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Gaganyaan mission: Who are the 4 astronauts named by PM Modi in Kerala?

Gaganyaan mission date: astronauts' names were announced by modi. the 4 astronauts are undergoing training for india's maiden human space flight mission..

The names of the four astronauts who are undergoing training for Gaganyaan – India's maiden human space flight mission – at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) at Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram – were announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.

The prime minister bestowed "astronaut wings" to the four . Modi was at the VSSC to inaugurate three major technical facilities of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Who are the four Gaganyaan mission astronauts?

• Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair
• Group Captain Ajit Krishnan
• Group Captain Angad Pratap
• Wing Commander Subhanshu Shukla

Modi inaugurated three major space infrastructure projects of ISRO during his visit to the Vikram VSSC. He also reviewed ISRO's Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme during his visit.

Also Read | PM Modi's visit to Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra on February 27-28: Full schedule

Modi, accompanied by Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan, also took a walkthrough of the exhibition of the various ISRO projects showcased at VSSC.

What is Gaganyaan mission?

According to the ISRO, the Gaganyaan programme envisages undertaking the demonstration of human spaceflight to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in the short-term and will lay the foundation for a sustained Indian human space exploration programme in the long run. The objective of the Gaganyaan programme is to demonstrate indigenous capability to undertake human space flight mission to LEO.

As part of this programme, two unmanned missions and one manned mission are approved by the government.

ISRO projects inaugurated by PM Modi

The projects inaugurated by Modi are – a Trisonic Wind Tunnel at VSSC, a Semi-Cryogenic Integrated Engine and Stage Test Facility at ISRO's propulsion complex in Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu, and the PSLV Integration Facility at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota.

Also Read |

These three projects, which will provide world-class technical facilities for the space sector, have been developed at a cumulative cost of about ₹ 1,800 crore.

VSSC, the lead centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation, is responsible for the design and development of launch vehicle technology.

The Trisonic Wind Tunnel at VSSC produces controlled uniform airflow over scaled models of rockets and aircraft to evaluate their aerodynamic characteristics and designs. It features a test section size of 1.2 meters and can generate speeds ranging from subsonic to supersonic, up to 4 times the speed of sound (Mach number 4.0).

The Mahendragiri unit is a state-of-the-art facility capable of handling large flows of propellants. It stands 51 meters tall and has a flame deflector depth of 30 meters.

The PSLV Integration Facilities at Sriharikota were developed to increase launch frequency from the First Launch Pad (FLP) and include Integration Building, Service Building, Rail Track, and associated systems.

These inauguration of these facilities mark significant advancements in India's space exploration capabilities.

Follow the latest breaking news and developments from India and around the world with Hindustan Times' newsdesk. From politics and policies to the economy and the environment, from local issues to national events and global affairs, we've got you covered. ...view detail

• Narendra Modi

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Gaganyaan: PM to reveal names of first Indian astronauts selected to go to space

Isro chairman s somanath said that prime minister narendra modi will reveal the names of the indian astronauts selected to go to space as part of the gaganyaan mission..

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• PM Modi to announce names of Gaganyaan mission astronauts today
• Announcement at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram
• Modi to inaugurate three space infrastructure projects worth Rs 1,800 crore

Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), S Somanath said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday reveal the names of the four Indian astronauts chosen to go to space as part of the Gaganyaan mission, the nation's first human spaceflight mission.

The Prime Minister will make the announcement during his visit to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram, at around 10.45 am today.

In a video posted on social media, the Isro Chairman says that Modi will also meet the astronaut-designates before revealing their names to the nation that "these are the people that will take on the responsibility of flying for the first time in the mission".

He also expressed happiness over the Prime Minister's visit to VSSC.

The Gaganyaan project, slated for launch in 2025, aims to demonstrate Isro's capability to send humans into space and return them safely to Earth, landing in Indian territorial waters.

This mission is not just a technological leap, but also a testament to India's growing prowess in space exploration.

Besides visiting the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) today, Prime Minister Modi will also inaugurate three space infrastructure projects worth about Rs 1,800 crore to provide world-class technical facilities for space sector.

India reveals astronauts for its Gaganyaan space mission

Country plans to launch a habitable space capsule over the next year.

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On Tuesday, India introduced four crew members for its maiden Gaganyaan space voyage, as it aims to become the world's fourth country to send a crewed mission into space, just months after a historic landing on the south pole of the moon.

Gaganyaan, or "sky craft" in Hindi, is the first mission of its kind for India and will cost about 90.23 billion rupees ($1.5 billion Cdn). It involves the launch of a habitable space capsule over the next year to an orbit of 400 kilometres, and its return via a landing in the Indian Ocean.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi awarded the four crew members — all of them air force officers — "astronaut wings" at a space centre in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala state on Tuesday, in their first public appearance after months of rigorous training.

The four officers are Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, Ajit Krishnan, Angad Pratap and Shubhanshu Shukla, a government statement said.

<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ISRO?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ISRO</a> reveals the identities of the four astronaut designates for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gaganyaan?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Gaganyaan</a>'s first crewed mission! 👨‍🚀<br><br>• Group Captain Prashanth BalaKrishnan Nair<br>• Group Captain Ajit Krishnan<br>• Group Captain Angad Prathap<br>• Wing Commander Shubhansku Shukla<br><br>🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳<a href="https://t.co/08bLavQxBT">pic.twitter.com/08bLavQxBT</a> &mdash; @ISROSpaceflight

It was not clear if all four astronauts would be on board the mission.

Gaganyaan is a "historic" achievement for India, Modi said on X and in a statement, coming four decades after air force officer Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to travel to space with a Soviet mission.

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"Time is ours, countdown is ours and so is the rocket," Modi told space scientists.

Only the United States, Russia, and China have sent their own crewed missions into space.

Astronauts from more than three dozen other countries have made space trips aboard either U.S. or Russian missions.

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Sky is not the limit: Indian astronauts who made us proud

Apr 12, 2023

​International Space Flight Day

International Space Flight Day is observed on April 12 each year to celebrate the historic achievement of humans venturing into space. On the same day in 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to journey into space. Here are Indian astronauts who were a part of space expeditions.

Credit: Wikipedia

​Rakesh Sharma

Rakesh Sharma, a former Indian Air Force pilot and astronaut, is the first Indian citizen to travel to space. In 1984, he flew aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz T-11 as part of an intercosmic flight programme between the Soviet Union and India.

Credit: BCCL

​One step, giant leap​

During his eight-day stay on the Salyut 7 space station, Sharma conducted scientific experiments and communicated with the former PM Indira Gandhi. He uttered the historic words – “Sare jahan se accha (the best in the world),” answering her question on how India looked from up there.

​Kalpana Chawla​

Chawla was the first woman of Indian-origin to travel to space. She was born in Haryana, India and moved to the United States in 1982 to pursue aerospace engineering.

​An inspiration for many​

In 1995, she became a member of NASA and went on her first space mission in 1997. She was also a crew member on the STS-107 mission in 2003, which ended tragically when the spacecraft Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry, resulting in the loss of all seven crew members, including Chawla.

​Sunita Williams​

Sunita Williams is a famous American astronaut of Indian descent. She has made significant contributions to space exploration, and accomplished several feats during her career as an astronaut.

Credit: NASA

​Maximum number of days spent in space by an Indian​

She has flown on two space missions and has spent a total of 322 days in space. During the time, she set several records, including the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman and the most spacewalks by a woman.

​Sirisha Bandla

Sirisha Bandla, an astronaut and aeronautical engineer of Indian descent, is employed at Virgin Galactic. She was born in Andhra Pradesh, India, and grew up in Houston, Texas.

Credit: Twitter

​Third Indian-origin woman to fly into space​

Sirisha was part of the crew of Virgin Galactic's Unity 22 mission and flew into space in July 2021, becoming the third Indian-origin woman to do so after Chawla and Williams.

Credit: LinkedIn

​Dr Swati Mohan​

Though she has not gone into space, Dr Swati Mohan, an Indian-American aerospace engineer and scientist, was the lead guidance and controls operations engineer for NASA's Mars 2020 mission in February 2021, ensuring the successful landing of the spacecraft on the Martian surface.

​Living her dream​

Mohan got interested in space after watching Star Trek at the age of nine and later decided to switch from their original plan of becoming a pediatrician. She got her master's degree and PhD in aeronautics and astronautics at MIT.

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Before NASA’s Raja Chari, the astronauts who took India into space

Chari will become the fourth person of indian origin to go to outer space. the first indian to enter space was rakesh sharma, when he flew aboard the soviet rocket soyuz t-11 in 1984..

Indian-American US Air Force Colonel Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari made history this week , when he was named among 18 astronauts who have been selected by NASA for its ambitious manned mission to the moon and beyond on December 9.

The 43-year-old is the sole Indian-origin member of NASA’s diverse Artemis Team, which is set to land the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024 and establish a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface by the end of the decade, the American space agency said.

Proud to be a small part of the huge @NASA team working to get humans to the moon to stay. We need explorers, engineers, and dreamers to get #Artemis there https://t.co/H3GaLjLe8K — Raja Chari (@Astro_Raja) December 10, 2020

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With this, Chari will become the fourth person of Indian origin to go to outer space. The first Indian to enter space was Rakesh Sharma, when he flew aboard the Soviet rocket Soyuz T-11 in 1984.

Read| Indian-American astronaut among 18 in NASA’s manned Moon mission

While India is yet to launch a manned space flight, four Indian astronauts will soon complete their training at Russia’s Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow in preparation for the country’s first crewed Gaganyaan project.

Here is a list of all Indian and Indian-origin astronauts

Rakesh Sharma

In 1984, former Indian Air Force pilot Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian citizen to travel into space. He was selected as a cosmonaut for a space mission launched jointly by the Indian Space Research Organisation ( ISRO ) and the Soviet Intercosmos space programme.

On April 3, 1984, he flew aboard the Soviet Soyuz T-11 rocket to the space station Salyut 7. When then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked him what India looked like from outer space, Sharma famously said, “Saare Jahaan se Achcha”.

Soon after he returned from space, he was conferred with the ‘Hero of Soviet Union’ award, making him the first Indian to receive the prestigious honour. He also received India’s highest peacetime gallantry award, the Ashok Chakra.

Prior to becoming a cosmonaut, the seasoned IAF test pilot had flown 21 combat missions in a MiG-21 during the Bangladesh war of 1971.

Kalpana Chawla

On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia flight STS-10 disintegrated over Texas during its re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts who were aboard the craft. Amongst them was Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian woman to travel to space, who quickly became a national hero and icon.

Born in Karnal, Chawla received a degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College before moving to the United States for her masters and PhD. In 1994, she was selected as an astronaut candidate at NASA.

Chawla first travelled to space aboard the ill-fated space shuttle Columbia flight STS-87. The shuttle made 252 orbits around the Earth in a little over two weeks, before the tragic accident that took place in February while it was returning to Earth.

Sunita Williams

NASA astronaut and former US Navy test pilot Sunita Williams has set many records over the course of her career. During her two flights to the International Space Station (ISS), she has logged more than 321 days in space, making her one of the most experienced female astronauts in the United States.

She holds the record of longest spaceflight (195 days) for a female space traveller as well as the most spacewalking time by a woman — at 50 hours and 40 minutes over seven career excursions.

She famously participated in the Boston Marathon while in space by running approximately 42.2 km on the ISS’ treadmill.

Ravish Malhotra

While Rakesh Sharma became a household name after he became the first Indian to enter space, Air Commodore (Retd) Ravish Malhotra’s story is often forgotten. He was the man who was trained alongside Sharma as his backup astronaut for the Indo-Soviet space mission. However, despite rigorously preparing for the journey, the Kirti Chakra recipient did not get to go to space.

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Indian-American US Air Force colonel Raja Chari is among 18 astronauts, who will form NASA’s Artemis Team and help pave the way for the next lunar missions. He was selected by NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class.

After completing the initial astronaut candidate training, Chari is now eligible for a mission assignment. Before his NASA career, he was an Air Force pilot with over 2,000 hours of flying time.

The Gaganyaan team

A team of four Indian Air Force pilots have been undergoing intense training at Russia’s Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow for India’s maiden manned mission ‘Gaganyaan’.

“We have selected 4 IAF pilots for our first manned space mission in 2021-22. Three of them will go into space to orbit around the earth for a week and conduct experiments in micro-gravity and bio-science,” ISRO chairman K Sivan announced earlier this year.

Their training was briefly paused in May due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, but has since resumed. However, ISRO officials have said that the mission may now be delayed by a year.

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Chandrayaan, Aditya-L1, Gaganyaan: The year India reached the Moon - and aimed for the Sun

• Published 28 December 2023
• Chandrayaan programme

In India, 2023 will be remembered as the year we went to the Moon.

On 23 August, massive celebrations broke out across the country when Chandrayaan-3 touched down in the lunar south pole region - an area on the Moon's surface that no-one had reached before.

With this, India also joined an elite club of countries to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.

In the following months, India continued its journey into space - by sending an observation mission to the Sun and then by carrying out a key test flight ahead of its planned mission to take astronauts into space in 2025.

We look back at an eventful year when India's strides into space made global headlines.

To the Moon

It was "20 minutes of terror" for scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) as the Vikram lander, carrying the Pragyaan rover in its belly, began its descent to the Moon's surface.

The lander's speed was gradually reduced from 1.68km per second to almost zero, enabling it to make a soft landing in the south pole region where the surface is "very uneven" and "full of craters and boulders".

"India is on the Moon," a triumphant Isro chief S Somanath announced - and with that the country entered the history books.

Over the next 10 days, space scientists - and the rest of the country - followed every move made by the lander and the rover as they gathered data and images and relayed them back to Earth for analysis.

So we saw images of the six-wheeled rover sliding down from the lander's belly and taking its first steps on the lunar soil. Moving at a speed of 1cm per second, it "traversed over 100m [328 feet]" and at times re-routed to avoid falling into craters.

Some of their findings that show a sharp difference in temperatures just above and below the lunar surface and confirmed presence of a host of chemicals, especially sulphur, in the soil have enthused space scientists and the scientific community at large.

A proud Isro said the mission had not just completed its goals but also exceeded them.

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One of the highlights, Isro said, was Vikram's "hop experiment". The agency said that when the lander was "commanded to fire its engines, it rose up by about 40cm [16 inches] and landed at a distance of 30-40cm". This "successful experiment" means the spacecraft could be used in future to bring samples back to the Earth or for human missions, it added.

And earlier this month Isro said it had successfully brought back into Earth's orbit a part of the rocket that carried Chandrayaan-3 to the Moon.

The "propulsion module", which had detached from the Vikram lander after ferrying it close to the Moon, had re-entered Earth's orbit after a series of complex manoeuvres.

Together, the hop experiment and the return of the propulsion module to Earth's orbit are crucial for Isro's future plans to bring back samples or return astronauts from Space.

Looking at the Sun

Just days after the Moon landing, India launched Aditya-L1 - its first observation mission to the Sun.

The rocket that took off on 2 September is on a four-month 1.5 million km (932,000 miles)-journey from the Earth and is expected to reach its destination next week.

That destination - called L1 or Lagrange point 1 - is at 1% of the Earth-Sun distance. It's the exact spot between where the gravitational forces of two large objects, such as the Sun and the Earth, cancel each other out, allowing a spacecraft to "hover".

Once Aditya - named after the Hindu god of Sun - reaches this "parking spot", it would be able to orbit the Sun at the same rate as the Earth. From this vantage point, it will keep an eye on the Sun 24/7 and carry out scientific studies.

The orbiter is carrying seven scientific instruments that will observe and study the solar corona (the outermost layer); the photosphere (the Sun's surface or the part we see from the Earth) and the chromosphere (a thin layer of plasma that lies between the photosphere and the corona).

Isro says the studies will help scientists understand solar activity, such as the solar wind and solar flares, and their effect on Earth and space weather in real time.

The agency has already shared some of the scientific data collected by the orbiter - and images taken by its camera have been watched millions of times on X (formerly Twitter).

Can we return from space?

That's the key question that India's space agency tried to answer when it launched the Gaganyaan spacecraft on 21 October, the first in a series of test flights ahead of its planned mission to take astronauts into space in 2025.

India has said it plans to place three astronauts into low-Earth orbit at an altitude of 400km for three days and the Isro chief has said Gaganyaan is their "immediate priority".

"Send an Indian to space and bring them back safely - this is our immediate big-ticket target," Mr Somanath said .

The test flight in October was to demonstrate whether the crew can safely escape the rocket in case it malfunctions.

So, once the rocket had travelled about 12km in the sky, its abort systems were activated and a series of parachutes were deployed which brought it down safely in the waters of Bay of Bengal from where it was fished out by Indian navy divers.

Since the test was successful, Isro has said it will first send a female humanoid - a robot that resembles a human - in an unmanned Gaganyaan spacecraft before finally sending astronauts into space.

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Shiv Shakti —

India’s accomplishments in space are getting more impressive, these images from the moon are a crowning achievement for india's space program..

Stephen Clark - Sep 1, 2023 12:32 am UTC

It's been more than a week since India's Chandrayaan 3 mission landed on the Moon, and it's a good time to assess where the world's most populous nation stands relative to other global space powers.

The successful arrival of the Chandrayaan 3 mission's Vikram lander on the Moon made India the first country besides China to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface since 1976, following a series of failed landings by private organizations and India itself four years ago. And it made India just the fourth nation overall to achieve this feat.

Since the landing of Chandrayaan 3 on August 23, India has released some early findings from the lander and its mobile rover, named Pragyan, along with photos of the vehicles exploring the Moon's alien charcoal-color landscape.

The Moon landing is just the latest in a string of successes in space for India, which has a thriving rocket program with a family of four launch vehicles, its own regional satellite navigation network, and nearly 10 years ago sent an orbiter to Mars. If India can notch another success in its space program in the next few years, the country could become the fourth nation capable of sending its astronauts into low-Earth orbit.

India is still well behind the space programs of the United States and China, but one could argue India has moved closer to Europe and Russia and could be on par with Japan when you take into account several factors: access to space, space exploration, military space projects, and applications like communications, navigation, and remote sensing from orbit.

Among the space powers considered here, India has the lowest human development index, a measure of social factors such as quality of life, income, and education. But its space program is a point of national pride, and Narendra Modi, India's nationalist prime minister, has made a point to associate himself with Indian successes in space.

Those successes have come on a shoestring budget. The Indian government this year is allocating $1.52 billion to space efforts, and India developed and launched Chandrayaan 3 for less than $100 million, lower than the cost of many blockbuster Hollywood films.

“I’ve described India as a sleeping giant and one that is quickly awakening," said Mike Gold, an attorney and space industry official who previously led NASA's space policy office. "India is absolutely vital to global space development... since the country is active with lunar programs, Martian programs, and now even human spaceflight.”

Since the landing of Chandrayaan 3, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)—India's space agency—has released a handful of images, including a black-and-white shot of the stationary SUV-size Vikram lander taken by the Pragyan rover. There's also a video, shown below, of the Pragyan rover rolling down the ramp from the Vikram lander in the hours after arriving on the Moon on August 23.

So far, ISRO hasn't been releasing all of the pictures taken by the rover and lander on the Moon, and the Indian space agency hasn't posted many images on its website, preferring to share them on social media. Let's hope Indian officials develop a better way of releasing high-resolution imagery from Chandrayaan 3 and future deep space probes.

But it's always exciting to see a place human eyes have never seen before, and India's triumph with Chandrayaan 3 is worth celebrating.

In a visit with Indian space scientists in Bangalore last week, Modi announced the Chandrayaan 3 landing site would be named Shiv Shakti Point, a reference to Shiva, a principal deity in Hinduism, and Shakti, which honors the role of women scientists on the mission.

The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover settled onto a landing site closer to the Moon's south pole than any previous lunar lander. Early science results from the mission include the detection of a seismic "event" on the Moon, and the first measurements of the plasma environment near the lunar surface close to the south pole.

"These quantitative measurements potentially assist in mitigating the noise that lunar plasma introduces into radio wave communication. Also, they could contribute to the enhanced designs for upcoming lunar visitors," ISRO said.

Instruments on the rover have detected sulfur in the lunar crust at the landing site. "This finding... compels scientists to develop fresh explanations for the source of sulfur in the area," ISRO said, adding that the element could be intrinsic to the landing site or may have been produced by an ancient volcanic eruption or an asteroid or cometary impact.

The Times of India reported this week that Indian engineers are increasingly optimistic that the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover could wake up and continue their mission after the upcoming two-week-long lunar night. When the Sun sets at the landing site next week, the two vehicles will hibernate as temperatures plummet to minus 333° Fahrenheit (minus 203° Celsius).

The original design life of the lander and rover was to operate for one lunar day, or 14 Earth days, but assuming electronics and batteries hold up to the frigid conditions, there's a chance the vehicles will automatically wake up when rays of sunlight again fall on their solar panels in mid-September.

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India conducts space flight test ahead of planned mission to take astronauts into space in 2025

FILE- Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman S. Somanath arrives to address the media after the successful landing of spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 on the moon, in Bengaluru, India, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. India successfully carried out Saturday, Oct. 21, the first of a series of key test flights after overcoming a technical glitch ahead of its planned mission to take astronauts into space by 2025, Somanath said. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi, File)

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NEW DELHI (AP) — India successfully carried out Saturday the first of a series of key test flights after overcoming a technical glitch ahead of its planned mission to take astronauts into space by 2025, the space agency said.

The test involved launching a module to outer space and bringing it back to earth to test the spacecraft’s crew escape system, said the Indian Space Research Organization chief S. Somanath, and was being recovered after its touchdown in the Bay of Bengal.

The launch was delayed by 45 minutes in the morning because of weather conditions. The attempt was again deferred by more than an hour because of an issue with the engine, and the ground computer put the module’s lift-off on hold, said Somanath.

The glitch caused by a monitoring anomaly in the system was rectified and the test was carried out successfully 75 minutes later from the Sriharikota satellite launching station in southern India, Somanath told reporters.

It would pave the way for other unmanned missions, including sending a robot into space next year.

In September, India successfully launched its first space mission to study the sun, less than two weeks after a successful uncrewed landing near the south pole region of the moon.

After a failed attempt to land on the moon in 2019, India in September joined the United States, the Soviet Union and China as only the fourth country to achieve the milestone.

The successful mission showcased India’s rising standing as a technology and space powerhouse and dovetails with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s desire to project an image of an ascendant country asserting its place among the global elite.

Signaling a roadmap for India’s future space ambitions, Modi earlier this week announced that India’s space agency will set up an Indian-crafted space station by 2035 and land an Indian astronaut on the moon by 2040.

Active since the 1960s, India has launched satellites for itself and other countries, and successfully put one in orbit around Mars in 2014. India is planning its first mission to the International Space Station next year in collaboration with the United States.

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India launches space mission to the sun a week after moon landing

Aditya-L1 is to observe sun’s outermost layers and will be first vessel by any Asian nation to be placed in orbit around sun

The latest mission in India’s ambitious space program has blasted off on a voyage towards the centre of the solar system, a week after the country’s successful unmanned moon landing .

Aditya-L1 launched shortly before midday, with a live broadcast showing hundreds of spectators cheering wildly against the deafening noise of the rocket’s ascent.

“Launch successful, all normal,” an Indian Space Research Organisation official announced from mission control as the vessel made its way to the upper reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere.

The mission is carrying scientific instruments to observe the sun’s outermost layers in a four-month journey.

The US and the European Space Agency (Esa) have sent numerous probes to the centre of the solar system, beginning with Nasa’s Pioneer program in the 1960s.

Japan and China have both launched their own solar observatory missions into Earth’s orbit.

But if successful, the latest mission from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be the first by any Asian nation to be placed in orbit around the sun.

“It’s a challenging mission for India,” astrophysicist Somak Raychaudhury told broadcaster NDTV on Friday.

Raychaudhury said the mission probe would study coronal mass ejections, a periodic phenomenon that sees huge discharges of plasma and magnetic energy from the sun’s atmosphere.

These bursts are so powerful they can reach the Earth and potentially disrupt the operations of satellites.

Aditya would help predict the phenomenon “and alert everybody so that satellites can shut down their power”, he said.

“It will also help us understand how these things happen, and in the future, we might not need a warning system out there.”

Aditya, the name of the Hindu Sun deity, will travel 1.5m km (930,000 miles) to reach its destination – still only 1% of the vast distance between Earth and the sun.

At that point, the gravitational forces of both celestial bodies cancel each other out, allowing the mission to remain in a stable halo orbit around our nearest star.

Aditya is travelling on the ISRO-designed, 320-tonne PSLV XL rocket that has been a mainstay of the Indian space program, powering earlier launches to the moon and Mars.

The mission also aims to shed light on the dynamics of several other solar phenomena by imaging and measuring particles in the sun’s upper atmosphere.

India has been steadily matching the achievements of established spacefaring powers at a fraction of their cost.

The South Asian nation has a comparatively low-budget space program, but one that has grown considerably in size and momentum since it first sent a probe to orbit the moon in 2008.

Experts say India can keep costs low by copying and adapting existing technology, and thanks to an abundance of highly skilled engineers who earn a fraction of their foreign counterparts’ wages.

Last month’s successful landing on the lunar surface – a feat previously achieved only by Russia, the US and China – cost less than $75m.

The touchdown was widely celebrated by the public, with prayer rituals to wish for the mission’s success and schoolchildren after its final descent from live broadcasts in classrooms.

India became the first Asian nation to put a craft into orbit around Mars in 2014 and is slated to launch a three-day crewed mission into the Earth’s orbit by next year.

It also plans a joint mission with Japan to send another probe to the moon by 2025 and an orbital mission to Venus within the next two years.

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Reporting by Federico Maccioni and Jana Choukeir in Dubai; Adam Makary and Muhammad Al Gebaly in Cairo; Editing by Alex Richardson, Sharon Singleton and Jan Harvey

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