ADITYA-L1 SUPPORT CENTRE (ASC)

ADITYA-L1 SUPPORT CENTRE (ASC)

Subject : Science & tech

Context : The Indian programme to study the Sun and the region between the Sun and the Earth from space – Aditya-L1 – is due to be launched next year.

Concept :

• It will carry seven payloads which have been developed by various institutions across the country. Once the mission is launched, there will be a need for a ground support centre to monitor and coordinate the work on its various payloads.
• This role will be played by the ARIES facility (short for Aryabhata Research Institute for observational Sciences) which is situated near Nainital.
• In January 2021, an agreement was signed to this effect based on the proposal submitted by the ARIES team. With about four to five personnel, this centre will come up at Haldawani, where ARIES is setting up a data centre also.
• The Aditya-L1 Support Centre (ASC) will provide training through regular workshops for the guest users. Apart from this, it will provide ready-to-use Python and Java apps for the satellite data and demos and handouts to facilitate the guest users.

Aditya L1 Mission

• Aditya L1 will be launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) XL with 7 payloads (instruments) on board.
• Aditya-L1 would be placed into a point in space known as the L1 Lagrange point.
• Aditya L1 will study the Sun’s corona (Visible and Near infrared rays), Sun’s photosphere (soft and hard X-ray), chromosphere (Ultra Violet ), solar emissions, solar winds and flares, and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), and will carry out round-the-clock imaging of the Sun.