Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh): ISRO on Saturday September 02, 2023 launched India's ambitious Solar Mission, Aditya L1 - the project which is led by Nigar Shaji, daughter of a Muslim farmer.
The 59-year-old Shaji is a scientist from Tenkasi district of Tamil Nadu. She was born in Sengottai town of the state to Sheikh Meeran, a farmer and Zaitoon Bibi, a homemaker.
Shaji completed her Bachelor's Degree in Electronics and Communication engineering from Tirunelveli government engineering college and later pursued her Masters in Eectronics and Communications from Birla Institute of Technology in Ranchi.
Shaji joined the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in 1987 and later worked at the UR Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, where she held several key positions before being appointed the project director of Aditya-L1. Shaji had also headed the Satellite telemetry centre at ISRO, Bengaluru.
"This is like a dream come true. I am extremely happy that Aditya L-1 has been injected by PSLV. Aditya L-1 has started its 125 days of long journey. Once Aditya L-1 is commissioned, it will be an asset to the country and the global scientific fraternity. I want to thank the entire team for their support and guidance in making this mission possible", Nigar said on the successful launch of Aditya L-1.
Here's what the Project Director of India's solar mission Aditya L1 has to say about the successful launch@isro#trending #Nigarshaji #Sun #solarmission #spacemission #isro #feminaindia #AdityaL1Launch #AdityaL1 pic.twitter.com/vXWG1h13fG— Femina (@FeminaIndia) September 2, 2023
Here's what the Project Director of India's solar mission Aditya L1 has to say about the successful launch@isro#trending #Nigarshaji #Sun #solarmission #spacemission #isro #feminaindia #AdityaL1Launch #AdityaL1 pic.twitter.com/vXWG1h13fG
12:00 PM: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Saturday September 02, 2023 launched India's ambitious Solar Mission, Aditya L1 eyeing history again after its successful lunar expedition, Chandrayan 3 a few days ago.
As the 23.40-hour countdown concluded, the 44.4 meter tall Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV 57) soared majestically at the prefixed time of 11.50 am from this spaceport, located on the Eastern coast about 135 km from Chennai.
It will be PSLV's "longest flight" for about 63 minutes.
10:30 am: ISRO says Rocket and Satellite are fully ready as it gears up for the launch of India’s first Solar Mission – Aditya L1, at 11:50 am Saturday September 02, 2023.
“The 23-hour 40-minute countdown leading to the launch at 11:50 Hrs. IST on September 2, 2023, has commended today at 12:10 Hrs”, ISRO said.
“The launch can be watched LIVE”, it added.
Aditya L1 on board the PSLV will lift off from Sriharikota for its 125-day voyage towards the Sun starting today.
Sriharikota is a barrier island off the Bay of Bengal coast located in the Shar Project settlement of Tirupati district in Andhra Pradesh, India. It houses the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, one of the two satellite launch centres in India.
Aditya L1 is designed for providing remote observations of the solar corona and in situ observations of solar wind.
The spacecraft, named after the Hindu Sun deity Aditya, will traverse a vast distance of 1.5 million kilometres (930,000 miles) to reach its destination.
It will be launched into space using ISRO's reliable PSLV XL rocket, a trusted workhorse that has supported previous missions to the Moon and Mars.
• Aditya-L1 is the first space-based observatory-class Indian solar mission to study the Sun. The spacecraft is planned to be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrangian point1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth.
• After it lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, the PSLV-XL will take over 60 minutes to deploy the spacecraft, putting it in an elliptical orbit around Earth. The standard PSLV would take about 25 minutes. However, since the spacecraft is to be sent 15 lakh kilometers away from Earth, Isro is using the XL version.
• Aditya-L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from Earth, directed towards the Sun, which is about 1% of the Earth-Sun distance.
• Aditya-L1 will neither land on the Sun nor approach the Sun any closer.
• The Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), the primary payload of Aditya L1, will send 1,440 images per day to the ground station for analysis on reaching the intended orbit.
• According to the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), the 190 kg VELC payload will send images for five years, which is the nominal life of the satellite, but it could last long depending on the fuel consumption.
The significant endeavour comes on the heels of their recent successful Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission on August 23, 2023 when Vikram lander carrying Pragyan rover made soft landing on Moon’s little explores South Pole.
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