Sriharikota (AP), September 1 : The countdown for the much-anticipated launch of India’s inaugural solar mission, Aditya L1, aboard the PSLV, commenced on Friday, as confirmed by ISRO. This Sun observatory mission is scheduled for liftoff from the Sriharikota spaceport at precisely 11:50 am on Saturday, following closely behind the success of India’s Chandrayaan-3 moon expedition.
ISRO announced on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), “PSLV-C57/Aditya-L1 Mission: The countdown leading to the launch at 11:50 Hrs. IST on September 2, 2023,” confirming that the 23-hour 40-minute countdown began at 12:10 pm.
ISRO Chairman S Somanath previously mentioned that the mission is expected to take 125 days to reach its intended orbit. Aditya-L1 has been meticulously designed to facilitate remote observations of the solar corona and in situ observations of the solar wind at L1, the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point, which is situated approximately 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth’s surface.
This historic mission marks India’s first dedicated space endeavor aimed at observing and studying the Sun, further establishing ISRO’s prowess in space exploration.
