Aditya L1 Solar Mission: The countdown has begun for India’s inaugural solar mission, Aditya L1, set to launch aboard the PSLV rocket, according to an announcement by ISRO. Scheduled for liftoff on Saturday at 11:50 am, this Sun observatory mission closely follows India’s successful Chandrayaan-3 moon expedition.
In an update posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, ISRO stated, “PSLV-C57/Aditya-L1 Mission: The countdown leading to the launch at 11:50 Hrs. IST on September 2, 2023,” and confirmed that the 23-hour 40-minute countdown began at 12:10 pm.
125 days to reach the orbit
ISRO Chairman S Somanath previously stated that the mission would take 125 days to reach its intended orbit.
Aditya-L1’s primary objectives are to provide remote observations of the solar corona and to conduct in situ observations of the solar wind at L1, the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point, located approximately 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. This mission represents India’s maiden dedicated effort in solar observations and is being launched by the space agency based in Bengaluru.