ISRO invites proposals from Indian researchers to study data from Aditya-L1 mission

New Delhi (PTI): The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Thursday that it is inviting proposals from the Indian solar physics community to access data from the Aditya-L1 mission, the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun.

This is the second such formal call from ISRO for Indian scientists to access the Aditya-L1 mission data; the first call was made in January.

"At present, there are over 27 TB of data in the public domain, and several important scientific results have been published in international peer-reviewed journals. To further maximise the scientific return from this unique mission, the ISRO has released the second Announcement of Opportunity (AO) inviting proposals from the Indian solar physics community for Aditya-L1 observation time," the ISRO said in a statement.

Proposals can be submitted by Indian scientists and researchers based at institutes, universities, or colleges in India. The applicants should be involved in research in the area of solar science and equipped to submit proposals as principal investigators for solar observations with the necessary scientific and technical justification.

The approved observations for this second AO cycle will take place between July and September.

Launched in September 2023, the Aditya-L1 mission was successfully inserted into a halo orbit around the first Lagrangian point (L1) in the Sun-Earth system in January 2024. This L1 point, located around 1.5 million km away from Earth, offers the unique advantage of continuous, uninterrupted observation of the Sun, free from eclipses or occultation.

The Aditya-L1 mission carries seven scientific payloads -- four for remote sensing and three for in-situ measurements.

"The remote sensing instruments observe different layers of the Sun, including the photosphere, chromosphere, and corona, using various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation," ISRO said.

The in-situ payloads, including particle detectors and magnetometers, collect data on the space environment around L1.