India’s maiden solar mission – Aditya-L1 – was launched on Saturday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre launch pad on Sriharikota island in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
The Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) first solar space observatory was launched aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and carries seven different payloads.
BREAKING: India launching its first mission to the sun.https://t.co/PAiZ4D1jU3
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 2, 2023
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/a5ugM4Xi82
Four of the payloads will observe the light from the Sun, and the other three will measure the parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields.
Before the launch, ISRO chief S Somanath told reporters that the Aditya L1 satellite will take 125 days to reach the Lagrangian point (L1), named after the Italian astronomer Joseph Louis Lagrange.