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 solar corona and its heating mechanism.
• Diagnostics of the coronal and coronal loops plasma: Temperature, velocity and density.

Also Read : Congratulations to our SCIENTISTs for Mission Chandrayaan