Beyond Chandrayaan-3 Triumph: ISRO's Ambitious Next Step with Aditya-L1 Sun Study Mission

After the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission was a success, ISRO announced their next mission - to study the sun! Aditya-L1, India's first space observatory for solar research, is being prepped for launch at Sriharikota, the country's main spaceport. At their satellite command center, ISRO staff and crew celebrated the lunar mission's victory. ISRO chairman S Somanath said, “We’re hoping to launch in September's first week.”

So, what's Aditya-L1 up to? 

Named after the Hindi word for the sun, this spacecraft is India's first-ever venture into space to study solar winds. Solar winds can cause all kinds of problems on Earth, like the auroras we all know and love. In the long run, the data gathered from this mission could help us understand how the sun affects the climate on Earth. Recently, researchers said that the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter found a bunch of little jets of charged particles that could help us figure out where solar winds come from.

What's the distance the Aditya-L1 spacecraft will go? 

On board India's powerful rocket, the PSLV, the spacecraft is expected to make a 1.5 million km journey for four months to observe the sun's environment. Its destination will be a place in space where the gravitational forces are balanced, which reduces fuel consumption for the spacecraft. This spot is called the Lagrange Point, named after the famous Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange.

What's the price tag of this mission?

 In 2019, the government approved around $46 million (close to Rs. 380 crore) for the Aditya-L1 mission. ISRO hasn't provided any official details on the cost. ISRO has a history of delivering cost-effective space engineering solutions, which is a big help for its now private-sector space industry. The Chandrayaan-3 mission, which put a spacecraft on the moon's south pole, had a budget of about $75 million (nearly Rs. 620 crore).