India’s space agency is targeting another milestone by sending a probe to study the sun, just over a week after successfully landing on the moon.
Aditya-L1 is scheduled to launch today (September 2) at around 11:50 a.m. local time and will carry scientific instruments to observe the sun’s outer layers.
“Aditya” – the name of the sun deity in Hindu culture – will travel 1.5 million km (930 thousand miles) to reach its destination.
The journey to the sun is expected to take four months.
The purpose of the mission is to elucidate the dynamics of several solar phenomena by photographing and measuring particles in the sun’s upper atmosphere.
According to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the spacecraft includes “seven scientific instruments for the systematic study of the sun,” all developed in collaboration between India’s space agency and scientific institutes.
The United States and the European Space Agency (ESA) have sent numerous probes into the center of the solar system, starting with NASA’s Pioneer program in the 1960s.