India’s space agency announced on Monday that it will launch a satellite to examine the Sun, only days after becoming the first nation to land a vehicle near the Moon’s completely unexplored south pole.
“The launch of Aditya-L1, India’s first space-based observatory to study the Sun, is scheduled for September 2,” the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Aditya, which means “Sun” in Hindi, will be launched into a halo orbit 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth, providing the vessel with a constant clear view of the Sun.
“This will give us a better opportunity to observe solar activity and its impact on space weather in real time,” ISRO stated.
The spacecraft will carry seven payloads that will use electromagnetic and particle field detectors to study the Sun’s outermost regions, known as the photosphere and chromosphere.
Among other things, it will investigate the causes of space weather, particularly the dynamics of solar wind.
While NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have already launched orbiters to investigate the Sun, this will be India’s first.
The unmanned Chandrayaan-3 – “Mooncraft” in Sanskrit – landed on the lunar surface last week, making India the fourth country after the United States, Russia, and China to do so.
This was the latest milestone in India’s ambitious yet low-cost space program, prompting cheers throughout the world’s most populous country.
India has a relatively low-budget space program that has increased significantly in size and momentum since it first sent a probe into orbit around the Moon in 2008.
According to experts, India can keep costs low by replicating and adapting existing technology, as well as by employing a large number of highly trained engineers who earn a fraction of the salary of their Western counterparts.
India became the first Asian country to launch a craft into Mars orbit in 2014, and by next year, it is planned to launch a three-day crewed trip into the Earth’s orbit.
It also has plans to send a second probe to the Moon in collaboration with Japan by 2025, as well as an orbital mission to Venus in the following two years.
