1 of 2 India launched solar mission this Saturday, September 2, 2023 — Photo: ISRO India launched solar mission this Saturday, September 2, 2023 — Photo: ISRO
India launched this Saturday (2) a rocket with a satellite that will be able to carry out studies on the Sun. The mission takes place days after the country became the first to manage to land on the south pole of the Moon.
This will be India’s first solar probe. The goal, according to scientists, is to observe the solar wind. The research wants, for example, to better understand the effects of solar radiation on the thousands of satellites that are orbiting the Earth.
“There were episodes where the main communications went down because a satellite was hit by a large emission,” explained Somak Raychaudhury, who was involved in planning the mission.
2 of 2 Indian rocket launch with satellite to study the Sun — Photo: ISRO Indian rocket launch with satellite to study the Sun — Photo: ISRO
In the longer term, scientists also want to explore what the Sun’s effects are on Earth’s weather patterns.
The mission launched on Saturday was named Aditya-L1, which is a reference to the Hindi word for sun. The rocket was designed to travel about 1.5 million kilometers.
The trip should last four months, when the probe will arrive at a kind of “space parking lot”. In this environment, objects tend to remain stationary because of the balance of gravitational forces.
India lands rocket in unexplored region of the Moon
Owner of a historic feat, India is currently exploring the south pole of the Moon with a robot. The module successfully landed on Earth’s natural satellite on August 23.
The region, which is on the dark side of the Moon, was previously unexplored. Russia and Japan even tried to do similar missions, but failed.
India seeks to explore the Moon because the first space trip of the Indian project, which took place in 2008, detected the presence of water on the lunar surface.
The lunar surface where the Indian probe landed is treacherous terrain with large craters and steep slopes. Without sunlight, temperatures can reach -203°C.
Exploring the surface of the Moon’s polar regions, made up of rocks and soil, could also yield answers about the formation of the Solar System.
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2023-09-02 06:21:59
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