The spacecraft Aditya-L1 has been travelling towards the Sun for four months since lift-off on 2 September and it reached its destination on 6th January 2024.
After lift-off, the spacecraft went four times around the Earth before escaping the sphere of Earth's influence on 30 September. L1 stands for Lagrange point 1 - the place between the Sun and Earth where the spacecraft has now reached. A Lagrange point is a spot where the gravitational forces of two large objects - such as the Sun and the Earth - cancel each other out, allowing a spacecraft to "hover". This point is located 1.5 million kms from the Earth, which is 1% of the Earth-Sun distance.
It will be able to orbit the Sun at the same rate as the Earth and watch the Sun constantly, even during eclipses and occultations, and carry out scientific studies. Scientists say the mission can help better understand, and even give a forewarning, about solar winds or eruptions a couple of days ahead, which will help India and other countries move satellites out of harm's way.
The mission to study the sun is among a slate of projects ISRO has lined up through the year, including its first human space mission and a low-Earth orbit observatory system called NISAR jointly developed by NASA and ISRO.
Down to Earth is Science and Environment fortnightly published by the Society for Environmental Communication, New Delhi. We publish news and analysis on issues that deal with sustainable development, which we scan through the eyes of science and environment.
