Aditya-L1, India’s first solar mission, is all set to be launched today (September 2) at 11.50am IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota. The launch for the solar mission has been announced days after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) achieved success in safe landing on the moon surface with its Chandrayaan-3 mission. Aditya-L1 will be carried aboard ISRO’s PSLV rocket, which will undergo a space journey of 125 days. The name Aditya in the mission name stands for Sun.

Aditya-L1 Solar mission launch: When and where to watch online

The Indian Space Research Organisation will launch its maiden solar mission at 11.50am IST. According to the space agency, the Aditya-L1 launch live streaming will be made available on various social media platforms, starting at 11.20am IST. One can watch the live event  of Aditya-L1 launch on ISRO’s Facebook page, and ISRO’s Youtube channel. The live streaming of the launch event will also be available on ISRO Website. Users can also click on the embedded video here to watch the launch of the Aditya-L1 mission.

Aditya-L1 is being launched to study the Sun. It will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system. This point is located around 1.5 million km from the Earth. L1 point gives the advantage to the satellite by enabling it to view sun without any eclipses. According to ISRO, there are total five Lagrange points denoted as L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5.

The spacecraft will be carrying seven payloads. It will take a journey of 125 days, while the satellite is expected to be put into orbit in mid-January. 

IRSO plans on studying the sun as it the nearest star to our Earth. A comprehensive of the sun can help scientists understand about others stars in our Milky Way as well as in various other galaxies.