ISRO successfully launched its next spacecraft satellite Aditya L1 today morning at 11.50 am from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

ISRO’s next Mission Aditya L1 is not actually going to the sun but it is launched to study the sun. It is India’s first ever space based solar observatory spacecraft that is launched to study the sun.

The space craft is named Aditya L1 after the sun’s core and will travel 1.5 million km from the earth to the Lagrange 1 point (L1) between the earth and the sun. This distance is four times than that of the distance covered in the Chandrayaan 3 mission.

Lagrange points are points in space in which the gravitational forces of two large bodies tends to balance out. This means that satellites placed at those points will not need to use a lot of fuels to remain in the position. The space craft satellite will take nearly 120 days to cover the distance to the Lagrange point and then it will be inserted to the halo orbit around the L1 point and will seek to collect data for 5years.

The satellite is designed to provide remote observations of the solar corona which is the outermost layer of the sun and as well as the in situ observations of the solar wind in the L1 point. The satellite is launched in the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle ( PSLV) Rocket which is carrying the 1,457kg spacecraft into the elliptical orbit around the sun. The objectives of the missions are to get deeper understanding about the sun and how it’s radiation, heat and magnetic fields affect us. It’s the first time spatially designed solar disk that is being sent near the UV band.

ISRO noted ” This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and it’s effects on space weather in real time.” If the Aditya L1 mission becomes successful in reaching the Lagrange point and collect informations and datas, India will again achieve another milestone and will create another history among the other nations.