Aditya-L1, the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
Scientists at the Space Physics Laboratory (SPL) beneath the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) listed here are preparing to unravel the secrets and techniques of the solar wind as the Aditya-L1 mission, meant to study the solar, lifts off in September.
The Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA) payload aboard Aditya-L1, one among seven scientific payloads aboard the difficult mission, was developed by the SPL to achieve deeper insights into the phenomenon of the ‘solar wind,’ as the fixed stream of charged particles from the solar is named.
S. Somanath, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), stated on Saturday that the mission would carry off from Sriharikota in the first week of September.
Energy of electrons
The SPL’s PAPA payload will study the composition of the solar wind, a senior ISRO official stated. “It will look at the energy of electrons and the energy and mass of protons and ions in it. The study will also cover the angular variations,” the official stated.
For the SPL, the Aditya-L1 mission is one more large event, coming shut on the heels of the Chandrayaan-Three lunar mission on which it had two vital scientific payloads. ISRO describes Aditya-L1 as the ‘‘first space-based Indian mission to study the sun’‘ from a halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the sun-earth system.
Weighing roughly 8 kg, PAPA shares space on the Aditya-L1 spacecraft with six other payloads developed by sister ISRO units and other scientific establishments collaborating with ISRO. According to ISRO, the payloads are designed ‘‘to study the chromosphere, the photosphere and the outermost layers of the sun using electromagnetic and particle detectors.’‘
ISRO will use an XL variant of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) to place the Aditya-L1 spacecraft in a low earth orbit. Mr. Somanath had said here on Saturday that the spacecraft had been integrated with the launch vehicle at Sriharikota. Once launched, it will take 125 days to travel to its destination at L1.
On board the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s Vikram lander which soft-landed on the moon on August 23, the SPL had two payloads; the Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) and the Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA).