If successful, ISRO’s latest mission will be the first of its kind for any Asian country placed in orbit around the sun.
India’s sun-observing spacecraft has crossed a historic point in its journey to escape “Earth’s sphere of influence,” the Indian space agency said, days after the disappointment of its lunar probe failing to wake up.
The Aditya-L1 mission, which began a 4-month journey towards the center of the solar system on September 2, carries tools to observe the outer layers of the sun.
Aditya – named after the sun god in Hindu belief – traveled 920,000 kilometres, just over half the total distance of the trip. At that point, the gravitational forces of both astronomical objects cancel out, allowing the mission to remain in a stable halo orbit around our nearest star.
Outside the scope of Earth’s gravity
The Indian Space Agency added in a press statement – issued on August 30 – that “this is the second time in a row that ISRO has been able to send a spacecraft outside the scope of Earth’s influence, and the first time was the Mars orbital mission.”
Aditya traveled 920,000 km, just over half the total distance of the trip (French)
Last August, India became the first country to land a rover near the moon’s largely unexplored south pole, and the fourth country to land on the moon’s surface.
The Pragyan rover surveyed the area near its landing site, but was turned off before the start of the lunar night, which lasts for about two weeks on Earth.
India had hoped to prolong the mission by reactivating the solar-powered vehicle once daylight returned to the lunar surface.
In 2014, India became the first Asian country to put a rover into orbit around Mars, and is scheduled to launch a 3-day manned mission into Earth’s orbit by next year.
Space forces at the center of the solar system
The United States and the European Space Agency have sent several probes to the center of the solar system, starting with NASA’s Pioneer program in the 1960s.
Japan and China also launched their own solar observatory missions into Earth orbit.
But if successful, ISRO’s latest mission will be the first of its kind for any Asian country placed in orbit around the sun.
