ID :
29653
Tue, 11/11/2008 - 17:43
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https://www.oananews.org//node/29653
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After moon odyssey, it`s `Mission Sun` for ISRO
Bangalore, Nov 11 (PTI) After Chandrayaan-I moon odyssey, it's in a way "Mission Sun" for team Indian Space Research Organisation (I.S.R.O.).
Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation are in an advance stage of designing a spacecraft, named 'Aditya', to study the outermost region of the Sun called corona.
"That's a mini satellite. In fact, the design is just getting completed," I.S.R.O. Chairman G Madhavan Nair told PTI.
"During solar maxim...which is happening...we would like to see the type of emissions which are taking place in the Sun and how it interacts with the ionosphere and atmosphere and so on," he said.
According to Dr Jayati Datta, Deputy Programme Director, Space Science Office, I.S.R.O., Aditya is the first space based Solar Coronagraph intended to study corona.
'Aditya' would be the first attempt by the Indian scientific community to unravel the mysteries associated with coronal heating, coronal mass ejections and the associated space weather processes and study of these would provide important information on the solar activity conditions, she said.
"A basic understanding of the physical processes and continuous monitoring would help in taking necessary steps towards protecting I.S.R.O.'s satellites either by switching them off or putting them on a stand-by mode as warranted by the background conditions," Datta Said.
The temperature of the solar corona goes beyond million degrees. From the Earth, corona can be seen only during total solar eclipses mainly due to the bright Solar disc and the scattering of the sunlight by the Earth's atmosphere. One has to go beyond the atmosphere to be able to mask the bright solar disc and study the corona.
The space borne coronagraph 'Aditya' in visible and near I.R. bands would study the Coronal Mass Ejection and consequently the crucial physical parameters for space weather such as the coronal magnetic field structures, evolution of the coronal magnetic field etc, Datta said.
"Completely new information on the velocity fields and
their variability in the inner corona having an important
bearing on the unsolved problem of heating of the Corona would
be obtained," she explained.
Activities towards 'Aditya mission' have been initiated
with the involvement of scientists from I.S.R.O. centres and
prime national research institutes in the country.
The time frame for the launch of the Aditya mission is
planned to be during the next high solar activity period.
However, the exact date/time is not yet confirmed.
"'Aditya' is an indigenous/Indian mission. So far there
is no plan of putting any foreign payload on board Aditya
mission," Datta said, adding that U.S.A., E.S.A. (European
Space Agency) and Japan have flown missions to study Sun and
solar corona/activities.
The sun being a hot gas is highly turbulent and dynamic
due to burning of matter or in other words conversion of
matter into energy. On several occasions, sun sends out large
chunk of charged particles and emits highly energetic
electromagnetic radiation in all directions.
These radiations on reaching Earth cause severe
near-Earth-space disturbances called Geomagnetic storms which
affect communication links, disturb power lines in high
altitudes, cause aurora in polar regions and affect satellite
systems directly and also indirectly through changes brought
about in the near Earth atmosphere. PTI
Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation are in an advance stage of designing a spacecraft, named 'Aditya', to study the outermost region of the Sun called corona.
"That's a mini satellite. In fact, the design is just getting completed," I.S.R.O. Chairman G Madhavan Nair told PTI.
"During solar maxim...which is happening...we would like to see the type of emissions which are taking place in the Sun and how it interacts with the ionosphere and atmosphere and so on," he said.
According to Dr Jayati Datta, Deputy Programme Director, Space Science Office, I.S.R.O., Aditya is the first space based Solar Coronagraph intended to study corona.
'Aditya' would be the first attempt by the Indian scientific community to unravel the mysteries associated with coronal heating, coronal mass ejections and the associated space weather processes and study of these would provide important information on the solar activity conditions, she said.
"A basic understanding of the physical processes and continuous monitoring would help in taking necessary steps towards protecting I.S.R.O.'s satellites either by switching them off or putting them on a stand-by mode as warranted by the background conditions," Datta Said.
The temperature of the solar corona goes beyond million degrees. From the Earth, corona can be seen only during total solar eclipses mainly due to the bright Solar disc and the scattering of the sunlight by the Earth's atmosphere. One has to go beyond the atmosphere to be able to mask the bright solar disc and study the corona.
The space borne coronagraph 'Aditya' in visible and near I.R. bands would study the Coronal Mass Ejection and consequently the crucial physical parameters for space weather such as the coronal magnetic field structures, evolution of the coronal magnetic field etc, Datta said.
"Completely new information on the velocity fields and
their variability in the inner corona having an important
bearing on the unsolved problem of heating of the Corona would
be obtained," she explained.
Activities towards 'Aditya mission' have been initiated
with the involvement of scientists from I.S.R.O. centres and
prime national research institutes in the country.
The time frame for the launch of the Aditya mission is
planned to be during the next high solar activity period.
However, the exact date/time is not yet confirmed.
"'Aditya' is an indigenous/Indian mission. So far there
is no plan of putting any foreign payload on board Aditya
mission," Datta said, adding that U.S.A., E.S.A. (European
Space Agency) and Japan have flown missions to study Sun and
solar corona/activities.
The sun being a hot gas is highly turbulent and dynamic
due to burning of matter or in other words conversion of
matter into energy. On several occasions, sun sends out large
chunk of charged particles and emits highly energetic
electromagnetic radiation in all directions.
These radiations on reaching Earth cause severe
near-Earth-space disturbances called Geomagnetic storms which
affect communication links, disturb power lines in high
altitudes, cause aurora in polar regions and affect satellite
systems directly and also indirectly through changes brought
about in the near Earth atmosphere. PTI
