After the historic success of lunar mission - Chandrayaan-3, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set for another challening and its first solar mission Aditya-L1. The solar mission, set for launch on September 2 at 11.50 am from Sriharikota spaceport, to study the sun. The Aditya-L1 will be placed in the Halo orbit of the Lagrangian Point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system. If all goes well, India will be the member of the elit club of very few members who carried out a successful solar mission.
Here is the list of the countries that launched solar mission
USA
USA spce agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), launched the 'Parker Solar Probe in August 2018. This was the first time ever mission to touch the Sun, according to NASA's official website. 'Parker Solar Probe' was launched to make observations of the outer corona - the Sun's upper atmosphere. Parker flew through the corona in December 2021. It sampled particles and magnetic fields of the sun. Parker by 2025 will travel at closest approach, as fast as 690,000 km/h, or 0.064% the speed of light.
Japan
Japan's space agency - Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) -, launched its first solar observation satellite, Hinotori (ASTRO-A), to study solar flares using hard X-rays in 1981. JAXA launched next solar project in 1991 named - Yohkoh (SOLAR-A). JAXA, in its next solar mission -SOHO- was associated with NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) in 1995. In 1998, the Japanese space agency was partnered with NASA for Transient Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE). Japan launched Hinode (SOLAR-B) - orbiting solar observatory in 2006.
Europe
Europe's ESA entered into a solar expedition in the 1990s. The ESA launched Ulysses to study the environment of space above and below the poles of the Sun in October 1990. The European Space Agency launched several solar projects with the collaboration of NASA and the JAXA. With the success of ESA's Proba-1 project (minisatellite), its oldest serving Earth-observing mission, launched into orbit two decades ago, ESA brought Proba-2 in October 2001 to collect data from solar observation experiments. ESA's upcoming solar missions are - Proba-3, scheduled for 2024 and Smile for 2025.
China
The Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S) was successfully launched by the National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), on October 8, 2022.
China's National Space Science Center (NSSC) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) launched - the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S) with the CZ-2D rocket on October 9, 2022. The project opened the era of comprehensive solar space observation in China. With the support of the Strategic Priority Research Program of Space Science of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), ASO-S underwent Phase-0/A, Phase-A/B and comprehensive demonstration. The objectives of the projec was summarised as '1M2B' - '1M' stands for magnetic field while '2B' for the two major eruptive phenomena (bursts) on the Sun: solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). ). The ASO-O aimed at exploring connections among solar magnetic field, solar flares, and CMEs.
