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India’s space agencyISRO on Monday said the solar mission spacecraft Aditya-L1 has started collecting data for scientific analysis of particles surrounding Earth.
In a post on X, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the sensors on board India’s first solar observatory have begun measuring ions and electrons at distances greater than 50,000 km from Earth.
“Aditya-L1 Mission: Aditya-L1 has commenced collecting scientific data. The sensors of the STEPS instrument have begun measuring supra-thermal and energetic ions and electrons at distances greater than 50,000 km from Earth. This data helps scientists analyze the behaviour of particles surrounding Earth. The figure displays variations in the energetic particle environment, collected by one of the units,” said ISRO.
The instrument is a part of the Aditya Solar Wind Particle EXperiment (ASPEX) payload of Aditya-L1.
The STEPS was activated on 10 September at a distance more than 50,000 km from Earth. It comprises of six sensors, each observe in different direction and measure supra-thermal and energetic ions ranging from 20 keV/nucleon to 5 MeV/nucleon, in addition to electrons exceeding 1 MeV.
The space-based solar observatory is also poised to break free from Earth’s gravity on Tuesday at around 2am.
Aditya-L1 was launched by the ISRO on 2 September. It carries seven different payloads to study the Sun. Four of them will observe the light from the Sun and the rest three will measure in situ parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields.
The data will help scientists in analysing the behaviour of particles surrounding the Earth, especially in the presence of its magnetic field.
As Aditya-L1 progresses towards the Sun-Earth Lagrangian Point 1 (L1), the STEPS measurements will persist during the cruise phase of thespacecraft.
Data collected around L1 would provide insights into the origin, acceleration, and anisotropy of solar wind and space weather phenomena.
The STEPS was developed by the Physical Research Laboratory with support from the Space Application Centre in Ahmedabad.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Updated: 18 Sep 2023, 06:01 PM IST
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