BENGALURU: Aditya L-1, India's first space probe for studying the Sun, will be launched on Saturday, September 2. ISRO announced that the launch will take place at 11:50 am from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota. The launch vehicle is PSLV XL. The public can also watch the launch from the launch gallery in Sriharikota.

Aditya L-1, manufactured at the UR Rao Satellite Centre, was delivered to the spaceport at Sriharikota. The spacecraft will orbit the first of the 5 Lagrange points between the Earth and the Sun. This point is one and a half million kilometres from Earth. By reaching this point, it is possible to observe the sun continuously without any obstacles including eclipse.

The probe will monitor the Sun and changes in space weather. The probe will carry 7 payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the Sun's outermost corona with electromagnetism, particle and magnetic field instruments. Four of these payloads will be directly observing the Sun.

The solar mission could gather critical information on problems due to coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, preflare and flare activity and their characteristics, and space weather dynamics. Apart from this, Gaganyaan-related launch tests, the NISAR satellite launch with NASA and the X-ray Polarimeter satellite (XPoSat) to study space radiation will also be launched this year.