Aditya completes one year of solar observations in space

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Aditya-L1, the first spacecraft launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to study the Sun, has completed one year of observations in space.

ISRO said the spacecraft has collected crucial data on the Sun's lower atmosphere and solar flares. Instruments aboard Aditya-L1, including the Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT), have captured detailed ultraviolet images of the Sun's photosphere and chromosphere. The spacecraft has also found that plasma flows from the Sun are not uniform. This finding is expected to help improve space weather predictions.

Aditya-L1 was launched on September 2, 2023, and reached the L1 Lagrange point on January 6, 2024. It was later moved into a halo orbit and began its observations a few months afterwards.

Although the spacecraft has been in space for nearly two years since its launch, it cannot observe the Sun when it passes behind the Earth's shadow. Despite these limitations, Aditya-L1 has completed one year of observation data collection and transmission. The spacecraft has a planned mission life of five years.

Designed to conduct space-based solar observations beyond Earth's orbit, Aditya-L1 is considered a major contribution by India to global space research.