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Aditya L1’s Incredible Journey
Aditya L1’s Incredible, Just a little over two weeks after a successful human-free landing in the southern polar region of the Moon, India embarked on its first space mission to study the Sun this Saturday.
The Satish Dhawan Space Centre in southern India launched the Aditya-L1 spacecraft on a mission to observe the Sun from the L1 point, a location 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth. This point, called L1, provides an uninterrupted view of the Sun.
According to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the spacecraft carries seven instruments to study the Sun’s corona, chromosphere, photosphere, and solar winds.
After more than an hour, ISRO confirmed the launch as a success. They posted on their platform formerly known as Twitter, “The vehicle has injected the spacecraft precisely into its intended orbit. India’s first solar observatory is now on its journey towards the Sun-Earth L1 point.”
It is estimated to take 125 days for the spacecraft to reach the L1 point.
On August 23, India became the first nation to land a spacecraft near the south pole of the Moon—a historic journey believed by scientists to potentially uncover crucial reservoirs of water on the hitherto unexplored territory. Following a failed attempt to land on the Moon that year, India joined the United States, Russia, and China as the fourth country to successfully complete this lunar milestone in 2019.