Is India's Aditya-L1 First Mission To Study The Sun In The World? Which Other Countries Are Already On It?

India is set to launch its first solar mission Aditya-L1, following its recent historic achievement of being the first nation to land near the Moon's south pole.

Scheduled for liftoff from Sriharikota's launch pad on Saturday at 11:50 AM Indian Standard Time, Aditya-L1 will be positioned at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers (932,000 miles) from Earth, equivalent to just 1% of the Earth-Sun distance. The Indian space agency anticipates a four-month journey to reach this destination.

If Aditya L1 mission is successful, India will join an exclusive league of countries engaged in solar research, including Japan and the United States. Japan holds the distinction of launching the first solar mission in 1981, while NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have been studying the Sun since the 1990s.

Japan:

In 1981, Japan embarked on its pioneering solar mission, focusing on the study of solar flares.

United States:

NASA, the U.S. space agency, launched the Parker Solar Probe in August 2018, which made history by entering the Sun's upper atmosphere, the corona, and collecting samples of particles and magnetic fields. This marked the first-ever spacecraft to touch the Sun. In February 2020, NASA collaborated with the European Space Agency (ESA) to launch The Solar Orbiter, aimed at gathering data to decipher the Sun's role in shaping the ever-evolving space environment across the solar system.

Europe:

The European Space Agency (ESA) initiated its solar exploration with Proba-2 in October 2001, part of the Proba series focused on onboard autonomy. Upcoming ESA solar missions include Proba-3, slated for 2024, and Smile, expected to launch in 2025.

China:

In 2022, China introduced the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), also known as Kuafu-1, inspired by a character from Chinese mythology who chased the sun. This observatory is positioned in an orbit approximately 720 kilometers above Earth, surpassing the International Space Station's (ISS) orbit.