Post Chandrayaan 3 success, ISRO targets September 2 for launch of Aditya-L1 solar mission
India solar mission: After successfully landing a lander on the moon's uncharted South Pole, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Saturday that the country's first solar mission, Aditya-L1, will "possibly" soar on September 2.
Aditya-L1 would be India's first space-based observatory dedicated to studying the Sun.
Nilesh M Desai, a top space scientist at ISRO and the director of Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad said, "We had planned the 'Aditya-L1' mission to study the sun." The mission is ready to go. There is a possibility that the spacecraft will launch on September 2nd."
His remarks came just minutes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to scientists at the ISRO's Bengaluru headquarters.
He described Prime Minister Modi's speech to scientists at ISRO's Bengaluru command centre as "motivating."
"PM Modi’s speech was hugely motivating. His announcements will inspire us to plan and execute similar missions going forward. His announcements have filled us with motivation and new zeal to rededicate ourselves to working for the country in the space domain," Desai added.
I don't have enough words to express what I felt about PM Modi's address here. I can't thank him enough for visiting us here just after landing in India. He said he couldn't stop himself from visiting us. This was more than what we could expect. His announcements were not only meant to celebrate the success of our lunar landing mission but also to enable future generations to remember the day and the achievement: Sudheer Kumar N, director, Capacity Building & Public Outreach (CBPO), ISRO
ISRO chairman S Somanth had stated that the country's first mission to study the sun will be ready for launch in the first week of September.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared August 23 as 'National Space Day' in honour of the landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon.
He declared that the location where the 'Vikram' lander landed on the lunar surface would be named the 'Shivshakti' point and that the impression left by the Chandrayaan-2 on the lunar surface would be known as the 'Tiranga' point.
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