ISRO Chairman Announces Aditya L1 Solar Mission Insertion Date, India

Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somnath revealed on Saturday that the L1 point insertion of India’s inaugural solar mission Aditya L1 is scheduled for January 6, 2024. The specific time of insertion, however, remains undecided. The announcement was made by Chief Somnath during his attendance at the 7th national conclave organized by Chhatra Sansad in Vadodara, Gujarat. Aditya L1, launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on September 2, is India’s first solar mission following the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 near the Moon’s South pole. ISRO recently reported that the Solar Wind Ion Spectrometer (SWIS), the second instrument in the Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX), is operational. The Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX) payload, which comprises cutting-edge instruments such as SWIS and STEPS (SupraThermal and Energetic Particle Spectrometer), is functioning normally. ASPEX has already begun measuring solar wind ions, and the HEL1OS X-ray spectrometer captured the first high-energy X-ray glimpse of solar flares. Positioned at the Lagrangian point (L1), Aditya L1 will continuously observe the sun without any hindrances, allowing scientists to study solar activities and their impact on space weather in real time. Additionally, the mission aims to gain a deeper understanding of space weather drivers by identifying the sequence of processes leading to solar eruptive events.