ISRO Preparing for Incoming Data from Aditya-L1 Mission

The Aditya L-1 mission spacecraft is currently en route to the L-1 point, where it will continuously observe the Sun. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) anticipates that it will produce a vast amount of data, necessitating a large workforce. In partnership with the Aryabhatta Observational Science Research Institute (ARIES), Nainital, the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) recently hosted the fifth Aditya-L1 Mission workshop. This three-day event, organized by the Department of Physics at IIT Kanpur and the Aditya-L1 Support Cell, aims to leverage the valuable information provided by Aditya L-1 for significant outcomes.

Combining theory and practice

The Aditya-L1 mission by ISRO marks India’s inaugural journey to study the Sun, its atmosphere and its impact on Earth. IITK has been actively involved in this scientific project and has now launched a workshop to equip selected final year undergraduate, master’s and PhD students with the skills to utilize the future data from the Aditya-L1 satellite as per the Indian Education Programme. Diary report.

Supporting solar science enthusiasts

The workshop was inaugurated by Prof. Harshawardhan Wanare, Head, Department of Physics and Center for Laser and Photonics, IIT Kanpur. Prof. Gopal Hazra welcomed the participants while Dr. Vaibhav Pant from ARIES highlighted the importance of Aditya-L1 support cell in mission data analysis.

Throughout the event, experts in the field gave informative lectures. Professor S. Krishna Prasad of ARIES gave an overview of the Sun and its structure. Later sessions covered the Sun’s plasma processes, its solar wind, its relationship to laboratory plasma, and techniques for measuring the magnetic fields of space.

The well-known scientist prof. A lecture by Arnab Rai Choudhury Institute on ‘The Mysterious Magnetic Personality of Our Sun’ captivated over 300 participants.

The second day of the workshop focused on observing the Sun, including solar flares, solar wind, coronal mass ejections and solar particles. Participants received hands-on training in the use of the magnetohydrodynamic code PLUTO, an important tool in computational astrophysics.

Participants also visited Professor Sudeep Bhattacharjee’s plasma laboratory to gain insights into plasma generation and delivery. In addition, they studied prof. Aditya Kelkar’s accelerator laboratory, where the continuous acceleration of particles such as electrons and protons in the Sun was studied.

The third and last day focused on the Aditya-L1 mission, where the participants, with theoretical and illustrative information, delved into the complexity of the mission’s payloads. Professor Dipankar Banerjee presented the two key payloads, VELC and SUIT, and highlighted opportunities for coordinated observations with NASA and ESA.

The workshop also provided a platform for students to engage with the IIT Kanpur community through open lectures. Professor Dipankar Banerjee discussed ‘Aditya-L1: India’s Own Mission’ highlighting the collaborative efforts that created this advanced space observatory. Professor Piyali Chatterjee explored the fascinating coronal heat problem in solar physics and how the Aditya-L1 mission could help solve it.

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