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India's Sun mission reaching destination in hours

Nepalkhabar

 |  Kathmandu

India's first Sun mission lifted off from the launch pad at Sriharikota on 2 September (Photo: ISRO)

India's first solar observation mission is set to reach its final destination in a few hours, a BBC news report said.

The space agency Isro will place Aditya-L1 in a spot in space from where it will be able to continuously watch the Sun.

The spacecraft has been travelling towards the Sun for four months since it lifted off on September 2. 

According to the European Space Agency, a Lagrange point is a spot where the gravitational forces of two large objects - such as the Sun and the Earth - cancel each other out, allowing a spacecraft to "hover".

L1 is located 1.5 million km (932,000 miles) from the Earth, which is 1% of the Earth-Sun distance. Isro recently said that the spacecraft had already covered most of the distance to its destination.

According to Isro, Aditya will be placed in L1's orbit on Saturday at around 16:00 on Saturday India time (10:30 GMT). 

Once Aditya-L1 reaches this "parking spot" it will be able to orbit the Sun at the same rate as the Earth. From this vantage point it will be able to watch the Sun constantly, even during eclipses and occultations, and carry out scientific studies.
 



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