ISRO's Aditya L1 was successfully launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh today on 2 September, 2023. Aditya-L1 is the first space-based observatory class to study the Sun and is fired using ISRO's reliable Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed for providing remote observations of the solar corona and in situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (Sun-Earth Lagrangian point), which is about 1.5 million kilometres from the earth.It is India's first solar space observatory and will be launched by the PSLV-C57. It will carry seven different payloads to have a detailed study of the sun, four of which will observe the light from the sun and the other three will measure in-situ parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields.
Aditya-L1 will be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrangian Point 1 (or L1), which is 1.5 million km away from the Earth in the direction of the sun. It is expected to cover the distance in four months' time. The journey to the designated mission site is a staggering 1.5 million km from the Earth and will take about four months to cover. The major objectives of India’s solar mission include the study of the physics of solar corona and its heating mechanism, the solar wind acceleration, coupling and dynamics of the solar atmosphere, solar wind distribution and temperature anisotropy, and origin of Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) and flares and near-earth space weather.
It would be difficult to "land" the Aditya-L1 Mission on the Sun due to the intense heat. But it will be positioned in the Sun-Earth system's orbit. Seven instruments will be carried by the spacecraft to monitor the photosphere, chromosphere, and the solar corona utilising magnetic field and electromagnetic particle detectors.