Why India's Solar Mission Aditya-L1 Is Important For The World

Aditya-L1, India's own solar observation mission, has achieved a milestone in solar research. On July 16, it captured the exact onset of a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) by using the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC). After studying the output for months, scientists have now said that this "significant result" will help them keep power grids and communication satellites out of harm's way. Aditya-L1, developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was launched in September 2023 to study the solar atmosphere and has been orbiting the Sun at about 1.5 million km from Earth in a halo orbit (around the Lagrange point 1 or L1).

Studying CMEs is one of the most important scientific objectives of Aditya-L1.

"Made up of charged particles, a CME could weigh up to a trillion kilograms and can attain a speed of up to 3,000 kilometres per second while travelling. It can head out in any direction, including towards the Earth," Prof R Ramesh of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics that designed Velc told the BBC.

"Now imagine this huge fireball hurtling towards Earth. At its top speed, it would take just about 15 hours to cover the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance," he further said.

How can Aditya-L1 mission protect our infrastructure?

The CMEs can lead to serious impact since the charged particles can make all satellites and electronic equipment malfunction. These particles can also knock down power grids and affect the weather.

Scientists say if they are able to see a solar storm in real time and track its trajectory, they can switch off power grids and satellites to protect them.

NASA and space agencies of other countries have also been watching the Sun for decades. But the coronagraph on Aditya-L1 has a slight advantage over other missions' equipment.

"With Velc, we can precisely estimate the time a coronal mass ejection begins and in which direction it's headed," said Professor Ramesh.

About Aditya-L1 mission

Named after the Hindi word for Sun, this mission follows ISRO's achievement of being the first country to successfully land on the Moon's south pole, surpassing Russia's failed Luna-25 with the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Chandrayaan-3 landed on the unexplored south pole of the Moon in August last year.

Scientists involved in the project aim to gain insights into the impact of solar radiation on the increasing number of satellites in orbit, with a particular focus on phenomena affecting ventures like Elon Musk's Starlink communications network.