Fresh off its success at the moon, India is now headed for the sun.
The nation launched its first-ever solar observatory today (Sept. 2), sending the Aditya-L1 probe skyward atop a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 2:20 a.m. EDT (0620 GMT; 11:50 a.m. local India time).
After a series of checkouts, it will use its onboard propulsion system to head toward Earth-sun Lagrange Point 1 (L1), a gravitationally stable spot about 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from our planet in the direction of the sun.
That destination explains the latter part of the mission's name. And the first part is simple enough: "Aditya" translates to "sun" in Sanskrit.
The 3,260-pound (1,480 kilograms) observatory will arrive at L1 about four months from now, if all goes according to plan. But the long trek will be worth it, according to the ISRO.
"A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the sun without any occultation/eclipses," ISRO officials wrote in an Aditya-L1 mission description. "This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time."
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So what's up with all the arms on their towers? I can't find anyone else talking about it, and I'm pretty sure other countries use a smaller number.
inb4 someone responds with a Hindu joke. Seriously, I'm wondering what the technical reason is.
If you look at the image linked below you can see some arms in the closed position with a hole in the middle where the rocket can stand. They are just used as a platform to join various stages of the rockets.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Second_Launch_Pad.jpg
Prior to launch, these arms are just opened up as seen in the original post.
Oh, so I guess it's to save the bit where they have to tilt the rocket upright, then. Well, clearly it works!
I wouldn't call this observatory a "sun probe" because the L1 point is still 0.99 AU from the sun. For comparison, the Parker Solar Probe is expected to reach 0.046 AU.