2023-09-02 10:27:37
This screenshot from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) YouTube channel shows the Aditya-L1 spacecraft taking off aboard a satellite launcher from Sriharikota Space Center, India, on Saturday September 2, 2023. AP
Ten days after successfully landing an unmanned vehicle near the south pole of the Moon, India took off on Saturday, September 2, the last mission of its ambitious space program.
The probe, dubbed “Aditya-L1” (“Sun” in Hindi), is carrying scientific instruments intended to observe the outer layers of the Sun and begins a four-month journey to its destination, located 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth.
Mission control technicians cheered as the rocket lifted off from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launch pad on Sriharikota Island at 11:50 a.m. local time (7:20 a.m. Paris time). “The launch was successful, everything is normal”an official announced as the spacecraft headed for the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere.
The study satellite is carried by the 320-ton PSLV-XL rocket, designed by ISRO. She is one of the pillars of the Indian space program and has already carried out launches to the Moon and Mars.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers An Indian probe landed near the South Pole of the Moon, a world first
“An ambitious mission”
The launch of this solar observation probe is a first for India. NASA and the European Space Agency have already placed spacecraft in orbit to study the Sun, beginning with NASA’s Pioneer program in the 1960s. Japan and China, for their part, have both launched their own solar observation missions in Earth orbit.
“This is an ambitious mission for India”, astrophysicist Somak Raychaudhury told NDTV on Friday. And to add that the probe would study coronal mass ejections. These periodic phenomena which result in discharges of plasma and magnetic energy from the atmosphere of the Sun are so powerful that they can reach the Earth and potentially disrupt the functioning of satellites. Aditya-L1 will help predict these phenomena “and to alert everyone so that the satellites can cut off their power”argued the scientist.
The country has consistently matched the achievements of established space powers for a fraction of their cost. India’s aerospace program has a relatively small budget, but one that has been significantly increased since its first attempt to orbit the moon in 2008.
According to industry experts, India manages to keep costs low by replicating and adapting existing space technology for its own purposes, thanks in particular to the large number of highly qualified engineers who are paid much less than their foreign counterparts.
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The successful moon landing on August 23 – a feat previously achieved only by the USSR, the United States and China – cost less than 75 million dollars (a little less than 70 million euros). It was widely celebrated by the public, with prayer rituals to wish the success of the mission and schoolchildren following the final descent through live broadcasts in classrooms.
In 2014, India was the first nation on the Asian continent to place a spacecraft in orbit around Mars. The country now plans to launch a three-day manned mission around the Earth by next year. In addition, a joint mission with Japan must send a probe to the Moon by 2025 as well as a mission to Venus within two years.
Corrigendum of September 2 at 12:10 p.m. : corrected the destination of the mission, which is not the Sun but which is located 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth.
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