Aditya (satellite)

Aditya L-1
Mission type Solar research
Spacecraft properties
Launch mass 400 kilograms (880 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date 2017-18[1]
Rocket PSLV[2]
Launch site Satish Dhawan Space Centre
Contractor ISRO
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Epoch Planned

Aditya, (Sanskrit: आदित्य, lit: Sun[3])  pronunciation  or Aditya-1 is a spacecraft whose mission is to study the Sun. It was conceptualised by the Advisory Committee for Space Research in January 2008.[2] It has been designed[4] and will be built and launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).[2] Former ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair announced the approval of this mission on 10 November 2008.[5]

Spacecraft

Aditya was proposed to be sent to space by 2015–16 to study the solar corona.[6] This part of the Sun has temperatures of over one million degrees, with raging solar winds that reach a velocity of up to 1000 km a second. The satellite will carry as its payload an advanced solar coronagraph.[2][7] Due to confidence in handling multiple payloads after the Mars Orbiter Mission, ISRO now plans to launch the craft in 2017-18, and it will carry multiple payloads for better solar data collection. The extra payloads will include an ultraviolet imager telescope to observe the entire solar disc for solar storms, a high energy x-ray imager to scan smaller region of the solar disc to study flares, a wind particle detector to sample the solar wind, a soft x-ray spectrometer and a variable emission coronagraph.[1]

It will be a small 400 kilograms (882 lb) satellite, which was initially projected to cost about INR50 crore (US$10 million),[2] but due to an upgraded mission profile, it is estimated to cost INR100 crore (US$20 million).[1] It is likely to be placed into a near earth orbit of 800 km.[8] The spacecraft's mission will be to study the fundamental problems of coronal heating, and other phenomena that take place in the Earth's magnetosphere.

Objectives

Progress

This is one of the first scheduled projects in a road map formulated by the Advisory Committee for Space Research.[2] A working group of individuals from the ISRO Satellite Centre, Udaipur Solar Observatory, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Radio Astronomy Centre, National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, and several universities.[2] was constituted to work out the optimum configuration for the coronagraph, among other parameters. The design of solar coronograph has been completed by Indian Institute of Astrophysics.[10]

ISRO is working on development of sensors and thermal structures of the satellite after which a prototype of the satellite is expected to be built by 2011.[10] Aditya's launch date has been rescheduled to 2017-18, after the mission was upgraded from a single payload mission to a multiple payload mission.[1]

Recently ISRO is planning to position this satellite at Lagrangian point L1. "We will be going to a point 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth, from which we will observe the sun constantly," says Annadurai. "Technically, this is a very challenging mission. Normally, any satellite will go around a mother planet but this will be at a point where the gravity of the sun and the Earth will play a role to keep the satellite in place," he says.[11]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Sharma, Richa (22 December 2013). "After Mars, India to Secure Place on Sun". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "ISRO planning to launch satellite to study the sun". The Hindu. 13 January 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2008.
  3. ↑ "Aditya". Spoken Sanskrit. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
  4. ↑ "After Chandrayaan-1's moon voyage, ISRO's Aditya to scout sun's surf". United News of India. 11 November 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
  5. ↑ "ISRO to develop Sun mission 'Aditya'". Zee News. 10 November 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  6. ↑ Aditya 1 launch delayed to 2015-16 Times of India Retrieved 9 September 2012
  7. ↑ Srinivas Laxman & Rhik Kundu, TNN (9 September 2012). "Aditya 1 launch delayed to 2015–16". The Times of India. Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.
  8. ↑ "Mission". Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  9. ↑ "Aditya-1 mission". Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Design of space-based solar chronograph ready New Indian Express. Retrieved on 22 September 2010.
  11. ↑ http://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/man-in-space-and-other-plans-114111401887_1.html